Our Timeline
Here is the timeline of everything that has happened on our
adoption journey to find Millie.
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 Millie Parker.
Enjoy!
*****************************************************************************
Here is the timeline of everything that has happened on our
adoption journey to find Millie.
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 Millie Parker.
Enjoy!
*****************************************************************************
1-25-12 Millie is born!
2-2012 We are in China to bring Mae home. Amazing that we are only a few hours away from where Millie is at this moment, but have no idea that she is already here. God is so incredible!!!
2-2-13 We have Mae's 12 month post placement meeting with our social worker. She asks if this is also going to be the home study evaluation for a new adoption. Johnny and I just look stunned. He is thinking is she crazy, I just got use to the roller coaster ride of three kids and she wants me to do this again so soon. I am thinking, can she read my mind....yes, yes, yes....I'm ready, but I know that I will have to continue to pray for the time when Johnny will be ready to have another little girl. I mean he doesn't stand a chance since Mae has him wrapped around her tiny finger, so two princesses.....he might as well give up now. We know that we are going to be blessed by having another little girl in our house and we have already decided that her name will be Millie after Johnny's grandma (yes, all four kids have been named after grandparents or great-grandparents....we like old fashioned names). So we have her name, but no face to put with it yet, and Johnny isn't ready to jump just yet. Praying for him to follow God's plan.
2-8-13 I wait patiently for God's perfect timing but still start looking for our daughter. I can't find her yet, she isn't ready. Mae says that Millie is still too little and we have to wait for her to get bigger. She also says that God will tell us when Millie is ready to come home. The advice of an almost 5 year old is sent straight from God! In the meantime, she is busy eating her veggies so she can be "big enough to be a big sister". Millie, your big sister can't wait to play dress-up and doctor with you. Hang in there we are coming soon!
3-14-13 Look on Lifeline site to see if anyone jumps out to me. My baby still isn't there.
6-21-13 Look for her again....she still isn't ready. I will keep praying for my baby girl where ever she may be.
7-4-13 WOOHOO! Johnny is ready to ride the rollercoaster ride of the adoption process!!!! I still like George's idea (many years ago) that you decide to adopt one day and hold the little one in your hands the next. Why can't it be that simple? Oh yeah, because I would have Ma' Parkers boarding house because I would try to save all of God's precious children!
7-5-13 Look on multiple sites for little heart girls, but since God gives these heart babies an enormous amount of love in those little hearts, they are the first ones to go. I come across one on Lifeline's website and ask about her but her heart is even more complex than Mae's. Praying for this little girl. She hasn't even had her Glenn surgery in China yet and she sure needs one.
7-5-13 We contacted AWAA and told them we were ready to adopt and asked them what we needed to do first.
7-12-13 We completed the AWAA Application
7-23-13 Aimee contacted us and let us know that we get to work with her again on our dossier.
7-25-13 OH MY! I forgot how much paperwork was involved in the beginning step of the adoption process. Lets get busy making appointments, requesting paperwork, and staying organized.
7-29-13 Fill out a pile of paperwork, have it notarized, and feel pretty good about how much I got done until I see the list of things that still have to be done. I have to keep reminding myself that God's plans are bigger than mine. Millie isn't ready yet that is why I have so much stuff to do.
8-2-13 Johnny and I have doctor appointments with TB test
8-5-13 Johnny and I have bloodwork done and have our TB test read
8-6-13 All three kids have their doctor appointments
8-7-13 Send some paperwork into Aimee to be approved.
8-8-13 Most is approved, some things need changes to be notarized correctly. Still waiting on my birth certificate to arrive, doctor forms to be completed, and then I realize that it has only been a month and we are making great time. breathe.......
9-10-13 Receive an email from AWAA from our Family Coordinator that she is moving to Haiti with AWAA and will no longer be working on our case.
9-18-13 Our new family coodinator has been assigned. Her name is Kelsey.
9-22-13 Corporate is asking Amy in Orlando more questions about our homestudy report so it isn't ready yet. I was hoping to get this in the mail before we leave on our vacation, but God has a reason why it isn't ready yet. Millie must not be ready for us quite yet. Praying for our little girl even though we have no idea how old she is, where she is, which one of us she looks most like....but we do know that God created her for us and He will keep her in His arms until we can.
9-28-13 We leave for a family trip to the mountains and we are still waiting on our homestudy to return before we can submit any paperwork to the USCIS
9-30-13 Since Johnny stayed home he was able to get the mail. Additional paperwork (birth certificate) has arrived
10-2-13 The homestudy paperwork arrives but now I am in the mountains and Johnny doesn't know which forms to copy and which ones to send so it will have to wait until I return home and get it all pulled together.
