- 19 months waiting since we began our adoption process
- 38 months (3 years, 2 months) since we began the process of adding
to our family
Since our notification in November that we received Pre-Approval to adopt Emma, we've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. It's been a super busy time as McGinnis - Party of Four prepares to become McGinnis - Party of Five!
Historically, the fall is a super busy time at our home, and this year has been no different as we celebrated birthdays, holidays and tossed in lots of adoption related business!
During mid-November, our guest room went from this view to this view.
Then we discovered we needed to complete a home study update to request an extension for our USCIS approval (for immigration purposes). I spent HOURS sorting through documents we collected and prepared more than a year ago to submit these piles of paperwork in order to schedule an appointment with our social worker.
So we hurriedly prepared our home for a December 12th visit (happy 43rd anniversary Mom & Dad). As of December 5th, we'd not yet decorated our house for Christmas! So our party of four spent three hours one evening decorating as much (or as little) as we could during that evening.
Then we welcomed our social worker into our home and enjoyed some Panera Bread treats and warm beverages. We are excited to work with Jennifer over the next 5 years - we will need to submit post-adoption reports to China six times over the next 5 years.
Somewhere along the way, Aidan needed to visit the optometrist's office for an eye exam. Luckily, the optometrist didn't ask Aidan to take his eye exam with this chart, but we were excited to see the Chinese symbols decorating the wall. No glasses at this point - he may look like me, but I'm afraid he has inherited his daddy's vision.
We have a sweet friend, Michelle, who is an art teacher. I asked if she could create a special painting for Emma's room. She came over and looked at the space, took some fabric samples and created this gorgeous painting to decorate Emma's room. I'm in love with the painting - the piggy tails and pink from head to toe remind me of one of the first photos we received of Emma.
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We decided to begin a new Christmas Eve tradition this year in preparation for Emma joining our family. We had lunch in downtown Charlotte at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Soho Bistro. The boys enjoyed pizza from next door and fortune cookies. The owners are sisters and are so sweet with our boys - we've visited this restaurant since before I was pregnant with Ian.
Then we visited the singing bears in Founders Hall - Aidan was fascinated and Ian promptly fell asleep during the 45 minute performance! Let's be honest the singing bears freak me out a little. :) We hope Emma enjoys these new traditions next year.
We were able to use a care package service contracted through our adoption agency. We received notification a couple days after Christmas that the package had been received at the orphanage. We hope Emma enjoys the Chinese Barbie, ladybug blanket and photo album filled with photos of our little family. We also sent along a disposable camera that we hope to receive when we meet Emma in China along with some candies and nuts for the caregivers at the orphanage.
We received notification yesterday that our dossier has moved through the translation phase - at day 41 (January 2, 2014) of our wait for the Letter of Acceptance (LOA). We've been told to expect the second half of the LOA process to move a little more quickly than the first half moved. We are praying that we receive notification of our Approval and Match Approval by the end of January - before the governmental closures for the Chinese New Year holidays. We think we will travel in April based on other families' travel experiences.
Next week, we will get back to preparing Emma's room for her arrival - painting, installing, sewing. (I promise not one McGinnis boy will be involved in the sewing!)
I can hardly wait until we bring her to her forever home - just a short time now!
