First class or coach?

Originally written March 25, 2006

Not too much is new on our end. We have everything ready for our dossier except for our I-171H from Immigration. It's our understanding that someone was terminated due to some type of scandal -- yeah. Therefore, it's taking a little longer for us to get our form back. Two weeks ago, Tuesday, they were working on the week of Jan. 19. They received our home study on Jan. 26. So, we're hoping to get it this week. If we do not have it Monday evening, we will get our caseworker on it.

Speaking of caseworker, ours quit. Apparently I pushed her over the edge. Big surprise there! No, seriously, she got a different job where she won't have to commute. Thank God our home study was complete.

Once we get our form from Immigration, we will go to the Secretary of State's office in Chicago to have our Illinois forms certified. Once that's complete we will go to the Chinese Consulate's office and get all of our forms authenticated. When we receive our packet back from the consulate, we will then be able to officially send our dossier to China. The big important step after that is to get our logged-in date from China. Once we receive our logged-in date, we are officially paperwork-pregnant. Our "pregnancy" will last nearly 10 months . Then we will travel two months after that to get our baby(ies).

In the meantime, we've been keeping ourselves busy picking names, researching furniture and having panic attacks. For those of you who haven't been to a Babies R Us... DON'T GO! It's crazy, overwhelming, and, quite frankly, INSANE!

We have also been invited to start a local chapter of Families with Children from China (FCC). We went to our first meeting this past Thursday. It was pretty neat. Although not too much work was done, we did get to meet a lot of people. We really bonded with two other couples (Mellissa and Steve and Vince and Dani) that are in our age range. Vince and Dani should receive their match from China this week or next. Mellissa and Steve had a logged-in date of July 19, 2005. So they should receive their match sometime in May. It was quite funny because the six of us were the last ones to leave and we kept talking until we got into our respective car.

HINT: Mellissa and Steve's parents are paying for them to fly first-class to Hong Kong.

Naturally, I will be on the marketing/P.R./Web site committee and Jennifer is on the education committee. It's pretty neat. We decided this group will offer bus trips to Chicago for various Chinese attractions, Chinatown, etc. There are also famous Chinese adoption authors available to do a book signings in our area and just social events with our newfound family -- Easter egg hunt, picnics, Chinese New Year celebration. It's cool.

[PAY FOR KEVIN AND JENN TO FLY TO CHINA FIRST CLASS]

Our friends, Will and Amy, will be traveling to Hong Kong Tuesday to pick up Allison. We are very excited to read about their travels through their blog. If you remember we both work with Will at the paper. They are so excited and Allison is a beautiful girl.

[PAY FOR KEVIN AND JENN TO FLY TO CHINA FIRST CLASS]

Through the advice of several Chinese adoptive parents, we bought a couple of books. One is about the Chinese culture, events, holidays, etc. And others are children's books about why they're adopted, etc. For a Chinese celebration example: on the eve of the Chinese New Year, kids receive 'lucky money' envelopes, which are red. In the envelope the money has to be even dollar amounts, but not four -- I guess that number is bad luck. But double fours ($8) is good luck. These envelopes are put under their pillows to receive on the new year. Additionally for first day of the Chinese new year you cannot cook or clean -- something my mother adopted many years ago. No cleaning because you're wiping away the luck of the new year.

[PAY FOR KEVIN AND JENN TO FLY TO CHINA FIRST CLASS]

We have also joined a 'Waiting Families Group' that meets the second Thursday of every month. Jennifer will have to go as I work on the Highland Chronicle on those same days. So I will be interested to hear about that group through our first meeting. Again, this is a social group that the other two couples we met take part in. I'm sure here we will meet other couples that are in the exact same place as we are.

[OKAY PAY FOR KEVIN TO FLY TO CHINA FIRST CLASS]

So, that's about it for now. It's just great to now know several people that are going through exactly what we are going through. I mean, these people who have adopted from China are, literally, coming out of the woodwork (as my grandmother would say). We have another family who is a principal at one of our local high schools that lives on the same street as we do who adopted through China. We work with three other families alone that have adopted through China. And there are acquaintances in Freeport that have adopted through China. It's just amazing the huge network we have here.

We will keep you posted as we know more.

Love... us