Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Belated Christmas Present!




Today I got updated pictures of Courtney from the agency along with updated measurements. It looks like she is not only walking but running already. She is still a little smaller than Kaleigh but I think she is close to the same size as she was two months ago other than being slightly shorter. Anyway this soon to be mama of two is so happy to be looking at more pictures of her little one tonight. Please continue to keep us in your prayers that all of our paperwork is gathered and submitted in time so that we don't lose our Courtney Grace!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Updated Pictures of our little one!











Today the service that I used to send a care package sent me some updated pictures of Courtney. They did an amazing job on her lip repair. She looks so wonderful. I will say that seeing the pictures of her and how much she has grown has made me realize that these next serveral months are going to be much longer than I thought. Anyway enjoy!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Paperwork Paperwork Paperwork

I don't know that I actually forgot how much paperwork goes into an adoption but with a deadline this time it is much more stressful. Plus so many requirements have changed due to Hague. Keep the prayers coming everyone because we are head over heels in love with this one too. Well obviously you already know how much we love our little bit otherwise known as Kaleigh! Anyway thanks for all of your support and love!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Here are pictures




I know several of you have been waiting on pictures of Courtney so here are the only two that we have at this time. The one appears to be when she was just a few weeks old and the other appears to be when she was about 6 to 9 months old. I don't have any pictures yet of her after the lip repair but they have been requested so as soon as I have those I will post them as well.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Paperwork, paperwork

Wow and I thought I would never forget how much paperwork went with an adoption. We received all the paperwork from the agency yesterday evening but I just got started today. Kaleigh had a FCC Christmas Party last night. One other difference this time is that we are doing the adoption with a different agency and since they are not local we have to use another agency to do the homestudy. This time we will be getting things completed much quicker!!! We can't wait to bring our little angel home to be with us and her sister.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The beginning of this journey

As some of you know we wanted to do two adoptions while we were waiting to bring Kaleigh home. As the wait grew longer and longer we started giving up on the hope of a second child. The completion of our journey to Kaleigh and the beginning of our journey with her really opened our eyes to special needs adoptions. We read so many stories of people who did sn adoptions and the children came home with almost no issues or issues that were so easy to correct. Then we went to China and found out that healthy referrals do not mean there will not be issues. Our precious wonderful Kaleigh was severely delayed physically and she has struggled to catch up with her peers, but she is a very determined little girl and she will get there. Some of the other children we saw in China ended up having major health concerns as well. So for anyone out there who is considering adoption just remember that just like having a child you don't know for sure what you are getting until you have it.

So we started looking at special needs list and talking to our social worker about the sn process. We looked at a few files and some were obviously not right for us, older, not sure if we could handle the needs of the child. A couple of the ones we looked at were matched with someone else first. Then comes this cute little girl with a cleft lip and palette. There was something about her eyes and the thick hair on her head. So we requested to see her file. She was only 2 1/2 months younger than Kaleigh (we almost switched to twins while we were waiting) and was developementally right on track. While at a Halloween party for Kaleigh the pediatrician called to let me know that she looked good other than her obvious special needs. I called the agency and said we want her. They said we think someone may have just placed her one hold let me check and I will call you back. That was a LONG 15 minutes and then they called and said she is on hold for you and this is what you need to do to request Pre approval. On November 2nd, I sent in the paperwork that China needed to show that we were qualified and that we had a plan to care for this little one. On November 30th, I got the email that said China had approved us. Now we have a deadline to get the next part of the process completed, but Pan Li to be known as Courtney Grace will hopefully be coming home to her forever family in 9 to 12 months.