Here is the timeline of everthing that has happened on our adoption journey to date.
The items in white are the things that we were doing here to gather the paperwork for our dossier and steps to adopt. The items listed in pink are the things that were going on in China at the same time as our adventure. God is so awesome! And the things listed in green are the steps we were taking to get our specific referral for Mae Elaine Parker. Enjoy!
*********************************************************************************** 10-22-2010 Took the boys to Disney for George's 6th birthday. I was touched by the beauty of the Chinese children all around (especially at Epcot) and began dreaming of a having a little girl from China. 1-14-11 Our litte girl was admitted to the hospital in China for a heart murmur and blue lips, but we don't even know that she is meant to be ours. This is God at work getting her ready to travel to America to be with us! 1-15-11 Walking around Disney and Epcot with Johnny, Mom and the boys for John's 8th birthday. I was again drawn to all of the little children from China. They are beautiful! Upon seeing Chinese families there, I could feel my heart aching. At this trip I knew that my dream of having a little girl from China was God's plan for me. Upon asking the boys about it, they liked the idea of helping a little girl that doesn't have a family. 1-16-11 As we were planning our day at Disney on John's birthday, we looked at the different maps and circled where we wanted to go. The jungle ride at Animal Kingdom. Nemo and The Three Caballeros (Mexico) at Epcot. And oh, lets go to China to see what it looks like. As we walk through Epcot on our way to China, George looks up at me and says, "Are we going to get her today?" Not putting it together I say, "Grandma is going with us honey." "No, momma. Are we getting my sister today!!!!" With a smile on my face and in my heart....and wishing it was just that simple..... "Honey, she isn't here at Epcot." "Well then I guess we will have to come back tomorrow and get her since it is our last day here!" I told him this was the "fake China" made to look like the real China. But we would have to travel by plane to the real China to get his sister! Kids are so amazing and innocent. Why can't it be that easy. I wish we could decide one day we want to change the life of a little one that is in China and the next day take her home. I think George has the best idea with that one. But until everyone else has that same mind set we have to start the roller coaster ride of our life and "patiently" wait for the pieces of the puzzle to be put together in God's perfect timing!
1-22-11 Registered with AWAA, America World Adoption Agency and began working on application, and contacted another mom who had adopted through AWAA 1-24-11 Ordered the Rosetta Stone Mandarin Software to learn the language 2-1-11 Applied for passports 2-2-11 Had the "Sarah" dream 2-5-11 Connected with a couple at church who have also adopted two children from China 2-6-11 Completed and submitted AWAA application, little girl, 3-5 years old 2-7-11 Contacted by Sara from AWAA 2-11-11 Application is forwarded internally for final approval 2-14-11 WELCOME to the CHINA adoption program! We were accepted into the program on 2/14, but did not hear the official word until 2/15 2-16-11 Mailed out additional paperwork to AWAA 2-21-11 Doctor appointments so we can begin working on building our dossier 2-23-11 Our sweet little one turns 3! She is in the hospital in China getting stronger for her heart surgery. At this point we still don't even know about her. 2-25-11 My passport arrives 2-28-11 Contacted by Aimee in VA, she is the family coordinator. She sends us TONS of information on building our dossier 2-28-11 Register to take the Hague online training courses for adoption 3-2-11 Contacted by Amy in FL, our home study organizer with TONS of information 3-7-11 First set of dossier paperwork send to VA and approved, lots more still left to gather. 3-9-11 Contacted All Children's Hospital to see what Pediatric Cardiologists they have on staff since we are requesting a little girl with a heart complication. Also contacted AWAA to be put in touch with a family in Florida that has adopted a little girl through AWAA who has a heart condition. Philip tells us all about their journey. 3-16-11 I completed my Hague 8-hour online course for adoption 3-17-11 America World Adoption informed us that the China Centre of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in China has changed its name to the China Centre for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA). The name must be changed on some of the paperwork and notarized again. 3-18-11 Must have medical paperwork redone 3-18-11 Same day I have to have my paperwork done, our little girl is having her Glenn heart surgery in China! 