LOA !!!!!!!!!!

December 21, 2012

The day started off by celebrating Khaki's second birthday. We went to the donut shop and then I needed to run some errands for Christmas items. My phone rang while walking into the post office to mail a package to Lance and his family.....CCAI DENVER calling! Oh, could it be? The sweetest voice was on the other end, Sarah H.  She told me that she had something to put under my Christmas tree. I then proceeded to hoot and holler and rejoice with a few tears. Oh, sweet Rex, we are so close to coming to get you. Our LOA showed up FAST according to the China Adoption World ....only 32 days from Pre-Approval. It was such a wonderful CHRISTMAS surprise and we are so grateful to place this wonderful package under our tree.

Our little KING

REX PATRICK CODE 

We are so thrilled to name our son. I love his name. Rex means "KING" and is a family name. (My grandmother's oldest brother) and Patrick is Jordan's middle name and his mother's maiden name.

The Story of US Begins

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

Man, the tears are already starting to flow as I type. I have been dreaming of what this post would say and now to actually put my fingertips on the keys, it makes me weep with deep PRAISE to my Lord. 

The girls had just finished their nap and I had made plans with Jordan for him to meet me at Nordstroms after work so that I could buy some new makeup. He was to take the girls to the play area while I browsed the lipsticks. But before we headed to the mall, I needed to run into Publix for a few items. We went to Publix and as we were checking out,  I ran into an old Tampa aquaintence. This person has since moved so I was shocked to see her in my grocery store. We had a nice conversation and  we headed out the door into the parking lot. As we were saying our  goodbyes , I realized my phone was LIGHTING up in my purse.   I guess I had turned it on silent during nap times and never turned the ringer back on, but nonetheless I glanced down and saw that it was the  agency calling .....Realizing that this was NOT the most convenient time to take a "referral" call, I let the call go to vm.  I had no PEN to write down important facts, and no peace and quiet to truly LISTEN to what they would tell me. So,  I bolted to the car with a cart full of groceries and tried to fasten the girls as quickly as I could into their seats. I quickly gave the girls the lecture of how mommy was going to make an important phone call and that they needed to stay quiet while I was talking. BUT FIRST, I listened to the voicemail that our agency representative left. It was a very generic message...please call me back at your earliest convenience and that sort of thing.  I got Jordan on the phone and we conferenced called the agency to listen to them tell us about a precious child.  (All of this is going on while I am driving on Dale Mabry to Nordstroms ) CCAI told us as much as they could about this precious child and asked if we would want to see the entire medical file. We shouted "YES" into the phone.  And with that....the Lord started to work in ways that only HE could orchestrate. Jordan and I didn't say a word to each other when we both reached the parking lot of the mall....we just SMILED. We walked in and I immediately called my ENT and asked her to review the file for us. She is not only a fabulous doctor but has performed surgeries on both of my girls. She is a believer in the Lord Jesus and she was so excited to help us. I bought make up and then we all hurried home to get the girls in bed. Jordan and I were pretty anxious to just sit and read the entire 23 pages of information that we had received. We read and read it again and read it again...and that first night we prayed that the LORD would make it clear that this was our child. The next morning, I emailed the file to our pediatric cardiologist's office and to the international adoption doctor out in California. However, with all this joy, also came some sorrow. Tuesday morning was also the same day that I learned of my Uncle W.C.'s passing. It was an incredible emotional beginning to our week.  

