Happy Monday!

I can honestly say, I normally hate Mondays!! Monday's symbolize the end of the weekend and getting back to real life as, I like to say. Normally Monday's are kind of blah and do not bring good news. BUT, today is different!! Maybe I should start loving Mondays :)

Today, we received notification that our Dossier (which is all of our paperwork) has been logged in China!! We are officially LID, but wait it gets better!! We have been LID since 8/13 so, we are already on day 11 of our 60+ day wait for our LOA!! Woooohooo!!

Now...when I think that today couldn't get better, it DID!! In my inbox was updated pictures of Madison. They sent us 8 birthday pics, she looks annoyed in most of them :) Ahhhhh.... she is so my daughter with that attitude. It's really wonderful to see that she is getting our packages and is being loved so much by her foster family. I am truly appreciative of them. I should be getting a update later this week which I will share once I have it!!

Happy Birthday Madison

Today is bittersweet, my baby turns two. I wish she was home with us to celebrate but, I know that she is with her loving foster family. On one hand I am thankful that she is with a wonderful foster family who loves her but, on the other hand I am crying inside that she isn't home with us. I keep reminding myself that this time next year, she will be home and we will be throwing her a big bash.

So... Happy Birthday Madison....we love you!!

Our Paperwork is off to China

So, after a day and half of running around and getting our paperwork certifed and authenicated by Santa Clara County, State of California and the Chinese consulate, our paperwork was offically sent to China on Weds August 5th! Our coordinator let us know that it was recieved in China on Monday August 10th, now we are waiting for it to be translated and then logged in (LID). Once it's logged in then the looooooooooong wait for our letter of approval (LOA) will begin. We expect to wait a min of 90 days for our LOA, but are hoping it will come faster.

We are still hoping to travel in Jan/Feb (but would love for things to move faster and travel in Dec)

Keep your fingers crossed for speedy approvals :)

I-800A Approval & the whirlwind

We are so lucky that we got a wonderful case worker at USCIS & she was able to approve our I-800A last Friday (July 31st). We were so excited because this was the last bit of paperwork we need before getting our Dossier ready for China.

Yesterday, I spent the day in the city with my mom getting our paperwork authenticated by the state department and the China consulate. What a expensive, whirlwind of a day!! We left at 6:30am & didn't get home till after 8pm. We visited the state office, the China consulate (twice) & then over the golden gate bridge to my wonderful China coordinator!!!

Well...it was all worth it, our China coordinator is sending our paperwork to China tomorrow (Weds Aug 5th)

Waiting...Waiting & more Waiting!!

The title of this blog pretty much sums up the China adoption process. Right now we are waiting on our adoption agency to approve our homestudy so that we can submitt it to US governement for I-800A approval. Once we submitt than will wait for that approval and once we have that approval than our paperwork goes to China for approval and the waiting goes on and on!!

I am not normally a super patient person (as y'all know) but, I am learning that there are things out of my control and that everything will happen when it is suppose to. But it doesn't make it any easier. So, for now I will just make sure that my paperwork is ready to go and that everyone else will be organized and timely!!

On another note Jake is having surgery tomorrow so that should keep me busy and distracted for a few days while I nurse him back to health :)

New pics

New Pictures & A New Name

We requested a update from a service in China about our little darling daughter and much to our surprise and joy we also received 3 updated pictures!! We were so thrilled but, it caused us to pause and begin to think about her "American" name.

I thought it was going to be an easy process picking a name (well it was for Jake) but, I was wrong! When I was prego with Jake, John took total control and picked the name, he was instant!! Seriously, I only got to weigh in on middle names. At the time we agreed that I was in charge of picking the next child's name. At the time, I thought to myself easy peasy!! NOT!! I definitely had ideas but, so did everyone else. So after a lot of thinking and listen to other peoples ideas, we have decided on:

Madison Liang Silva