Doing the HAPPY DANCE!

To most, they have no idea what LOA or Letter Seeking Committment means. To those in the adoption world it means the final ok, and it is so coveteted!! It means that the adoption is real and is finally really moving forward. It is an important document. It is your approval from China.

We received our LOA today, on DAY 103!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Notice the excitement)Today we received an email from my our agency, FOI, that our LOA arrived at their office this morning, and that we should have it in our hot little hands by Monday!

So, this is the last piece of paperwork that we have to sign. We just check the Agree to adopt box, an sign our names. It goes back to FOI, and then gets forwarded on to China, along with one very much the same from the Ontario Ministry.

The next and final step is TA.... which means Travel Approval! This can happen anywhere between 2 to 5 weeks after the LOA/LSC is sent back. Which means, we are so close to getting Aidan!!!!!!!!!!!

We expect travel will be in about 8 weeks. We are looking at about the first week of August. It is so surreal to think that we are almost there!

Travel will be exciting and interesting. Dan will not be travelling to China to get Aidan. Things are just too complicated with the clinic, and we are not able to have locum asssistance this summer. So, we have more paperwork to do with respect to wills, powers of Attorney etc.. that the Chinese government will require before travel. But, Aidan will be home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, everything else pales in comparison!

The Century Club!

Well, we made it! The century club. It has been 100 days since we sent in our letter of intent. It is the "point" when usually families are getting ready to travel. Can you feel it? The excitement and the terror!? That is how we are feeling these days... So excited about Aidan coming and at the same time terrified! We found out that he is now walking, and is still the strong quiet type! He is drinking juice from a sippy cup and is still enjoying bottles. He is doing great! But, we are going to have to start baby proofing now!

To our friends, in the club with us, Let's hope it is not for long! For those waiting for LOA's, let's hope you don't join the club! :)

Wait, What?

This is so how I am feeling these days. Had my first "day off" in a while yesterday, and only went to the office 3 times! We need to learn to slow it down a little bit in respect to work. It is keeping our mind off of the wait, but is not helping us health wise! I went out for a girls night out last night to relax, but was left feeling a little dazed and confused and out of the loop. Does everyone feel this way when the get towards the 100 day mark? Wait, what? 100 days... sheesh..... We are actually on day 98, but who's counting?

I am sure like many families out there, the frustration has set in a little bit. It looks like travel will be in August, (which is where the Wait, what? came in as our LOA's didn't arrive this week.) The pile on the directors desk must have been huge, and our group suspects that ours was at the bottom! We were secretly hoping that the LOA fairies would have been on our side and we would have them in our hot little hands this week. No go.

Our group of 7 have been emailing and calling our agency often, which profoundly always leads to more questions and the Wait, what? comes in. I think Bob, our agency contact will start drinking heavily if the group doesn't get LOA's soon... as in Monday or Tuesday!

Happy Mother's Day!

On January 13, we received a special gift. The referral of our son, Aidan. Today, we received another gift. This morning, when I opened our email, there was a short one sentence email from the SWI. It said: Wishing you a very special Mother's Day!

I was dumbfounded. I knew that I would talk to Jacqui today, as it is her first mother's day as well. I also knew I would talk to Kim and Tracey at some point today too, they know what "this" is like. I received my first mother's day card this year... from Tracey... which meant more than you can imagine. But, never did I expect Ms. Tang to think of me and send a message. Most don't realize that even though our children are not with us yet, we already worry about them and miss them.

We also think of Aidan's other family, who must miss him today. Today we especially think of his mom, in China. I wonder how she feels not having him there with her to celebrate. While we will most likely never get a chance to meet her, our son will always know of her and the precious gift she gave us. While he is our son, he will always be her baby.

To all the moms out there, one's whose children are grown, who have children at home, and especially to those currently waiting for their precious little ones: Happy Mother's Day. And especially to my Gram and my mom, I love you both so much and want to thank you for everything you have done and you do. I can't wait to be Aidan's Momma and hope that I can be even 1/10 as wonderful as you both were to me!