11-18-13 USCIS has received our paperwork (on 11/12/13) and they will let us know when we are scheduled for fingerprints
11-2013 Lifeline sends a team to one of their orphanage partnerships. Katie (one of the wonderful employees on the trip) holds Millie (aka Selah) and the team determines she needs to be transferred to New Day for lifesaving surgery! Praising God for the angels He has put on this earth to be the voice and advocate for His children!!!!!
11-25-13 We found out today that our fingerprint date is scheduled for 12/12/13 a whole month after they received our paperwork, we are going to try a walk-in appointment sometime after Thanksgiving
12-5-13 We get everyone up early and travel an hour to our fingerprint office in Fort Myers and they take us in!!!! I know it is only a week early, but that is a week closer to holding Millie.
12-27-13 No news from USCIS yet, so I try to register online for updates, but it has my case doesn't exist. Time to send an email. They respond with "adoptions can't be checked online so you emailed the right place!" Unfortunately, our case hasn't even been assigned an officer (the one who reviews everything). From the date they received our paperwork (11/12/13) it could be 90 days for approval! That would make approval in mid February and then it still has to arrive in the mail, get sent back out to be certified, mailed back, then mailed out to be authenticated, mailed back...so now we are looking at March or April before we are ready to mail our dossier to China. Concerned some of our paperwork will be out of date since they want the notaries within 6 months of signing. Prayers it goes quicker than 90 days!
1-2-14 Contact USCIS to see if I have an officer yet (yes, I will be checking it weekly now...LOL) and we don't have an officer yet, but they are polite and encourage me to continue checking. They also tell me that even though the website states that it could be 90 days, they are running closer to the 60-75 day range. Please GOD, let it be the shortest amount of time possible.
1-10-14 PRAISE GOD!!!!! Today we got our approval in the mail! The USCIS approved us to adopt a little girl from China somewhere between 1-6 years old with a special need. And to top it off God pushed our paperwork through before the SHORTEST amount of time because our approval was given on 1-03-14, yes 2 days after I emailed last time, we got an officer and he/she approved it. They were saying 90 days to approve on the website, on email they said more like 60-75 days, and God got ours approved in 52 days!!!!!! God is good!!!! So as soon as it arrived, the kids and I raced out to a friends house to have it notarized, then we raced to the post office and mailed it out to Tallahassee to be state certified. When it arrives back home in 1-2 weeks, I will copy it and send it out to Houston, TX to be authenticated. Once it comes back we will be shipping ALL the PAPERWORK we have compiled, signed, notarized, certified, authenticated, prayed over, cried about, and more to Virginia so it can be reviewed and sent to China. Praying we are DTC (Dossier to China) by Valentine's Day. It's in HIS amazing hands so we are safe and blessed!
1-20-14 All of my FL documents are on their way to get authenticated at the Houston Consulate through MyChinaDocs
1-20-14 Millie makes the long drive from her original orphanage to New Day South, a foster home that will hopefully find her a doctor to complete her life saving heart surgery.
1-21-14 We were suppose to have a phone conference with our family coordinator, Kelsey to discuss our specific special needs and complete this final step before we are even able to receive a referral from AWAA, but find out that there is another change with our agency, we have our third family coordinator for this adoption....Kelcey. We are contacted by the Assistant Director of AWAA to schedule our new phone conference for Monday.
1-24-14 Have my I-797c in hand and ready to mail my dossier in! Find out that China is on Chinese New Year so even if I mail it all in this week, it won't be able to be shipped to China until Feb 7th. Then I realize that I was so excited when my home study arrived in the mail and I sent it off with my I-800a that I completely forgot to send the other copy off to Florida to be certified and to Houston to be authenticated. NO! This can't be happening. We were so close and now we will have a long wait again.
1-25-14 Millie (aka Selah) celebrates her 2nd birthday.
1-27-14 Have AWAA (America World) WC (Waiting Child) Conference call at 10am. Leah talks with me about the special need that we are open to and the age range of our daughter. We are looking for a little girl from the age 1-5 years old with a heart condition, specifically DORV or SV, TGA, VSD and/or ASD. We don't shy away from open heart surgery as we went through Mae's surgery in May 2012 and know that God will hold the hands of the surgeon and will heal our baby.
3-7-14 All of our documents are finally back and we are ready to get our dossier sent out. For real this time. I am attempting to scan each document as a pdf and send them to AWAA so they can send them out to China. Scanning the documents is easy, shipping these large files is not.
3-16-14 Millie was released from the hospital and returned to New Day South. She did not have surgery because when they tests were run, it was found that her condition was more complicated than originally expected. They are consulting with different doctors to determine the best plan for her.
