The Journey to Our Daughter

Album One

2009-02-23T14:59:00.001-08:00

2009-02-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

HOME AGAIN. . .HOME AGAIN. . JIGIDDY. . JIG ! ! !

Hello Hello. . .We can breathe just a little easier now. . . We are all home and doing well. Liana just had her first operation on Thursday (Children's Hospital of Boston). She had her cleft palate closed completely and some of her cleft lip. Her second operation will be in 6 months to completely close the lip.

Thanks to Uncle David, we were all able to be together and have very comfortable accommodations for a week.

I stayed with Liana (of course) in the hospital for the two days. Her operation took about 5 ½ hours. We also found out in the pre-operation visit the day before she needed ear tubes, which we’ve been through with Morgan (no big deal).

I am so glad and lucky we were able to be there for her and they did not do the operation in China (per our request). I cannot imagine a child going through this painful and exhausting operation without someone to hold them when they wake up in pain.

Liana is a strong little girl. . . We are very proud of her. She's on a soft food diet and has a doorknocker thing taped to her face, so she won't accidentally hit her face and tear her stitches under her nose. She also has velcro arm restraints to keep her arms straight, so she won't/can't put anything in her mouth and tear out the stitches in her mouth. She really showed no signs of pain since Saturday and needed no pain meds.

We went home to David's on Saturday and she was walking around smiling and playing with her sister like nothing happened to her. She slept through the night in a bouncy chair in a pack-n-play with her arm restraints on and did not make a peep. Not once did she whine or complain about anything. What a great child she is . . .She makes me want to cry (they both do). I know, I said this before, but we are so blessed. They prove there is someone watching over us.

Hope all is well with everyone and I’m happy to have family and friends who care so much.

Love,
The Dickinson Family

David: Thank you again for opening your home to us and entertaining Morgan. . .You helped us immensely. You've shown me I can leave both the girls in your care and not have to worry. . .So I'll be dropping them off next weekend. . Just kidding. We love you!

Liana and Rachel Playing

2008-12-30T09:31:00.001-08:00

2008-11-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

WE HAVE OUR DATES ! ! ! !
DEC 5TH - DEC 17TH

We will be leaving Friday, December 5th out of Newark Int'l Airport at 12:15 pm arriving in Beijing Capital Airport on Saturday, December 6th at 3:00 pm. Our daughter, Morgan (4 ½) will be with us. Hopefully everyone will have had a good rest on the plane. I would like to sightsee a little and buy a few mementos.

Sunday December 7th we will fly out of Beijing Capital Airport at 2:35 pm arriving at the Nanking/Nanjing Airport at 4:30pm.

We will get to meet our beautiful little angel on Monday, December 8th. Our Consulate appointment is Monday, December 15th.

We will visit the orphanage where Liana was raised. She was brought there on day two of her life. Liana will be 16 months old on December 17th and as far as we know, the orphanage respected our wish and has not fixed her cleft lip and palate. However, we are fully aware that her lip could be fixed when we meet her. The orphanage is approximately 5 hours away. We will travel by van with our group.

We will leave Nanjing and drive to Guangzhou. I am unsure of the date as of right now. We will stay at the White Swan along with tons of other newly adoptive parents. It’s going to be quite an experience.

On Wednesday, December 17th at 9:00 am we will fly out of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to Beijing Capital Airport and on to Newark Int’l Airport and will arrive at 5:00 pm.

We are truly excited and hope to share are experiences when we get back home. I will try to post when we get to the White Swan. If anyone with the same dates as ours sees us in our/their travels, please do not hesitate to come up and introduce yourself and your family. We would love to make lasting relationships out of this experience.

God Bless

2008-11-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

WE RECEIVED OUR TRAVEL NOTICE AND WE RECEIVED OUR I800 APPROVAL NOTICE ! !
WE ARE SOOOO CLOSE TO GET OUR ACTUAL TRAVEL DATES ! ! !

We received our travel notice from our agency today. We also RECEIVED our approved I-800 from the National Benefit Center (NBC) via e-mail!! . Our Approved Travel Notice will also be sent to the National Visa Center and then onto the American Consulate in China (Guangzhou). The Consulate Appointment determines the dates we can travel to China. LET'S HOPE THEY ACCEPT IT BY E-MAIL JUST TO GET THE CONSULATE APPOINTMENT SO WE CAN SET OUR TRAVEL DATES. . . PLEASE GOD LET'S GET LIANA HOME FOR HER FIRST AMERICAN CHRISTMAS!!

I will keep everyone posted. . .Right now I need to do some deep breathing exercises because I think I'm getting dizzy from all this excitement.

2008-11-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

We just received updated pictures of our daughter!!!!

Latest Status: 15 Months
Height: 31 inches
Weight: 22 pounds
We requested she not have surgery on her Cleft Lip and Palate because we want the surgery done here in the United States.

We should receive our Travel Arrangements by Friday (November 21st)!!!

We Received Our Letter Of Acceptance (After 65 days)! ! !

2008-11-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

We will be traveling after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas (hopefully we will be home for Christmas). If not, we will be happy and together wherever we are!!

