More Dates

April 08: Decided to look into special needs adoptions.

May 08: Found out we needed clearances from when Dan was in the Military. Huh? What?

Summer 08....waited for clearances and just became numb to the whole process, thinking it would never happen. Had a girls weekend in Tahoe/Sacramento; Family trip to Disneyland; Flew to Anchorage AK and drove back with my sister. I stayed busy!

Mid Aug. 08: Call from Home Study social worker. We may be at the end of this clearance stuff!

Mid Aug. 08: Home Study Complete! The ball is officially rolling again.

Aug. 27 08: I-8o0A received at NBC/USCIS (paperwork for immigration, requesting to bring our child into the US based on our citizenship)

Sept 6 08: Sent final pictures and paperwork

Sept 11 08: Officially decided to adopt a child with special needs, and it will most likely be a boy!

Sept 18th: Fingerprint appointment at Dept. Homeland Security; possible referral?

Significant Dates

3/21/08: Met with Adoption Agency and met our home study service provider. Began the "paper chase"

3/26/08: Ordered Passports; First Home Study Visit

4/1/08: Blood Work
4/2/08: Medical Appointments

4/12/08: Passports arrived (wow!)

4/21/08: Finished International Adoption Classes (a new Hague requirement)

4/24/08: In the process of scheduling the next home study visit.

The First Blog!

I decided to start this blog because the adoption process is so long, confusing, and exciting! It's hard to communicate all that we are going through and have done. I will say that I believe it will be at least three years until we have our baby, but we are putting our faith in God, and He will direct our path.

So how did we end up here? Well, long story short, we are most likely not able to have any more children biologically without medical intervention. We found that out at the end of February 2008, so we had some serious thinking to do. Would Kacie be our only child? Would we try in-vitro? Would we adopt, and if so, domestically (US) or internationally, and if internationally, from where?

I believe that God put China on my heart back in 1994. In college I was in an Anthro of the Non-Western World Class, and China was one of our topics. It was there I learned so much, and I have always dreamed of adopting a girl from China. So now, 14 years later, we have begun to make our dream a reality. Feel free to check back on the blog to see how the process is going. I hope you will join us on our journey to China to bring home our daughter, and pray for us as we go through the hoops and emotions of this ride known as adoption.