3-25-14 Where has the time gone? Why wasn't I more eager to send my dossier out? I have been attempting to scan it and send it out, but it has been here for 2 weeks and even if I have no luck scanning it, why haven't I mailed it out? I really have no idea why I haven't been eager to get it out this time. Maybe my heart knows that my baby isn't ready yet. Either way we mailed our dossier overnight to AWAA for them to review and hopefully send to China this Friday.
3-28-14 DTC!!!!! That stands for Dossier To China. WOOHOO! All the paperwork that we have been working on since July is FINALLY on its way to China. Such a relief to have this step behind us. It has been a rollercoaster ride of high ups and deep downs. Wow!
4-1-14 LID!!!! That stands for Log In Date. Our paperwork made its way to China and has been officially logged in.
5-26-14 Millie was admitted to the hospital in Beijing to prep for surgery.
6-6-14 Millie continues to wait patiently in the hospital for her surgery.
6-16-14 Millie went into open heart surgery. It is a very complicated operation.
6-17-14 The foster home reports that her surgery was completed and "the repairs needed were quite complicated and the results are the best that could be hoped for given her situation. The next 48 hours are critical. It will be a long recovery time." Our baby girl is such a fighter....praise God!
6-23-14 "Millie is making good progress with her recovery, getting better everyday."
7-2-14 Millie is out of the ICU and back on the regular ward.
7-7-14 She was released from the hospital and is back at New Day in Beijing but is still in recovery.
7-14-14 We contact many people including AWAA to determine where "Selah's" file will end up when it is released. I will go with whichever agency is going to get her file. Found out that Millie's original orphanage is in a partnership with Lifeline. What does that mean? When her file is ready, it will go to Lifeline first. So we contact Karla at Lifeline about transferring to them. Our name is added to the "pool" with "tens of people" that are interested in Selah (our Millie).
7-21-14 They have decided that Millie will not return to New Day South but instead she will remain at New Day Beijing.
7-28-14 We wait patiently for God's plan to unfold. We have been praying over a little girl that we fell in love with and have been watching for months. God has revealed that she is ours on several occasions and we are jumping off a cliff for her with no idea what the path below us even looks like, but He assures us that He has this. We serve an amazing, all knowing God that is moving mountains as we speak! We have just submitted paperwork to transfer to a new agency per God's guidance. We are living in faith, walking in faith, and trusting in faith. What an amazing place to be. I am reminded of the scripture verses I read just this morning as God prepped me to complete the application and actually jump....Hebrews 11 where we see all the wonderful things in life that have taken place when people have decided to walk in faith! To let go and know you will be caught and what He has in store will be even more amazing then we can imagine. We will keep you posted!
7-30-14 AWAA sends me a file of a heart baby. Of course we decline the file since we already know who are baby is, "Selah" at New Day. We are just waiting on God's perfect timing.
9-8-14 Send Selah (Millie) a care package to the foster home with tons of clothes, hair bows, baby doll, coloring books, story books, and then cake & cookie stuff for all the kids to make tasty treats. Yum!
10-9-14 AWAA contacts us about another heart baby whose file they just received. We immediately prayed and asked God what to do (since this waiting is torture!) but He once again told us to wait. So we declined to even view the file.
10-17-14 Orphan Sunday. My baby girl is the poster child for Lifeline's fliers for Orphan Sunday! I tell the church (in a previously recorded video) that we are adopting a little girl that God has already revealed to us as ours. We are just waiting for His perfect timing.
11-21-14 Received THE CALL! Okay let me back up.....we were setting up a tent for Ag Fest so our 4-H kids could sell strawberry shortcakes the next day at Ag Fest. It was really windy. The canopy flipped over and bruised my whole arm (showing bruises within minutes is never good), then John falls down and scraps his whole entire knee on the road (nice and bloody), then Mae is taking a break and sitting on the grass and her friend (I kid you not) falls over on her and breaks her arm at the elbow! We head to the ER. Yep broken. I should have know that Satan was trying to send us bad vibes because he knew God was up to making miracles happen!!!!! After a few hours in the ER alone with the kids (yes, Johnny was on his way back from a business trip hours way), we were sitting in the car outside of the Walmart, waiting on a call from Mae's cardiologist to make sure that she in fact could take the pain meds with her heart, and Johnny calls. Thinking he is just checking on Mae (which he did) then he proceeds to tell me that he just got off the phone with Logan at Lifeline and WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE SELAH'S FAMILY!!!! We have her file. Only us! I start bawling and thanking GOD. My kids don't have a clue why mommy is Praising God and crying like a crazy woman in the Walmart parking lot! I somehow manage to get out between the sobs....."She is ours....Millie is ours".
