Merry Christmas

Missing you at Christmas. We all wish you were at home celebrating your first Christmas. We love watching the excitement on our children's faces as they get to celebrate so many things on this great day. It is making us miss you even more.

Some things everyone wants to share with you about Christmas:

Sasha can't wait for you to see the new baby goats.
Max can't wait to see your face on your first Christmas day home.
Baba says he will have his Christmas present when you come home.
Rey and Shawnie just hope you and Cora have a great time playing together.
Cora wants to get you lots of surprises so you can have fun playing.
Mama's Christmas wish is for you to be safe, healthy, and content. I hope your transition to home is easy as it can be.

We love you so much already, We cannot wait to get to hold you safely in my arms.

Information Day

Today was a good day for information. We received an email from Linda (WACAP) about our dossier documents, she is looking them over for approval. Notice that our I-800A with supplements was sent in to USCIS and computer notice of our progress was set up to keep us updated on Min's status for approval to bring home as an adopted child. We also received the packet for the second stage of paperwork needed in hopes of a grant or loan towards the funding of our adoption from A Child Waits Foundation. It is so nice to finally hear some good news and see progress.

All of our efforts towards raising money are not working for us. We are learning that it is not always beneficial to be part of such a small group of people. Our last effort was advertising on M Live. This seemed to be a very broad reaching advertisement, not saying that it was not seen by many people because we had many views on Min's webpage, but no donations were made that our agency has notified us of at this time. Our hope is that with the continued effort to cut corners in our budget plus all of the overtime that my husband is at this time able to work will be enough to bring our little angel home.

Please keep Min in your prayers.

Happy Birthday Min!

We love you and miss you so much.  We wish we could be with you to celebrate this very special day. We know you received our gifts because we have wonderful pictures of our beautiful little girl with them. (Thank you Wendy for stopping in and talking to Min about us and giving her our gifts.) We are sorry that you do not know that we are your new Mama and Baba but right now that is how it has to be.  We cannot wait to hold you, kiss you, and play with you.

Our birthday wish to you for this year is for you to find happiness and peace in all things, to be healthy and continue to grow, and to know that there are many people in this world who love you.

Happy Birthday little one!

Love you,

Mama, Baba, Mikie, Shawnie, Rey, Max, Sasha, and Cora

Estimated timeline to Min

Now that our homestudy is on its way and knowing that soon our USCIS application will follow we are able to start our timeline to travel to China and bring Min home. This is a total guess at this time and I used the average between the estimated times; for example 1 - 4 weeks I will use 3 weeks to guess the travel date.

USCIS Approval less than 90 days (2 months) is December 24,2014
Dossier documents sent to China Consulate for Authentication 10 business days January 5, 2015
Dossier sent to China Jan 6, 2-15
Log in date 2 - 4 weeks January 26, 2015
Letter of Approval (LOA) 1-4 months (3 months) April 26
I 800 application return  3 - 7 weeks (3 weeks)  May 25
Provisional Application for Article 5 up to 6 weeks (3 weeks) June 25
Letter from NVC to Consulate 1 - 2 weeks July 9
Article 5 10 days July 19
Travel Notice 2 - 4 weeks August 10

Estimated travel date is August 10. 14 days in China and then Min will be home with her new family!

One step closer!

We received the notarized copies of our homestudy from FAC. They were also notice enough to make notarized copies of our reference letters for  our dossier. Now we are able to file for our USCIS clearance to bring Min into the United States as our child. We sent WACAP 3 copies of our homestudy, verification of education, I 800A application, and the needed supplements. We were told that it has been about 2 months after the approval (I am not sure how long that may take) to receive our travel date to travel China and bring Min home. The reality that we may really pull this off is starting to set in. We are almost the parents of 7 children! I am so busy but loving it.

Jackson Citizen Patriot Article

We have been circulating a flyer around town asking for help with funding our adoption. We were contacted by the local newspaper, The Jackson Citizen Patriot, about doing an article on our family, the adoption process, and the fundraiser for Min. Here is a link to the article that was posted on MLive after it appeared in the Sunday paper front page! 

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2014/10/the_journey_home_family_adopts.html

Our family was very excited to share our story even with the short notice, they wanted to interview us at our home on the same day the called us. Obviously we said yes and we talked for what felt like forever. We discussed so many things we were really unsure of how Katie would ever get the story together. We thanked her for the help and waited anxiously for the article.

Sunday we were all very excited to get the paper. We were very nervous when we saw our picture was on the front page. Katie did a great job with our story. She had a lot of information to sift through and put together a great story. Thank you Katie!

Thanks again to all who have supported us throughout the adoption process to bring Min home.