3-19-11 Travel to Disney and drop off Home Study paperwork in Orlando. 3-21-11 More dossier paperwork sent to VA for approval and lots needs to be redone 3-23-11 Contacted by the Social Worker, Vickie, to set up the home study visits 3-24-11 Mae is moved to the regular ward to recover from heart surgery 3-25-11 Doctor info for dossier finally approved 3-29-11 Mae's doctors find large amounts of hydropericardium (excess watery fluid in pericardial cavity) She had a pericardiotomy done (an incision to help drain the fluid). Surgery went well but didn't drain well enough. 3-30-11 More dossier paperwork approved. There are TONS of things to gather! 3-30-11 Hubby finishes his Hague 8-hour online course for adoption 4-2-11 First home study visit, just the two of us at a park with the social worker 4-2-11 Mae had another pericardiotomy done (an incision to help drain the fluid). She was put in PCCU (Pediatric Critical Care Unit) for first degree electrocardiographic monitoring and treatment. After her blood pressure and condition was stable, she was transferred back to the regular ward where she had a fine recovery. 4-3-11 Second home study visit after church with the boys. Back at the park. 4-6-11 Post placement visitation information changes. Rather than having 2 post-placement visits, now we will have 6! Now they are done at 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years. 4-9-11 Final home study visit at our home!!! 4-19-11 Received a copy of the Home study report for us to review and edit 4-19-11 Sent in updated Application Letter with the new age range for our little girl 1-3 years old 4-22-11 Last piece of our paperwork went to VA for approval for dossier. Now we just have to wait on the home study report and USCIS paperwork. Then we can certify everything at the state level, authenticate everything for China and then the dossier can be mailed to VA and off to China. Still a lot more left to go. Working on Waiting Child application now. We haven't been matched with a little girl yet. Keep praying! 4-30-11 Mae was released from the hospital in China and she went back to her orphanage. 5-16-11 HOME STUDY APPROVED!!!! Now we wait for the paper copies to arrive and finish our USCIS (Immigration) paperwork. 6-2-11 All pieces are ready to be mailed to the USCIS. Waiting Child Application completed and ready to be uploaded to AWAA. Now we wait some more. 7-1-11 Started our fundraising efforts to raise money for the adoption. Opened my ETSY store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/planstoprosper?ref=ss_profile and uploaded birth announcements for sale 7-7-11 Waiting on our I800A immigration paperwork. All of our other papers have come back to us after being certified. Now I get to package them back up and send them to the Chinese Consulate and Embassy in the United States (depending on which state they came from: FL, GA, or WV and have them authenticated. Getting so close to dossier to China (DTC)!!!! 7-7-11 I inquired about a little girl that I saw on a waiting child website. She was with another agency, but it never hurts to ask questions. We haven't even seen her photo, just a short paragraph about her that says she has CHD (congenital heart disease). I was contacted by Lisa. She says that the little girl is currently on hold with another family. She sends us all of her paperwork anyways and says that we could be put on a waiting list if we are still interested in her after reading the 25 pages of documents (some in English, some in Chinese/Mandarin), as well as her doctor reports. This paperwork includes a few photos (that are a year old) and even a video (taken just 5 days prior to us seeing it)! 7-8-11 Expanded our waiting child application to cover more heart conditions that we are open to receiving. With God leading us, we know that He will bless us with the little girl that He already has planned for us! 7-15-11 I contact Lisa again to see if this little one has found her forever family yet. She lets me know that her file is still under review by other families. She is only available for adoption through her current agency as of now, but if she doesn't find her forever family there, she might be able to be transferred to a different agency around Sept 3rd) But she cautions me not to get attached since there are other families that have the opportunity to adopt her first. Me, attached????? 