Their response, "Yea mom, we know!"
My response, "We have her file! Lifeline picked us. No one can take her from us! She is our baby!!!!!"
Then they were praising God right their with me. I composed myself as best I could and called my mom and Kristy to share the good news, but after the day we had already had, they were scared when I called them crying. Mom started praising God too. Kristy was in shock. Then I called Logan to get all the details of what to do next.
I love the faith my kids have. For months and months we have prayed to God and listened to His response. For months and months we have heard everyone in the adoption world tell us that it isn't possible to be matched with her. And through it all my kids NEVER lost their faith in God. Never doubted that He would do as He claimed. NEVER believed the na-sayers. Praise God for their strong faith!
God is so good! I won't tell you that the journey was easy because it was FAR from easy. There were many days I was a puddle of tears and asking God if I was truly following what He wanted. It would have been so easy to accept another heart babies file, but I didn't want any heart baby. I wanted the baby that God has created specifically for me. When you are pregnant you know you are getting the one He created for you. But with adoption you are literally searching in the darkness and the only way to know that you are on the right path is to follow His light and hear His voice. Adoption is a faith journey. My faith has grown leaps and bounds. I have learned more patience than I ever wanted to, but most importantly I learned to trust my Father without seeing all the pieces to the puzzle. He had all the details figured out and I just had to hear the plan step by step. I am so thankful that I listened to His call, His path, and found the baby girl that He created just for me! So blessed!!!!
12-2-14 LOI (letter of intent) submitted to China. It is a letter, among with other stuff, saying that we specifically want to adopt Millie! YES!!!!! We DO!!!!
12-5-14 Dossier transfer letters from AWAA and Lifeline make it to China. AWAA had to send a letter stating that they would in fact release our dossier to be matched with a specific child. Lifeline verified that we had submitted paperwork for a specific child and we would be working with them for the remaining portion of our adoption.
12-12-14 PA!!!! China has given us Pre-Approval to adopt Millie!!!!! Now we wait on the LOA (Letter of Acceptance).
12-22-14 New LID with Lifeline.
1-25-15 Millie's 3rd birthday!
2-10-15 On day 50 of waiting on the LOA, but who is counting?
2-12-15 Mailed out our Supplement 3 to USCIS. We have to get it in before our fingerprints expire on March 5th and since we still don't have an LOA to submit the I800, this is our only option.
2-14-15 According to my shipping info, our Supplement 3 has arrived at the lockbox in TX.
2-16-15 Soft LOA!!!! Day 56. (Actual date on the LOA was 2-15-15, but we didn't find that out until the paper copy arrived.) We were told transfers were only taking a few weeks before the shutdown. Our dossier has already been in China 10.5 months. Not sure why it took so long but so glad to finally get it. Guess God was still preparing Millie's heart and she must have needed that extra time. Still praying she will bond with us immediately. Lifeline sends out our I800 application to USCIS.
2-19-15 Hard LOA arrives at Lifeline! We are at Disney for Mae's 7th birthday when we get the news! A day for celebration for sure! USCIS also sends a text that they received my Supplement 3 application. Now to just get that home study update report to them ASAP, but I have to receive it first.
2-20-15 Hard LOA (paper copy to sign) arrives at our house! PRAISE GOD!!!!! Now we sign it, check the box that states we want Millie (Chinese name listed of course), and mail it out for Logan to receive on Monday at Lifeline. She will mail this copy back to China.
2-23-15 Receive Vickie's signature page for our home study update. Just waiting on Amy's full report to arrive.
2-24-15 Amy's full home study report arrives in the mail so we gather together all of the paperwork and head to the post office. Mail visa applications and passports to Denise at "There's Always Hope" in order to get our China stamp. Woohoo! I also mail our home study update and LOA copy to USCIS and our home study update to Logan at Lifeline. So glad to see progress.
2-27-15 So what is next and how long will it take?
New fingerprint appointment from USCIS
I800 approval from USCIS (stating that Millie can immigrate into the US
and become a US citizen when she lands with us!)
Receive a GUZ# from the NVC office (usually takes a week after I800 approval)
Complete the DS-260 application online after we have the GUZ# (don't worry, I've already
completed this on paper so it will be easy to enter online once I can access it)
Article 5 drop off at the Consulate in Guangzhou
Agency picks up Article 5 (normally 10 days after drop off)
The CCCWA issues TA=Travel Approval (a couple of days to a couple of weeks)
CA....Consulate Appointment is scheduled. This appointment determines what dates we actually get to travel.
TRAVEL to get MILLIE!
