Three Months!!!

Three Months!!! Okay, it has only been three months, but we are three months into the wait.

In current Chinese news: China has had some very unusually cold weather over the past few days. Enough ice to stop transportaion. There has been lots of ice in many areas that never get very cold. Think icy conditions in south Florida. Thousands of Chinese have been stranded in train stations trying to go home for the upcoming Chinese New Year. Hundreds of thousands of people stranded without heat. Most homes and buildings don't have heat, either. This also means many orphanages and homes of foster children are without heat, too.

Also, there are also lots of rumors about the wait time. Many rumors are predicting 3 years and some are predicting 4 years. This could get interesting. In addition to many obstacles in the Chinese adoption world, the Olympics in Beijing this year will cause more delays. Basically, all activity will cease during the times surrounding the Olympics.

Hopefully, prayers will be answered and the wait time will decrease.

We've dug our basement for the house and it has rained ever since. Now, we have more of a swimming pool rather than a basement. Hopefully, we will have more exciting news next time!

Until then,
Tide Guy and Tide Gal

Brown Envelope!

Hey! We got the famous brown envelope yesterday! It is from The Foreign Service of the United States of America, U.S Consulate General, Gaungzhou. It states the Department of Homeland Security has approved our petition to adopt an overseas orphan. (or in our case orphans!) We are now to wait for the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) to send our agency a referral of a specific child and a travel permission letter. This letter was dated October 19, 2007.

Wahoo!!

Tide Guy & Tide Gal

Two Months Down

Okay. Two months down. That wasn't too bad. But, it was the holidays so maybe we were just too busy to realize we were waiting. Hopefully 2008 will be a great year and the wait will decrease.
We have lots planned this year that should help us keep busy.

Have a great 2008!

Tide Gal & Tide Guy

Just finding out?

When you find out about our blog and begin reading you may wonder why you just now found out we were adopting. You may find out a year or more from the time I am typing this. Maybe less. At this present time, we have yet to decide when we will tell everyone we are adopting.

In this current time, we have completed our paperwork and it has been in China for a month; however, the wait is very long. Possibly 2 years long or longer. We are aware of many people waiting who have been asked numerous times why the child isn’t home yet, how much longer, when are you leaving? The answer to all these questions and many more is, “We don’t know.” So, to avoid having to answer these questions and constantly reminding ourselves that we don’t know, we are waiting until the time is closer. Right now, the only people who know are immediate family members and people who helped complete our paperwork.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride with us. Your wait won’t be as long as ours has been!!

Tide Guy & Tide Gal

1 Month Down!

WOW, we are one month into our wait. That went by fast, but I'm sure the wait will be harder and seem longer as time goes by. Luckily we are at the beginning process of building a house so that should heavily occupy our time for more than a year.

We just got invited to a yahoo group with others who are LID the same as us. That should be fun.

We have a Log In Date!!

Things are going very fast!

We certainly cannot complain about our time frame or all of our paperwork. The time frame was quick as our paperwork went smoothly. Yes. I said it went smoothly. We heard horror stories, various problems, lots of running around, resubmitting forms, numerous trips to the post office, having to make tons copies and faxing, driving all over for notaries and verifications, and numerous complaints & headaches about the time and effort it took to do all of the above. So we purchased a program through our agency where they did it all for us. All we did was send it to them and they handled all the headaches for us. They were so genuinely nice, efficient, and incredibly professional. It was worth every penny!

In September, we returned from a vacation on a Sunday and found our fingerprint appointments in the mail for the following Wednesday morning! We completed our prints on September 15, 2007. Our approval date was October 11, 2007 and we received our I-797 in the mail on October 15, 2007. We are approved for twins!

After this information, we were able to complete our part of the paperwork and mail it to our agency on October 17, 2007. Of course they received the mailer in about 2 days. From there, forms were sent to the state of Alabama. This is where we had a slow streak for the second time from the state. The only two bumps we've had with paperwork causing about a total 3 week delay.

Our agency received all our work from Alabama, sent it to DC where all forms were hand carried through to complete our paperwork.

Our agency received our paperwork on Thursday, November 1, 2007 and was sent to China on Friday, November 2, 2007. The paperwork arrived in China on Monday, November 5, 2007 and we were Logged In on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Fast.

We are so excited. We are officially waiting.

Here We Go...

This is our journal for our on going adoption from China.

We have requested healthy twin girls. Yes. We know. We are asking for it. But, double trouble is double fun!

We will have more information as it comes and as we learn to use the blog.