Update on Cameron

Jen emailed our agency last week asking if it would be possible to get some information on Cameron.  Today we recieved the below pictures as well as updated information!!!   He still seems to refuse to smile, I guess making him smile will be Grace's first job as a big sister.  We think he is quite a cute little guy.

Next Steps

The big question everyone keeps asking us is "When will you travel to bring Cameron Home?"  We know the remaining steps in the process and the approximate time that each of these steps take so the best we can do is guess...

Right now we are waiting for our  Letter of Acceptance from the Chinese government..  Most websites out there say it takes 1 - 3 months to get your LOA.  Our agency told us we should get it in 1 - 2 months.  We hope they are right.  We have been waiting almost a month and this is the longest of our remaining steps in the process, so we should be almost half-way there.

After we get LOA we send our I800 form to the USCIS.  The I800 is the petition to classify an adoptee as an immediate relative.  They well send us a I800 approval in about 3 weeks.  Once we get our I800 approval the USCIS will send our approval to the National Visa Center who will then forward it along to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China.  The consulate will then send us an approval of our Visa petition.  This process should take around 3 weeks.

Once we get our NVC letter, we sign it and return it to our agency, their employees in China will drop the letter off as the US Embassy in Guangzhou.  Who will then issue our Article 5 is a pre-approval for immigrant Visa.  Our agency will then have the article 5 sent to the China Center for Adoption Affairs.  This step should tale 2- 3 weeks.

The final step in the process is Travel Approval which we should get 2 - 4 weeks after the CCAA gets our Article 5.  Once we get travel approval our agency will book our flights and hotels which should happen 4 - 6 weeks after we get Travel Approval.

Seems like a lot of steps but it should seem pretty speedy compared to our two and a half year wait to adopt Grace.  Based on the above, if everything goes as planned, we should be able to travel in early to mid fall.  We were really hoping to travel this summer so we don't have to take Grace out of school for 2+ weeks but that probably isn't going to happen. 

Keep your finger crossed for us that we don't hit any major slowdowns this time around.

Shangrao, Jiangxi China

We were pretty excited when we learned that Cameron is from Jiangxi Province.  While it would have been fun to explore another of China's provinces it will be nice to stay somewhere somewhat familiar.  We assume that when we travel we will be staying in the provincial capital of Nanchang, possibly in the same hotel where we stayed when we adopted Grace.

If you look at the below map Nanchang is in the north, just west of center.  Shangrao is about 160 miles to the east (circled in blue) and Yifeng, where Grace is from, is about 80 miles to the west (circled in pink).  Even though it is a long trip we have read stories of other adoptive parents that have traveled to the Social Welfare Institute where their children lived while in China.   If we are able to we will definitely try to visit although it is probably unlikely.  We were not able to visit Grace's SWI while we in China so since it is a shorter trip we may try to see if we can fit in a trip there.

A little bit about Shangrao according to wikipedia....Shangrao is a medium sized prefecture level city with a population of 6.5 million according to the 2010 census. 



Shangrao is also known for Mount Sanqing which is a renowned Taoist mountain known for its beautiful scenery.  Some pics below.

Introducing Cameron to Grace

We had to catch Grace's reaction to seeing her little brother's picture on camera.  Her reaction was a bit understated but still pretty cute.

Surprise!!!!!

Yes, there is a very good reason that we have not posted on the blog for a while.  We have been getting ready for our son.  His Chinese name is Rao Xi Ping.  We will call him Cameron Arthur Xi Ping.  He is 11 months old and is currently living  in Shangrao City, Jiangxi.  The same province that Grace is from!  We hope to be traveling to get him late summer or early fall.  Grace is very excited to be a big sister and to return to China.

I will post more info and details in coming days and weeks.

February Vacation

Been a little while since my last post.  We've been busy with this and that, the blog seems to have taken a back seat.  I will try to be better about posting more frequently.  This week Jen and Grace are on vacation.  They took a special mommy and daughter trip into Boston.  Jen put together a little scavenger hunt for Grace with a big surprise.  Video below.

Oh yes, We Have Christmas Costumes Too

Busy weekend.  Jen and I are just getting over colds that kept us out of work a couple days last week.  But we were feeling a bit better by Saturday so we met up with the Shahs for an afternoon at the Nutcracker.  Grace was completely impressed.  Sunday was spent decorating the tree and the house.  Grace donned the above attire for the occasion.

2011 School Pictures

We weren't planning to have Grace's school pictures done this year but we are glad we decided to at the last minute since they came out really cute.  She is looking more and more like a big girl every day.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Ummm Yeah, we watch the Wizard of Oz...alot.  Grace manages to put her own spin on the song though.

Not So Halloween

Got a little bit of snow up here so they postponed Halloween until Wednesday.  Didn't stop Gracie from putting on her Annie costume for a quick photoshoot.

Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Birthday Weekend

We spent last weekend celebrating Grace's Birthday.  On Saturday we had a party a local bounce house place.  Grace had a blast chasing her older cousins around all afternoon.  The best part was we didn't have to clean up afterwards.

On Sunday we headed out to Southwick Zoo to meet up with a couple familes from our travel group.  The group was a bit smaller this year but the girls had a blast.   It is amazing to me that these girls only see each other a few times a year, yet they pick right up where they were the last time we got together.  Definitely a special connection there.