So how long? 2-3 more months.....ugh....the longest pregnancy EVER! Starting to feel like an elephant. lol! We are 19.5 months already into this adoption so that's 21.5-22.5 months total from start to finish. But she is soooo worth it!
2-2012 We are in China to bring Mae home. Amazing that we are only a few hours away from where Millie is at this moment, but have no idea that she is already here. God is so incredible!!!
2-2-13 We have Mae's 12 month post placement meeting with our social worker. She asks if this is also going to be the home study evaluation for a new adoption. Johnny and I just look stunned. He is thinking is she crazy, I just got use to the roller coaster ride of three kids and she wants me to do this again so soon. I am thinking, can she read my mind....yes, yes, yes....I'm ready, but I know that I will have to continue to pray for the time when Johnny will be ready to have another little girl. I mean he doesn't stand a chance since Mae has him wrapped around her tiny finger, so two princesses.....he might as well give up now. We know that we are going to be blessed by having another little girl in our house and we have already decided that her name will be Millie after Johnny's grandma (yes, all four kids have been named after grandparents or great-grandparents....we like old fashioned names). So we have her name, but no face to put with it yet, and Johnny isn't ready to jump just yet. Praying for him to follow God's plan.
2-8-13 I wait patiently for God's perfect timing but still start looking for our daughter. I can't find her yet, she isn't ready. Mae says that Millie is still too little and we have to wait for her to get bigger. She also says that God will tell us when Millie is ready to come home. The advice of an almost 5 year old is sent straight from God! In the meantime, she is busy eating her veggies so she can be "big enough to be a big sister". Millie, your big sister can't wait to play dress-up and doctor with you. Hang in there we are coming soon!
3-14-13 Look on Lifeline site to see if anyone jumps out to me. My baby still isn't there.
6-21-13 Look for her again....she still isn't ready. I will keep praying for my baby girl where ever she may be.
7-4-13 WOOHOO! Johnny is ready to ride the rollercoaster ride of the adoption process!!!! I still like George's idea (many years ago) that you decide to adopt one day and hold the little one in your hands the next. Why can't it be that simple? Oh yeah, because I would have Ma' Parkers boarding house because I would try to save all of God's precious children!
7-5-13 Look on multiple sites for little heart girls, but since God gives these heart babies an enormous amount of love in those little hearts, they are the first ones to go. I come across one on Lifeline's website and ask about her but her heart is even more complex than Mae's. Praying for this little girl. She hasn't even had her Glenn surgery in China yet and she sure needs one.
7-5-13 We contacted AWAA and told them we were ready to adopt and asked them what we needed to do first.
7-12-13 We completed the AWAA Application
7-23-13 Aimee contacted us and let us know that we get to work with her again on our dossier.
7-25-13 OH MY! I forgot how much paperwork was involved in the beginning step of the adoption process. Lets get busy making appointments, requesting paperwork, and staying organized.
7-29-13 Fill out a pile of paperwork, have it notarized, and feel pretty good about how much I got done until I see the list of things that still have to be done. I have to keep reminding myself that God's plans are bigger than mine. Millie isn't ready yet that is why I have so much stuff to do.
8-2-13 Johnny and I have doctor appointments with TB test
8-5-13 Johnny and I have bloodwork done and have our TB test read
8-6-13 All three kids have their doctor appointments
8-7-13 Send some paperwork into Aimee to be approved.
8-8-13 Most is approved, some things need changes to be notarized correctly. Still waiting on my birth certificate to arrive, doctor forms to be completed, and then I realize that it has only been a month and we are making great time. breathe.......
9-10-13 Receive an email from AWAA from our Family Coordinator that she is moving to Haiti with AWAA and will no longer be working on our case.
9-18-13 Our new family coodinator has been assigned. Her name is Kelsey.
9-22-13 Corporate is asking Amy in Orlando more questions about our homestudy report so it isn't ready yet. I was hoping to get this in the mail before we leave on our vacation, but God has a reason why it isn't ready yet. Millie must not be ready for us quite yet. Praying for our little girl even though we have no idea how old she is, where she is, which one of us she looks most like....but we do know that God created her for us and He will keep her in His arms until we can.
9-28-13 We leave for a family trip to the mountains and we are still waiting on our homestudy to return before we can submit any paperwork to the USCIS
9-30-13 Since Johnny stayed home he was able to get the mail. Additional paperwork (birth certificate) has arrived
10-2-13 The homestudy paperwork arrives but now I am in the mountains and Johnny doesn't know which forms to copy and which ones to send so it will have to wait until I return home and get it all pulled together.
