Job Interview!

Bradley University (Peoria) has invited me down for an on campus interview session! It will be sometime between mid January and early February. This would be a great placement for us, but even if the job doesn't happen, it will be great to go through the interview process. I will keep you all posted!

Jeanne

Homestudy and Croup

Our homestudy is finally under review by the home office. Once they approve it, the official notarized version will be signed, sealed, delivered and then we will be officially on the waiting list.

Noelle has croup and no one is really getting any sleep. I thought croup had been deemed extinct back in the 40s or 50s, but alas, it is the Malady of the Month according to our fabulous pediatrician. Who knew?

No news is not good news

So...haven't heard a peep from JOH lately so we are still waiting to find out if our homestudy is complete or not. Evidently, we are not on the waiting list until the notarized copy is received by JOH Washington office so at this point, no news is not good news. We are still plugging away at our service plan (things to do to help prepare us for transracial adoption and such), preparing our photo pages that will be sent to Taiwan, and other miscellaneous items.

More family photos will be available soon since it is Happy Thanksgiving time once again. We were so hoping to be on the waiting list before Thanksgiving. I guess we will shoot for Christmas now. We wanted to get on the list sooner so that we might possibly have Holly at home before next Christmas.

Haven't heard much from the job applications that are out there. Bradley (Peoria) has called references, but Concordia seems to be sitting on the applications. I will be sending out info to other places very soon as well.

The house is still a work in progress but the new furnace is so lovely :) We need to remove most of Noelle's toys and create a play room again in the back bedroom so that we can put up the crib and take photos of Holly and Noelle's room for the photo pages for Taiwan. We are going to take it back down again though since it will give Noelle the impression that her sister's arrival is in the near future, which it unfortunately is not. (remember near future to a 4 year old is, oh, tomorrow!)

That's all the news for now. Once again, thanks for hanging in there with us on this adventure of Holly's lifetime!

I-171H Arrived!

Great news! Our I-171H (favorable to adopt) came in the mail yesterday! This means that we have finally finished all of the governmental paperwork until the acutal adoption takes place. It is a great feeling! Now we are just waiting to be told when we are officially on the waiting list for our baby girl. Thanks for staying with us on the journey!

The Os

Pumpkin Fest in Sycamore

It is pumpkin fest time again in Sycamore. We went trick or treating in downtown on Wednesday night and got a cauldron full of goodies. Noelle was a very good girl and was as polite and happy as could be! She looked adorable as a cheerleader too. GO CUBS! We will be heading out trick or treating in downtown DeKalb on Saturday. Just what we need - more candy.

Comments, anyone?!

This picture sure needs a caption but it is not coming to me! Any ideas? We would love to hear your comments and thoughts!

Family Pics!

Here are some pics of the fam from visiting in Rockford and the Apple Farm. Enjoy! How is the apple cider slushie Auntie Jen and Noelle?

Photo pages, USCIS and Jeanne's Job

Today we went to the Edwards apple farm in Rockford to attempt to get some of the action shot pictures needed for the photo pages portion of our dossier. I fed a llama. He was very soft. Then I ate a donut. Realized I had forgotten to wash my hands and was a little grossed out - but ate the rest of the donut anyway :) We took pictures of just Jeff and me doing stuff around the farm - feeding the llama, picking out pumpkins, picking apples etc. since some of the pictures need to be without Noelle. I am hoping to send off some of our photos to Tien, the JOH coordinator in WA who oversees the Taiwan program. She knows what the people making decisions want to see and what shouldn't (like bathing suits). Lots of people don't "pass" on their first try with the photo pages so we wanted to get an early start while there is still some greenery around here. It was 80 degrees today! Unbelieveable for this time of year in Northern Illinois.

We are still awaiting the I171H (favorable decision to adopt) from the USCIS. We have heard that this can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months, so of course we are hoping for the two weeks so that we can get onto the waiting list for a referral.

No news on the job front for Jeanne. Still waiting for calls on the applications that are out there.

I will post more pictures the next time, including Noelle's halloween outfit.

Love to all!

Last Year's Halloween Costume

Last year was simple. Noelle was a pumpkin. This year, she wanted to be a giraffe so I made her a really cute costume. Of course, she has now changed her mind. Now, it's a cheerleader (Heaven help us!) so we found a fabulous Cubs cheerleader outfit. Unfortunately, the Cubs blew it in 3 games. Well it would have been the perfect outfit if they had actually won the world series! I will post her new costume in a little bit so you can all see how adorable she is (spoken like a true Mom) and how long her hair is growing. No Gramma, we aren't getting it cut even though it is hanging in her eyes. Trust me on this one! :)

Taiwan Babies are Fabulous!

Big changes since my last post. We have officially switched from China to Taiwan. the wait time for China has increased dramatically and we believe that our daughter needs to be with us sooner rather than later. That being the case, we have moved over to Taiwan. The wait time for referral after log in date is 6-9 months and then travel 4-6 months after due to court proceedings in Taiwan. The good news is that upon referral we will receive photos, developmental information, possibly medical info and updates throughout the process. Although we still will not likely meet the birthmom, her name and information would be on record if needed in the future. Most babies are not abandoned, rather the birthmom makes the loving decision to place the child for adoption.

We will be adopting from St. Lucy Center in Tainan, Taiwan. It is run by the Catholic Church. The website is www.stlucycenter.org for anyone interested in seeing pictures or reading about the center. They even offer prenatal care and post-adoption counselling for the birthmoms. Jeff and I feel so much better about the adoption given this new information and prospects from Taiwan. We definitely believe we have made the right decision.

I have changed the poll and I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference in expected time frames for "Gotcha Day!"

I will be posting more often now that there is a shorter time frame and more news to share more often!

FYI - majority of folks living in Taiwan are of Chinese ancestry though there are also aboriginal ancestries as well. Mandarin Chinese and English are the two main language groups so we are still learning to speak Mandarin. It's Fun! We have requested a female between 0-12 months or twins of either gender. Oh Boy!!