Twenty

We leave in twenty days!

We let the boys each pick out a toy for us to take for Katie.  We've picked up several other small toys to bring to play with while we're visiting Katie, and all of them are things that we can leave there.

This is what we're bringing for her.

We plan to bring a couple of items each day so we've got new things for her each time we go.

We have the photo book we made her, a silky blanket I made for her, some egg shaped shaker noise makers, and some flat pack Play-Doh.

Jack picked the purple doll.

David picked the stacking cups.  And yes, she's 4 years old, but she will not cognitively be like a 4 year old [ie: Jack].  I think the stacking cups are appropriate, given that we don't know where she will fall developmentally.  Henry picked the two Little People cars with the girls driving.  We also have a little Magna Doodle and a kaleidoscope.

We have a little princess flip phone that lights up and makes noise.  We've got a small Etch-A-Sketch and two books - the farm book has different textures throughout, and the Toes, Ears, & Noses book has flaps to lift.  We're bringing a little Mrs. Potato Head and some extra parts, and a coloring book and crayons.  Many of these toys have a "hidden" purpose of allowing us to see how her fine motor skills are - whether she can hold a crayon and knows what to do with it, if she can manipulate Play-doh or lift the flaps in the book, if she can press individual buttons on her phone and manipulate the pieces of Mrs. Potato Head, if she can stack the cups and/or understands the sequencing of stacking them and knocking them down, and if she knows what to do with a doll.  I tried to pick items that were sort of dual purpose, so I can come back and have a bit of a better idea of where she stands developmentally at this point.

I will definitely leave her blanket with her, which I made.  I will also leave her photo book.  And, if she'd like to keep the hair bow, I'm happy to leave it.  She will be a Southern girl after all, so she needs to get used to wearing one!

TWENTY DAYS!

Twenty-One

Twenty-one days until we get on a plane to meet our little miss with the extra 21st chromosome.

One way to look at this adoption is that we have twenty-one days until we get on a plane to meet a child who was given away because of her extra 21st chromosome.

I prefer to look at it as us having twenty-one days until we get on a plane to meet the child we have chosen, because of her extra 21st chromosome.

This package arrived at my office yesterday afternoon.

It has our travel packet from our agency!

It's got a travel guide, which is seriously broken into five chapters.

How do people do this without an agency?!

It has our program travel and post-placement information.

POST-placement!  Like, AFTER she is home!!

AAAHHHHH!

Even just reading that makes me happy.

It also has this very official envelope with instructions to "Take to US Embasy", and contains a lot of official, important documents.  I cannot believe how close we are to finally getting to this girl!

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Two days to go.

I got some boots yesterday.  They're warm, cozy, and fabulous.

Now I just need socks to wear with them.

Because, you know, we live in the south and I really don't ever have to wear socks.

I will pack light.  

I will pack light.  

I will pack light.  

If I keep saying it, I know it will happen.

Chris brought Jack to the store yesterday to pick a special toy for us to bring from him to give to Katie.  Chris made sure to stress that Katie is a girl and likes to play with girl toys.  I suspect there may have been some, ahem, gentle steering toward appropriate toys.

This is what Jack selected:

She's perfect.

And very cute.

And oddly wearing an outfit that I would put Katie in.

It's a perfect match.

Today?  More fingerprinting to update our FBI clearances.

Have a great Friday!

Twenty-Three

We have TWENTY-THREE days until we leave!  

I suspect that will be a fast 23 days, given all that I have to do in that short time period.  

By the time we meet Katie Ruth, it will have been 267 days since we started the adoption process.  267 days during which she had NO. IDEA. that a whole bunch of Americans were working so, so hard to get her home to her family.  I cannot wait to get to see her!