11-18-13 USCIS has received our paperwork (on 11/12/13) and they will let us know when we are scheduled for fingerprints
11-2013 Lifeline sends a team to one of their orphanage partnerships. Katie (one of the wonderful employees on the trip) holds Millie (aka Selah) and the team determines she needs to be transferred to New Day for lifesaving surgery! Praising God for the angels He has put on this earth to be the voice and advocate for His children!!!!!
11-25-13 We found out today that our fingerprint date is scheduled for 12/12/13 a whole month after they received our paperwork, we are going to try a walk-in appointment sometime after Thanksgiving
12-5-13 We get everyone up early and travel an hour to our fingerprint office in Fort Myers and they take us in!!!! I know it is only a week early, but that is a week closer to holding Millie.
12-27-13 No news from USCIS yet, so I try to register online for updates, but it has my case doesn't exist. Time to send an email. They respond with "adoptions can't be checked online so you emailed the right place!" Unfortunately, our case hasn't even been assigned an officer (the one who reviews everything). From the date they received our paperwork (11/12/13) it could be 90 days for approval! That would make approval in mid February and then it still has to arrive in the mail, get sent back out to be certified, mailed back, then mailed out to be authenticated, mailed back...so now we are looking at March or April before we are ready to mail our dossier to China. Concerned some of our paperwork will be out of date since they want the notaries within 6 months of signing. Prayers it goes quicker than 90 days!
1-2-14 Contact USCIS to see if I have an officer yet (yes, I will be checking it weekly now...LOL) and we don't have an officer yet, but they are polite and encourage me to continue checking. They also tell me that even though the website states that it could be 90 days, they are running closer to the 60-75 day range. Please GOD, let it be the shortest amount of time possible.
1-10-14 PRAISE GOD!!!!! Today we got our approval in the mail! The USCIS approved us to adopt a little girl from China somewhere between 1-6 years old with a special need. And to top it off God pushed our paperwork through before the SHORTEST amount of time because our approval was given on 1-03-14, yes 2 days after I emailed last time, we got an officer and he/she approved it. They were saying 90 days to approve on the website, on email they said more like 60-75 days, and God got ours approved in 52 days!!!!!! God is good!!!! So as soon as it arrived, the kids and I raced out to a friends house to have it notarized, then we raced to the post office and mailed it out to Tallahassee to be state certified. When it arrives back home in 1-2 weeks, I will copy it and send it out to Houston, TX to be authenticated. Once it comes back we will be shipping ALL the PAPERWORK we have compiled, signed, notarized, certified, authenticated, prayed over, cried about, and more to Virginia so it can be reviewed and sent to China. Praying we are DTC (Dossier to China) by Valentine's Day. It's in HIS amazing hands so we are safe and blessed!
1-20-14 All of my FL documents are on their way to get authenticated at the Houston Consulate through MyChinaDocs
1-20-14 Millie makes the long drive from her original orphanage to New Day South, a foster home that will hopefully find her a doctor to complete her life saving heart surgery.
1-21-14 We were suppose to have a phone conference with our family coordinator, Kelsey to discuss our specific special needs and complete this final step before we are even able to receive a referral from AWAA, but find out that there is another change with our agency, we have our third family coordinator for this adoption....Kelcey. We are contacted by the Assistant Director of AWAA to schedule our new phone conference for Monday.
1-24-14 Have my I-797c in hand and ready to mail my dossier in! Find out that China is on Chinese New Year so even if I mail it all in this week, it won't be able to be shipped to China until Feb 7th. Then I realize that I was so excited when my home study arrived in the mail and I sent it off with my I-800a that I completely forgot to send the other copy off to Florida to be certified and to Houston to be authenticated. NO! This can't be happening. We were so close and now we will have a long wait again.
1-25-14 Millie (aka Selah) celebrates her 2nd birthday.
1-27-14 Have AWAA (America World) WC (Waiting Child) Conference call at 10am. Leah talks with me about the special need that we are open to and the age range of our daughter. We are looking for a little girl from the age 1-5 years old with a heart condition, specifically DORV or SV, TGA, VSD and/or ASD. We don't shy away from open heart surgery as we went through Mae's surgery in May 2012 and know that God will hold the hands of the surgeon and will heal our baby.
3-7-14 All of our documents are finally back and we are ready to get our dossier sent out. For real this time. I am attempting to scan each document as a pdf and send them to AWAA so they can send them out to China. Scanning the documents is easy, shipping these large files is not.
3-16-14 Millie was released from the hospital and returned to New Day South. She did not have surgery because when they tests were run, it was found that her condition was more complicated than originally expected. They are consulting with different doctors to determine the best plan for her.