9 Months!

We have reached the nine month mark for LIDiversaries! It has been 17 months since we started our journey. We are hoping that we only have to count another 1 or 2 months of LIDiversaries and we will be off to China!

We are so hoping that the next couple of weeks will bring good news for us about our LOA/LSC (Letter of Acceptance/Letter Seeking Commitment). Once we receive it, we have to sign it and get it back to China. After that it is Travel Arrangements/Letter of Coming! Which means off to China we go! When we last heard from our agency a couple of weeks ago, we were in Department 1, waiting to go into Department 2. Dept. 2 is where the LOA/LSC is granted.

So, when do we suspect we will travel? We are thinking late June, early July. Usually the file is in Dept 2 for a few weeks, then once LOA is sent out and returned TA should follow about 1-3 weeks later, and then we just have to wait for the next travel group to go.

So, we are counting the days. Today is day 73! For those not familiar with the process, families generally count from the day their letter of intent goes to China to the date they receive travel arrangements. 100 days is often the magical number, some earlier, some later. We have seen them as early as 42 days, and as late as 150 days. The new step of LOA/LSC has added some time in there. Day 83 has nagged me since the start of our journey? Coincidence? We are not sure. It is the day we fly down for Ryan's wedding, so maybe that is in. Only time will tell.

So, we did receive an update on Aidan this week. Today, he is one of 2 babies left in the nursery. One is going home today. She has been with Aidan for the last 7 months, so I am sure he will miss Amy.

Other things we found out is that he: is very active, is happiest after he eats, is a really happy guy almost all of the time, He is not afraid to try and walk, He has even tried walking with his head on the carpet! It is hard to explain but he can pivot and get good balance to walk. He has not really taken the steps yet because he does not want to be still long enough for that. He likes to be aware of his surroundings and does not like sudden change. He is actually quite happy in his crib in the morning when he wakes up. He knows right where he is and feels comfortable. He seems to require a lot of sleep, more than the other babies, he starts getting cranky when he does not have enough rest, but the SWI thinks that is normal granted that he is so active. They have not heard him say any words. He is quite quiet. His nickname from the nannies is Lin Lin. The director doesn't know how it started, but it is cute, and is really close to Aidan in sound, so that is great.

A special day in our household....

Well, today is a very special day for us in our household. Aidan is a year old today!It is already well after midnight in China, so officially for him his birthday is over. We celebrated a little last night when we received pictures from the orphanage. The nannies work in rotating shifts from 8 am to 8 am the following morning. The only time they are all there together is at shift change, so they made arrangements to have Aidan's party at 8 am so they could all be there. I am not sure what happens at other SWI's. But, I know they went above and beyond for Aidan and had a party with presents and a cake for him. So, that was 9 pm our time. By before 10 they had sent us 21 pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aidan was pretty tired after all that excitement, but who wouldn't be having an 8 am birthday party, and he put his foot into the cake. He apparently wasn't really a cake kinda kid, but really liked his hat and book.

So, today on this bittersweet day of having our child, but not having him with us, we will celebrate a year of milestones, and as one friend put to us in an email this morning (Thanks Tracey, you made our day so much more special!) "Just
take comfort in the knowledge that you have a lifetime of parties and birthday cuddles & kisses ahead of you!" and that is exactly what we plan to do..... It is also bittersweet, because we think of his birth parents and wonder if they are thinking of him today and are loving him and missing him too. We have a connection with people we don't know, but share a special bond of a son.

I made Aidan a panda cake (it just came out of the oven) in Cherry chip flavor to make Dan happy, as cherry chip is his favorite, and he is hoping Aidan will carry on that tradition. We are going to have Chinese food, and open some presents we got him. (And of course watch the Raptors game)Even though he is not here with us at the moment, he is in our every thought, wish and in our hearts. Happy 1st birthday Peanut!

Where oh where has the time gone?

We have been so busy that we have not had time to keep up with both blogs, but will post more here shortly. If you wish to see our personal blog with our recent pictures of Aidan, please contact us at cowboysgirlforever@hotmail.com for permission and we will send the link out, or see www.familydreamscometrue.blogspot.com and ask for permission there.