Update on Laney!

I was so excited. Today we had a surprise in the mail from Pam at CCAI. Another update on our daughter!

She is 14 months old...27" tall, 14.5 pounds. Teeny-tiny, but oh so cute!

She has 2 teeth on the bottom. I almost started crying when I realized she already has teeth! It says she can sit, crawl and stand. They describe her personality as extroverted, loving to smile & play. Her nanny describes her as a happy & lively baby. :)

She understands the meaning of what adults say. She also understands some simple instructions from adults, such as "pick up your bottle" and "nod your head," etc. She likes to play outside and likes all kinds of toys. Sometimes when she stays in her crib, she will mischievously crawl to a neighboring child's crib, reach in and sneek her toy away. LOL!

She is only receiving 5 bottles of milk & two bowls of cereal daily. No protein and not a lot of calories. We are so anxious to bring her home and get her on a better diet! I know we'll see her grow.

We can't wait to bring you home sweet girl! I love you!

I put zero stock in this...

but according to the Chinese lore, Laney was born in the Year of the Dog. Supposedly, people born in that year are honest, faithful, and loyal to those they love. They also have sharp tongues, tend to worry and are perfectionists....Wait a minute...who are we talking about here? That all sort of sounds like me. LOL!

Anyway, people born under this sign would make excellent teachers, activists or secret agents. Hmm..... somehow the thought of my tiny daughter being a "secret agent" cracks me up! LOL! I hope she goes with activist. :)

Today we have been waiting...

27 days for our TA. You calculate the wait from the date of LOI or LID (whichever comes latter.) In our case, our LOI was sent on 5/3, so today we're at 27 days waiting. Travel Approvals can come without much notice, but in general they seem to be running around 90 days. SO, we're about 1/3 of the way there. I'll be starting to get VERY anxious for that phone call when we see July drawing to a close. :)

In other news, we're leaving tomorrow for a weekend in Lincoln, NE ~ Troy's home town. I'm attending a Football 101 for Women (yes, it is hard to say that without laughing) at Memorial Stadium. I'm going with one of my best friends so it will be fun! I'm really looking forward to it. We get to meet some of the players, walk on the field, meet the coaches, etc. It's an all-day event on Friday and then the husbands will meet up with us at the stadium in the evening for a party.

Thursday will just be spent with our friends...enjoying seeing them and their kids. Then on Saturday, we'll all pile into the minivans (matching silver Honda Odysseys...it's like the Odyssey fleet... LOL! ) and we'll head over to Omaha to visit the zoo. It's supposed to be amazing! I'm anxious to see the desert exhibit.

A couple of thoughts...

First, it's only been one month since we first heard those amazing words, "We have a baby for you." I feel like Laney has always been on her way to us. I suppose she has. All of our children have been destined to be in our arms...by birth or adoption.

Second, I was able to drop by my great-aunt's house yesterday and show her the updated photos of Laney. My aunt is 85 this year...and more like a grandmother than an aunt. She is the dearest, sweetest thing. She wasn't completely "keen" on the idea of our adoption plans when she first heard them, but she is now fully on-board. She loved the updated photos and kept remarking over and over again how cute Laney is. I am so thankful my aunt is alive and well, and able to take part in the joy of this fourth baby.

Deciding on the perfect name...

We love the name Laney Kate. :) And of course, we think Laney's Chinese name is wonderful too. Jin Yu Rao. With a 10 letter last name, I don't want to saddle her with a name that will NEVER fit in any application form boxes. LOL! So, I think we've settled on:


Laney Kate Rao Schoeppner


(a little from us, a little from China...perfect)

Laney ~ means bright light
Kate ~ means pure
Rao ~ means beautiful & charming

All of those certainly sum up how we feel about our wonderful new baby! :)

So, I *just* posted yesterday...

and said I had finally gotten too anxious and emailed Pam at CCAI and asked about our pre-approval. She just called me a few minutes ago and our PA arrived today!! Yay!

One more step toward Laney! Now we're waiting for our LOA (letter-of-acceptance) and TA (travel-approval). Pam did say that even though she thinks we'll be traveling in August, it does depend on where our dossier is at the moment and how close it is to being in the match room. She said, "Think September, and then be all excited when it comes in August." That was tough to hear, but I know we won't step foot in China one day sooner than we are supposed to.

LID 3/23/07
Match 5/1/07
LOI 5/3/07
PA 5/25/07
LOA?
TA?
Gotcha Day?

