Introducing Jaden

Around the end of July, all four us went to California for a weeks vacation. We stayed in San Diego and did all the normal beachy things. We kept saying that this would probably be the last vacation we would take with just the four of us. By next summer, we would be chasing our little sugarplum up and down the beach...too bad we were wrong.

One of the most exciting things about this trip was that we got to drive up to Carlsbad to meet our good friends, Stan and Shawna Spink's, new baby girl Jaden. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. She's so petite and beautiful. She's a perfect blend of her mother and father. We got to be with Jaden on her first day at the beach. Shawna and I were laughing about how much our lives had changed. We used to hang out on the beach all day together as teenagers laying out, reading magazines and eating junk food. Now I was jumping up off my chair every two seconds to make sure Jacob hadn't broken his leg on his wake board or that Benjamin wasn't drowning in the surf. Shawna was busy sitting next to me nursing her baby and changing diapers. Man, how life changes!!! Anyway, we were thrilled to get to meet precious little Jaden Spink.

July 2006

By July 2006 the wait time from LID (log in date) to referral had gone to 13 months. It was very difficult to except that during the four months we had been logged in, the wait had gone up by 5 months. It felt like our journey towards adoption was moving backwards. Thankfully, July was a busy month for us and I didn't have too much time to sit around and be heartbroken over something I had no control over. We just continued to wait and pray for our little girl. Cori and I took the kids up to Flagstaff to get away from the heat. It was such a nice getaway. The kids had so much fun playing together. We drove up to the ski resort one day and took a chair lift ride to the top of the mountain.

Jacob's favorite thing to do while we were there was to go to the skate park. By the time we left he was almost a pro skater. Benjamin had fun too, expect for the nightly thunder storms that would roll in. He could have done without that. But, all and all it was a wonderful trip.

The only thing missing was our sugarplum. We can't wait to have her with us on our trips! Saramarie can't wait either! She's all done being the only girl in the family (or so she thinks!!)!

Pismo June 2006

The boys and I took our first trip of the summer up to Pismo Beach to join up with Sarah, Cody, Axl, Taylor, Dennis and my Dad. We had a great week. We walked on the beach, went crabing, road bikes and even toured some wineries (my favorite part). While we were crabing, we caught some kind of a large star fish, or something. It was really cool looking. The boys were too grossed out to touch it, so I had to be the one to pick it up. One night we went into downtown San Luis for their farmers market. It was a lot of fun. All the food vendor set up tables in the street and there's live music, etc. It was a great way to start off our summer. The only thing missing was our little sugarplum (oh, and Doug).

Pedicures!

Something else that happened in June, was that I got to meet two new friends from Phoenix who are also adopting daughters from China. They are using the same agency as I am and are both logged in in March of 06. There is a good chance we will travel together to get our children. It was so nice to get to talk with both of them. It helps to be able to connect with people who are on the same journey as us. They are both so sweet. We met for pedicures and chatted our little heads off. In the picture below, I'm on the left, Terri is in middle and Mardi is on the right.

Last day of school 2006!

By the second week of June, the boys had finished school. Yipee!! Benjamin was moving on to 2nd grade, and Jacob on to 4th. It's so hard to believe how fast they are growing. Our good friend Olivia Columb (who can't wait to be a "big sister") graduated from Kindergarten and we all got to be there to watch! Summer was officially underway.

Oh Beautiful Boy

At 2:15 AM, the morning of May 31st, our family grew once more with the addition of Lincoln Joseph Seaverns. Norah had a great birth in the comforts of her home. She was the brave, strong Mama she has always been to her boys. With Taylor and Max fast asleep in their beds, Norah gave birth to their brother in her bed in the arms of her husband with her sisters and friends looking on. It was awesome! I love being on births!!! Lincoln weighed in at 7 lbs 11 ozs. He is just precious.

So now, between the three of us girls (meaning myself, Norah and Sarah) we have SIX boys in the family!!! Where in the world is our sugarplum?! Somewhere in China, of course.Anyway, May could not have ended in a better way. Norah had made it through her third pregnancy without any complications and Lincoln had arrived without a hitch. June was right around the corner. School was about to let out, and summer vacation about to begin.

May 2006

By the time May had arrived, the wait time from log in date to referral had gone to 12 months. The reason that the wait was getting longer rather than shorter was being explained by China as being a supply and demand issue. They simply had more approved dossiers waiting to be matched than they had children available for matching. Not all of the orphanages in China are part of the international program, so that limits the number of available children somewhat. The children also have to go through medical exams before they can be placed internationally which takes time and man power. So, needless to say, May was a very discouraging month for us. I couldn't believe
that from the time we mailed our documents in February till May, our wait had been extended five additional months. It was scaring me to death to think that things could continue down this path. It was a tearful month for me. I was starting to realize how bad I was at this waiting thing! However, by the end of the month something happened that allowed me to snap out of my pity party for a moment and celebrate life. On May 31, 2006 Norah gave birth to Lincoln Joseph Seaverns!

Shower time

April came and went pretty quickly. It's always a busy time of year for us. This April was especially exciting, however, because Norah was nearing the end of her pregnancy with Lincoln. Her baby shower was held at a cute little tea house in Scottsdale. We all sat on the patio and drank tea, ate scones and watched Norah open adorable little gifts. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Victoria, BC

Also during March, Doug and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary by taking a trip up to Victoria, BC. We traveled with our good friends JB and Leigh Sweetland, and John and Danielle Gerard. We had such a great time. We hung out in pubs, went to the Spa, had high tea at the Empress Hotel (almost as good as tea at Leigh's house), visited Buchard Gardens and cruised around town on scooters. I ate more clam chowder on this trip than I have in my whole life. Jacque and Dan came over on the ferry from Port Angeles one day, so we got to see them as well. It was such a nice getaway. We laughed most nights until our stomachs hurt. Danielle bought a beautiful white dress for our little sugar plum on this trip. However, she spilled red wine all over it. I think she may have cried when it happened. I figure it will either wash out, or look like a tie dye. Either way, the dress will always be a reminder of this great weekend.

