Out of Review --- God's amazing Grace

Well, no news on the LOA front  --- no news on the letters we have sent to C....................BUT, it's amazing. I did my devotions today and played catch up with the last 5 days that I've missed due to being out of sync with the weather. And at least 4 of those 5 days were talking about trust, faith and hope.  It's amazing how this "plan" falls so much in line with HIS plans! 

The only good that I heard from the agency is that we are out of review. The steps to LOA are 1. In Translation, 2. In Review, 3. Match Review, 4. Soft LOA (soft because we see it online and don't have the paper copy yet, and 5. Hard LOA. So we have reached Match Review. Others adopting only 1 child go a LOT quicker through these steps. But with the letters requested by them, my concern no longer becomes the WHEN that it happens, but THAT it happens.  Hoping to hear something in the next few days. On or before Sierra's birthday on Friday.  Hoping that it's positive and they aren't requesting more information or that they are deciding against it.

Thanks for praying and listening to our journey. 

LOA delay/ Waiver refusals NOW??????

This is how I am feeling today after getting bad news yesterday from our agency that now CCCWA is questioning our waivers that the agency PROMISED they could get, and DID get in order to get us PA 96 and 45 days earlier!  The agency has said that they will be mad and fight for us if we are not given our LOA's.........because they gave us PA, with knowledge of the waivers, AND because we have been waiting so long and would have waited a lot longer if the agency hadn't sent someone to check on them.

I am SO SO SAD today!  If they shut down our adoptions, I WILL post about it so that everyone can know.............but then I will probably leave fb for a VERY long time.  I know the hateful things that have been ALREADY said about me and I can't even imagine what they would say if we didn't complete the adoptions................PLUS, just the grief of it all is going to make me want to leave.  Seeing everyone else bring home their children and knowing my girls would not be MY girls would kill me!  Just the thought of it possibly happens makes me want to cry.

People are trying to remind me to stay positive and have faith.  I am TRYING!  :)   I keep reminding myself of the record times for PA that I got on BOTH girls ----- the little one got PA within 1 day (weekend in between) and the older one got PA within 5 hours of FINDING the file to lock it!  UNHEARD OF!!!

I am trying to keep this in mind.  I am trying to know and believe that HE wants us to have them (and so we will!) --- between a loan and cc's I think we are even almost fully funded for BOTH!  (though the loan repayment will be tough)  We've also applied for a grant and HOPE to get it to lessen the loan burden as well.

I've also been trying to think of how fast they will allow you to turn around for a "reuse"..........MAYBE they'd let me bring home the younger one (because she is LID and therefore I'd need to have less waivers) and then IMMEDIATELY turn around for the older (without having to wait or redo any more items besides a HS update with SOS and Consulate approval too).  Gary could go for the 1st and I go with Isabelle for the 2nd.  Getting 1 child with 1 parent traveling (and no one else but Belle paying for her own ticket) isn't too bad.  And it would only add the cost of the extra week in country with hotel/food.  Though that's more $ it's better than having either of our girls not come home.

Prayer requested. Day 96 for the little and Day 45 for the older

Today I called the agency again, anxious to hear about the LOA's, even though I'd promised not to call her for a couple more weeks.
I found out that her China rep did get news to them on Wednesday, but she didn't tell me about it because she didn't want to ruin my weekend.


Please pray for our adoptions right now. There are some things happening with our paperwork............we won't know more until at LEAST Monday.

When starting this we had 2 waivers and our agency assured us we were ok  --- 1 for my weight (which I am losing) and 1 for finances when adding the 2nd child on.  I received PA for both girls and they always send the waiver requests in at the same time.

Well, now they are questioning the waivers.  :(   The agency said that they are asking more questions of what C wants............but I won't know more until they do and they are hoping it will be Monday.  She said if it's not Monday, then she will be calling and doing some complaining...........and if they pull us all together she really will be unhappy.  It's their choice, their children...........I get that.  But we are this far, paid SO MUCH to get here and have figured out the rest (pretty much)............please help me to trust Him who is able!  :/

We are heading back into the storm.  We need people to storm the gates for us!

OOT (Out of Translation) 11/4

Today I called for my weekly call to see if there was anything on our LOA (letter of acceptance)..........and I found out we were out of translation!  Typically I am told it takes about a month after that to receive LOA. As I was talking to the agency, I was told they THOUGHT I might be LOA soon, because Chin* called them and told them that we should have 2 LID #'s because we are bringing home 2 girls.  The agency straightened it out and we are ok.  But this means that Chin* is looking at our file!  So that's a good thing!  :)


Update -- 11/9

I have been told that they now have an out of review on the Chin* website for the agencies..........and my friend's out of review was 23 days AFTER the OOT..............so just to get out of review will probably take us to 101 days (11/27) --- and that's not even with getting our LOA!  :(

90 days is average for LOA if you are getting 1 child (though many are shorter!) and for us that is 11/16 --- a week from today.