Spoke with our agency...

today and Pam, our wonderful Waiting Child specialist at CCAI (We love you Pam!), told me that we probably won't be flying in July (although it's possible), but that August looks very likely. It's still a guessing game until we know for sure, but I'm going with her best guess. :)

August seems so much farther away than July, but I'm learning to take it one day at a time. We'll be in Ludington for family vacation from 6/26-7/16...so when we return, it will just be 2 weeks until August! See, it sounds closer already! LOL! Wouldn't seeing/holding Laney be a fabulous birthday (8/13) present for me this year?

I met with our pediatrician yesterday and I now have all the Rx and meds we could ever possibly need for Laney in China. Antibiotics, lice stuff, scabies stuff, eczema lotion, ors (oral rehydration solution --- fancy word for powdered pedialyte), diaper rash stuff, etc., etc., etc. We'll have a small pharmacy in our carry-on luggage. But better to take it and not use it, than get there and be stranded, eh?

Amazing, encouraging article...

My sweet friend Kristin H, called me this morning, from Starbucks and read this article from the NY Times to me over the phone. I was in the car, cell phone in hand, listening and weeping. She was in Starbucks, cell in hand, reading & weeping with me. What a beautiful testament to a mamma's love for her child and walking out a faith in what we do not see ~ holding fast to what is always true. I pray that Laney remains healthy, gets stronger and gains weight. But we already love her and she is our daughter regardless of what obstacles may come our way.

My First Lesson in Motherhood

By ELIZABETH FITZSIMONS

Published: May 13, 2007

I SAW the scar the first time I changed Natalie’s diaper, just an hour after the orphanage director handed her to me in a hotel banquet room in Nanchang, a provincial capital in southeastern China.

Despite the high heat and humidity, her caretakers had dressed her in two layers, and when I peeled back her sweaty clothes I found the worst diaper rash I’d ever seen, and a two-inch scar at the base of her spine cutting through the red bumps and peeling skin.

The next day, when the Chinese government would complete the adoption, also was Natalie’s first birthday. We had a party for her that night, attended by families we’d met and representatives of the adoption agency, and Natalie licked cake frosting from my finger. But we worried about a rattle in her chest, and there was the scar, so afterward my husband, Matt, asked our adoption agency to send the doctor.

We had other concerns, too. Natalie was thin and pale and couldn’t sit up or hold a bottle. She had only two teeth, barely any hair and wouldn’t smile. But I had anticipated such things. My sister and two brothers were adopted from Nicaragua, the boys as infants, and when they came home they were smelly, scabies-covered diarrhea machines who could barely hold their heads up. Yet those problems soon disappeared.

I believed Natalie would be fine, too. There was clearly a light on behind those big dark eyes. She rested her head against my chest in the baby carrier and would stare up at my face, her lips parting as she leaned back, as if she knew she was now safe.

She would be our first child. We had set our hearts on adopting a baby girl from China years before, when I was reporting a newspaper story about a local mayor’s return home with her new Chinese daughter. Adopting would come later, we thought. After I became pregnant.

But I didn’t become pregnant. And after two years of trying, I was tired of feeling hopeless, of trudging down this path not knowing how it would end. I did know, however, how adopting would end: with a baby.

So we’d go to China first and then try to have a biological child. We embarked on a process, lasting months, of preparing our application and opening our life to scrutiny until one day we had a picture of our daughter on our refrigerator. Fourteen months after deciding to adopt, we were in China.

And now we were in a hotel room with a Chinese doctor, an older man who spoke broken English. After listening to Natalie’s chest, he said she had bronchitis. Then he turned her over and looked at her scar.

Frowning, he asked for a cotton swab and soap. He coated an end in soap and probed her sphincter, which he then said was “loose.” He suspected she’d had a tumor removed and wondered aloud if she had spina bifida before finally saying that she would need to be seen at the hospital.

TWO taxis took us all there, and as we waited to hear news, I tried to think positive thoughts: of the room we had painted for Natalie in light yellow and the crib with Winnie the Pooh sheets. But my mind shifted when I saw one of the women from the agency in a heated exchange in Chinese with the doctors, then with someone on her cellphone. We pleaded with her for information.

“It’s not good,” she said.

A CT scan confirmed that there had been a tumor that someone, somewhere, had removed. It had been a sloppy job; nerves were damaged, and as Natalie grew her condition would worsen, eventually leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Control over her bladder and bowels would go, too; this had already begun, as indicated by her loose sphincter. Yes, she had a form of spina bifida, as well as a cyst on her spine.

