Timeline

This will be boring to most of you, it is more for me. I want to document our adoption timeline and this is the best way for me to do it. Some things are already getting a little "foggy" so I thought I should write it down!

June 2009: our family decided to move forward with an adoption, we talked to friends who had adopted and researched different agencies and countries. We decided on Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA) and the country of China. We picked China because the babies are healthy, they have a stable and dependable adoption system and it is affordable. We also wanted a girl, and China was one of the only countries where you could specify the sex of the child you wanted.

June 17, 2009: We filled out our application to FTIA, sent it in a week later

July 1, 2009: Received an email from FTIA saying that we had been "accepted" and we officially began the paper chase. I spent the next month collecting birth certificates, marriage license, background checks, financial statements, etc. We had to collect 11 documents and each one needed 5 seals. A notary, county clerk seal, state seal, department of state seal and chinese embassy seal.

August 7 and 8 2009: Met with social worker for our home study. By this time, I had collected all of the necessary documents except for our home study and CIS approval (I800A form) which we could not get without our home study.

September 18, 2009: Received our completed home study. Immediately sent in I-800A form to get approval from CIS for our adoption (home study was needed for this form, they were the last 2 documents we needed to complete our dossier and send papers to China)

November 6, 2009: Received approval from CIS to adopt in China. We now had our last 2 documents complete. The next day I drove to my friend (who is an attorney) and had her notarize the forms, the we headed out to the county clerk to get a seal put on them, and then we drove to Frankfort for the State seal. (did I mention that I had a baby on October 19- I did all of this in one day with a newborn and a 2 year old, 2 weeks after having a C-section!!!!!) We then used a courier service out of Washington, D.C. to carry these last 2 documents to the Department of State and Chinese Embassy so that they could be returned to us faster.

November 30, 2009: Our agency received our completed dossier

December 7, 2009: Our dossier was logged in with the CCAA. It is from this date that our wait is calculated

January 2010: We decide to switch to the SN waiting list.

Rice Cereal

Can you believe Timothy is already 4 months old?!?!?!? Time for rice cereal- I would say he loved it! Can't wait to try other solid foods!!!!

He was smiling so big that the food just ran out of his mouth!

oh, so cute.....

Snow-again!

We got about 6 inches of snow last night/this morning. I am soooooo over the cold weather and snow. I am ready for spring! I was just thinking today that Timothy has been outside maybe 2 days since he has been born. I am ready to get all of my boys outside, I am tired of being inside all the time! But, with that being said... the boys love the snow. My mom came over this morning and helped them build a snowman. They had an extra carrot, and Matthew wanted to put it in the snowman's pocket, but Andrew wouldn't let him (which is why Matthew is pouting in one of the pictures below!)

Big helpers shoveling the driveway.

Snowman is finished- Matthew is pouting, can you tell?

My mom and Andrew holding hands with the snowman

Big hugs from Drew

It is really hard for this kid to stay grumpy, now he is ready to smile with the snowman. Poor Matthew, Andrew always gives him a hard time!

Guess Who?????

A few more pictures...

Timothy LOVES the jump a roo. He will start kicking his feet as you put him in there. It is so cute! He is all smiles in that thing!

I think he is starting to cut some teeth- he foams at the mouth all the time now and can be cranky at times. He chew on his hand like crazy!!!!

Andrew made this for me, isn't it cute? He said it was me holding valentines. My little boy is so creative and I love it!!!

Matthew- professional egg eater

Matthew loves eggs.... it is definitely one of his favorites! He picks up a handful and shovels it in his mouth. I have never seen anything like it. He can put away quite a few eggs. I only make them a few mornings a week and boy oh boy does he get excited when it is an egg morning. I have been telling myself that I need to get this on video and I finally did it- enjoy!

EGGS- part 2

After all those eggs, he wanted to eat my plate of eggs. I can't keep this boy fed!

Andrew - Soccer

Andrew started playing soccer at the YMCA and to sum it up in one word- Funny. They play one night a week. When they get there they practice for 30 minutes and then they play a game for 30 minutes. The "game" is a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds chasing after a ball, if you're not the fastest, you don't get the ball. (by the way, Andrew is not the fastest). They kick it the wrong way... it is a bit ridiculous if you ask me. I wish they would just take the whole hour to teach the kids how to actually play soccer. Anyways, Andrew loves it and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. When he is running on the field, he just looks over and smiles at me. I guess that is all that matters!

My handsome soccer player

This is during the practice part... they line up and take turns hitting it into the goal. The problem is, 20 minutes later they play a game where they are supposed to hit in the other team's goal.... not their own (like they do during practice) If you ask me, this is confusing for a 4 year old!

Andrew's turn in the goal

Chasing after the ball, I know it looks like Andrew is jus standing there, but he was running after it.

The second half of the game he got to be a defender, and he was great at this position! (no running involved!) I love this picture... he was talking to the little girl, it cracks me up how he was standing!

Julia Update...

I am not able to post Julia's picture (can't copy it from the email), but she is out of the hospital and recovering in a healing home. I hope she recovers from her heart surgery quickly so that she can be registered for adoption and one step closer to her forever family!