Well, here we are in April. We had originally hoped that we would be traveling to China for our daughter in May but due to unforeseen delays, it looks like we should be traveling in late August or even September. Up until last week we were waiting for our approval letter from the USCIS. Apparently, there was a period of time in January and February that the Hague unit for the USCIS was in extended training which resulted in unprecedented delays. What is normally a 5-6 week process is running more like 8-10 weeks. It is extremely difficult to be patient when you know that there is a child in desperate need of language just waiting to come home. We received our approval letter last Monday, had it notarized on Tuesday and then took it to the Secretary of State that day. Of course, we had a little bump and the Secretary of State’s computers were actually down so we couldn’t pick it up till Monday.
My goal was to have everything copied, signed and ready to mail on Thursday but I had a huge event I was involved with and ran out of time so our package will be sent off to Washington, DC tomorrow. The Caring Hands representative said it will be 10 business days total and we should be able to send everything to our agency by April 25th! After that, we will be able to send our dossier to China! Then we settle in for another long wait.
What about the Shoes?
My family has been looking for ways to raise money for our orphanage fees and for our time off work in creative and non stressful ways. In one of the adoption groups, I ran across a fundraiser suggestion that has parents collect pairs of gently used shoes through an organization called Funds2Orgs. This organization collects gently used shoes and sends them to developing nations where they help individuals build small microbusinesses selling shoes. Our job, as an shoe drive family is to collect as many pairs of shoes as possible. We have set an outrageous goal of 10,000 pairs of shoes. So, starting today, we will be collecting gently used shoes in throughout the Central Ohio community. If you or someone you know lives in Central Ohio and would like to help us collect shoes, please send me an email.
It has been 10 months since we set eyes on the little darling that we will call daughter. As parents we all know how fast a child can change and grow in just a short period of time and we have been hoping for an update on our little princess. Since we had to request an extension to our Pre-Approval to adopt Lydia, we also took the opportunity to request updated photos and information. Lydia is growing steadily. Her hair is a bit longer than it was last April (when her file was prepared) and she has gained almost 9lbs. She is almost the exact same size as Ezra at age 2.5. She is definitely going to be a tiny little thing. In our update we were able to ask a handful of questions and I got a kick out of this one:
Does Yi Nuo have a nickname? What do you call her?
伊诺有小名吗？平时怎样叫她？平常阿姨不怎么叫她，
她听不见，沟通的时候拍拍她
She cannot hear. When we communicate, we pat her.
As an interpreter/translator, this cracked me up. Silly me. Of course they do not “call” (yell) for her. I should have done a better job in thinking out my questions. I am pleased to know that they do communicate with her through touch. In her update pictures and video she all smiles, walking with ease and seems very happy.
If you are interested in helping to bring Lydia home, we have a donate link here:
She is so precious. Thank you for sharing your update. I can’t wait until you can hold her in your arms.
She’s so precious! I hope the process moves quicker than expected, so you can bring your daughter home!
Me too! I need a God speed blessing on the next round of paper work!
What an amazing thing you are doing! Do you have to be local to send shoes? I’m moving & im sure I will come across a lot of shoes I could send!
You are so kind. I can’t imagine trying to send a bunch of shoes to us but thank you so much.
You are such an amazing family! I love that God called you to adopt a little girl with special needs. I have Cerebral Palsy and am living a great life. God bless!
Thank you for sharing! Every time I look at her, I know she is going to do amazing things. No limits for this little one.
My brother in law’s sister who is much older than him adopted 2 children from China 25 and 23 years ago. Although they both had some needs of immediate surgery, one had lazy eye and cleft lip and was 18 months before he could be picked up. The second one had hand deformity webbing of digits and was also 18 months when they got to go to pick her up also. They had therapy and language classes as soon as they got them with their parents learning to speak Chinese. But have grown up happy and healthy and have made their parents grandparents. I hope that your adoption goes smoother. They had to have extra money wired over while they were over there. She said if she could she would have brought 10 children back with her.
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Best of luck! She is adorable!
She is absolutely precious! Hope she’s home soon with you! 🙂
Thanks for sharing. It must be heartbreaking having all these delays, but the reward will be so great when you can finally bring her home! Blessings to you and your family.
She is adorable! I hope it all happens quickly and smoothly.
I have never followed an international adoption process. Best of luck to your family!
Oh my, she is just adorable!! Prayers to you and your family for a quicker process!! Ive heard it can be quite strenuous, but of course worth it!! I wish i was in Ohio!! We have so many extra shoes!