Today we are finally....

It felt like it has been forever in the making and things took a little longer at the embassy than we were originally told, but I am SO excited to say that we are finally DTC TODAY via DHL!!! For those of you not familar with the lingo- this means Dossier to China and is huge! All of the paperwork is now out of the US and on its way to China, where once it arrives, it could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to be logged in. Once logged in, the wait for the all important Letter of Approval- LOA starts. And that wait can take anywhere from 32 days to 150 days....that is why it is too early to tell when we will be traveling. Our best guess though is that travel will be between June- August.

Praying for a quick LID and LOA since we have been waiting 6 months plus for our daughter already due to having to go about things a bit backwards in the beginning because of needing a waiver from China.

We are so blessed and thrilled to be at this point- it is a really big deal!

And we have...

So after reading on a yahoo group today that my friend, Jennifer, got her approval on Friday- day 64 (day 65 for us), getting an email today from my friend, Beth, saying she got her approval on day 66, and hearing that my friends, Kim and Sharon got TA TODAY, I figured it is a GREAT day...what can it hurt to call again and see if we got our I-800A approval (I called early last week and we hadn't been assigned an officer...so I didn't want to feel disappointed again today).

I didn't make it to the call though because when I went to get one of my boys off the bus I checked the mail and low and behold, there it was!!!! We got our approval on 12-29-11, which would have been 64 days....received it on day 69.

One minor hiccup- our officer didn't put an "e" on the end of my name so I called her and she said she would fix it and mail a new one out today....whew!

Very excited to be so close to DTC (Dossier to China)! Just one more step (authentication) that might take 2-3 weeks at most hopefully and our agency is doing that part for us!!

A Smile and a Little Bit of Love go a LONG Way!

We got photos today from Lena's birthday celebration
thanks to Kelly and Angela with Lady Bugs N Love!!!!

And we have a precious smile!!! Yay for a smile and for the nanny in the picture who appears quite smitten with our sweet girl. I am guessing that may be the deaf nanny I have heard about- I will have to look into that. It sure gives me relief after some of the things I have heard about the orphanage. It may be hard for Lena to leave her special nanny, but we know from past experience that if a child has a special bond and has attached to someone in their life that they are way more likely to bond with us and attach. I am praying this will be true for Lena!
And here is what you really came to see! :)

Preparing the cake!

WOW that flame is huge...is that a firework or something? I love her facial expression here!

Trying to show that she is TWO years old!

I love this one because after all the not so good things I heard about this place, it makes me think there is someone there who has a special place in their heart for our little girl. Maybe this is the deaf nanny that I heard about! Precious!

Blowing out the candles!Cakes are a big deal in China! Every child's I have seen has been just as fancy. This cake is beautiful! It is also a tradition to smear frosting on the child's cheeks! Too cute! :)

This is your last birthday without your family!

Celebrating with friends-so glad to see everyone getting a special treat! And from the looks of it, she seems to be the only girl. SO many boys in need of a family....LOVE our sweet boys so my heart just aches for them!

Personalized Name Magnets to Help Bring Lena Home

I have been making personalized name magnets on the side for awhile now, selling them on Etsy. I can basically make anything- I have made some I heart volleyball with stickers for the heart and volleyball, seasonal or holiday sets, cupcakes, you name it! If you are interested in purchasing a set, put a message in the comments section or send me an email to el_lauren@yahoo.com with the name (s) you would like or if you have a personal request. If you are local, I will get them to you. If not, I usually send them via priority mail so be sure to leave me your address. Shipping is $4.95 regardless of the number of sets you buy!

Remember- I can make just about anything- so if you are looking for something in particular, just ask!

You can get any name or initial set as well. These are great for showcasing a child's school work or photos on the fridge or on a filing cabinet at work. I am working on learning how to set-up a chip-in on the blog, but I do have a pay pal account you can send the payment to...open to suggestions, as I am learning! :) My pay pal account is listed as: Brooke Henningfeld and the email listed is the one above.


PERSONALIZED NAMES OR INITIALS- $1 per letter plus a one-time $4.95 priority mail shipping charge no matter how many sets you order! I don't have a whole lot of choice in the color of the letters, but I do try to choose background paper that goes well with the sticker color and that is fitting for the child's gender. Be sure to tell me if it is for a boy or girl if it is a name that is gender neutral or if it is a 2 or 3 letter initial set (all a little bigger than a quarter in size).

2 letters= $2 plus shipping
3 letters= $3 plus shipping
4 letters= $4 plus shipping
5 letters= $5 plus shipping
6 letters= $6 plus shipping
7 letters= $7 plus shipping
8 letters= $8 plus shipping

Fingerprints update and a VERY Happy Birthday to our little girl!

