A productive weekend

I had a very good weekend.  I spent Saturday at my monthly scrap booking party, I finished cleaning the paint off the floor and spent the evening with my wonderful grandchildren.  I am currently working on a scrapbook for our sweet Clare.  I am using the photos given to me by some wonderful missionaries.  I am also using the stories that Little Flower posts on it's blog to tell her about her life before joining our family.  

Here are some of the pages I finished:

I800 provisional approval!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am hoping to have all the pictures I currently have done by the time I get to go to China.

Please continue to pray and spread the word about our fundraiser.  It ends on Saturday at midnight.  We have currently raised $95 of the $3500 we need to be fully funded.  We are so close, please help us get to our butterfly. 

 

For every $5.00 donation, you get a chance at an Ipad II.  You can also get a chance for sharing our fundraiser on twitter, facebook, or your blog.

Please help us bring sweet Clare home.

Thank you,

Suzanne



Waiting and our new Fundraiser

We have had several people ask us if we were still adopting Clare and the answer is YES!!!! 

We are just at a point where we have to wait.  Once again, our paper work is in the immigration office and once again, it is being held up.  I spoke with an Officer there and they think we should have our approval in a couple of weeks.  It has been a complete mess.  We sent our I800 overnight on February 15th to the lock box in Texas, after it was checked by our agency.  The whole process was suppose to take 2-3 weeks.  On Wednesday, March 7th I decided to call and see if they had even received our paper work, because I had never received our confirmation letter.  I was totally unprepared for what I was told.  I was told that yes, my paper work was there but, it had been rejected once in February and again on March 1.  The Officer was very kind and said she would figure out what was going on and give me a call back.  About 5 minutes later she called and told me that apparently I had 2 extra numbers on our application, so the computer rejected it.  I had the correct numbers on there, but they are no longer needed and the space to put them there is still present.  So, she told me exactly how to fill out these two pages and that I would have to start over again, when my paper work was returned.  She also told me to make sure I waited until the paper work was returned, because if I sent in new papers they would be rejected if the old were still in the office.  She also informed me, that our paper work was still sitting on our Officer's desk (where it has been sitting since it' s last rejection of March 1.) and she would try and mail it out the next day.  I hung up the phone and cried.

Now, it is March 12th and I go to the mailbox to find a letter from the USCIS saying they received my paperwork at the LOCK BOX on March 1.  On March 15th I have still not received my paper work back.  So, I wrote a very nice, non confrontational email to them asking where my paper work is, why I haven't received it yet (it is now 14 days since the last rejection), and can I just recollect all the information again and overnight it the next day.  The very nice Officer called me about 90 seconds after I sent the email and told me she was looking into it, right now while I was on the phone.  Come to find out, an actually human looked over my papers, typed the information in herself and it was actually accepted on March 2nd.  Then she said she looked at the Officer's case load we are assigned to and she should get to it in the next 2 weeks.

So, we now have to sit and wait some more.  I have cried so much over all of this it is driving me nuts.  I have decided to leave it all in God's hands and focus on something else.  I have chosen to focus on the last bit of money we need to bring our sweet Clare home.  We were full funded, but with the hold up in immigration, we will now probably not travel until very late March or early June.  Mid March  starts China's Tourist season and with the cost of gas rising the ticket prices really go up.  We now find ourselves short $4500.00.  We have $1000.00 in savings, we had put aside for her health care once she got home, but we are now going to use it towards our tickets.  That still leaves us short $3500.00. 

This fundraiser will run from Friday, March 17th to Saturday, March 24th at midnight.  Winners will be chosen by: random.org and announced on Tuesday, March 24th.

With every $5.00 donation you will get 1 chance.

You can also earn a chance by sharing on your facebook, blog, or twitter.  Please be sure and leave a comment when you share, because there is no other way for me to keep track of this information.  I am working on the honor system.

Ipad II

Let's recap what your donations will do.

THEY WILL HELP US BRING HOME OUR BEAUTIFUL CHINESE BUTTERFLY!!!!

Please share, share, and share some more!!!  We need all the help we can get.  Prayer is also welcomed!!

Suzanne

LOA

Yesterday I got the phone call that I had been waiting for, our LOA was in.  We waited 71 days for this step to occur.  I really thought I would cry when we finally reached this milestone.  But no, I was really nauseated as it sunk in that I would be going to China, leaving my other children at home and bringing home another daughter.

I went out to eat with my sister and I started thinking about all the things I need to do.  I need to finish the girls room, by a baby bed, carseat, and prepare to leave for China.  I then started thinking about if Clare got sick, what would I do.  I was worried about giving her Tylenol, Adivil or an antibiotic??????  It hit me, this is no different from bringing home any of my children.  I had to test each of my children with these drugs and that I had only known each of them, outside of my belly, for a short time.  Clare is no different, except for the fact she is 5 years old and on the other side of the world.  It is scary, very scary to me.  But I will soon board a plane and go and get my Chinese Butterfly!!!!!!!

Here are pictures from her 5th birthday party!!!!!

They told me that she was not interested in wearing her hat, until after her party was over!!