A light at the end of the tunnel

While I was working on my paperwork, my girlfriend Cheri told me that a friend of ours from high school, Megan Mayer, was also adopting from China. Cheri and I have known each other since 5th grade. She has two little girls (what's funny is at the time she and I were talking about Megan's adoption, Cheri was pregnant with her second child who was born in May 2006). Anyway, I was deep in paperwork and wishing I had someone to talk to, preferably someone I knew, who had been through this. Megan was the answer to my wish! Cheri gave me her number and I called her right away.

Megan had been "logged in" since May 2005 and was just on the heels of receiving her referral when I first contacted her. We talked about my paperwork, her wait and so on. Our documents had left for China in February...by the end of that same month, after a 10 month wait, Megan and her husband Scott received their referral!!! I was over the moon with excitement for them. In March I called to tell her that we had been logged in. Then, in April, Megan and Scott traveled to China and brought home little Maya who was just barely 10 months old. Megan has been a source of constant support and encouragement. Maya has been my "little light". That's what I call her. When I see her, I also see "the light at the end of the tunnel". She is such an amazing little girl. I have included one of her referral photos, a picture of her and her mom in China, and a more recent picture. Isn't she such a doll?!!!

Our LID!

We were "logged in" to the China program on March 10, 2006. What that means is that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) had added our family to their list of families looking to adopt from their country. It's an important date because it represents your place in line, so to speak. China has a very organized program. It basically goes like this, 1. your dossier is received in China and then logged in to the registry of families looking to adopt, 2. your dossier is reviewed by the review board and approved (this normally happens about 3 to 4 months after you are logged in), 3. you are given a referral (you get matched with your child (this is usually 3 to 4 months after your approval)). Once you accept your referral, you travel about 6 to 8 weeks later to receive your child.
Each month (about every 4 to 5 weeks), the CCAA gets a "batch" of children ready to be matched with their families. They start with the oldest log in date and work their way forward. This is what I meant when I said your log in date represents your place in line. For example, last Monday (3/5/07) the CCAA sent out a batch of referrals, it was for the families who had log in dates starting with October 14, 2005 thru October 24, 2005. Yeah for them!!!! What this means for us is that that there are now just under 5 months of families ahead of us waiting to receive their referral. So, when the next batch of referrals comes out (probably the first of April) they will start by matching families with a log in date of October25, 2005 and go forward. How far forward they go will depend on how many babies they have in that batch vs. how many families they have logged in. Does that makes sense? I know it's confusing!

Anyway, we had been logged in and were thrilled!!! All we had to do now was wait to be approved...little did we know that things were starting to change dramatically in China. A huge slow down was under way. Our wait for our approval was not going to be the 3 to 4 months we thought it would be....ultimately, it ended up being 11months, but I'll get to that later.

Bon Voyage!!

I was getting ready to let go of my "little baby". I had worked so hard to acquire all the necessary documents. I had kept them safe and sound, and now it was time to entrust my dossier into the hands of strangers. I was a nervous wreck. All I could think about was my package getting lost in the mail, lost in my agency's home office, lost on the way to China....lost in China, you name it. So, I got a hold of my sisters and sister-in-law (Cori) and we all met at the Fed Ex office to wish our package a safe journey. We had quite the little group down there. It was myself, Cori, Norah, Sarah, Axl, Max, Saramarie, Emma Pachesky, Sammy and let's not forget Lincoln (who was still in Norah's tummy at the time).

People had told us that adoption requires a lot of trust and faith. I didn't really get what was meant by that until this moment. Up until this point, I had a measure of control over the adoption. I had a job to do each and every day. Some days were busier than others, but there was always some document that needed notorizing, or something. Now, I was handing everything over to people I have never met and probably will never meet. I had to trust that these total strangers would be as careful as I had been with our precious dossier. It was scary! Doug was being very reasurring. I think he was thrilled to be done with all the signatures and appointments and fingerprinting. I laugh when I think about it. He had been such a good sport. He did everything I told him to do, when I told him to do it...without hesitation or question. I don't think he even knew what he was signing half the time. For him, it was like dealing with a woman in labor...for 5 months!!! He had to have been thinking, "Just do what the little lady says...this will all be over soon." He's such a smart man!

So, on February 7, 2006 our dossier left for China! Well, to be totaly honest, I was only mailing it as far as St. Louis. Our adoption agency, Children's Hope International, has it's home office in St. Louis. All families have to mail their dossiers to their agency's office and then the agency can mail them to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) in Beijing. Once the office in St. Louis receives a family's dossier, they check to make sure all the required documents are included and have been signed and notarized properly, then they forward it on to China. We were officially DTC (dossier to China) on February 10, 2006. We are blessed to be working with an agency that actually has staff in Beijing. This is great because all of the dossier have to be translated into Chinese before they can be sent to the CCAA. So, we got to have our dossier translated by people who work for our agency at no additional cost to us. Most families have to pay to have their dossier translated by a translation service who may not neccesarily specialize in adoption.

Once the translation was complete, the members of the Beijing staff hand carried our dossier over to the CCAA. We were contacted by email and told that our dossier had been given to the CCAA! There was nothing left to do now but wait! The first thing we were waiting to hear was that we had been "logged in". So, the wait began....