I thought I would explain a little about this process, for those who do not know how it will work.  Katie's country requires three trips before we can bring her home.  Yes, I'm serious.  We will go for our first trip, have some official meetings about her where we will learn about things like her available medical history, how long she's been in the orphanage, why she's there (um, duh.  She has Down syndrome.), and things like that.  We will have the opportunity to ask questions we may have about her, and I have plenty.  Like, four typed sheets plenty.  I see this as the only opportunity we will have to get the information from the people who have cared for her - I need to take the opportunity when I've got it.  After all of that, we will get to the real reason we'll be there - meeting Katie and spending time with her.  We will visit with her in the orphanage as much as they will allow.  At the end of the week, we will come home, and Katie will stay there.  And that, my friends, will be difficult.

We will make a second trip to her country to have our court hearing.  That will be a hearing in which we will literally present to the court, in a foreign country, why we should be Katie's parents.  Why we should be allowed to raise this child.  To tell about the opportunities she will have here - for love, for education, for therapies and medical attention, for a family.  And hopefully the judges will agree and will rule in our favor.  At that point, we will legally be Katie's parents.  And will come home, and Katie will stay there.  And that, my friends, I suspect will be nearly impossible.

After our court date we will come back home and wait.  There is a mandatory waiting period after the hearing, and when that has expired we will go back and get our girl.

Things could go quickly after our first trip, as our court dossier has already been sent to her country and translated.  This should speed things up.  Or, because international adoption is less predictable than the lottery, it could be a long time until we get to go back.  I am so, so hopeful that's not the case.

So, now we prepare for our first trip.  Our fabulous trip to meet our little girl. . . 

Tickets?  Purchased.

Visa Applications?  Getting sent today.

Packing?  Will start tonight.

Cold weather clothes?  Notsomuch.  

We live in the South y'all!  Stores are selling swimsuits and beach hats now. . . Here's hoping a department store has some warm-ish clothes left!

Happy Thursday!

We Have A Travel Date!!!

Are you sitting down?

We have a travel date.

We will leave on FEBRUARY 25TH!!!!

FABULOUS NEWS!

Remember that dossier I wrote about?

IT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED to the government in Katie's country!!!!!!

This is AMAZING news for us!

Next up?

A trip to meet our girl!

Coins for Katie Add Up!

This is our Coins for Katie jar at home.

It's an old dog treat container that I've taped a 5x7 photo of her onto.

And added a hair bow.

To give you an idea of the scale, this is the jar next to a coffee cup.

This is what it looked like last night.

Chris and I counted it and rolled it, and there was over $140 in there!

The entire premise of Coins for Katie is that a little bit of change goes a long way.  Well, all of the change - literally pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters - we have collected has totaled over $5,000.00 so far.  FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!  That is money that people literally sometimes throw away, drop on the street and don't pick up, lose in the floor of their car. . . I could go on and on.  $5,000!  And we have about 25 cups still out there!  

When we started this adoption process, Katie's family sponsorship grant through Reece's Rainbow had $87.49.  Some kids have $10,000 plus.  We didn't pick her because her grant total was appealing - we picked her because she is supposed to be our girl.  We didn't have the amazing amount of money needed to adopt her in our savings account.  We had a modest amount, but nowhere near the total.  Chris' exact words to me were, "I want to do this, but how will we afford it?"  We are a single income family with three children, one of whom has special needs and therapies not covered by our health insurance.  We certainly make enough money and have a lifestyle that is conducive to one income, but not one income when we are also looking at spending tens of thousands of dollars on adoption.  I told Chris that if we were on the same page with the adoption, not to worry about the money - I would make it happen somehow.  And we will!  We are so close I can taste it.  In less than almost exactly 4 months, from August to December, we raised over $20,000.  I am so proud of our family and friends.  When I think about it I get butterflies in my stomach. 

 And now we will get to meet our girl, in what could be just a few short weeks.  If you have Coins for Katie change you have collected for us, we would like to have you send it to us either through our FSP link on Reece's Rainbow, through paypal directly to us, or by a check in the mail so we have that money for our first trip.  

Thank you so much for helping us bring Katie home!