Happy Birthday Lillie Mei!

I haven't posted in a while. It has been a very busy summer so far! Lillie Mei turned one on June 21st. It was very sad for me not be with her. We did celebrate a little though. Lillie Mei's Aunt Renee and cousins Erin and Braxton were visiting with us and we had small party for her (and I bought her first doll)! We've been moving the boys into one bedroom so we can get her room ready.

We are still not officially logged in but our case manager says we are we just don't have the date yet. My best guess for travel is November 2nd. I don't think it will be much later than that based on the current averages. Sometimes it feels like she's never going to get here, other times I feel like I'll never be ready to travel!!

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Update

We got some great news today! We received our PA (pre-approval)! This doesn't really factor into the timeline but it means that Lillie Mei is "on hold" for us. We can now have contact with her through care packages. Her birthday is next Thursday, June 21st, and I'm hoping to send her a birthday cake. We'll also be sending pictures and probably a stuffed animal that she can get attached too and then bring with her when we go get her!

Also, our official DTC date is June 8th. It still looks like our best bet is travel in November.

DTC for real this time!

Our dossier will be mailed to China tomorrow, June 7th! Pray for a quick log-in date--that's when the countdown begins!!

DTC!!! (sort of)

Kirk and I celebrated our 14th anniversary today by mailing our dossier!

We are not DTC (dossier to China) yet but we are dossier to Charleston! We received our documents back from Washington this morning, copied everything, and it is now on its way to our agency in Charleston, SC. Each document now has at least 4 things on it that make it official--a notarization from a local notary, a document attached to it from the NC Secretary of State, a document from the US Dept. of State, and a document from the Chinese Embassy. I believe it is easier to give birth! Multiply all of those times 13 documents and you have our completed dossier.

I am not sure when our agency will send it off to China but I'm hoping by Friday. That is when we are officially DTC. Now we wait!

MEASUREMENTS FINALLY!

Mei called this morning with the measurments! She still has to translate the rest of the report. We do know she doesn't have any teeth and likes to play with a dog (real or stuffed we don't know)! Her measurements and the doctor's comments are below. She is very small. Her head size is still a concern but we have a complete peace about her being part of our family. I did a little research and she's probably in a size 9 months clothes right now. I'll post more ASAP. Thanks for your prayers.


Height 66cm (26 in.)
Weight 7.5kg (16.5 pounds)
Head 42cm
Chest 43cm
Foot 11cm


Mrs. Wilkerson:

Assuming these are current measurements done at 11 mo's of age:

Lillie's growth shows a typical amount of slight lag in weight and height (wt is 3rd% now, and ht is just a hair below 3rd%). This is typical of living in an orphanage and is of no concern. Her head circumference is a little better but still below the 3rd% (but it is closer to the 3rd % than before). I don't see anything new in the photos to comment on other than that her face is filling out nicely!

Please keep me posted on your progress! I look forward to meeting you all at some point if that will be possible.

God Bless,
David Douglass, M.D. For the Children International Adoption Medical Services

Update

It's been a while since I've updated everyone on what's going on with the adoption. We are still waiting on new measurements. However, you can see from Lillie Mei's most recent picture she looks like she is quite healthy! Our case manager was out of town last week and thought they would come while she was gone. She is checking on this but still hasn't heard anything.

We have completed all of our paperwork (our dossier). I spent Monday in Raleigh with mom so we could get everything authenticated at the Secretary of State's office. The plan was to pick them up at 2:30, overnight them to Washington and then they would be in the Charleston office by May 29th. When I went to pick them up, 3 of them were notarized incorrectly so they had to be sent back on Tuesday. With Memorial Day on Monday it now looks like we should everything to Charleston office by June 1st.

As far as a timeline goes this is my best guess at this point. It is very similar to what I had predicted before.

Dossier to China (DTC) - June 6th
Log in Date (LID)- June 30th
Travel Approval (TA)- October 26th
Travel to China- November 30th
Home- December 14th

Time from DTC to LID could be as little as 1 week to 1 month. Current average for LID to TA is 116 days. Most people travel about 4-5 weeks after TA.

Pictures Finally!