This is how it happened!

I’m on the PTA for M’s school and I’m also Room Parent (trying to keep busy). I’ve been running around setting up for the Spooktacular Halloween party for the kids. The Halloween party was on Thursday and Friday for about 200 children (half being hard to please 4 year olds). Christopher decided to take Friday off to volunteer in the morning and then go home to do some yard work and log into work to “check on things”. As the Halloween party was winding down and the volunteers just finished entertaining the last class and I finished up the pumpkin painting craft in M’s classroom, I saw Christopher back at school rushing up to me with my cell phone. He said that Lynn (our social worker) was trying to call and that she called the home phone and the cell phone several times. I was a little upset with him and said, “Why didn’t you answer it!!

He said, “If the news is that important, I want you to hear it first”. After I picked my mouth up off the floor and almost started to cry at my husband’s thoughtfulness, I proceeded to speed dial Lynn, expecting she would just tell me she received another update and some photos. (Earlier in the month I requested more pictures, and it usually takes a few weeks for the update to come (if at all). So, I thought she was calling for that! (Christopher didn’t know I requested an update)

I said, Hello, Lynn where you trying to call me? When she heard my voice “She immediately said, “Are you sitting down” I said, no. . .But I can be, and before I could sit down, she said I have your letter. I said, our Letter of Acceptance and she said, yes. The first thought that came to my mind is . . .Are you sure it’s ours!

I just came to terms with the wait being two more months (hence, leaving my cell phone at home and not freaking out about it!!). After school we all went to our agency to sign the paperwork. Our travel arrangements should come within the next few weeks!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

A Drop In The Worry Bucket

2008-10-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

I want to try to post every Saturday, but since we’re leaving for Boston tonight to see Uncle David, I thought I'd do it now when I have some peace and quite. M is at school right now.

I went to an adoption meeting last night about Multiculturalism In Families. It was very interesting. There wasn’t anything said or anything I haven’t already encountered growing up in Bridgeport and being in a very mixed family/school/neighborhood. Let’s just say the hours of this class were required by our agency.

As I sat down, Barbara (our Home Study Social Worker) proceeded to go around the room to ask everyone to say their names and how long they have been waiting? I always have a little knot in my stomach when it comes to answering the latter question because I know there are prospective adoptive parents sitting in the semi-circle who have been waiting an unbearable amount of time. One couple actually has been waiting since February 2006 (non special needs China and they have no other child at home) and they do not have a referral for a child as of yet. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those couples. Those people should teach a workshop on “How To Wait Productively and Patiently”. I would take that workshop!

The reason for the knot, more so last night, is because the day before I lost my patients with something that had nothing to do with the adoption, and said to my self “What the hell is taking so long” and then started to cry like a child about to throw the mother of all tantrums (I was alone). I caught myself subconsciously thinking about the adoption. I dislike the fact it’s almost all I think about because I have so many other wonderful things going on that I feel it steals my attention.

The only way I can vindicate all my worrying is I do Christopher’s part of the adoption worrying . He’s got a lot going on at his company with the financial markets plummeting and lay-offs fast approaching, he can’t afford to add one more drop to his worry bucket.

A Ray Of Hope

2008-10-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of adoptive parents have just received their Letter's of Acceptance. The next step would be getting their travel dates. They have been logged in since the end of June, so hopefully we get ours in 40 days. We were logged in at the end of August. I really hope we get to travel before the New Year.

Today Is One Month Since Our "Log In Date"

2008-09-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

We have not heard any news on our adoption since we received word that our Dossier has been "Logged In" at CCAA. Our Dossier is still in the review stage, which is exactly where it supposed to be at this point. If we don’t get our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) by October 13th, I really don’t think we’ll be traveling until December (again – this is speculation on my part). I’m anxious, but I’m also realistic. Family members can’t understand what’s taking “So Long”. If they understood it has only been 5 months since our process started. We are extremely lucky and thankful to be at this point so early in the game. Some people wait a little over a year before picking up their child. Adoption is not for the “Impatient” or the “Control Freak” . . . If you are you - you need to put it aside because it will never go fast enough or right enough. I am NOW learning that!

Waiting has been very difficult on everyone, especially M. Every time I pack her backpack with a snack and some toys (for a long day out) she will ask if we are leaving to go to China to pick up sister. Even though she knows the answer, it's her way of letting me know it’s on her mind. We chose to tell M early on into the adoption because we wanted her to feel she has a big part in what’s going on around her and the changes that were about to come our way.

It makes me proud when she tells us and her friends what she's going teach her new little sister. She is going to be a great big sister because I can already see she can teach without being bossy or mean. She is very patient, kind, and gentle, and she’s always ready to give a word of encouragement when she sees us, 0r someone else struggling. M is definitely an old soul in a young childs body.

We Just Received Our LID of August 26, 2008 ! ! !

2008-09-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are one step closer!

Lianyungang, CHN Weather - Forecasts, Radar Maps, Video, and News

2008-08-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

Lianyungang, CHN Weather - Forecasts, Radar Maps, Video, and News