It wasn't until THURSDAY that things got really exciting.  I got a call early that morning from the heart doctor's office manager saying that he would be calling us after rounds later that day and  the international adoption doctor emailed me to set up a conference with us that was literally just 30 minutes after the heart doctor's conference call. All I could think was that the Lord was in the business of TIME MANAGEMENT and that these two doctors would be able to help us make our decision. I picked up Finley at school at 12:30 and got the girls Chick Fil A and went to my parents house to wait for the two conference calls. I put them upstairs and they were happy as clams to be watching a movie and eating and plus this gave me some peace and quiet to be able to talk to these doctors. I settled in at the kitchen table with my pad of paper to take studious notes and my big ol glass of diet coke. The phone rang, I look down, and it's NOT the heart doctor. I thought "who could be calling me at this time?" I hesitated to answer, because I didn't want to miss the heart doctor's call, but I answered and guess who it was..THE ENT!!!! I quickly thanked her for her call but warned her that I may have to cut it short bc of the already planned phone appointment. She assures me that it will be quick. She proceeds to tell me that she and her audiologist looked at the file and that things looked great...and that their gut tells them that there is no unilateral hearing loss based on the tests and the results that they were given. I get off the phone with her and the heart doctor calls and says that the VSD was repaired successfully and that this precious child will have a long healthy life and will be capable of doing anything he wants. The international adoption doctor pretty much echoed everything that the two other doctors had said.  Remember we woke up on Thursday knowing NOTHING and within 2 hours, we heard from ALL THREE of our doctors.  Jordan and I talked afterwards and prayed together over the phone before I called the agency to tell them that THIS WAS OUR SON.  It was one of the most unbelievable feelings that I have ever experienced. I even love typing those words. This process has done something incredibly sweet to our family. It has grown us in our faith...made us trust GOD more, and believe HIM when he says that he has meant  everything for good.  We waited almost 4 months to see this sweet precious face and it truly is one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen. He has deep almond eyes, squishy cheeks , and the perfect heart shaped lips.  That night, I wrote our LOI and the next morning we headed to Mobile, Alabama to celebrate the life of my Uncle WC. God's timing of this referral was not an accident. My uncle was THRILLED about the adoption and was always asking about our progress every time I saw him in the past year. It was not a mistake that the Lord took Uncle WC home but blessed our family with a new life all in the same week. I know that my Uncle would have been so happy to have heard the news that we had been matched.

We couldn't be more thrilled and feel more humbled that we have been given the blessing to parent this child. We stand in the shadows of God's greatness and give honor and praise to HIM who gave us this child that we have so desperately prayed for. 

The Countdown has BEGUN

  
We Officially received our LID (Log in Date) as July, 20, 2012. This is just a miraculous 2 days after our dossier was delivered to the welfare offices. This step alone can take up to a month, so we are ever so grateful. The Log In Date is the FINAL step in the process and it also means that this is the beginning of the countdown to our referral. (a fancy way of saying being matched) It literally could be any day now when we receive that glorious phone call. Until then the Code's are going to be enjoying the last few days of summer and preparing our hearts and home for this new little one to join our family. My next post will be when we see our new son/daughter's face. 

Three beautiful little letters- that mean so much to us "DOSSIER TO CHINA"  We received a notice from our agency saying that ALL of our official documents are on their way to China. Agh, I can breathe and rest in the LORD knowing that he is preparing the perfect child for our family.

Signed Sealed and Delivered

We had some great news today. Our dossier has completed the critical review stage and arrived at the main branch in Colorado this morning. Our next notice will be when the dossier has been sent to China.

Chuga Chuga Choo Choo....

OUR DOSSIER was received at CCAI and is under critical review.  Meanwhile our final documents are getting authenticated in Houston and will just be shipped to be included at the last minute. OH, we are almost there.

BIG STEPS TAKEN

Well, we had two very important things happen this week. First we received our 1800 Approval Form. It can take up to 90 days, but we got ours back after only 33 days and I even received a personal email from the actual immigration case worker saying that everything looked great and as soon as our USCIS fingerprints were processed that we would be good to go!  THEN today, I mailed the BULK of our dossier to our dossier department for critical review. (Our dossier is only missing the 2 docs) AND we shipped off the 1800 approval form and our official home study off to the state department for certification. Once those two little beauties get returned then they go straight to Houston for Authentication and back to us to be added to our dossier. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I make my own personal "goal" of being completely finished by June, but we shall see. This is all very exciting and we are thrilled to be this far into the process. God continues to show himself in the smallest of details.

