It really is a small world

As we continue the painfully slow wait for our TA we had another great reminder of just how connected all the people you meet along your adoption journey really are.  The very first of course was when we were trying to find an adoption agency who would advocate for us because China requires that you need to be married for 2 years and Paul and I were not (ha-ha, considering we've been together 15 years).  My mother was selling our good  friend's grandmother's house who had just passed away.  The woman who purchased it had two adopted girls from China.  She was a single mother (which China does not typically allow to adopt) so my mother was curious to know who advocated for her.  Long story short it was CAWLI who as you all know is our agency and truly one of the most amazing people we have ever met.

The next connection was of course "Faith".  Last August we were "googling" the steps involved in adoption and came across this family's journey to adopt their daughter Faith. Ironically they live in Seattle were my sister is.  Here is her link. http://faithneveryfootstep.blogspot.com/.  Recently on Faith's blog they posted a picture of a little girl who has achondroplasia dwarfism who just found her forever family.  This girl was in Faith's orphanage, meet Junie.http://itsalwaysjuneinchina.blogspot.com/.  Can you stand how adorable all of these girls are:). Now where this gets interesting is before I learned of Junie and her connection to Faith, her mother Amy had put a post up on another blog about our ShaSha. This was when we first learned that her foster family was no longer able to care for her and that she was going back to the orphanage in September.  This was the blog that changed our lives because it was at that moment when Paul and I knew she needed to be part of our family, it was an amazing moment. It get's better.  Junie also shared the orphanage with another achondroplasia girl named Ava, meet Ava,http://alittlelovefromchina.blogspot.com.  Ava's soon to be forever Mommy is Nancy.  Nancy and I have known each other through LPA since I was 16.  Are you all following this:):)  Now for the finale, after learning of all three of these delicious cuties, we  found out that the orphanage they came from is the other office of ICC...yes where our little miss sunshine is waiting for us. So all three of these children with dwarfism will not only have that bond through LPA but will also have the connection of ICC.

Stay with me because now comes the more recent "WOW" connection.  Recently I met Joan. Joan is also adopting a 9 boy year old from Changsha and we are literally a week apart in our approvals so there is a very good chance (fingers crossed) that we will all meet up in Changsha with our new babes. The fact that her and I met each other is the first "wow" in this story.   Meet Joan and her amazing family. http://www.maybenineisenough.blogspot.com/.  Last night Joan emailed me with the subject line saying "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS"..and was she right.  I'll let you all read the email that, yet again, reminded me of all the amazing people and connections you meet through this life changing journey. 

I was at a local jewelry store today, shopping for a locket for our son's foster mother.  The sales clerk asked me who it was for, I explained a little, she remarked how fast our process was, so I explained about the SN program, and how our son was 9 years old, etc and a woman standing nearby said, "My cousin is adopting from China too!  A little girl who is 9 and has dwarfism, like my cousin and her husband."    I said," ummm, what is your cousin's name?"

Of course, it was you guys!  Her name was Debbie Hoyt. What a small world.  I told her our kids were from the same province and that we were hoping to travel at he same time.  Speaking of which, have you heard anything?  If you get TA next week, when are you going to try to travel?

Joan

Debbie is my cousin who I just adore both her and her family so when I learned of this it was just awesome. It's these moments that remind me that this journey is where Paul and I are suppose to be right now and I find that very comforting to my soul.

Please continue to keep Sha Sha in your thoughts and prayers because once we get that TA (hopefully Monday so stay tuned)  she will then learn about us. I will also be posting pics soon of her "officially" finished bedroom.  Paul has been sanding and painting his dresser he had as a boy and is giving to her so once that is done we will put new pics up.

Article 5-FINALLY

We finally got our Article 5 today which by far seem to take the longest since China was closed last week.  Hopefully we will have our TA in about a week which is huge because then ICC will tell our sunshine that we are coming for her.  Sooooooooo exciting.  Stay tuned and continue to keep our Sha Sha in your thoughts and prayers.

