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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC)
We received our LSC from FedEx today and got our package back out to USCIS. The LSC is our official referral document.
A few more steps to go (not sure why they say it's only a few - seems like we still have forever!).
A few more steps to go (not sure why they say it's only a few - seems like we still have forever!).
- The USCIS needs to review and approve our I-800 application and then we'll get a letter from the "Bureau of Cosular Affairs". This can take approximate 2-3 weeks.
- We'll then send our paperwork package to Great Wall for shipment to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.
- The US Consulate will then sign an Article 5.
- Once the CCCWA has our signed LSC back from us and the Article 5 from the US Consulate, we will get issued travel approval and travel dates will be made.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Important "Jack" Dates
Since I don't do a very good job of journaling except when we're traveling, I figure I should post some important dates now before I forget. It makes using these pages later for the journal sections of our scrapbooks so much easier!!
April 1, 2011 - Our first contact with GWCA about a child we saw on their Waiting Child Program. Application submitted to GWCA.
April 6, 2011 - Shen Bao Heng's file sent to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) for review and discussion.
April 14, 2011 - Answers to the questions we submitted to the orphanage answered and we learned his English name is Jack.
April 19, 2011 - The first video of Jack received.
May 16, 2011 - LOI submitted for Jack
May 20, 2011 - Pre-Approval (PA) received
September 8, 2011 - I-797 approval received from US government
September 15, 2011 - Certified papers sent to GWCA for submittion to China
September 16, 2011 - Dossier submitted to China
September 19, 2011 - Official Log-In Date with China
September 28, 2011 - Care package delivered to Jack
Next step - waiting to receive our LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) from China so we can start the next round of paperwork.
April 1, 2011 - Our first contact with GWCA about a child we saw on their Waiting Child Program. Application submitted to GWCA.
April 6, 2011 - Shen Bao Heng's file sent to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) for review and discussion.
April 14, 2011 - Answers to the questions we submitted to the orphanage answered and we learned his English name is Jack.
April 19, 2011 - The first video of Jack received.
May 16, 2011 - LOI submitted for Jack
May 20, 2011 - Pre-Approval (PA) received
September 8, 2011 - I-797 approval received from US government
September 15, 2011 - Certified papers sent to GWCA for submittion to China
September 16, 2011 - Dossier submitted to China
September 19, 2011 - Official Log-In Date with China
September 28, 2011 - Care package delivered to Jack
Next step - waiting to receive our LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) from China so we can start the next round of paperwork.
Introducing Jack (Shen Bao Heng)
We received permission today to update our blog with pictures of Jack. He's 9 years old (will be 10 in November) and lives with a foster family in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. We learned about Jack in April and decided to pursue another adoption. Carter is extremely excited to be having a brother who will virtually be a twin. How could you not be drawn to this wonderful young man?
Jack's home:
Shenzhen (IPA: [ʂə́ntʂə̂n]) is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It currently also holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than a province.
Jack's home:
Shenzhen (IPA: [ʂə́ntʂə̂n]) is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It currently also holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than a province.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Anniversary!!!
4th of July camping
We spent the 4th of July weekend camping at Starved Rock State Park. We had to test out all of our new camping gear that we've been asking for over the last few years, and Addie got to experience her first ever camping trip. Friday night was pretty funny as we were setting up the tent. She came over and kept saying "jump, jump" and jumping in case I didn't understand. I had to explain to her that we were setting up a tent - not a bounce house. Once we got the beds in there and there was no "air" to jump she started to understand.
Saturday, we woke up to a very warm day - sweating at 7am while fixing breakfast, and when we hit the trails, it was still hot! Luckily, we were enclosed in the trees and shade for most of the morning hike. I always forget how many stairs Starved Rock has. Holy moly - I'm getting old and out of shape! We covered alot of ground though before we headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch, we hit the "waterfall" trails. Mother nature has changed the hiking area considerably from when we were there 2 years ago, but we soldiered on and made our way to each of the falls. Obstacles did not stand in our way, but at some point, we gave up trying to keep our feet dry and just started walking through the creeks. There just weren't enough rocks and tree branches in the right areas (and our balancing abilities have diminished over time). The afternoon wrapped up w/ a drive to Ottawa in search of ice and ice cream. We found both after much searching!
On Sunday, we decided to head out to a park we've never hiked in - Matthiessen State Park. It's just a mile from Starved Rock. We hit the Dells area in the morning, and were amazed at what we found. Beautiful waterfall! We were able to walk up to it and get great pictures. Then we went to the area above the falls (after going up ALOT of stairs). We were able to hike the creek to the top of the creek close to were it starts at a lake dam. Lots of water logged shoes afterwards, but alot of fun!!! The afternoon wrapped up w/ our last hike of the weekend in the River area of Matthiessen. I think we missed the short route to the river but eventually got there. We were in search of "the bridge" which according to the Starved Rock volunteer would be the best place to access the river. We found "the bridge" in several large piles of debris. Apparently, Mother Nature wasn't kind!! We wrapped up the afternoon w/ a drive in to Utica - again in search of ice and ice cream. (a pattern had been formed!)
