Almost there...

    For the last three weeks I've been waiting for one single piece of paper from the United States Department of State National Visa Center confirming that the U.S. approves that China approves that the U.S. approves this adoption. Everyday for the last three weeks I've rushed home for lunch to check the mail...and it hasn't been there.  I spent 25minutes on hold earlier this week attempting to track this piece of paper down, only to be  reminded (not so nicely) that "snail mail takes longer than electronic mail, ma'am so you'll just have to be patient". Oh, really? Really?!  Do you really want to talk to me about being patient, lady? Have you ever dragged your heart through 19 layers of bureaucracy in TWO countries only to be told snail mail is slow...from New Hampshire...really?! I mean...I appreciate your time, ma'am. Thank you for your service to our country. (Weirdo).

    Thankfully, today that little piece of paper finally arrived.  Hallelujah!

Finally!



Here are the steps that still need to take place as I understand them:

• This letter is sent with stack of other papers to the US Consultate in China.
• The US Consulate in China approves that the U.S. approves that China approves that the U.S. approves the adoption (that makes me dizzy!)
• An Article 5 is approved and sent to the Chinese Adopton Affairs office in China (not sure what that is, but it sounds important enough not to mock it)
• China reviews (up to 2-3 weeks) and issues the official travel invitation.
• With the travel invitation, I can schedule an appointment with the US Consulate in China.
• Once that appointment is confirmed...I can book tickets!

Because of the delay in getting the above Visa paperwork, I missed the window to travel in July (sadness!) But if the calendar math works out right, I should easily make the August group (the adoption agency has prescheduled windows for adoptive familes to travel together). A happy result of the delay is that my maternity leave was modified to be able to have 8 weeks of full leave and then work just part time through the end of the year (while getting paid full time!). That will save on the cost of daycare and be an excellent transition time for Little One & I as we attach to eachother and address any medical/developmental needs that he may have. It is an alternative that never would have opened if I would have been on the plane next week as I had hoped. So, I suppose God's timing IS perfect... even if the National Visa Center lady is a psycho...I mean a beloved child of God.

 

Awesome Down syndrome Article

     There is an older lady at church who hands out the bulletins at the south entrance, who in the classic & cute grandmotherly sort of way always remembers to ask about my mother's health, and cuts out newspaper articles for those she thinks would benefit from the topic at hand.  I was a recipient of such a newspaper clipping this last weekend...as she caught me sneaking in the back of the church 23minutes late. (Darn it. Gotta start using the north entrance!)

      The clipping was from the Seattle Times in the opinion section written by George Will of all people.  You know, the cranky news analyst from This Week on Sunday mornings.  He knows everything and never smiles...it's very confusing for me. BUT...despite his chronically constipated demeanour, apparently, he has a son with Down syndrome (Just for clarification--because someone WILL ask--constipation does not cause Trisomy 21. Just a bad attitude.). George Will wrote about his son last month and I was delightfully pleased to see someone in the public eye advocating for this wonderful genetic blessing.  Way to go, George & thank you! (I hope you feel better soon, sir)

Saturday, May 5, 2012 - Page updated at 03:00 p.m. George Will / Syndicated columnist
The serenity of Jon Will