7-19-11 I tell Aimee about this little girl and I ask if AWAA accepts transfers 7-20-11 Aimee tells me that they would be willing to accept a transfer for this little girl since she matches our waiting child application, but we have to be 100% sure before they will transfer her file 7-21-11 Double checked our home study information to see our age ranges and we are set for a little girl between the ages of 6 months-4 years at time of referral so we updated this on our waiting child application. Waiting on our USCIS I800A (Immigration Paperwork) to come back. All of our other stuff is out at the Chinese Consulate or the Embassy of China getting Authenticated.....just waiting...but I am not very patient...a lesson God is trying to teach me through all of this! 7-21-11 Touched base with Lisa again, just making sure that this little girl has not been adopted yet. She still has families looking at her file (like us) but none of them have made a decision yet. I have watched the video many times. 7-29-11 Received confirmation from FedEx that our authentication paperwork from Texas and Virginia were both mailed to us and we should received them Monday. Hopefully everything was done correctly on our end and nothing will have to be redone....that is what I am praying for. Last document that we are waiting on is the I800A (Immigration paperwork). 7-30-11 Lisa contacts me and says that another family is 99% sure they want her. My heart breaks and I cry it out while talking to God. "I thought she was the one, but you can see the bigger picture. Just send us the little girl that you intended on joining our family." Lisa tells me to check back on 8-5-11 when they should have their decision made. 8-1-11 We received our I-797 immigration approval today in the mail! Now it needs to get notarized here, certified through the Secretary of State in Tallahassee and then Authenticated in Houston. 8-5-11 Contact Lisa again, but I am not hopeful. She has 3 families reviewing her file with their doctors. I am happy that God has so many people searching for children with special needs. The plan is His. She will find her forever family. I pray it is with us, but if not, I pray that she will be well taken care of and loved. I am so attached already!!!! 8-12-11 Lisa emails me and tells me to call her. She needs to talk to me about this little girl. She must want to tell me she has found her forever family, but doesn't want to email me since she knows that I have already gotten so attached. Lisa has been AMAZING through all of this. Her faith so strong! She is also a mom to a sweet little girl from China so she knows the roller coaster ride of emotions we are on. I call Lisa about 2 pm. "Do you still want her?" Lisa asks "YES!!!!!" I shout as my heart races "The other familes have chosen not to adopt her. I have no other families that are currently reviewing her file. If you are sure you want to move forward, I am going to check with our other China coordinators and make sure they don't have anyone interested. I will call you back later today." Could this be for real? I call Johnny to make sure that we are both still on the same page and want this sweet little girl. Of course we both still are madly in love with her. Lisa calls back 3 hours later and says that she is ours if we want her!!!!!! Thank the LORD! She resends all of her paperwork since I am in Port Charlotte setting up my classroom for school to start Monday. As soon as she sends it to me, I send it to Aimee. Aimee will have to contact the CCCWA in China and asks for the file to be released for transfer. The CCCWA will contact the other agency, they will realease her. Then the CCCWA will re- release her referral. But this process isn't common and she might be released to the general waiting child list where any agency can grab her file! Praying that the CCCWA only releases her file to our agency, AWAA. 8-12-11 Our 1-797 has been authenticated and arrives at our house today! 8-14-11 Day before the first day of school! I copy all of our dossier documents (70 pages!) twice. One copy stays with us, one copy plus the originals goes to AWAA for them to review and then send our dossier out to China. Package it all up to mail out tomorrow. 8-15-11 Dossier documents headed to AWAA in Virginia for review. First day of school! 8-15-11 Aimee asks for me to call her after school. She has reveiwed the little girls file and is ready to ask for the transfer. Making sure we are 100% ready to accept her. Of course we are!!!! We pray that the transfer will never leave God's hands and that He will put it on the right list so that only we can adopt her if that is His desire. We fill out a referral request for updated information since her current referral is 1 year old. Aimee sends us 6 other files of paperwork to complete and email back to her regarding this specific referral. Talked to the boys about this little girl. "Remember the video of that little girl we saw in China." "Yes" "Well a lady called me today and said we could adopt her if we still wanted her." "Yes, mommy, yes, yes, yes. Tell them we want her! Please mommy! When can we get her?" Now that is seeing God at work!!!!!! We are truly blessed!