Monday found us packing up camp and heading home to do the normal - post camping recovery. We actually got unpacked rather quickly and got the yard mowed, grocery shopping done, and laundry started all before we headed out for a picnic at Fairview Park w/ Nana, Papa, and Aunt Tasha. We were supposed to watch fireworks also - Epic Fail! They experienced major technical difficulties!!! Eventually, the fireworks went off (45 minutes left and after a few "mis-fires".
Overall, I'd rate it as a great weekend!!!
Saturday, we woke up to a very warm day - sweating at 7am while fixing breakfast, and when we hit the trails, it was still hot! Luckily, we were enclosed in the trees and shade for most of the morning hike. I always forget how many stairs Starved Rock has. Holy moly - I'm getting old and out of shape! We covered alot of ground though before we headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch, we hit the "waterfall" trails. Mother nature has changed the hiking area considerably from when we were there 2 years ago, but we soldiered on and made our way to each of the falls. Obstacles did not stand in our way, but at some point, we gave up trying to keep our feet dry and just started walking through the creeks. There just weren't enough rocks and tree branches in the right areas (and our balancing abilities have diminished over time). The afternoon wrapped up w/ a drive to Ottawa in search of ice and ice cream. We found both after much searching!
On Sunday, we decided to head out to a park we've never hiked in - Matthiessen State Park. It's just a mile from Starved Rock. We hit the Dells area in the morning, and were amazed at what we found. Beautiful waterfall! We were able to walk up to it and get great pictures. Then we went to the area above the falls (after going up ALOT of stairs). We were able to hike the creek to the top of the creek close to were it starts at a lake dam. Lots of water logged shoes afterwards, but alot of fun!!! The afternoon wrapped up w/ our last hike of the weekend in the River area of Matthiessen. I think we missed the short route to the river but eventually got there. We were in search of "the bridge" which according to the Starved Rock volunteer would be the best place to access the river. We found "the bridge" in several large piles of debris. Apparently, Mother Nature wasn't kind!! We wrapped up the afternoon w/ a drive in to Utica - again in search of ice and ice cream. (a pattern had been formed!)
Monday found us packing up camp and heading home to do the normal - post camping recovery. We actually got unpacked rather quickly and got the yard mowed, grocery shopping done, and laundry started all before we headed out for a picnic at Fairview Park w/ Nana, Papa, and Aunt Tasha. We were supposed to watch fireworks also - Epic Fail! They experienced major technical difficulties!!! Eventually, the fireworks went off (45 minutes left and after a few "mis-fires".
Overall, I'd rate it as a great weekend!!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Chicago for Memorial Day Weekend
We headed to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend with Brenda, Steve, and Matthew. We visited so many places and walked our feet off!!! According to my pedometer, we logged almost 10 miles on Saturday. Saturday hot spots included Navy Pier, Adler Planetarium, Bubba Gumps, the Lego store, and Hard Rock Cafe. Sunday's adventure included the Museum of Science and Industry. That place is so big, we didn't make it to everything, and we only did 1 special ticket item - the U-505 sub. I think we were all sufficiently exhausted by the end of the day. Addie passed out while in the museum. Check out the picture of Addie passed out on John!
Hope everyone had a great weekend w/ friends and family!
Hope everyone had a great weekend w/ friends and family!
Kindy Memory Program
Addie's class had a memory program on Friday. Fantastic Chinese Statue of Liberty!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Jack - Shenzhen
Jack is from Shenzhen. I went to Wikipedia and found this information about Shenzhen.
Shenzhen (IPA: [ʂə́ntʂə̂n]) is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. Since the late seventies, both Chinese and foreign nationals have invested enormous sums in the economy of Shenzhen. More than US$30 billion in foreign investment has gone into both fully foreign owned and joint ventures, initially mainly in manufacturing but recently increasingly in service industries. Shenzhen is now reputedly one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Being southern mainland China's major financial centre, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen is also the third busiest container port in China, ranking only after Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Huizhou to the north and northeast and Dongguan to the north and northwest. The municipality covers an area of 2,050 square kilometres (792 sq mi) including urban and rural areas, with a total population of 14 million in 2008.