USCIS requirement changes

So much has happened since the last post I am not even sure where to start. The adoption is the main story so I am starting there. Our homestudy has been approved for quite some time now but we still do not have a copy that has been approved by WACAP. It seems that USCIS changed their guidelines for the ages of "children", to be more specific, if the child (sibling in the home) will be turning 18 during the adoption process. It used to be if the child was 17 at the time of the homestudy then the 17 year old was considered a child and the paperwork was filed accordingly. Now the rules state that if a 17 year old will be turning 18 before the adoption is final then the 17 year old will be treated as an adult and the homestudy needs to reflect all of the documents as if the 17 year old is an adult. Why is this an issue? Because we cannot get a clearance on a 17 year old child in our state. We have to wait until our son is 18 to fill out the documentation that will give us the clearance needed to complete the paperwork needed for the final approval of our homestudy.

The choices...

1. Go ahead with this homestudy and file our USCIS docs, then get an updated homestudy when our son turns 18. This includes more cost for the update on the homestudy, more time to complete the addendum to the homestudy, and more time to send the addendum to USCIS for approval.
2.Just wait until he is 18 (this a Michigan law I am not sure the age applies in all states) and then move forward with the process.

Our choice is to wait. The cost out weighs the time we will have to wait. There is no guarantee that it will help Min get home quicker even if we go with choice 1.

I found this out while I was out of state with my mother. She was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing surgery to have her stomach removed. I was staying to help with her recovery and transition home. The day she came home my step-father was sent to the hospital for a cath of his heart, they found that he needed open heart surgery and he had to stay in the hospital until a bed opened up for him. A week later he had the surgery, a few days after that he returned home. Both are doing well.

Now my attention and finances are pulled between care for my parents and the adoption of our daughter.

I am really getting scared about our financials.

How to pass the time while we wait...

Cora is having a hard time understanding why we cannot go to China to get Min and bring her home. She is upset that Min is not here and wants her to be happy with her new family. Telling Cora that it takes a long time is just not working, she thinks she sleeps for a long time so NOW it is time to go and get Min.

We had a great idea to help her understand how many days it could take for Min to come home. We created a paper chain of rings and ran it across the tops of the windows in our home. We made 365 rings (the number to be adjusted as we complete each step of the adoption process) and she cuts one off each night. The chain starts in our dinning room, runs around three sides into our living room, across our fireplace mantle and hangs off the other side! Cora's solution... cut off more than one each day so Min can come home faster.

Homestudy Approved!

Our second and third homestudy appointment are over, we survived and passed! On the second appointment we talked about finances. How much money we made, owed, insurance for the children, and how we were going to finance Min's adoption (still working on this part). The third appointment was discussing paperwork and signing forms. We reviewed all the documentation and talked about the issues that can come with adopting an institutionalized child and the possible needs that we may not have been made aware of or that are not know of at this time.

Next step is approval of the report from WACAP. Once that is done we will be given 3 copies of the report, one for WACAP, one for USCIS, and one for our file. Then we file our I-800A for Min's immigration and our dossier. This is a long wait if it follow the timeline of our last adoptions. We will also be able to apply for adoption grants and loans now that we have an approved homestudy.

Please continue to share Min's story with others to help us bring Min home.

Thank you to all that are helping Min!

Homestudy Day 1

Our homestudy is going great. We really like Laura but we are still missing Louise. You get attached to those who help you adopt, they become family.

On the first meeting we mostly talked about how we decided to adopt, what our relationship was like, our other adoption stories, how the children were adjusting, and reviewed the teachers letters.

Cora (our youngest and last adopted; only a year ago) was taking Laura all over the house! She was so happy to be showing her everything and everywhere. There was no place left out, every homestudy agents dream I am sure.

Everything seems to be moving along and no red flags yet. Hopefully we will be filing for Min's US Immigration papers soon!

Homestudy Scheduled!

We did get the call we have been waiting for from FAC. We are scheduled for our first homestudy visit on Wednesday! Second visit on Sunday and the next for the following week. I have so much to do. We have a new (to us) agent coming this time. We are very surprised, Louise has become part of our family but Laura comes by Louise's request so we are trying not to worry. I will be too busy getting ready for the visit to worry too much and time will pass quickly because I am busy.

Homestudy update

We have completed and submitted all of our documents needed for our homestudy to be started. We are waiting for the call to schedule our first visit.

The homestudy is three visits; one at home, the others can be at a place that we can agree on or again at home. With our previous adoptions we have met at the agency, a park, and at the library. The documents are the hard part for us. Once the visits start we will finally feel like we are finally on our way to bringing our daughter home.

The nest step will be applying for Min's Visa that will allow us to bring her into the United States. We submit our homestudy and a few more documents to the USCIS. We will then be scheduled for our biometrics appointment. This is basically fingerprinting and a filling our a few more forms so we are in the system for immigration. This will give us the I-797 document needed for our Dossier.

China Adoption Grants

WACAP offers a grant for waiting children that have special needs. We applied for their Promise Grant on July 23, 2014. The Promise Grant is grant is based on our income.