8-16-11 Spoke with the pediatric cardiologist about this little ones file. She has a complex heart condition. She will need an additional surgery when she is home in the US called a Fontana to remove the rest of the blue blood from being able to get to her lungs. The surgery will last about 4-6 hrs and she will have to recover at All Children's Hospital in St. Pete for 10-14 days post op. She will be able to participate in PE at school, but may tire out easier than other kids. She will never be able to play competitive sports like volleyball, basketball, soccer, etc that will harm her heart condition. God led us to this precious little girl and we know that He will only give us what we can handle. We give it all to Him to take care of! 8-17-11 Dossier arrived in VA. All looks well. It will be mailed to China on Friday 8-17-11 PRAISE GOD!!!! Her file transferred only to AWAA! Her file is now with our agency!!!!! 8-18-11 Our EA (Electronic Acceptance...also known as LOI Letter of Intent) has been submitted to the CCCWA. This says we want that specific little girl! Hopefully we should have her home within the next 6 months!!!!! 8-19-11 DTC!!!!!! (Dossier to China) Next we will get a LID (Log in Date) when China actually receives the dossier. Then we wait on the RA (Return Acceptance). This is permission from China that we can in fact adopt this sweet little girl. Until then, she is still not considered ours by China, even through she is in our hearts. Once that arrives, then we will be able to share her photos with you. Until then, keep our sweet little 3 1/2 year old girl in your prayers! We pray she will be home before Christmas and before her 4th birthday in February. George wants her now! He can't wait to be a big brother! 8-24-11 We received our PA (Pre-approval) from China. This means that we are pre-approved to adopt Dang Yun Lian from Datong Social Welfare Institute, Shanxi province, and once they see our doosier they will move it on to being translated. Pray for a speedy LID (Log In Date) for our dossier and God's hands to be all over the translation of our documents as well as guidance over those that are reviewing it. Once the dossier is approved then we will receive our RA (Referral Acceptance) which can take 2-4 months. Our dossier has to wait in line to be logged in, translated, reviewed, then approved for this specific match. 8-25-11 LID!!!!! We have our log-in-date (LID) from China. We were told on 8-31-11 but it is recorded in China as August 25th. That is when China received our dossier and officially began working on it. That was amazingly quick!!!! Now we wait on the RA while we complete more paperwork that will have to go to the USCIS once the RA arrives. Pray that the RA comes in the shortest amount of 2 months rather than the longest amount of 4 months and that China will accept our dossier as is with no questions or concerns. All things are possible when they are in God's hands and this has been from the very beginning so I only expect the very best. :o) 9-7-11 Update! We received a new photo of Mae that we requested showing us the scar on her chest. I wanted to be able to prep the boys before they saw it for the first time. It looks great! It is already fading. John said, "Her hair has grown!" George said, "Oh, mom, that is really no big deal! I thought it was going to look scary." I should have know the boys would be fine with everything about their sister and look for the positive in the situation. With the updated photo we also got to ask them some questions. Here are the things they were able to tell us about Mae: *She is 33.9 inches tall (her head comes just under the door knob...George and I measured her height to EVERYTHING in the house) *She weighs 24 pounds so she is wearing around a 18 month, 24 month or 2T size now (at 3.5 years old) *Current shoe size would be a 4 or 4.5 in America since her feet are 11.5 cm *She has 20 teeth *She is potty trained *She speaks both Mandarin and the dialect of her area....I better get busy with the Rosetta Stone! *She is not on any medications. Her lips still have a slight blue look to them, but she doesn't tire out easily. Such a blessing since she has two big brothers that are very active and will want her to play a lot. 10-1-11 Many of you have asked, "Any news about Mae?" Sorry.....haven't heard anything yet about the paperwork or when she will get to come