Shenzhen is situated in the subtropical part of China, located at about the Tropic of Cancer, yet due to the Siberian anticyclone, has a warm, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa). Winters are mild and relatively dry, due in part to the influence of the South China Sea, and frost is very rare. Spring begins somewhat dry, but rainfall begins to dramatically increase in April, and the rainy season lasts until early to mid October. The monsoon reaches its peak intensity in the summer months, when the city also experiences very humid, and hot, but moderated, conditions.
Shenzhen (IPA: [ʂə́ntʂə̂n]) is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. Since the late seventies, both Chinese and foreign nationals have invested enormous sums in the economy of Shenzhen. More than US$30 billion in foreign investment has gone into both fully foreign owned and joint ventures, initially mainly in manufacturing but recently increasingly in service industries. Shenzhen is now reputedly one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Being southern mainland China's major financial centre, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen is also the third busiest container port in China, ranking only after Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Huizhou to the north and northeast and Dongguan to the north and northwest. The municipality covers an area of 2,050 square kilometres (792 sq mi) including urban and rural areas, with a total population of 14 million in 2008.
Shenzhen is situated in the subtropical part of China, located at about the Tropic of Cancer, yet due to the Siberian anticyclone, has a warm, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa). Winters are mild and relatively dry, due in part to the influence of the South China Sea, and frost is very rare. Spring begins somewhat dry, but rainfall begins to dramatically increase in April, and the rainy season lasts until early to mid October. The monsoon reaches its peak intensity in the summer months, when the city also experiences very humid, and hot, but moderated, conditions.
Jack - May 2011 updates
As I indicated in a previous blog, we are heading back to China. Really sorry to everyone looking for pictures of Jack. We can't post them yet as we aren't logged-in yet with China. We have pre-approval, but we still have paperwork to process before posting pics.
We started looking at Great Wall's special focus children list in April after reading weekly updates from them about all the older children waiting for their forever families. Their special focus children of the week included Jack and about 8 other young boys from the Shenzhen SWI. We were particularly drawn to two boys on the list, but after much deliberation, we felt Jack would be a great fit for our family. The other boy was much closer in age to Victoria, and we felt that Jack being closer in age to Carter (3 months older) would work out better. It gives him a few years of grade school to get adjusted before heading off to the big, "bad" world of junior high. Of-course, if John and Carter had their way, we'd go get everyone on the list and bring them home. But, reality dictates that 4 kids will be more than enough to handle! :)
The orphanage has been great at responding to all the medical info, pics, and even a video that we requested. The doctor at CHOP asked to see a video to see if he has any mobility issues from his spinal surgery. He was dancing, running, and walking on his tip toes in the video!! Appears to have a very lively personality, and according to the orphanage paperwork, he works very hard at school!
Important Dates So Far:
3/31/11 - first contact with Great Wall that we were interested in finding out about the successive adoption option.
4/5/11 - specifically requested information from Great Wall about Jack
4/8/11 - Homestudy review completed
4/10/11 - medical review with CHOP completed
5/8/11 - LOI submitted
5/20/11 - Pre-Approval received from CCWA
We started looking at Great Wall's special focus children list in April after reading weekly updates from them about all the older children waiting for their forever families. Their special focus children of the week included Jack and about 8 other young boys from the Shenzhen SWI. We were particularly drawn to two boys on the list, but after much deliberation, we felt Jack would be a great fit for our family. The other boy was much closer in age to Victoria, and we felt that Jack being closer in age to Carter (3 months older) would work out better. It gives him a few years of grade school to get adjusted before heading off to the big, "bad" world of junior high. Of-course, if John and Carter had their way, we'd go get everyone on the list and bring them home. But, reality dictates that 4 kids will be more than enough to handle! :)
The orphanage has been great at responding to all the medical info, pics, and even a video that we requested. The doctor at CHOP asked to see a video to see if he has any mobility issues from his spinal surgery. He was dancing, running, and walking on his tip toes in the video!! Appears to have a very lively personality, and according to the orphanage paperwork, he works very hard at school!
Important Dates So Far:
3/31/11 - first contact with Great Wall that we were interested in finding out about the successive adoption option.
4/5/11 - specifically requested information from Great Wall about Jack
4/8/11 - Homestudy review completed
4/10/11 - medical review with CHOP completed
5/8/11 - LOI submitted
5/20/11 - Pre-Approval received from CCWA
Saturday, May 21, 2011
May 2011
Wow, just realized how long it's been since I've updated our blog. The school year is almost complete. Kindy for Addie, 3rd for Carter, and 6th for Victoria. We had an exciting year for soccer, hockey, and cheer. Victoria made Kingsley's pom squad for next year. Carter broke his foot at his birthday party. Addie enjoyed her first Christmas in America.
We've decided to go back to China. Heading to get a little boy the same age as Carter. We received pre-approval for Jack yesterday. Got to get all of our paperwork finished this summer. Expect to go get him some time at the first of the year.
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