New Photo's-Walk The Wall, Changsha

To our delight, the wonderful Eng Kwang sent us 3 new pictures that were taking yesterday of Sha Sha. ICC does a fundraiser called "Walk The Wall", see http://www.walkthewall.org/ and Sha Sha and other children from her orphanage were there.  Eng Kwang was extremely thoughtful and took these photos which I'm sure he knew would positively make our day.   I love that her hair has grown as bit since I happened to stumble upon some really adorable hair clips this weekend-hehe:) 

Paul and I must go into her room now 50 times a day.  It's amazing how the dynamics of our house has changed for the better ever since we set her bed up.  Just even walking by her room brings a smile to our faces.  Paul added a bar down low in her closet and we of course have been picking up little outfits that are now hanging on that bar.  We also set up a toy chests for her and are starting to fill that with fun stuff.  Of course we placed some stuffed animal "pugs" on top of it, one that we will be sending her in her care package soon.  Once the room is fully done we will post more photos but for now we are enriched with the 3 new ones below.

Please continue to keep Sha Sha in your thoughts and prayers because in about 3 weeks we will have our TA which means the wonderful people at ICC will tell her about her forever family who is coming for her soon

We're Cabled

We received an email yesterday morning from the NVC saying we are cabled and then got confirmation from CAWLI saying everything will go to China today.  This is a huge step again.  We now wait for our Article 5 to be picked up at the Chinese Consulate which typically takes about 2 weeks. Then after that we wait for our TA (Travel Approval) which is about 1 week after Article 5.  We are hoping to have our sunshine home by Thanksgiving which would be amazing.  We are almost done with her room. We found a low bed and have her bed and end tables setup. We are going to use Paul's dresser that his dad made special for him when he was young so that will be neat to give her.  Below is a picture of her bed, we still need a few more things but just having her bed set up has really validated that she will be home any day now.

NEW PHOTOS

This morning when we woke up we were delighted to see that Eng Kwang sent us six more photos of ShaSha. The amazing thing is three are with her foster family which we never thought we would get to see. We have always wondered what they were like and you can get a sense from the photos that they took great care of her. We believe the other woman may be her foster sister which ShaSha was very close with but we are not sure.  The top three are her now back at ICC. She has grown a bit more but is still the cutest thing ever.

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say it's all right "

Today was an amazing day. We got NEW PICTURES and an updated medical report.  We found out she loves the color pink which is great since her new comforter is mostly pink.  We also learned she loves to play piano.  Paul is currently investigating parental controls for the computer since she also loves to browse the internet, I'm pretty confident he is not going to sleep easy now-ha.  We picked out her bedroom furniture today as well.  Just a great day.  Check out our little ray of light below, so so cute. These pictures were taking at the orphanage back in 2009.  We are grateful to Eng Kwang for all that he has done, what a blessing.

800 APPROVED!!!!

Ni hao.  Just got the email we've been holding our breath over for the past few weeks.  Our fabulous case worker just emails us saying she got our 800 and approved it, it will go out tomorrow to the NVC.  We are just overjoyed right now.  Paul and I truly feel blessed with all the people who we have worked with along this amazing journey. There are not enough words to describe how we feel about our 3 ladies (Lillian, Meg and Cara) at CAWLI, one day I will be able to express in writing just how wonderful they all are.  And recently Eng Kwang at ICC, truly a blessing.  He has been nothing but amazing not only to us but to our number 1 priority Yao Sha.  It has shown from the beginning just how much he cares about the children at ICC and in particular our little "Sha Sha".  And last but not least Merredeth at USCIS.  She has been nothing but wonderful, she was very encouraging and always responsive which is exactly what you need when you are waiting for these big approvals.  We had read on other blogs how people were having issues with their case worker, I always sat in the background quietly thinking how lucky we were because she was truly wonderful and we didn't have a single complaint to say. All just another blessing.


So now we continue to wait a little bit more but we are in the final stretch now.  Paul and I started our Chinese class last night which was terrific and terrifying all in one.  Our teacher is great.   We also watched "Wo Ai Ni ( I love you)" last night and were truly moved in more ways then we can describe.  It's a documentary that follows an 8 year old girl getting adopted by a family in NY.  It definitely hit close to home and was at times hard to watch but was also very good for us to watch. Here is the link you can view it online if you want. www.woainimommy.com.

Here's to a great day, soon we will start our Rakocy family reunion, my uncle flies in tonight and then  my sister will be in, can't wait.

Please continue to keep Sha Sha (we learned of her nickname last night in class and of course love it) in your thoughts and prayers as she makes her way through her transition.