Grants suggested by Family Adoption Consultants:

Giftofadoption.org

Oursbygrace.com

Nafadopt.org

Achildwaits.org

Helpingkidscope.com

Hiskidstoo.org

Cadmanfoundation.org

Grants suggested by WACAP:

ABBA Fund

Christian World Foundation

Gift of adoption

 

 

 

PA Approved!

July 17, 2014 was a good day for us. Our PA was approved and Min is finally off of the Waiting Child list for China. She is moving forward on her journey to coming home.

We are progressing on our needed documents. Some things have changed in the year since our last adoption of Cora. We have 6 months to complete our dossier. For those of you who do not know or remember, this is a list of documents needed to complete the adoption. We refer to this list as our "Treasure Hunt". This has proved in the past to be our biggest trial of patience. You fill out documents, have documents filled out, notarized, apostiled, send them off for Authentication and Verification from the Chinese Embassy in Chicago, wait for them to return so we can send them to WACAP for translation. Hurry and wait, hurry and wait, and wait...

Dossier Documents needed:

*Birth Certificate for each parent certified from the state (done online)

*Marriage Certificate certified from the state (done online)

*Financial Statement: Letter of net worth, liabilities, and assets. Must be notarized.

  Police Clearance Report: appointment for fingerprinting, send to Lansing, wait for letter.

*Letter of Employment: Completed by HR department of employer stating current position, time       employed, salary, and statement of possibility of continuous employment.

  I-797C: This is from USCIC stating that Min's immigration paperwork has been processed and approved.

*Adoption Application Letter is written by us stating that we want to adopt and the type of child we would accept. We will give all rights of a biological child to our adopted child.

Homestudy: As it sounds we pay someone to look at our home, see how we parent, how we were raised, what friends and family have to say about us. This takes 3 visits and has its own documents that need completed. This also takes a large amount of time to complete.

(* documents are completed so as of today we are 5/8 with the easiest documents completed and the time sensitive ones still needed.)

We are still trying to find ways for raising money for Min's adoption. So far the flyers are not giving us the results that we were hoping for. We are very concerned that we will not be able to fund our adoption. Our 10 year old daughter (she was also adopted) wants to make jewelry and sell it. I am hoping to find a way locally that she can do this. She is wanting to help so much. Our youngest daughter has only been home for a little over a year and gave us her piggy bank with her "horsey money" in it so we could bring home her Mei Mei (baby sister) now. It breaks my heart and fills it with joy at the same time for the love my children all have for their sister already.

Min's Story

Late at night in November 2010, a baby girls was left at the gate of an orphanage in Anhui, China. A nanny found her and took her into the orphanage. She called the police then went to an empty crib and gently laid the baby girl down. The girl started to cry, and what started as one mournful voice grew into a loud chorus of abandoned children. The nanny had 15 charges that night and only 2 hands to care for them.

The baby girl in Anhui was given the name Min Ying Yan meaning “her colorful life”. She is now three years old. Her nannies say she is quiet and shy. Her favorite thing to do is play on the swings. Min is growing and learning as best she can within the orphanage, but orphans are thought to be bad luck in China and have no family name or family at all to support and nurture them. At 14, Min will age out of the adoption system and by 16 she may be forced to leave the orphanage.

Min’s Medical Condition:

Adding to Min’s challenges for adoption is a condition called Congenital Melanocytic Nevus or CMN. CMN is a giant dark birthmark that may or may not be covered in hair. Min’s covers approximately one third of her body. Min may need several surgeries to remove some of the giant nevus to allow for healthy skin. She will also need regular monitoring by a dermatologist to watch for changes in the nevus. When we saw her photo, we didn’t see a diagnosis, we saw a smiling little girl needing a loving family.

Our Family

We can and want to give Min a good family, to provide her with unconditional love and support. We believe every child deserves a loving home. We have decided to make adoption a part of our life through the adoption of our children and helping others adopt. We have adopted 4 children in the past 4 years and are aware of the challenges of adopting children. I am an RN which allows me to take care of our children’s medical needs. My husband Shawn is very supportive and hard working providing us with all we need. Please learn more about our family and follow Min’s journey home at www.OurAnhuiAngel.blogspot.com

Request:

Unfortunately, adopting children is expensive, and we are not in a place financially to fund this on our own. If Min is to become a part of our family, it will mean receiving help from others with a heart and desire to see a little girl joined with the love and support that only a family can provide.

If Min’s story touches your heart, and you feel prompted to help, we would be exceedingly grateful for anything you are able to donate toward the cost of adoption.

Tax deductible donations for Min’s adoption can be made through WACAP (World Association for Children and Parents). Call toll free: 800-732-1887 and give her full name and birth date. (Min Ying Yan, Nov 15, 2010.)  They are located in Renton, WA and accept major credit cards and checks.

 If you have any questions, please email me at titaniumwoman@hotmail.com.

Thank you.