Dossier to China, and a Happy Birthday!

After many months of interviews, appointments, paperwork, notarizing, certification, and authentication, we're happy to report that our Dossier is complete and was shipped to China!  Now we wait to get "logged in" with the CCCWA and then the translation of our documents will begin.

In other news, little sister celebrated her 3rd birthday on December 9.  While we were sad we couldn't be there in person, we were able to throw a birthday party for her and the other children in her facility!  A birthday cake and treats were brought in for all the kiddos by our agency's China contact.  By the pictures you can see it looks like they had a great time.

Within the next few months we'll be bringing this peanut home!

Love this one of her with some friends (she's the cutie in the middle)!!

Wrapping Up the US Paperwork

Our US paperwork is nearing completion!  We took a day trip to Des Moines on December 8 for our fingerprinting at the US Customs & Immigration Services (USCIS) office.  We hit a minor roadblock there, but two hours later the fingerprinting was complete and we were on our way.  Surprisingly, the approval came through only three days later!  It is definitely not typical to go through so quickly.

Once we get this final piece of paper in the mail -- our I-800A -- it will be authenticated, certified, and combined with all of the other documents we completed over the past few months (physical exam reports, homestudy, employment verification, background checks, etc).  This stack of papers makes up our Dossier. 

People keep asking when we're going to go get her.  The short answer: We expect to travel to China sometime between April-June 2016.  The longer answer of what's left:

• I-800A approval is authenticated at the state level
• I-800A gets certified by the Chinese Consulate in Houston
• Dossier shipped to China
• Dossier translated in China
• Dossier moves from translation to "in review"
• Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China
• We go back to USCIS for a final I-800 paperwork step
• Travel Approval (TA) received from China
• We coordinate our travel and fly out!

Another adopting couple is in China getting their son from little sister's orphanage this week.  They took the time to send some pictures of her yesterday!  This is the first time we've seen her without her trademark hairclip.  Isn't she great?

Checking More and More Boxes...

There has been a lot of progress over the past two months.  We completed all interviews with our social worker, which in turn allowed her to complete our homestudy.  The approved homestudy was submitted to our adoption agency on November 19 and our application to the USCIS was submitted that same day.  Next up is waiting for USCIS to schedule a fingerprinting appointment in Des Moines. 

We also collected and submitted all but one document for our dossier (the package of authenticated/certified documents for China).  The final dossier document will be our USCIS approval, and after this comes in the mail our dossier will be finalized and sent to China for translation.  We're still several months away from travel but we are trusting in God's timing!

A big surprise today was receiving an update from China!  Little sister seems to be doing great.  She's 35 inches tall and around 26 pounds.  She is in great health, has not been ill, and her physical/mental development is reportedly above average.  She can run, jump, and go up stairs.  She started talking about eight months ago.  We were told, "Now she can speak local dialogue pretty well and she can sing and dance with TV."  Time for us to start learning some Cantonese!

We asked about her personality and received this reply:  "She is timid and shy. She is also active with someone she knows well. She can play very well when she likes you." 

Oh, and we also have some new pictures to share!  We can't wait to hold this little one in our arms.

Five Thumbs Up! (or, "Here We Go Again!")

The Adolphs family is dusting off this ol' blog to share some exciting news.  We will be adding another member to our family!  We submitted our application and Letter of Intent (LOI) over the past few weeks, and just today we received our Pre-Approval (PA) from China!  This means we can make this information public, and we have a green light to continue with our homestudy and paperwork trail.

The five thumbs up picture represents our completion of the first document in the whole process on August 22, 2015.  Our stack of papers has already become quite big and there's a long ways to go.

We appreciate your prayers not only for quick completion of the homestudy and dossier prep, but also that God will be preparing each our hearts for this change (especially little sister's).  Our hope is that we'll be traveling early summer 2016 to bring this beautiful little one home!  Oh, and we suppose you'd all like to see some pictures...  :-)

God is good!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

July 16, 2012:  We wait anxiously in a large room for a little girl we've never met to come out from behind a curtain.  She's carried out by her caretaker and they call our names.  We don't know what to expect, but she comes to Heather immediately.  She's so tired from the 5+ hour trip to get to Guangzhou that day that she falls asleep in Heather's arms.

July 16, 2013:  It's impossible for us to believe that just a year ago, we met a little child that changed our lives forever.  The transition back home was extremely hard; in fact, it was the most challenging time we've gone through together.  But now, we've adjusted and found our new normal.  We don't even remember what it felt like to only have two children running around.  A year ago we wondered if this docile little girl would ever say anything.  Today, we often wonder when this energetic little girl will tire out!

See this little one's transformation for yourself...

Pics from before we met her:

The first time we met:

The first weeks back home:

Getting used to the "new normal":

And today:

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Helen Joy Songxiang Adolphs, we thank God for bringing you into our family.  We and your siblings could not imagine life without you or all of the joy you bring to the rest of us in this house.  Happy Gotcha Day, little girl.

To Ella & Myles, you are both wonderful siblings.  Thank you for welcoming her into our family with open arms and showing her all of your love in your own little ways.  We thank God just as much for bringing the two of you to us.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Helen!

Little Helen turned two on February 23!  We had a big party with extended family on the 23rd and a friends' party on the 24th.  We don't know what it is, but Helen somehow suddenly "seems two years old" now.  Maybe it's all of her new words (that only we really understand, of course) or the new ways we see her interact every day... or her fits (while still cute in a way) now being full-blown two-year-old-tantrums.  :-)

Anyway, anyone reading this is probably just looking for pictures at this point.  Here's the clan celebrating Helen's big weekend!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

...or "Gong Xi Fa Cai" if you prefer Mandarin over Cantonese!  We enjoyed celebrating the first day of the Chinese New Year this past Sunday with a special celebration.  Several local families that have adopted from China get together every year at a local restaurant to celebrate, and the Chinese children all wear traditional attire.  Ella was even able to join in by wearing one of the dresses we brought back with us. 

Enjoy the pictures!