3-25-14 Where has the time gone? Why wasn't I more eager to send my dossier out? I have been attempting to scan it and send it out, but it has been here for 2 weeks and even if I have no luck scanning it, why haven't I mailed it out? I really have no idea why I haven't been eager to get it out this time. Maybe my heart knows that my baby isn't ready yet. Either way we mailed our dossier overnight to AWAA for them to review and hopefully send to China this Friday.
3-28-14 DTC!!!!! That stands for Dossier To China. WOOHOO! All the paperwork that we have been working on since July is FINALLY on its way to China. Such a relief to have this step behind us. It has been a rollercoaster ride of high ups and deep downs. Wow!
4-1-14 LID!!!! That stands for Log In Date. Our paperwork made its way to China and has been officially logged in.
5-26-14 Millie was admitted to the hospital in Beijing to prep for surgery.
6-6-14 Millie continues to wait patiently in the hospital for her surgery.
6-16-14 Millie went into open heart surgery. It is a very complicated operation.
6-17-14 The foster home reports that her surgery was completed and "the repairs needed were quite complicated and the results are the best that could be hoped for given her situation. The next 48 hours are critical. It will be a long recovery time." Our baby girl is such a fighter....praise God!
6-23-14 "Millie is making good progress with her recovery, getting better everyday."
7-2-14 Millie is out of the ICU and back on the regular ward.
7-7-14 She was released from the hospital and is back at New Day in Beijing but is still in recovery.
7-14-14 We contact many people including AWAA to determine where "Selah's" file will end up when it is released. I will go with whichever agency is going to get her file. Found out that Millie's original orphanage is in a partnership with Lifeline. What does that mean? When her file is ready, it will go to Lifeline first. So we contact Karla at Lifeline about transferring to them. Our name is added to the "pool" with "tens of people" that are interested in Selah (our Millie).
7-21-14 They have decided that Millie will not return to New Day South but instead she will remain at New Day Beijing.
7-28-14 We wait patiently for God's plan to unfold. We have been praying over a little girl that we fell in love with and have been watching for months. God has revealed that she is ours on several occasions and we are jumping off a cliff for her with no idea what the path below us even looks like, but He assures us that He has this. We serve an amazing, all knowing God that is moving mountains as we speak! We have just submitted paperwork to transfer to a new agency per God's guidance. We are living in faith, walking in faith, and trusting in faith. What an amazing place to be. I am reminded of the scripture verses I read just this morning as God prepped me to complete the application and actually jump....Hebrews 11 where we see all the wonderful things in life that have taken place when people have decided to walk in faith! To let go and know you will be caught and what He has in store will be even more amazing then we can imagine. We will keep you posted!
7-30-14 AWAA sends me a file of a heart baby. Of course we decline the file since we already know who are baby is, "Selah" at New Day. We are just waiting on God's perfect timing.
9-8-14 Send Selah (Millie) a care package to the foster home with tons of clothes, hair bows, baby doll, coloring books, story books, and then cake & cookie stuff for all the kids to make tasty treats. Yum!
10-9-14 AWAA contacts us about another heart baby whose file they just received. We immediately prayed and asked God what to do (since this waiting is torture!) but He once again told us to wait. So we declined to even view the file.
10-17-14 Orphan Sunday. My baby girl is the poster child for Lifeline's fliers for Orphan Sunday! I tell the church (in a previously recorded video) that we are adopting a little girl that God has already revealed to us as ours. We are just waiting for His perfect timing.
11-21-14 Received THE CALL! Okay let me back up.....we were setting up a tent for Ag Fest so our 4-H kids could sell strawberry shortcakes the next day at Ag Fest. It was really windy. The canopy flipped over and bruised my whole arm (showing bruises within minutes is never good), then John falls down and scraps his whole entire knee on the road (nice and bloody), then Mae is taking a break and sitting on the grass and her friend (I kid you not) falls over on her and breaks her arm at the elbow! We head to the ER. Yep broken. I should have know that Satan was trying to send us bad vibes because he knew God was up to making miracles happen!!!!! After a few hours in the ER alone with the kids (yes, Johnny was on his way back from a business trip hours way), we were sitting in the car outside of the Walmart, waiting on a call from Mae's cardiologist to make sure that she in fact could take the pain meds with her heart, and Johnny calls. Thinking he is just checking on Mae (which he did) then he proceeds to tell me that he just got off the phone with Logan at Lifeline and WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE SELAH'S FAMILY!!!! We have her file. Only us! I start bawling and thanking GOD. My kids don't have a clue why mommy is Praising God and crying like a crazy woman in the Walmart parking lot! I somehow manage to get out between the sobs....."She is ours....Millie is ours".
Their response, "Yea mom, we know!"
My response, "We have her file! Lifeline picked us. No one can take her from us! She is our baby!!!!!"