I looked at my husband in shock, waiting for him to tell me that I had misunderstood everything. But he only shook his head.

I held on to him and cried into his chest, angry that creating a family seemed so impossible for us, and that life had already been so difficult for Natalie.

Back at the hotel, we hounded the women from the agency: Why wasn’t this in her medical report? How could a scar that size not be noticed? It was two inches long, for God’s sake.

They shook their heads. Shrugged. Apologized.

And then they offered a way to make it better.

“In cases like these, we can make a rematch with another baby,” the one in charge said. The rest of the process would be expedited, and we would go home on schedule. We would simply leave with a different girl.

Months before, we had been presented with forms asking which disabilities would be acceptable in a prospective adoptee — what, in other words, did we think we could handle: H.I.V., hepatitis, blindness? We checked off a few mild problems that we knew could be swiftly corrected with proper medical care. As Matt had written on our application: “This will be our first child, and we feel we would need more experience to handle anything more serious.”

Now we faced surgeries, wheelchairs, colostomy bags. I envisioned our home in San Diego with ramps leading to the doors. I saw our lives as being utterly devoted to her care. How would we ever manage?

Yet how could we leave her? Had I given birth to a child with these conditions, I wouldn’t have left her in the hospital. Though a friend would later say, “Well, that’s different,” it wasn’t to me.

I pictured myself boarding the plane with some faceless replacement child and then explaining to friends and family that she wasn’t Natalie, that we had left Natalie in China because she was too damaged, that the deal had been a healthy baby and she wasn’t.

How would I face myself? How would I ever forget? I would always wonder what happened to Natalie.

I knew this was my test, my life’s worth distilled into a moment. I was shaking my head “No” before they finished explaining. We didn’t want another baby, I told them. We wanted our baby, the one sleeping right over there. “She’s our daughter,” I said. “We love her.”

Matt, who had been sitting on the bed, lifted his glasses, and, wiping the tears from his eyes, nodded in agreement.

Yet we had a long, fraught night ahead, wondering how we would possibly cope. I called my mother in tears and told her the news.

There was a long pause. “Oh, honey.”

I sobbed.

She waited until I’d caught my breath. “It would be O.K. if you came home without her.”

“Why are you saying that?”

“I just wanted to absolve you. What do you want to do?”

“I want to take my baby and get out of here,” I said.

“Good,” my mother said. “Then that’s what you should do.”

In the morning, bleary-eyed and aching, we decided we would be happy with our decision. And we did feel happy. We told ourselves that excellent medical care might mitigate some of her worst afflictions. It was the best we could hope for.

But within two days of returning to San Diego — before we had even been able to take her to the pediatrician — things took yet another alarming turn.

While eating dinner in her highchair, Natalie had a seizure — her head fell forward then snapped back, her eyes rolled and her legs and arms shot out ramrod straight. I pulled her from the highchair, handed her to Matt and called 911.

When the paramedics arrived, Natalie was alert and stable, but then she suffered a second seizure in the emergency room. We told the doctors what we had learned in China, and they ordered a CT scan of her brain.

Hours later, one of the emergency room doctors pulled up a chair and said gravely, “You must know something is wrong with her brain, right?”

We stared at her. Something was wrong with her brain, too, in addition to everything else?

“Well,” she told us, “Natalie’s brain is atrophic.”

I fished into my purse for a pen as she compared Natalie’s condition to Down syndrome, saying that a loving home can make all the difference. It was clear, she added, that we had that kind of home.

She left us, and I cradled Natalie, who was knocked out from seizure medicine. Her mouth was open, and I leaned down, breathing in her sweet breath that smelled like soy formula.

Would we ever be able to speak to each other? Would she tell me her secrets? Laugh with me?

Whatever the case, I would love her and she would know it. And that would have to be enough. I thanked God we hadn’t left her.

She was admitted to the hospital, where we spent a fitful night at her bedside. In the morning, the chief of neurosurgery came in. When we asked him for news, he said, “It’s easier if I show you.”

In the radiology department screening room, pointing at the CT scan, he told us the emergency room doctor had erred; Natalie’s brain wasn’t atrophic. She was weak and had fallen behind developmentally, but she had hand-eye coordination and had watched him intently as he examined her. He’d need an M.R.I. for a better diagnosis. We asked him to take images of Natalie’s spine, too.

