Emotions

We received an updated picture of Kora from a family who was just in China picking up their daughter.    Our daughters are both from the same orphanage.  They were so kind to take a picture of Kora while they were visiting the orphanage and send it to us.

 

It’s hard to describe the emotions seeing her now from her referral picture 4 months ago.  We are very excited to see she looks healthy, and we’re so glad she still has those chubby cheeks.  Looking at the picture does make us think of more questions.  What is her personality like?  How much do her crossed eyes affect her vision?  What will she think of us when we come to get her?  But most of all, it makes us want to get there as soon as possible and bring her home. 

What's left?

These are the steps we have remaining before we can bring Kora home. 

• US Embassy in Guangzhou signs off on Article 5 letter
• Article 5 letter sent to CCCWA (China government office in charge of adoptions)
• CCCWA issues travel approval
• Secure Consulate Appointment Date and start getting ready to travel.

We’re expecting that we will travel mid to late October if no delays. 

Timeline so far

Dossier to China:  2/16/12

Log in Date:  2/27/12

Letter of Intent:  4/19/12

Pre-Approval:  4/24/12

Letter of Approval:  7/12/12

I800 Approval (US Immigration):  8/1/12

National Visa Center Cable:  8/17/12

How our Story Began

A lot of people have asked us why we decided to adopt.  A few years after Megan and Jason were born we started to think there was a reason that we had twins right away, one boy and one girl.  Jesse says adoption is the only way to guarantee just one child!  Seriously, we do feel that God has called us to be a family to a child who does not have one.  There are more than 140 million orphans in the world.  How can we not care for just one?  We checked out all the different ways and places we could adopt from.  We feel China was where He was calling us to.     

So our journey through adoption started approximately two years ago when we decided this was the road we would take to add another member to our family.  We started looking into different agencies and began the process of saving money to pay for the adoption expenses.  We officially submitted our application to Crossroads Adoption Services in Minneapolis in early June of 2011.  We were open to either a boy or a girl with a variety of special needs, but Jesse said he knew from the beginning that God would be giving us a girl. 

Then began the process of background checks, fingerprints, doctor exams, notarizing, paperwork and more paperwork.  I had a nice timeline in my mind that we would finish everything quickly, match with a child and be ready to travel by the end of the summer of 2012.  I had forgotten that God’s timeline is not my timeline.  So we had several delays in paperwork with an error by the US Immigration and one by the Chinese government, and a letter lost in the mail.  But it all taught me to be more patient and trust in the Lord.

On April 16, we were sent a referral of a little 6 month old girl named Song Ying Shuang and we knew she was our daughter.  She lives at the Social Welfare Institute (SWI) in Yangxi County in Guangdong Providence.  She was born on 10/4/11.  We accepted the referral and received our approval from China on July 12.  Here is a picture when we received our referral in April.

In Chinese, Song is actually her last name.  All the children from her orphanage have Song as their surname.  Jesse, Megan, Jason and I decided we will name her Kora Song so that she will keep part of her Chinese name as her middle name.  That’s also where the name of this bog came from.