Meili's Adoption from China

Meili's 1st birthday was on July 13. We sent her a cake and HOG had a party for her. Here are the photos from that special day:

I received an unofficial update from HOG today. It's the same information that they send to the CCAA on the 20th of each month.

She is a beautiful and happy 1 year old girl, who loves to express herself and smiles a lot. When she first came to House of Grace, she was very sickly but now she can almost walk by holding the hands of the nanny. She can also sit and crawl in that position very fast. She can say “mum mum, da da" and a lot more very clearly. She is very confident and determine to go wherever she wants and get what she likes. Fu Fu (that is what we call her here, but if you want we can start calling her the name you have given her) can even sit on a low stool all by herself and whirl around sitting on it. She loves to be attended to by the nanny than to play with things, like the toy cars you sent yesterday. She and her room-mate, Fern, always fight for the full attention of the nanny. Anyway, we are trying to teach them to be more patient and wait for their turn and share. Basically she is a very expressive, intelligent and happy girl. However, she is stranger shy, she still cries when we have volunteers come visit the home. We have a volunteer who has come every afternoon for over 3 weeks now, Fu Fu still cries when she notices her. But we want to train her as much as we could, we let the volunteer does fun things with her and give her cookies etc. Also we take her and other babies to walks in the park or the shopping mall when we have enough hands so as to expose them to real life situation. To prepare her for lives aboard we teach her simple English words and sing English songs with her and at times she would move her body or clap her hands along with the rhythm. We have posted your picture on the wall next to her bed and let her points to you, when she is put to bed or awaken. She sure is a fun seeking and adorable little girl. We all love her dearly.
 
Her measurements as on July 20, 2011 are:
Weight 10 kg, Height 76.5cm, Head 44cm, Chest 49cm, Foot 12cm,
Teeth top 2, bottom 2

The measurements when translated to the USA system are:
weight 22 lbs, height 30 inches, head 17 inches, chest 19 inches, foot 5 inches

Ann sent me 6 new photos this morning. All I can say is WOW! She is getting so tall. She got our first care package too. That's evident by the photo taped to the wall by her crib. It cracks me up -- to think that our faces are on a wall in China for our daughter to look at each day. This photo was taken on 7/11 - just 4 days ago.

We also received more fantastic news! The leader of the orphanage staff provided us with her email address and wants us to skype with them and Meili. They've started doing this for adoptive families. She and her husband know English fairly well. I'm going to contact her this weekend and get this set up ASAP!

Today I ordered Meili's second care package from Ann @ Red Thread. This will be her third care package total. I selected the standard girl's birthday package and added a book and set of 5 race cars. I know that the race cars aren't 'girly' but it's something that she can hold in her hand/play in her crib. Plus, the race cars can be given to other kids at the orphanage.

I also received the text from USCIS @ 12:43 am, stating that they received our I-800. Actually, I know that they received it on Wednesday but are just now sending us the text message. Whatever. It really doesn't matter. I would love for USCIS to provisionally approve us by the end of July. It's been taking them about 3 weeks, so I think this is a major possibility.

We received update #2 yesterday via email. Our girl is big by Chinese standards - 85% in height and weight and normal by American standards - 55% in height and weight. She is almost the size of my 19 month old niece, Piper. When we started this journey, I expected her to be small. Big kids run in my family so at least she has this in common with us (even though we don't share the same DNA).

Update #2 is an official report from the SWI. However, some of the information does not match the information from the referral, like her birth date, location of her SN, etc. And, the update contains standard responses that I see on many other families' blogs. Because of this, I don't put a lot of trust into the content of the updates. I just like them for the photos. By looking at the photos, I can tell that she is growing and developing. In the end, this is all that matters.

It's official! After praying to God, saying a few Hail Marys, and projecting positive thoughts, I received the email that I've been waiting 21 days for. Meili's LID is 5/09/11 - exactly when I predicted according to the travel to TA table on Rumor Queen. The downhill descent has begun!

