The Paperchase

The phase of the adoption process where you collect everything you need for your dossier is called the "paperchase." It involves collecting original documents from birth and marriage certificates to physical exams and labs to clearances from your local PD department. Once you collect the documents, each has to go to the MA Secretary of State to be authenticated. After that's done, all of the papers take a trip to Washington, DC where they are authenticated by the US Secretary of State, and then again at the Chinese Embassy.

Care Package

The care package is something that I think we do as much for ourselves as for our children.  There are so many stories of care packages that are never received, or meeting your child and receiving the unopened package back.  Still, it feels good to do something--anything--that makes you feel closer to your child who is half a world away.

Wasatch (our agency) does not allow parents to send a package using a third party.  On one hand this is good because we got to go out and shop for everything ourselves.  On the other hand it is not so good because it seems like the third parties manage to get more and better updates and pictures.

We decided to stick with a small package under 3 lbs. for the first one as sort of a "test" to see if it even gets to her.  Take my word for it, 3 lbs. is not a lot.  Still, it took us days to fill this little box, trying to get the most into it, while keeping it under the weight limit.  A few things made it into the box simply because they are light.  For instance, we have no affinity for penguins, but Mr. Blue Penguin beat out every teddy bear we found because he was lighter.

We made sure to include two pictures of us, as well as a letter for E, and a letter for her foster mother and the orphanage director.

It was fun filling the box, but sad, too, because we just wish E was here with us.

P filling her Hello Kitty lunchbox (we call it her briefcase)
with goodies

Using my food scale to weigh the package

Cape Cod

Thanks to our extremely generous relatives, we were able to stay down the Cape this weekend rather than all of the back and forward driving we've had to do to our agency.  Saturday, we attended a waiting family meeting that was very useful, and today we were able to pick up our home study!

We had a fabulous long weekend with relatives eating delicious food, hanging at the beach, and we even had a mini-pub crawl!  Probably the funniest moment of the weekend is when we saw a baby possum at one of the bars...I was screaming and then we were all laughing until we cried.  A great weekend with great people.

Will they be happy?

One thing that I asked P a zillion times while we were waiting to tell our families and friends and send out our announcement was "Will they be happy?"  Not that I really care what other people think, but I really had no idea what people would say about the adoption.

No words can describe the outpouring of love and support we have received.

Phonecalls, emails, greeting cards, flowers...you name it.

Laughter, tears, screams, words, or can't-find-the-words.

It has been amazing.

I get a phonecall from my sister every day, saying (jokingly) "Is E here yet?"

My mom has forwarded me emails from near and far, from people I barely know, and know so well.  It's like having our own e-cheering squad.

One of my favorite moments was the 10:30pm phonecall from Cape Cod...my parents had just shared the news in person with my godfather and aunt...the words of congratulations were beautiful, but it was the sound of "happiness" in the background...laughter, hugs, corks popping...that kind of "let's talk about this all night" feeling.  The "buzz" was palpable even over the phone.

So, now, I'm embarassed for even asking, "Will they be happy?"  I should have given everyone more credit and known that the people who matter to us are the kind of people to have enough room in their hearts to love a little girl, half a world away.

Announcement

Here's the little announcement we sent out about the adoption.  As expected, the phone lines started burning up as soon as they reached mailboxes and inboxes.  We did a great job of keeping it a secret because we wanted everyone to find out by seeing her precious little face.  People told us about crying, screaming, and jumping up and down when they saw the news.  All of the good karma being sent our way will certainly help to power us through the rest of the paperwork.  Thanks!