He returned with more remarkable news. The M.R.I. ruled out the brain syndromes he was worried about. And nothing was wrong with Natalie’s spine. She did not have spina bifida. She would not become paralyzed. He couldn’t believe anyone could make such a diagnosis from the poor quality of the Chinese CT film. He conceded there probably had been a tumor, and that would need to be monitored, but she might be fine. The next year would tell.

There would be other scares, more seizures and much physical therapy to teach her to sit, crawl and walk. She took her first steps one day on the beach at 21 months, her belly full of fish tacos.

NOW she is nearly 3, with thick brown hair, gleaming teeth and twinkling eyes. She takes swimming lessons, goes to day care and insists on wearing flowered sandals to dance. I say to her, “Ohhhh, Natalie,” and she answers, “Ohhhh, Mama.” And I blink back happy tears.

Sometimes when I’m rocking her to sleep, I lean down and breathe in her breath, which now smells of bubble-gum toothpaste and the dinner I cooked for her while she sat in her highchair singing to the dog. And I am amazed that this little girl is mine.

It’s tempting to think that our decision was validated by the fact that everything turned out O.K. But for me that’s not the point. Our decision was right because she was our daughter and we loved her. We would not have chosen the burdens we anticipated, and in fact we declared upfront our inability to handle such burdens. But we are stronger than we thought.

A photograph of our daughter....

Yesterday we received Laney's finding ad in the mail. Since 1999, the orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. We call them "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. Originally these were text-only ads, but most provinces now include photographs in their ads. These photographs are usually the earliest available pictures of the children, some from as young as a few weeks old. I hired Brian Stuy (Research-China.org) to locate Laney's ad for us. He found it and forwarded it to us. The picture is so sweet! It ran in the paper June 8, 2006 -- approximately 2 weeks after she was born. You can totally tell it's Laney. What a precious gift to have a picture of her from so early in her life. She was so adorable. What a treasure!

A piece is missing....

I've always been someone who is easily distracted, a thousand projects going at once, something on the back burner at all times, new ideas all the time....you get the picture. BUT, I'm also able to have great focus on the things I love. There is never a time when I'm not loving Troy and my three sweet munchkins 100%. Lately, I'm so torn! It isn't that I'm not loving them with the same intensity, but I feel like I'm a little lost. I feel spacey and disconnected. I'm distracted. I'm somewhat distant. I'm anxious to have Laney home.

Now that I have her picture and I can see her sweet eyes and I know how very tiny she is and how much she needs us, it makes the wait horribly difficult. My heart has a piece missing now and that piece is in China...in Guangxi...in Guiping City...in a small crib, nestled next to my daughter.

I cannot wait for the day when we have returned with her and my family ~ my heart ~ is finally back as one.

I went "shopping" today...

for my little one. I realize that it's early and I should pack light, and that they really do sell clothes in China...but when I got the update this morning I just felt like I had to do something --- well, celebratory! :) Laney needs clothes! LOL!

I had fun "online" browsing and found several tres chic little outfits -- all in 6-9 month size. It was fun! Can't wait to see her in them.

Troy and I also thought through our carseat situation and realized we need to buy a new one! We figured by the time our referral call came in, Landry would be 3.5 and in a booster. But Laney arrived early! So we'll have two in diapers and two in a 5-point harness. No worries. Just ordered Laney her own Britax Marathon carseat and it will be here and installed when we come home from the airport. Yay!

More pictures....

More pictures of our sweet girl!

We got an update!

We're still waiting for our PA (pre-approval) from the CCAA, but this morning I had a wonderful update from the orphanage and several new pictures of Laney! She is getting to be such a big girl (not big, size wise, but because of all that she can do!) It says she can sit, crawl, and even walk while holding on to something. She is still super petite (26"), but her mental development is right on target and she is doing wonderfully!

Here is a new picture off our little sweetie! I just could just melt looking at this beautiful eyes and soft cheeks. I do think she needs to be in something a little more *pink* though. Don't worry Laney. Mommy will remedy that situation when we arrive.

I've spent the last few days researching....

Laney's special need a little more. Because she was premature at birth and still hasn't caught up "weight-wise" yet, she is considered special needs. She is in the 3rd percentile for weight/height on a US growth chart and the 5th percentile in weight/height on an Asian growth chart.

