Two Months LID!

Meet Our Daughter

We are so happy to announce our wonderful little blessing "Our Daughter",

Hannah MeiRu Jubilee Hunsucker.

She is our beautiful 7 year old daughter, she lives in Maoming City SWI, Guangdong China. We can hardly believe it! Our agency called us on Friday 3/14/08 at 3:16pm we were shopping at wal*mart for "stuff", and as I was in the check out, while the boys wandered over to Mc Donald's for take-out... Jacob came back & met me as I finished paying, and he said he had to use the little boys room. So off we headed in that direction, leaving dad at McD's. We started back towards dad... and he was waving his cell phone as if he just got a call... NOW if you know James he is a jokester... everyday about 3 times a day he looks at his phone and says "oh, who called from (303)...? well I guess I missed it.., they'll call back...LOL" So of course he is really,... right now,... this time,... trying to tell me "CCAI called and she is 7 years old and beautiful..."

and well you know it is the "boy who cried wolf scenario"... LOL

"Are you serious...?" I ask.

"Yes,.. really,... I am not kidding this time...LOL" he says to me.

"Really, she is age 7" he told me,... and then the lady on the phone wanted to know from him "If that was too old?"

" No, that age is perfect for our family." he told her.{I think, with tears of joy in his eyes.} I know by this time, I was already crying.

Deniece spoke to James,(at the time he had no idea who had called him from CCAI our agency)Deniece said... "She is on the shared agency list, so we needed to act fast, & not waste anytime, if you feel this could be your daughter,...we need to know! what is your initial thoughts...?"

He answered without hesitation, "We'd love to have a 7 year old daughter. Please, please, we would like to go forward." Deniece said something like "You are too awesome and I will do what I can, because we must act fast on the multi-agency shared list, if we wait until Monday it will be too late."

DH{Darling Husband} accepted our referral!

We could not be more happy, she is so beautiful and perfect for our family. She is 13 months younger than Jacob our 8 year old biological son.

Since then, we have diligently acted upon her file for these last 72/84 hours and sent our LOI{Letter of Intent to adopt} to China, dated 3/17/08 {St. Patrick's Day}. We are now waiting for China to respond. MeiRu is on the shared agency list, so she is not ours until China accepts our LOI.{LOI is a Letter Of Intent to adopt}... and China sends us PA{Pre~Approval}, based on our documents, that the Chinese government and the American government have in China. O~M~Gosh, It is heart wrenching...We do feel comfort in knowing that we are with a #1 agency CCAI{Chinese Children Adoption International} and they are applying "every" effort into securing her for our family, as our daughter,... but our agency has no control over the other agencies applying or advocating for their clients that may want her file too. We should know tomorrow or at the latest Friday.

"A note: To my adoption community family..." If you think you may want to pursue the multi-agency shared list for a daughter or son please be prepared: you must act fast, you can only lock the file for 48 hours, and only twice... and yes, the clock ticks on the weekend too!, you need to have doctors at your beckon call, for advice and review of the child's medical history, and you should have your Dossier in China already! {or so close to being done you can taste it}, a great home study case worker, {Thank You Jan, our family social worker} and a big strong heart... because it is going to be pulled and tugged on. You really have no idea how many other agencies that have clients that want the child that you are considering to be your daughter or son. And of course you don't even want to fathom that sort of out come. Keep yourself busy... and you have to keep an open mind, even if it starts eating at your heart and soul. And Pray, and Pray that this is all meant to be, and God is leading the woven "red thread journey". He knows this is the right time and place for this to happen. He has brought you all together to this point for a reason.
"Honestly she is our daughter and Dear GOD,... please have China confirm it."

with love, ash

Update 3/19: Deniece just called, @ 10 am "She is our daughter!"

Referral Photos

One Month LID!

Waiting For A Referral...{The official notice that China has found us our Daughter}

Ladybugs:

Ladybugs are believed to be good luck in the adoption community. Several years ago, while numerous people waited for their referrals, there was a huge infiltration of ladybugs across the nation. Immediately following the ladybug sightings, a flood of referrals came in for many of the waiting parents. Many people now believe that when a ladybug is seen, a referral is not far behind.

When you're having a biological child, you KNOW you are expecting all along the way and you get to hear the baby's heartbeat and see him/her on the ultrasound monitor, you can count the weeks of pregnancy, you begin to feel the baby move and of course your body changes daily. With the adoption process, we wait and wait with no confirmation (except a pile of government forms & an email from our agency to download another newsletter), until we get a referral. And as our friends and loved ones already have shared with us; a referral is only the beginning on the Special Needs Journey. Then, it's faith and hope that get us through, along with lots of prayers, doctors and "thoughts for "WISDOM" to guide us" on the right path to our daughter... and a few days like today when it feels a little more "real"... maybe even a step closer. A cloud is lifted... and we suddenly spot a Lovely Ladybug.Update: I saw a live ladybug on our front porch doormat this afternoon. Now remember,... it is early March in Colorado. :o)

Happy Chinese New Year!

We are LID!!! {LID = log in date}

Today we received our email from our agency, and CHINA has officially logged us in on 1/25/08 as an adoptive family! It is Official. Now we will just wait for our wonderful news of our daughter's referral.

DTC {Dossier to China}

Today we just returned from our CCAI {agency} required adoption classes. As we took roll call and introduced ourselves and our place on the adoption journey...we said "We are Ashley and James and We are dossier in translation". The newest member of the dossier dept. happen to be attending the class today {training purposes} and she said, "Ooh, actually you are DTC... I mailed it on Friday and you should get an email early next week!" That was so great to hear. I immediately thanked her. The funny part is... during the break, I went over and chatted with her for a moment,... she said, "I actually recognized you {Ashley} from the dossier photos"... because I was wearing the same "super girl" shirt as in one or two of the photos that we submitted! We laughed, and I admitted, I needed a bigger wardrobe. The class was awesome & educational and the news incredible. Next stop LID {Log In Date} China.

New Year's Eve...Happy 2008!

Today our family drove to CCAI (our Denver adoption agency), and we handed in our Dossier! Our Dossier is the introduction of our family to the Chinese government to announce us as a family waiting in line for an adoption and to be granted a child match! It is basically a small tale of who we are on notarized, certified & authenticated paper(s) including pictures of us, our family and friends.

Our Dossier took us 2 1/2 months to complete since our Orientation, Or 4 months 4 days since we first downloaded our interest in China Adoption.
next our Dossier, will be translated to Chinese, and sent to China where it will be given a LID {log in date}.

We got it!! I171-H

12/16 We received our I 171-H. This is great news! We are one step closer to our daughter. As soon as the document comes back from Brenda our notary (Mon), Sec. of State certification (Wed), and the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for authentication (sent overnight Wed), our paperwork will be hand delivered to the translation dept. at our agency and the next stop... CHINA. That day will be called our "LID" (log in date). Our family from that point on will be referred to by our LID for travel. Most families travel with other parents with the same LID. Almost like an extended family on the same adoption journey to their daughters and sons.

UPDATE:
12/28 Our I171-H document is back from the Consulate... it has been authenticated! We will travel to CCAI (our adoption agency in Denver), to hand in our Dossier (Our compilation of completed documents about us, our lives and our family home life). This documentation process can take some families over 5 months to complete... We are very blessed to be ahead of that schedule! Next, DTC (Dossier to China).