I know you couldn't tell it from our posts but we did get pictures this past week! The problem was we were in California and I was checking e-mail on my TV. Anyway here is Lillie Mei's most recent picture--probably taken May 7th or 8th. She has grown so much! I can't believe how much she has changed. It made me very sad when I realized how much of her life we have already missed. Kirk reminded me that she is not technically ours yet, but she is mine in my heart, so I thought of her often on Mother's Day.

I just received an e-mail from our agency and it looks like it might be next week before we get the measurements. I may not know more until our case manager returns from vacation on May 21st. I'll post ASAP!

A Little Progress

We still have no news regarding Lillie Mei's medical. However, we do have some progress. Our home study has been written and sent into the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and our letter of intent (LOI) is being sent to CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs-I think) tomorrow. What does all of this mean? We should receive our pre-approval from the U.S. next week and prior approval from China in about 4-6 weeks. Everything is pretty much on schedule to travel by December (possibly as early as October).

We won't be able to post for a couple of days but will find a way to let everyone know if we get any news. Our case manager is out of the office the 10th-18th so I don't expect any news soon.

Harrison and Zeke at Easter.

What handsome big brothers Lillie Mei does have!

My Patience is Tested Once Again!

Well, we got not-so-great news today, but we know God is in control. Our case manager heard from her boss in China today. It seems the orphanage director did not get what we requested (don't ask me why we heard otherwise). Because of a holiday in China, all offices are closed this week so we cannot expect it anytime soon. Her e-mail even said, "if we can get it by the 10th then she could bring it when she comes to the U.S." which makes us think it could be more than another week.

At this point, Kirk and I are ready to follow our hearts and proceed with all paperwork. God has re-affirmed that this little girl is part of our family in so many ways. If we did get really, really bad news for some reason we could always stop the process, but I don't see that happening. She is already a part of us.

Please keep praying. I know God's timing is perfect, I just wish He would consult with me first! :) Thank you for all of your kind words and prayers for our little girl.

Still Waiting.....

This is the e-mail we received this morning at 9:30.

Good Morning Kirk and Cindy.
We are still waiting for the updated info of Yi Mei Fei. I just sent Jane another email to ask her info be faxed and photos be scanned and emailed to me ASAP. Jane may be on her way to Beijing; so I am anxiously waiting to hear from her. I will give you a ring as soon as I hear anything from her.

Mei


Yongmei (Mei) Bellack
China Case Manager

We'll post here as soon as we hear!

Waiting for new pictures and measurements

We talked to our case manager today. She said we could expect the new information by the end of the week. I think we will get it on Thursday. I check my e-mail about 100 times a day. I really want to see the new pictures and see where she is falling on the growth chart.

The boys and I talked Kirk into letting us go to Babies 'R' Us this weekend. They wanted to buy everything! We came out with a plastic baby photo album so Lillie Mei can learn everyone's name (Zeke's pick) and a pair of pajamas (Harrison's pick). I think I did quite well since they wanted to buy a stroller! I am sure there will be many more shopping trips. After all, we'll have to make up for all the time we didn't have her! I'll post here as soon as we get more information.

Thank you to everyone who is praying and asking others to pray!

When can we expect to get Lillie Mei home?

• We still have a lot of time left on our adoption journey. If everything goes as scheduled (doubtful) this is what our timeline could look like.
  
  
• Home Study written by 5-4
  
• Pre-Approval from US Citizenship and Immigration Services by 5-11
  
• Dossier Complete by 5-14
  
• Authentication process complete by 5-31 (this involves authentication in Raleigh and Washington DC). I may be off on this one -not sure. We will use a courier to speed it up.
  
• Dossier to China (DTC) by 6-10
  
• Log-in Date (LID) by 7-10
  
• Travel Approval by 11-10
  
• Travel to China by 11-30
  
• Home by 12-14
  
  My original hope was to have her home by Thanksgiving but I'm trying to be realistic. There were a lot of changes in Chinese adoption that took effect 5-1 so it may cause some delays even with special needs children. We have no way of knowing at this point. Thanks for your prayers!

Lillie Mei is in a foster home in Jiangzi Province. It is near the east coast in

the southern part of China.

Good News! Now we Wait!

We just got an e-mail from Mei (from our agency). The orphanage director did what we asked (took new measurements) and is taking some pictures. They will then be mailed to Bejing and then to Mei in Charleston, SC. I don't know when we will get the information but we do know it's coming! Please keep praying!