I visited a website called Orphan Doctor and learned some new possible reasons for Laney's delay, as well as what we might expect when she comes home. This website provides education for adopting families (both domestic as well as international) concerning health, counseling, etc -- both preadoptive info as well as post-adoptive resources.

Here is what I learned about delayed growth development:

Children living in orphanages in China are malnourished, but the severity of the poor nutrition varies from orphanage to orphanage. It is impossible to generalize about the health and nutritional status of all children living in orphanages in China. There are orphanages with more resources than others and even when an orphanage has been reported to have better living conditions, that orphanage can be altered by the economy of the region during different times of the year and in different years. Most kids living in orphanages are fed very dilute formula in infancy. The formula is usually milk-based and resembles standard baby formula used in the U.S. Rice cereal is often added to thicken the feeds. Occasionally children will get a steamed egg or a bowl of rice congi. On holidays, bananas and oranges are sometimes available. Feeds are fast and furious and bottles are propped. Children get used to a speedy avalanche of fluid without much nutritional value which can lead to difficulties with coordinating swallowing and the handling of different textures of foods during the transition after adoption (oral aversion).

The poor quality of nutrition and lack of exposure to sun leads to vitamin D and calcium deficiency which is called rickets. This is one of the top five medical issues in children living in China (malnutrition, rickets, anemia, lead poisoning, and asthma). The characteristic "Raggedy Ann" or floppy appearance of many children adopted from China is attributed to rickets. With proper nutrition, rickets resolves. The muscles and bones are weak and poorly developed in ricketic kids, but with replenishment with vitamin D and calcium, the body strengthens. Rickets can clearly account for a lot of the gross motor delays that are seen when kids first arrive. Obviously, decreased muscle tone and delayed gross motor development cannot always be attributed to rickets, but the first assumption should be that nutrition is the cause. Proper follow-up with the pediatrician on a regular ongoing basis will allow exploration of other causes as time goes by.

Babies and toddlers adopted from China may also be quite small when they are first adopted by families. The body slows its growth when nutrition is poor in order to conserve energy to meet basic metabolic needs. The undernutrition described above clearly accounts for most failure to thrive that we see in children adopted from abroad in general. Typically weight catches up before height. Certainly, genetic characteristics of a particular culture must be kept in mind when evaluating a child for growth failure or failure to thrive. There are Chinese children who are small, but not all Chinese are small people.

It is essential that the pediatrician plot the child on a standard Chinese growth chart if the child appears to be small to give the child the benefit of the doubt. If the child's anthropometric measurements (height, weight, and head circumference) are found on a standard American growth chart, then I would suggest that the American growth curve is appropriate.

This is so helpful! We just received Laney's Denver Development Screening results last week, and she is doing *everything* she should be doing at 13.5 months old -- considering she is in an SWI. She is standing (w/out holding on to something), she is stacking blocks, pincer grip is good, saying one word phrases, etc.) She isn't walking yet, but that is common with babies of this age in an orphanage. We are so encouraged! This means she is healthy and learning and her body is giving the most nutrients (as it should) to her brain, even if her body is on the tiny side.

We're prepared to keep her on good rich, fortified formula for the first year she is home, if not longer -- just to help boost her protein & nutrients. And of course, I know when she is getting lots of love & hugs & kisses -- as well as proper stimulation, gross motor development opportunities and better food -- we'll see her advance in so many ways. She may always be on the shorter side, but that is just fine. We are so excited to get this baby home! We love you Laney ~ so, so much.

Questions for Laney's Nanny...

We'll be meeting Laney's care giver (nanny) either in Nanning or when we visit the orphanage in Guiping. It's important, if given the opportunity, that I have a list of questions ready to ask. This might be my only chance to gain insight into what my daughter's world was like before we arrived...what her dislikes/likes are, etc.

Here are some of the things we hope to ask:


1) Does she have any allergies to foods, medicines?


2) Is she prone to any particular illnesses or infections?


3) What is her nickname, or the name she was called daily?


4) When she is upset, what soothes her best?


5) When she is playing, what is her favorite toy?


6) What foods does she eat? How often does she eat? How much?


7) What are her sleep habits? Does she sleep with a light on? Does she sleep alone?


8) What is she able to do? What toys does she like to play with?


9) Was there a note found with the child? If so, may we please have a copy?


10) Are there any photos of Xiao Nian we can have?


11) May we have copies of her medical records?

12) What do you wish for Jin Yu Rao's future?

Waiting now is so much harder...