A little thinking about names :)

We have given each child a fruit of the Spirit as a middle name, we are also considering an attribute of the spirit --- Grace as a middle name too.

We will use their current Chinese names as their second middle name...............

Here are the fruit/attributes that are left for us to consider for the 1st middle name:

Grace/Karis (also Grace)
Joy
Love
Patience
Mercy


For the 1st names, we have run through a lot in our minds.  We already have 2 I's, and 2 S's...............so we were thinking either another I and S (so all the bigs would be I and the littles S) or 2 more with the same letter though they are not close in age.

Family names ----   Elaine (cousin that is currently ill), Great Aunts --- Edie, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mildred, Helen, Althea
Grandma's --- Alice, Dorothy (Dottie), Maude, Mabel, Naomi, Elizabeth
Mom's --- Donna, Betty (not a short for Elizabeth)

Just looking at this list I see Elizabeth as a theme.............we'd already talked about this name as a long version of Betty --- and calling her Betsy.................we also like the short version Eliza

If we went with Elizabeth (God is my oath), another name we like is Elaina (Light) or Eliana (God has answered).

Elaina/Eliana Grace
Elizabeth (Eliza) Joy

Kaitlyn
Karis
Kiana


I believe that will be our girls names................now, which will be which????

Going for TWO now!!!! Nini

Well, on 7/23 our agency received 5 files from their Chinese orphanage partnerships.  I expected nothing as I knew there were others ahead of us and I wanted to be DTC for a couple months before referral anyway (to help shorten the LOA --- letter of acceptance --- wait).  I asked the agency though, and was told there were 5 ahead of me..............none of which were looking for the 5-6 yr old girl we were.  So I felt VERY confident about being in an upcoming batch of referrals.

Instead --- on 7/26 they sent us the referral information on a little 21 mo old girl with cleft lip (and palate by the looks of it)................since Isabelle was cl/cp, we took her!!!!   I waited a couple days because I didn't want Gary to feel like I was pressuring him.

See, all along I had been telling him I knew we were supposed to get 2.  At times, I didn't think it would be at the same time, but just that week I'd felt more than ever that it should be 2 at the same time and be done..........here is was now on Friday --- about 3 days later --- and the agency sent me this file!  There had been another family that looked at her file and decided they didn't have the speech help that all cl/cp kids need..........so in my mind, this was just confirmation of getting 2.

I still waited a couple days though and then on 7/29 (Monday), I called to tell the agency we were taking her, but that we STILL wanted the 5-6 yr old girl we had started out for................:)

So here she is!!!!   Her nickname at the orphanage is PROBABLY  Nini.............and I think that is CUTE too!!!!  :)

HS ADDENDUM

Well, once the HS copies got to me on 7/20................I was reading them over and was SHOCKED to realize that there were SEVERAL mistakes on it!!!!  My birthday was actually Sierra's birthday and several other things.  I blame myself --- but of course, I DID give them my original HS with all the CORRECT information in PRINT.

My agency told me I would just need a 1 page addendum outlining all the changes --- and no SOS or consulate!

However, my HS agency had this knowledge on the 22nd and SAT on it.............we FINALLY received all of the copies late 8/6..........and I forwarded them to the agency on 8/7.  Everything else had been already loaded into the computer and ready for DTC by the 30th!   GRRR.............so we JUST got DTC today --- 8/8...............thankfully we are DTC now and finished with the HS agency.

Unfortunately, NOW we are fully at the mercy of the CCCWA............I have no idea when we will be LID (logged into China), but we won't turn in our LOI (letters of intent) until we are LID.  :)

Consulate and More

On 7/11 we set back out to the Secretary of State (SOS) to get the last 2 documents certified.
On 7/12 we were in the Consulate for the 1st time.............me and all 4 kids.........that is enough to drive you crazy!  They looked at the documents from the FIRST SOS trip -- all but 2 -- that the SOS had stamped with a black and white stamp instead of color (it was the 1st day they were doing black and white).........and rejected all of them.  We had to return to the SOS and get them to correct it....................
So off to the SOS to get them to correct it immediately.

We got there in time for them to correct it, which they did by putting the color ones on --- taking off the black and white...............

Frustrated at this point and discouraged, we stayed the weekend in Austin --- and made a stay cation out of it as daddy joined us that night.

Sunday daddy left and we headed BACK to the consulate on Monday (7/15).

On Friday we went to Fedex to copy ALL of our documents!  Thinking we didn't need to copy the NEW SOS letters, we went straight there and were turned back --- for new copies of the SOS stuff.

After going to Fedex AGAIN.........we went back to the consulate a 3rd time..............and they went through all but 2 documents --- passing...................those 2 were Gary's birth certificate because I didn't copy the back of it AND the home study because the HS agency paper clipped their certifications onto the back instead of stapling them..............she told me it had to be fixed.