I enlarge this one, so you could see the beautiful cake they bought her for her birthday. 

Clare we are coming, very soon, to get you.  We love you and can't wait to get to China!!

Suzanne

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY CLARE!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU AND SO WISH I COULD BE WITH YOU AND GIVE YOU ALL THE HUGS AND KISSES YOU DESERVE.

We are working hard to come and get you.  We are still waiting on our Letter of Acceptance.  This is another one of those, "just sit there and try to be patient steps."  I am having a very hard time.  Each day just eats away at me a little more.

Here are some beautiful pictures of our Princess.

Here is a link to her.  She is playing with one of the Christmas presents I sent.  http://littleflowerprojects.blogspot.com/2012/01/mei-meis-baby.html

Later today, I will post pictures of her birthday presents.  I chose not to send anything at this time and to just get her what she needed when we bring her home. 

Please pray we get our LOA soon.  I want to go and get my girl!!

I LOVE YOU PRINCESS CLARE!!!!

Your Forever Mom



Prayers needed, Please.

Tomorrow Hannah will be having surgery to repair her laryngeal cleft, replace her ear tubes and an ABR (sedated hearing test).  Please pray that all will go well and she will have an uneventful and quick recovery.  She is scheduled for 7:30 am.

Hannah had her pre-op physical today and I am not sure why we even had to go.  They didn't bother to take vitals, listen to her heart, lungs or bowels.  They did look into her ears and throat??  My 4 year old could have done just as good a job!!!!!! 

Here is a sneak peak into what Clare has been up to lately:  http://littleflowerprojects.blogspot.com/2011/12/mei-mei-helps-out.html.  I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for the prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suzanne

It's Monday!!!

The waiting is the hardest part.  First you wait on your spouse to say yes, finding the perfect child, finding out if she is available and if you qualify.  Next you wait for the ruff draft of the home study and then back and forth until all corrections are made.  You wait over 2 months on immigration, then on notarizing, certification and authentication.  You finally send in your dossier and wait, some more, until they tell you it is safely in China, translated and in the governments hands!!  Then you WAIT some more.  We are on day 32 of a process that can take well over 100 days.  I am already doing crazy!!  I am currently working on the girl's bedroom.  As soon as we get our LOA, Letter of Acceptance, I will go and buy a baby bed, sheets and car seat.  I am trying really hard to "forget" about it. but it isn't working well.  I have done well with every step, until now.  I just can't get it off my mind!!  I am glad tomorrow is a working day, so maybe we will hear something tomorrow.



I finally had to get Hannah's hair cut.  On the 30th of December, I took her to Great Clips.

At this point, they had only combed her hair and she was trying to cut the first part.

It took about 30 minutes of screaming to get the whole style cut.  She is now tired but very cute looking.  I already miss her long, curly hair, BUT she can't get it wrapped around her finger.  She had been twirling it while I was getting her in the van.

Loudly complaining and fighting for 30 minutes, really wears a girl out.



We are only 2,480 dollars from being fully funded!!!!!!!!!  THANK YOU--- HEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!

Suzanne

Happy New Years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe it is 2012.  I feel like we just started our adoption and than other times, I feel like we have been at this for years.  We had a wonderful time with our family and friends New Year's eve.  We ate, played games and laughed the night away.  I also realized we are getting so much closer to when we get to go and get Clare. 

Our Log in Date, or LID, was December 5th, 2011.  This means our dossier is in China, translated and at the CCWAA, waiting to be looked over.  Now, I have to just sit and wait for our Letter of Acceptance.  This is going to be hard,  I currently have no paper work to do, and nothing to look for.  I do however have other children to keep me busy.

Hannah is scheduled to have surgery on Wednesday.  This was suppose to have been done before Christmas, but was cancelled, because they ran out of ICU beds.  Please pray she will get to have her surgery and that everything will go well.  She is suppose to be in the ICU for 2 days and then a day on the floor. 

Aaron will head back to pre-school on Wednesday.  He is going nuts being home all the time.  We have been lucky here in Missouri and the weather has been awesome.  It has been in the 60's for 3 days, so he has gotten outside. 

Abby will start  back going to ballet 2 times a week for 3 hours as  well as her youth group activities.  Daniel will do the same, minus ballet.  He will restart Boy Scouts next week and is getting closer to working on his Eagle project.  We will resume school, next Monday.  Neither of them are looking forward to that.

I heard from a friend tonight that her son, who was home schooled, was appointed into West Point, starting this June!!!!!!!!!!!!  We are very proud of you Ethan!!!   Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!

We also found out a week before Christmas that we had been blessed with a much needed grant.  We are now currently only $2500.00 away from being fully funded!!!!!!!!!!  Can I hear an AMEN to that.

I am going to try and be better about blogging this year.  I am not sure what happened, other then life, since I last blogged.  I do have a lot to tell you and tons of pictures to load.   I am working on another fundraiser and will hopefully get it up and running soon, so I can quit worrying about money and just get everything set up and ready for Clare.

I am praying everyone has a wonderful and BLESSED 2012!!

Suzanne