By George F. Will
Syndicated columnist

WASHINGTON — When Jonathan Frederick Will was born 40 years ago — on May 4, 1972, his father's 31st birthday — the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome was about 20 years. That is understandable.
     The day after Jon was born, a doctor told Jon's parents that the first question for them was whether they intended to take Jon home from the hospital. Nonplused, they said they thought that is what parents do with newborns. Not doing so was, however, still considered an acceptable choice for parents who might prefer to institutionalize or put up for adoption children thought to have necessarily bleak futures. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually did not live as long as they could have.
     Down syndrome is a congenital condition resulting from a chromosomal defect — an extra 21st chromosome. It causes varying degrees of mental retardation and some physical abnormalities, including small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head, a configuration of the tongue that impedes articulation, and a slight upward slant of the eyes. In 1972, people with Down syndrome were still commonly called Mongoloids.
     Now they are called American citizens, about 400,000 of them, and their life expectancy is now 60. Much has improved. There has, however, been moral regression as well.
     Jon was born just 19 years after James Watson and Francis Crick published their discoveries concerning the structure of DNA, discoveries that would enhance understanding of the structure of Jon, whose every cell is imprinted with Down syndrome. Jon was born just as prenatal genetic testing, which can detect Down syndrome, was becoming common. And Jon was born eight months before Roe v. Wade inaugurated this era of the casual destruction of pre-born babies.
     This era has coincided, not just coincidentally, with the full garish flowering of the baby boomers' vast sense of entitlement, which encompasses an entitlement to exemption from nature's mishaps, and to a perfect baby. So today science enables what the ethos ratifies, the choice of killing children with Down syndrome before birth. That is what happens to 90 percent of those whose parents have prenatal testing.
     Which is unfortunate, and not just for them. Judging by Jon, the world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome, who are quite nice, as humans go.
     It is said we are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and remain greedy. People with Down syndrome must remain brave in order to navigate society's complexities. They have no choice but to be trusting because, with limited understanding, and limited abilities to communicate misunderstanding, they, like Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire," always depend on the kindness of strangers. Judging by Jon's experience, they almost always receive it.
     Two things that have enhanced Jon's life are the Washington subway system, which opened in 1976, and the Washington Nationals baseball team, which arrived in 2005. He navigates the subway expertly, riding it to the Nationals ballpark, where he enters the clubhouse a few hours before game time and does a chore or two.
     The players, who have climbed to the pinnacle of a steep athletic pyramid, know that although hard work got them there, they have extraordinary aptitudes because they are winners of life's lottery. Major leaguers, all of whom understand what it is to be gifted, have been uniformly and extraordinarily welcoming to Jon, who is not.
     Except he is, in a way. He has the gift of serenity, in this sense:
The oldest of four siblings, he has seen two brothers and a sister surpass him in size, and acquire cars and college educations. He, however, with an underdeveloped entitlement mentality, has been equable about life's sometimes careless allocation of equity. Perhaps this is partly because, given the nature of Down syndrome, neither he nor his parents have any tormenting sense of what might have been. Down syndrome did not alter the trajectory of his life; Jon was Jon from conception on.
     This year Jon will spend his birthday where every year he spends 81 spring, summer and autumn days and evenings, at Nationals Park, in his seat behind the home team's dugout. The Phillies will be in town, and Jon will be wishing them ruination, just another man, beer in hand, among equals in the republic of baseball.
George F. Will's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times.
Email: georgewill@washpost.com

© 2012, Washington Post Writers Group

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2018142506.html

And The Grand Total Is...

$30, 165!!!

     Thanks to a generous grant received today from Bethany Christian Services' Caring Connection, ALL of the funds needed to bring Little One home are in the bank. HALLELUJAH! I am both overwhelmed & relieved...what a wonderful shower of blessing (Ezekiel 34:26). THANK YOU to ALL that gave to the Lord through my little family.  Boy, I can't wait to introduce you to the fruits of your giving!

     For those who feel a calling toward adoption giving, the Caring Connection Fund awards grants to families to help them adopt children who have specials needs. "Special needs" is a broad category that can include various health challenges including medical and developmental needs. Some of these needs may be correctable with the right medical attention while others are not. Needs may include conditions that result from neglect, abuse, trauma, physical challenges, or birth history. Significant needs may include developmental, medical, or physical challenges that will require long-term care. Sometimes the special need is merely the gender of the child. Click on the link below to read more about Bethany's Caring Connection Fund.  I encourage you to prayerfully consider supporting this ministry of matching vulnerable children with their forever families. 

Bethany's Caring Connection Fund

Oops...

Seems the local police department's photo enforcement program didn't care for my heroic Chasing-O-The-Last-UPS-Truck-To-China last month...

That's me on the right allegedly giving some scope to the full stop rule. ALLEGEDLY.  I'm going to have to check the adoption file to see if there is a $124 miscellaneous line item under "other legal & country fees"...

When You Ask A Two-Year Old...

     All the adoption books tell you to prepare for your paper pregnancy like you would for a physical pregnancy.  I don't drink or smoke and I was already taking a multivitamin, so I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do.  But months before I was matched with Little One, a late night on Etsy found me an antique locket. I bought it, stuck it in the jewelry box and waited for the unknown day I would know what to do with it.  November 1st I became Little One's forever mommy. November 1st is the day I put his photo in the locket and I have worn it every day since. My hands find it during the day and I pray over the little person that it represents. I appreciate the warmth of the back of the locket against my chest and I  during the weeks & months that I had not publicly announced Little One, I cherished the secrecy that the silver shape held.

     Every week or so when I visit my two year old nephew, he asks to see 'da baby' and grabs at chain around my throat.  I open it, we talk about his cousin who lives in China and the day that Auntie Des will bring him home on the airplane.  It's understandably complex for most people, especially a two year old, so I was especially impressed several weeks ago when I asked my nephew "Where does your cousin live?".  My nephew didn't skip a beat...looked me right in the eye and declared..."he wibs in da neck-wis!"

Well...I can't argue with that! 

     We are so close, Little One.  I can't wait for you to have years of memories with your friends & cousins.  They all love you so much already!