Now that we have a match...we're holding Laney's picture...dreaming of seeing her and bringing her home ~ each day seems like ten. The wait is so hard!

This week I'm working on pre-packing lists. Trying to figure out all the things we'll need to take with us and see what we're missing and what I can start buying now.

Laney's care package...

Lily and I got to spend some wonderful mommy/daughter time yesterday. We went and bought things for Laney's care package! Yay!! Our agency provides us with the orphanage address (in Mandarin and English so it will get there faster!), and even a letter translated into Mandarin so the nannies & director will understand who the things are intended for. We're sending Laney a rattle (Lily picked it out!), a little outfit (guessing on the size!), a soft, snuggly blankie-bear, and a baby photo album of her new family. CCAI gave us labels for the pictures (mommy, daddy, big sister, etc.) in Mandarin, so hopefully her nanny can begin sharing those with her. It's probably a long shot, but she'll be almost 17 months by the time we bring her home, and she might feel more comfortable those first few days if she's seen us before.

We tucked in a disposable camera (labeled with her name in Chinese), included a request that the nannies take pictures of her and her surroundings, favorite toys, etc. Sometimes they won't or don't, but CCAI said the orphanages are usually very good about this and they'll bring the camera with her when they deliver the babies in China.

I also included four bottles of scented lotion, each wrapped in red tissue paper, and labeled for the orphanage director and her nannies. When we pick up Laney, we're expected to present gifts for each of the people who cared for her. And in the care packages, it's customary to include a few things as well.

Praying this package arrives safely and swiftly! Laney, we're truly coming for you, sweet one!

Had a fabulous surprise last night...

Four of my dearest friends surprised me last night (around 8:30) and showed up at my house to "kidnap" me for an evening of fun and Laney celebration. It was one of the sweetest things! We went to Starbucks (they know what I love! LOL!) and we laughed and talked and dreamed about my newest baby. My friend, Laurie Mac, brought me the most adorable little dress that one of her girls wore. It just melted my heart! And another friend, Laurie W (who has two children from China), brought me several of these beautiful traditional Chinese silk dresses that her daughter had worn. She had saved them for Laney.

*cue happy tears*

I loved each moment I experienced with those friends last night. Crystal has such huge heart. Katie is so full of joy and what an encourager! Laurie W is beautifully tender and brilliantly wise at the same time. Laurie Mac has empathy and is able to verbalize what I'm thinking when the words escape me. I love having friends who celebrate with me in such a personal and specific way! My heart was full last night.

And I slept until 6 am this morning! I was thrilled! Let me explain....Since we received our referral call, I have not been sleeping. Just too excited. :) My friend Jess, who is also adopting, says that when you're pregnant you can't sleep because the baby-in-your-belly gets in the way. And when you're adopting you can't sleep because your baby is so far away. So true. So the girls prayed for me last night, that I would be able to sleep. And I came home and slept peacefully. It was lovely. :)

Our Timeline

For those of you reading my blog who are in-process, or beginning the process, it is sometimes helpful to see the timeline of events. Clearly, we did not expect to receive a referral just 6 weeks after our LID! That was a beautiful surprise. Our baby came to us from the waiting child list and so we received that amazing phone call about 2 years earlier than we anticipated. We are so grateful! Everything else about our timeline/dossier compilation, however, seems to be fairly consistent with what you can expect.


July 2006 -- We began talking in earnest about adopting from China

August 21, 2006 -- Made the decision to apply to CCAI

August 31, 2006 -- Completed the CCAI application

September 1, 2006 -- Mailed application to CCAI

September 5, 2006 -- Application arrived

September 6, 2006 -- Mailed in Waiting Child Checklist

Setepmber 9, 2006 -- CCAI approved our application

September 12, 2006 -- Selected & called our social worker

October 11, 2006 -- Began our homestudy

November 27, 2006 -- Homestudy was completed

December 6, 2006 -- Visited USCIS for fingerprinting & I-600A

January 19, 2007 -- Dossier sent for Authentication

February 15, 2007 -- Received I-171H in the mail

March 2, 2007 -- Completed Dossier mailed to CCAI

March 9, 2007 - We’re DTC!

March 23, 2007 -- Official LID!

May 1st, 2007 -- Referral Day! We met precious Jin Yu Rao! What a joyful surprise!

Travel? (stay tuned....)

Laney's birth place....

Nanning is the capital city of Guangxi, and Laney's city (Guiping) is four hours due east from Nanning.