I found out via email while sitting in the waiting room @ the dermatologist's office. I had a few minutes to kill so I pulled up my personal email account on my iphone. I saw 2 emails from my agency. The first one was congratulating us on Meili's LID. The second was asking us to list questions that we wanted answers to for update #2. I think I emailed our agency about 20 questions. I know that we won't get all of them answered but a few would be good. I also asked several of the same questions from update #1. I want to compare answers to see if the information provided to us is the same.

After the MD appointment, I got into my car and started crying. It's really happening. I've wanted this little girl for almost 20 years and it's finally coming to fruition. I called Ben and left him a message while I was crying. I collected myself and called my Mom. I started crying again as I talked to her. I briefly cried at work. After work today, I cried twice on the commute home. It's happy tears...tears of relief and joy. Ben and I have wanted a child since we got married and this dream is about to come true!

The skeptic in me says to wait until Meili's LOA arrives, before truly believing that this will work out. The LOA should be here in approximately 60 days from the LID. Just have to wait 2 more months for my confidence and belief to be 100%. All I can say is that Meili is so very much loved, wanted, dreamed, and hoped for by Ben and me. While I cannot speak for my husband, I can say that she will fill an empty space in my heart. A space that previously has been occupied by anger, sadness, despair, and sorrow.

I cannot wait to meet this little girl and bring her home to Arkansas!

The average time frame from DTC to LID is 17 days. We are now past this. WTF?!?!!! LID marks the half way point of waiting. And I'm waiting for the half way point of waiting. WAITING! WAITING! WAITING! for a LID date.....

My daughter is waiting in an orphanage. in China. with no parents to tuck her in at night. no one to say "I love you". no pets to pester her. no cousins to fight with. She has hundreds, yes hundreds, of people who can't wait to meet her. Yet, she continues to wait in an orphanage. At least she has a family waiting for her. Even if it takes us another 6 months to get there. What about all of the other kids in orphanages around the world? They have no parents. no siblings. no pets. no home. What about them? It's times like right now that I wished I had millions of dollars so that I could adopt all of the orphans of the world. I would need a gigantic house as there are about 147 million orphans. At least by the end of 2011, there will be one less.orphan in the world.

And maybe by the end of 2012, there will be two less orphans in the world. But that's a tale for another blog - as this one is ALL about MEILI.

 I've had many people already ask me about a baby shower for Meili. Here is a brief FAQ on adoption & baby showers.
     "Are you having a baby shower?" Yes, if someone wants to throw it for us. We've already has several volunteers!
     "Will you wait until she arrives?" No. We are like any other expectant parents and want to celebrate her before she arrives.
     "Why? You don't know her size." This isn't exactly true. We will receive an update on her before we travel so we'll know an approximate size. Given the circumstances, I can safely guess that she will be wearing 12 month clothes. Also during her first months home, we will be sheltering Meili from large crowds, family gatherings, etc. This helps promote attachment and lets her transition into her American home. Because of this, a baby shower with lots of people who want to hold her would be inappropriate.
     "What do you need?" Like any other expectant parent, we need the essential items for our new child. But instead of newborn items, we will need things for a 14-16 month old.
     "Why are all of these adoption and China books on your registry?" We feel that Meili needs to be surrounded with adoption and Chinese related literature. There are many wonderful age-appropriate books for young children. We want to get a jump start on her book collection.

Guess what? I found out that Meili is not in the Yangchun SWI. She is in a foster home for children up to the age of 8. This foster home, called The House of Grace, is associated with the SWI but receives no funds from the Chinese government. It is completely supported by volunteers and donations. The director of the foster home is Sandra King. She is from New Zealand and has a heart for Chinese orphans with special needs. This is wonderful because Meili will get extra attention and better care. Hopefully, she will attach to her caregivers thus making her attachment to us much easier.