Four

Not sure where the time went but Grace turned four today.  Wasn't she just two last week?  Sigh.  She really is an amazing little girl.  More celebrations this weekend so some pics coming.  For now just a quick video of Grace getting her new bike this evening.  She was a little excited...

Back to School

Booo!!! Summer is over, the weather is turning cooler. Grace started school today, she was very excited to be back. 



Grace's New Room

One of our summer projects was moving Grace out of her small bedroom and into the larger one across the hall into her big girl room.  Somewhere along the way Grace decided that she had to have a canopy bed (like a princess).  Not sure where she came up with the idea but she would not be denied.  Luckily Jen had a canopy bed when she was little that was still (in pieces) at her parents house.  With a little bit of paint, a trip to Ikea and a weekend of assembling furniture Gracie has a new room. 

Clarks and Santa's Villiage

This past weekend we took our annual summer pilgrimage north to New Hampshire with the Shah family.  The past couple years  we have gone to Story Land but we decided to change  it up a bit this year and go to Santa's Village instead.  I have to admit the thought of Christmas in August seemed kind of odd to me but the girls had a blast.  Grace was tall enough to ride all of the rides and especially liked the water park.   Definitely will be visiting again.

We also stopped in at Clark's Trading Post on the way down.  The have a new Chinese Acrobat show there that we wanted to check out.  Seemed a bit exploitive to me as they performed in the same enclosure as the bears do but they were pretty impressive nonetheless.  And of course the bears were a big hit with Grace.  Some pics of the weekend below

Clark's Trading Post

The girls

Feeding the Reindeer

Almost as tall as an elf

Weeeee!!!

Bad Blogger

Yes, I have been badly neglecting this blog over the past couple months. Two weeks of not blogging turned into a month and then two months with no activity.  Where does the time go?  I guess it was a blogging summer vacation.

Well, we have been busy.  We moved Grace into a new room, and have taken lots of little trips here and there.  I will try my best to update with some catch-up posts this week and get back to regular updates.  For now my favorite pic of Grace from this past weekend.

Our Timeline for Cameron

April 30, 2011 - Attended Waiting Child Workshop at CAWLI

August, 1, 2011 - Application to Adopt sent to CAWLI

November 2, 2011 - Completed Home Study

November 15, 2011 - Mailed I800A to USCIS

December 19, 2011 - Got Fingerprinted

January 16, 2012 - Received USCIS Approval

February 9, 2012 - Dossier to China

February 27, 2012 - Log in Date

March 22, 2012 - Date of Referral

March 25, 2012 - Sent Letter of Intent

March 30, 2012 - Received Pre Approval

June 1, 2012 - LOA

June 4, 2012 - Send I800 to USCIS

June 21, 2012 - I 800 Approval

June 27, 2012 - NVC Cable to Guangzhou

July 2, 2012 - NVC Letter Received

July 3, 2012 - 1st Article 5 Dropoff

July 31, 2012 - 2nd Article 5 Drop off (Due to paperwork issues)

August 2, 2012 - Article 5 Pickup

August  7, 2012 - Travel Approval

August 8, 2012 - Consulate Appointment confirmed

August 23, 2012 - Leave for China

August 26, 2012 - Family Day

China Sisters

We had our annual get together with our China travel group today.  We had 9 of the girls attend and a great time was had by all.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of all 9 of them at once.  Three and a half year olds move pretty fast and have a mind of their own.  It is always great to see Grace reunite with the girls from Jiangxi and start playing like they saw each other yesterday.



Different Parts

Earlier this week Grace had a little cold that was punctuated with a really high fever.  We were able to get the fever under control but we decide that Grace needed to see the doctor in the morning just in case.  Jen has some end of year stuff going on at school so it was up to me to take the day off work and take her to see the doctor.

So Grace and I wait patiently for the good doctor who checks Grace out and declares that she is fine.  But based on a couple of her symptoms he wanted to get a urine sample.  So he proceeds to tell me that we need to wipe her with these antibacterial wipes before getting the sample and then leave the sample with one of the nurses. 

Ummmm.....I then realize he wants the sample now.  I am not going to be able to go home and let Jen take care of this later.  So I try to delay by asking Grace if she needed to pee and of course she said no.  The good doc just tells her to try and ushers us into the bathroom. Not even the offer of a nurse to help us out.

Now I have to say I am not one of those old fashioned dads.  I bathe and help Grace wipe in the bathroom but this girl peeing in a cup was new to me as I wasn't actually sure where the pee was going to come from.   Girls can't aim, right?  If she was a boy it would have been no problem, I know how boy parts work.  So I sit Grace on the toilet wipe her with the wipes, hold the cup under her area and wait for what seemed like forever.

It didn't help that Grace was asking me the whole time:  Daddy why are you holding a cup?  You want me to pee in a cup?  Why do I have to pee in a cup?  So finally after what felt like hours, but was probably less than a minute, she peed.  Most of it went in the cup, the rest on my hand.  I was just relieved that the job was done and we cleaned up and waited for the nurse to take the sample.

Luckily the test came back fine and Grace is now feeling much better.  I may be a bit traumatized from the encounter.  Grace is now asking if she can pee in a cup whenever she uses the facilities.  Jen has promised me that she will take doctor duties for the next few appointments to make up for it.   This is one of those things that I never thought I would find myself doing before I became a dad.  But I will do anything for my litte girl.  With any luck mommy will get a stool sample next time....