Then they were praising God right their with me. I composed myself as best I could and called my mom and Kristy to share the good news, but after the day we had already had, they were scared when I called them crying. Mom started praising God too. Kristy was in shock. Then I called Logan to get all the details of what to do next.
I love the faith my kids have. For months and months we have prayed to God and listened to His response. For months and months we have heard everyone in the adoption world tell us that it isn't possible to be matched with her. And through it all my kids NEVER lost their faith in God. Never doubted that He would do as He claimed. NEVER believed the na-sayers. Praise God for their strong faith!
God is so good! I won't tell you that the journey was easy because it was FAR from easy. There were many days I was a puddle of tears and asking God if I was truly following what He wanted. It would have been so easy to accept another heart babies file, but I didn't want any heart baby. I wanted the baby that God has created specifically for me. When you are pregnant you know you are getting the one He created for you. But with adoption you are literally searching in the darkness and the only way to know that you are on the right path is to follow His light and hear His voice. Adoption is a faith journey. My faith has grown leaps and bounds. I have learned more patience than I ever wanted to, but most importantly I learned to trust my Father without seeing all the pieces to the puzzle. He had all the details figured out and I just had to hear the plan step by step. I am so thankful that I listened to His call, His path, and found the baby girl that He created just for me! So blessed!!!!
12-2-14 LOI (letter of intent) submitted to China. It is a letter, among with other stuff, saying that we specifically want to adopt Millie! YES!!!!! We DO!!!!
12-5-14 Dossier transfer letters from AWAA and Lifeline make it to China. AWAA had to send a letter stating that they would in fact release our dossier to be matched with a specific child. Lifeline verified that we had submitted paperwork for a specific child and we would be working with them for the remaining portion of our adoption.
12-12-14 PA!!!! China has given us Pre-Approval to adopt Millie!!!!! Now we wait on the LOA (Letter of Acceptance).
12-22-14 New LID with Lifeline.
1-25-15 Millie's 3rd birthday!
2-10-15 On day 50 of waiting on the LOA, but who is counting?
2-12-15 Mailed out our Supplement 3 to USCIS. We have to get it in before our fingerprints expire on March 5th and since we still don't have an LOA to submit the I800, this is our only option.
2-14-15 According to my shipping info, our Supplement 3 has arrived at the lockbox in TX.
2-16-15 Soft LOA!!!! Day 56. (Actual date on the LOA was 2-15-15, but we didn't find that out until the paper copy arrived.) We were told transfers were only taking a few weeks before the shutdown. Our dossier has already been in China 10.5 months. Not sure why it took so long but so glad to finally get it. Guess God was still preparing Millie's heart and she must have needed that extra time. Still praying she will bond with us immediately. Lifeline sends out our I800 application to USCIS.
2-19-15 Hard LOA arrives at Lifeline! We are at Disney for Mae's 7th birthday when we get the news! A day for celebration for sure! USCIS also sends a text that they received my Supplement 3 application. Now to just get that home study update report to them ASAP, but I have to receive it first.
2-20-15 Hard LOA (paper copy to sign) arrives at our house! PRAISE GOD!!!!! Now we sign it, check the box that states we want Millie (Chinese name listed of course), and mail it out for Logan to receive on Monday at Lifeline. She will mail this copy back to China.
2-23-15 Receive Vickie's signature page for our home study update. Just waiting on Amy's full report to arrive.
2-24-15 Amy's full home study report arrives in the mail so we gather together all of the paperwork and head to the post office. Mail visa applications and passports to Denise at "There's Always Hope" in order to get our China stamp. Woohoo! I also mail our home study update and LOA copy to USCIS and our home study update to Logan at Lifeline. So glad to see progress.
2-27-15 So what is next and how long will it take?
New fingerprint appointment from USCIS
I800 approval from USCIS (stating that Millie can immigrate into the US
and become a US citizen when she lands with us!)
Receive a GUZ# from the NVC office (usually takes a week after I800 approval)
Complete the DS-260 application online after we have the GUZ# (don't worry, I've already
completed this on paper so it will be easy to enter online once I can access it)
Article 5 drop off at the Consulate in Guangzhou
Agency picks up Article 5 (normally 10 days after drop off)
The CCCWA issues TA=Travel Approval (a couple of days to a couple of weeks)
CA....Consulate Appointment is scheduled. This appointment determines what dates we actually get to travel.
TRAVEL to get MILLIE!
So how long? 2-3 more months.....ugh....the longest pregnancy EVER! Starting to feel like an elephant. lol! We are 19.5 months already into this adoption so that's 21.5-22.5 months total from start to finish. But she is soooo worth it!