home, but God is still working behind the scenes to bring our little girl home. Her bed is set up and ready. Now, I am washing up clothes that friends have graciously given me. We have completed the Immigration paperwork that we will have to submit once the RA arrives and today I am looking into grants and loans to help pay for the remaining fees with the adoption. Please send your friends to the tutus and bows page. Making these and the birth announcements/birth invites have really helped with adoption fees. Pray that it all continues to go well with the paperwork in China, with the sell of all of these adorable things for little ones, and with getting additional funds. I will let you all know as soon as I hear anything! Thanks for your prayers and concerns! Many Blessings 10-24-11 Update!!!!! Our RA arrived! What is that you ask? This is Mae's "Referrral Acceptance" also known as LOA-Letter of Acceptance, the paperwork from China after they have reviewed our dossier and said YES you can adopt Dang, Yun Lian as your daughter!!!! And your prayers worked! We asked for the RA to be processed in the shortest amount of time....2 months rather than the longest 4 months and we received it 2 months to the date (PA 8/24/11, RA 10/24/11)! PRAISE GOD!!!! HE is so good! Now what you ask? Now I send more paperwork off to the Immigration office (USCIS) at the same time that we sign our RA and AWAA (our agency) will return it to China saying that we accept her.... OF COURSE WE DO! The paperwork there generally takes 10-14 weeks to be processed and then we receive our travel information. So we need your prayers again that God will continue to move mountains to bring Mae home and that I will be able to sell some more "stuff" in order to raise the remaining balance we need in order to complete the adoption. Our agency is projecting our travel to be mid-January to end of January. When I told the boys that we might be in China for John's birthday, his response was, "That's okay. You are getting me the best birthday present by bringing my sister home!" They are sooooo excited. So would you like to see a photo of our little Mae Elaine Parker? Look below and you will FINALLY get to see her. 10-26-11 Submitted I800 application to NBC. Usually takes 3-5 weeks for NBC to process this application. 11-1-11 Our signed and accepted RA was returned to AWAA for them to process. 11-11-11 We submitted our VISA paperwork to AWAA. 11-21-11 I800 Provisional Approval received! Now we move onto NVC (National Visa Center) and then Article 5. 11-28-11 Received the NVC approval! Now the paperwork will take place in China between the US Consulate in Guangzhou and the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) in Bejing. On average, it takes ten business days to get Article 5 and then two to four weeks for CCCWA to issue the Travel approval (TA). Once the TA arrives at AWAA, then they will call to determine travel dates! Getting so close!!!! 12-13-11 Email from Guangzhou China!!!!! Here is what it said: "The Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou has finished processing your child's Article 5, and your file is ready to be returned to your adoption agency's facilitator today.
Next, your agency will deliver the Article 5 and Letter of Seeking Confirmation to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA), which will issue the Travel Approval (TA). The TA allows you to come to China to finalize the adoption, so once the CCCWA issues the TA, your agency can email us to request an immigrant visa appointment at the Consulate." 12-29-11 Finishing up my 2011 year by washing up all of the pink little girl clothes that are in the house (I think she has already taken over!) and beginning to pack my suitcase. The temperature in Bejing this time of year is 10-30 degrees and we will be climbing the Great Wall in that "freezing cold" so I must pack in layers....but only 40 pounds worth for Mae and me together....this could be a challenge. Have a blessed New Year! 1-9-11 We heard from AWAA and have our TA!!!! That is our Travel Approval given by China. We are going to China!!!! 1-10-11 Flights are booked! Now the ball is rolling super fast! Can't believe I will be holding my baby girl so soon! Praise God!!!!!
Here are the first three photos that we saw of Dang, Yun Lian
Mae in September 2011.
Hannah and Mae celebrating the 2nd birthday of their friend Han.