A quick update on the fingerprint appointment. Our appointment date was for Dec. 5th but we decided to try and walk in a few days early (this does not speed up the process) so that our boys would not have to miss a morning of school. We went on Wed. Nov. 31st and were successful! :)
Now to wait for the actual approval....USCIS (immigration) has up to 90 days from our receipt date (Oct. 26th) to approve them. We are on day 46 today, I believe. Current statistics are showing 65-75 days which puts us right around the week between Christmas and New Years, so I am going to take a stab in the dark and guess we will be on the longer end- I think 75 days would be Jan. 9th so I am thinking it will be that week. 90 days would be Jan.. 24th and that is getting too close for comfort since our 6 month deadline China gives us from our pre-approval to get our dossier to China (DTC) is Feb. 1st!! I would rather have a little extra time than be pushing it, if you know what I mean! So we continue to wait!

On a totally different note....December 12th is our little Lena's 2nd birthday! You might be thinking...Brooke, it is Dec. 11th....you are right- it is the 11th here, but it is already the morning of the 12th in China! HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, LENA GRACE YUJIE! It is bittersweet to be celebrating a birthday of one of your precious children, but to not be able to celebrate together as a family. So we will do the best we can- we will celebrate her birthday tonight as a family- we have a cake with her name on it. We also ordered another care package 2 weeks ago. We sent her a cake, a doll, a few books, another camera for her nannies to get more pictures of her for us, and some candy/nuts for the nannies and possibly for the other children in care there. Here are pictures of that. We cannot wait for the day we get some pictures of our sweetheart with her cake....how exciting it will be to get those! Praying our little love has a wonderful day and rejoicing that it will be her last birthday without her family!

Our family celebrating Lena's 2nd Birthday- her last one without her family!

Nana and Grandpa JP too!

Our boys celebrating their sister's 2nd Birthday!

The cake we got to celebrate, along with Lena's picture and a doll my
mom and step-dad bought for her.

Care package we sent Lena minus the cake!

Moving on to the Next Step

Well, it has been awhile! Our home study was approved and that and our I800A paperwork was sent on to USCIS. We got the I-797C document stating that they had received our documents and then last weekend, we got our fingerprint appointment date. It is for December 5th at the Milwaukee office. I wish it would have been sooner so we would have had a better chance of getting the approval before Christmas, when things are likely to slow down again. It is what it is though! We can try to walk-in early, but that most likely will not speed the approval up, so I have been told and read. After we get our I-800A approval, as long as we have every last bit of paperwork in to our agency and it is authenticated, we can then send our dossier (includes our home study, I-800A approval, and some other things) to China and finally be DTC (Dossier To China) which we cannot wait to be! That is a huge step!

In other news, little Miss Lena's birthday is coming up- Dec. 12th. We will likely send another package in time for that. You can even order a cake! For those of you not familiar with Chinese adoptions, cake is a big deal there! Wait until you see what the cake looks like...pretty fancy and they wipe frosting on the kids' faces. I cannot wait to see those photos! Though I wish she could be here with us celebrating birthday #2, I am thankful this will be her last birthday in an orphanage and without a family!

On the Sign Language front...we are still watching our Signing Time dvds and have #3 pretty well mastered! We have started watching one to learn some songs...that has been fun, but much more challenging! I think we will move on to #4. We also bought a dvd for potty training since it was on special. Not sure if she will be potty trained by then or not and she may regress if she is so I figured we may need it. We can also use it in hopes it will help her two younger brothers! :)

That's the latest news here! Bring on the busy holiday season and don't forget to go through our Amazon link on the right when you are ordering online for Christmas! :) Thanks!

Home Study...Check!

Our home study is officially done. That is one big step...too many more to go! I have filled out the I-800A paperwork and will be sending that in tomorrow hopefully! Then we wait for our fingerprint appointment and approval, which I have heard can take up to 8 weeks...praying it will all happen quicker than that so we can get our dossier (boat load of paperwork) to China (also known as DTC) as soon as possible. Oh how I can't wait for that!

Don't forget to type in anything into our box on the right for Amazon anytime you order a birthday gift, Christmas gift, etc. We don't get a lot, but we do get a small percent and a small percent is better than nothing right?!?! Thank you!!

Looking for a great gift for a baby shower or for a child's birthday or Christmas present? Check out my Usborne Books website- you can put in an order online and it will ship right to your home within about 2-3 days. For those of you adopting from China, they have a couple of great books for you too- one is called "First Hundred Words in Chinese" and the other is called "First Thousand Words in Chinese." Usborne's books are very educational, high quality, and have wonderful illustrations and features. Check them out! www.myubam.com/J3737

Pray we get a quick appointment date for our fingerprinting with USCIS! I guess if we don't, we will probably be walking in on a Wednesday morning anyways, so maybe I should be saying pray for a quick approval! :)