Fingerprinting Appointment

Jordan and I had our appointment with the USCIS this past Wednesday to be fingerprinted. It was pretty non eventful. Our apt was at 2 and in true government fashion did not get called back until 45 minutes later. It was fun , however , to see Jordan In the middle of his work day And we had a good time chatting. We also heard from the officer that is assigned to our case and said that our notice ( the I 797 form) is in the mail. This is so exciting and we can't wait to see that little beauty in our mailbox.

Plugging Ahead

I just received the documents back from Grant. I am really hoping to get everything copied and sent to our agency by Monday. Fingers crossed.

Houston...we don't have a problem

Happy to report that Grant dropped off the documents on Friday, May 4th with no problems and will be able to pick them up later on this week and return them to us via priority mail. WHICH means that we are just one teeny tiny step away from sending it all to our agency to prepare the dossier for us. My goal is to be logged in by June.

That was Easy!

Received our documents back from the Secretary of State this past Tuesday, April 10. That was a quick turn around time. Next stop on the adoption trail......handing my BIG stack of papers to my brother GRANT so that he can walk them into the Chinese Consulate in Houston. He is saving us mega bucks. And now Grant will have some part in the adoption process which I am sure makes him all warm and fuzzy inside.  Ha! Looking forward to seeing all my brothers and entire family this weekend in Mobile as we celebrate Grannie's 90th Birthday.

Completed ! Check it off the list !!!!

Oh wow - we've had a very big monumental week! We are officially done with our part- we completed our second home study, all of our documents are ready to be sent to the Secretary of State to be authenticated and our 1800a form is ready to be mailed. If all goes well our social worker thinks that our dossier will be in China by the end of May! I've never been so nervous to mail a package of papers but it is a huge deal to be this far into the process. Again my agency rocks!!

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First Homestudy

Jordan and I Had our first home study last night and it went amazingly well. Our SW is very easy to talk to and it was more like chatting over a cup of coffee than a stressful time. I did clean the house but I didn't go crazy- wanted to give her a glimpse of what our reality is rather than trying to impress her. Plus she wasn't wearing white gloves- so we were good ! we have one more meeting with her and then our home study is complete. Reslly quite simple! On another front- I am waiting on one clearance to come through and then our docs will be ready to send to the secretary of state to be authenticated. We are rocking and rollin' away.

Where we are now

So, I have gotten all of our documents together  except for our physical exams. Mine is scheduled for this Friday and Jordan's is later this month. After those little things are done, then I can send all the stuff to the Secretary of State to get authenticated. Our HS should start very soon and that makes me VERY excited!!!!!

Up and Running

We had our phone conference with our social worker to go over ALL the details of how to start and  prepare the dossier. WOW! There's a lot, but our agency is AWESOME and works really hard to keep us on track and provides various check points along the way so that there are no mistakes. I did feel overwhelmed when I first saw the 47 page dossier guide, but now after talking to our social worker, I just feel happy. Extremely happy that we are about to embark on this journery. We are in the FULL throws of the process now. I can't believe it is really happening, but it is and we are so excited. Wish me luck in gathering all the documents and dealing with the local , state, and Chinese consulate in Houston.

Approved!

We were approved by the adoption agency and completed our first round of paperwork. About the most difficult part of that process was to write an autobiography. Jordan and I have our orientation with the social worker on Tuesday night, January 17th to learn about our next step. I am finding a lot of peace in the adoption process. It is very comforting to just follow the little checklists that they supply. I wanted to quickly post two Christmas presents that I received. My SIL just adopted from Uganda and she has already shown a lot of love and support about our decision to adopt from China. She gave me a couple of books and the items pictured below. We still have kept "mum" on our decision to most people, but I am proudly displaying these items in my home and holding them close to my heart. The "waiting" necklace was purchased off of etsy at keeferstylecreations.com and the ornament is the Chinese word for "Family".