So I went BACK to Fedex and copied Gary's BC.....................and then I did what to them in the adoption world is unthinkable.   I KNEW that most won't accept documents with holes in it or anything added on.........SO, I color copied the entire dossier ---- except the signature page with the SOS certificate attached to it, re-stapled it, and headed back to the consulate.

I had already been in tears, messaging everyone I could.  I was going to try whatever I could to make THIS work.

I got back to the consulate for the 3rd time that day, 4th time total.  I got that same lady again, so I waited for another...............They quickly took the birth certificate. Then the 1st lady told the 2nd lady stuff in Chinese..............and she questioned me A LOT!!!!  She told me that because the signature page had holes in it (from the SOS unstapling the black and white copies!) that she didn't think it would be accepted (though they'd taken the rest of them!).  BUT that she'd TRY..............and if it didn't work, they would call me BEFORE the documents were to be done 4 days later.

Thankfully when I returned, I expected to pay about $450 and only paid a $300.   AND I had lost the ticket from the original 10 documents after having to rush to Fedex.................but they FOUND it!!!! EASILY!!!!!  They made me copy my license to get it though ---- and pointed out the copy machine that sits right inside their door.............ugh!   And ALL documents were CLEARED!!!!   I was nervous and afraid they hadn't contacted me, but that it still wasn't going to be accepted.

So, in preparation for that, I contacted the HS agency and had them send me more originals of my HS.

Thank you God that this part is over!!!!

Secretary of State and Chinese Consulate

On July 1st (June 30th) the girls and I traveled to Austin to the secretary of state.   I'd hoped we'd go on  to the Houston consulate, but at the SOS 2 of our documents were considered insufficient.  One was because I'd brought the copy and not the original, but the other was Gary's employment letter had an incomplete notary statement!  UGH.

So we came home and I drove right to his work so that hopefully we'd get it taken care of sooner.  It's now the 11th and we STILL don't have a corrected employment letter...........so today I am taking the old one, along with a authentication letter to get THAT notarized...........and then me and all 4 kids are headed back to the SOS and on to the consulate.

I'd planned on expediting at the consulate, but yesterday I found out my birth certificate was actually supposed to go to the Chicago consulate!   And there's no expedite there............so if we get to Houston today and they refuse to do my BC, I will send it on to Chicago and just travel back to Houston next week to pick up the other documents..........and then overnight them all to the agency.

I was hoping for DTC this week, now I'm just praying it'll be by the end of July!


Terri for the Casebier's

FINALLY!!!! A little JOY!!!!! 5/28/13

Last Thursday, like clock work, I received my fingerprint notice..........a week earlier I had gotten the receipt for the 800a (supp 3).  I was stoked!  On Friday I was nervous.  The HS agency still was missing references, but I had overnighted second copies on Thursday..................the agency closed at noon and no one was answering phones all morning.

The person I was calling finally emailed me at about 1230 to say that they'd received the references and told me the last steps for getting the HS to me.  I NEED to get that to USCIS before I get tagged for more information.  It seemed fairly easy.  I had given them my FedEx # for these steps because the USPS hadn't even gotten those mailed 2 weeks ago to them yet..................all that needed to still happen was for them to print and sign it (sign it back here in FW) and then send it to me and the agency.  HOW EXCITING!!!!

Well, we waited all weekend (Memorial day weekend, so we went to grandma's!) to only find out that Gary's fp notice STILL hadn't come...........................:(

This morning just after 8 I called USCIS about the fp letter.  The lady was very kind and told me that somehow he had been left off, so she was putting his prints into the system and we would get the notice ---- and we could go in together, though his notice would have a different date.  That's ok, because we had planned to walk in early anyway..........so now I'll just have to do it next week instead of this week.

I asked about how I needed to send my HS in since we didn't send it with the supp 3.  To my SURPRISE!  She told me we had the SAME WONDERFUL OFFICER we had last time!!!!  :)   Many are WAITING for an officer, though they applied before us.  I figure it's because we are doing a supp 3 and she was our last officer..........this is exciting.

In the mean time, the HS agency called saying they don't have the paperwork needed to send our agency.  But when I called our agency, she said that the HS agency ALREADY SENT IT  before!!!  So even easier!!!!  All they need is the HS!!!

But wait!!!!  There's more!!!!   God has been SUPER WONDERFUL in sharing today!!!!
We went to cancel G's life insurance policy..............we are switching to term because the agent sold us the wrong kind of insurance and the policy will end in about 8 years instead of being WHOLE life like it was supposed to be...............we also want to cash out mine, but don't know if I will be accepted for term yet, so we are waiting on that................but in the mean time, we asked about the surrender value for the policy and it would almost FULLY FUND our adoption!!!!!  :)

Please pray mine can be cashed out as well so that we can rest knowing our funds are there.  It is just one more HUGE confirmation that we are supposed to do this adoption!!!!!

And that we can do a quick turn around on our paperwork to get our dossier to China!  And that China will accept our 7 yr old dossier, as the agency says it will.  Just in case, I have been redoing it as we go too.........;0)