We were united with Katie on July 16, 2001 in Guangzhou, China. Our whole world changed at that moment. Katie is the love of our lives. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't thank God for this wonderful little girl. She is just perfect: funny, smart, beautiful, loving...I could go on forever :)

******

We knew all along that one day we would return to China for another child, well, that day has finally come. We've started the process again for Katie's little sister. I'm hoping the wait will be easier the second time around since we have Katie to fill our hearts now. The waiting time is longer now because China adoptions have become so popular. The CCAA in China has given agencies temporary quotas for submitting dossiers to China for adoption. The reason for the quota system is so China can clear out a large backload of families waiting to be matched with children. As that backlog is reduced the waiting time may also be reduced. Currently it is taking 14 months from dossier submission to China to receive a referral. We hope to have our paperwork completed by January or February 2003. With the current 14 month wait that would mean a referral in Spring 2004. But we know from experience that anything is possible!

I'll do my best to keep this site up to date with our progress. Right now we're in the early paperchase stages. We've selected an agency, started the homestudy process with a social worker and sent our Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition to the INS.

We truly feel blessed to have our daughter Katie and we know we will feel that way about our next child as well.

**************

After waiting 10 long weeks for approval from our local INS office we finally called our local Congressman. His office intervened on our behalf and the next day the final approval from INS, our I171H, was issued. Our dossier was finally completed in May and sent off to our agency. It was mailed to China on May 19, 2003 and logged in with CCAA on May 29, 2003. At that time we weren't expecting to hear anything from China until July 2004 at the earliest.

*****Update January 27,2004*****

We finally got THE call! The wait this time was easier. I'm sure it's because we have Katie to keep us busy and also because the wait got shorter. When our dossier was sent off to China in May 2003 the CCAA has temporarily suspending sending referrals because of SARS. We thought we'd be waiting at least 14 months before we heard anything about our next daughter. But instead, China picked up the referral pace once SARS was under control and for several months was sending two months of referrals at the same time. Some may think we're nuts, but we actually hoped it would slow back down. And it did. In December 2003 the CCAA went back to sending referrals for one month of dossiers only. It worked out perfect for us. China got the wait down to 8 months. We got THE call on January 20, 2004. Anita took the call and got the same instant adrenalin rush we got when we got Katie's referral call. Within a couple hours we had photos of our new daughter emailed to us by our agency. She is beautiful and we can't wait to have her in our arms! And once Katie finally saw the pictures of "her baby" it all became real for her. She told us she waited so long for her baby "for hours and hours!" If only the wait went that quickly! Katie can't wait to be a big sister. She has been practicing with every baby she sees.

Will there be another child in our future? Only time will tell. We can't say one way or another right now. But if Katie has her choice, yes, she will have another sister. She even asked Santa for one this past Christmas. She went to visit Santa every chance she got. Somewhere around her tenth visit she told him this:

"Hi Santa, how you doing? You okay?"
"I bein' good girl"
"I have Baby 'bet, she almost here, My Baby 'Lizbet but I want Baby Sarah too. I want TWO sisters"

OH MY!! We explained that Santa doesn't bring brothers and sisters, and she understood but still is talking about her Baby Sarah too! So who knows what the future has in store for us!

This page created, maintained, and copyrighted ©  by  Anita

Any comments or questions regarding content, web design or technical information or problems with this site,  please email to Anita

The free count 'up' script provided by
Website Abstraction