A new blog post is long overdue! Suffice it to say that I have been extremely busy working three different jobs, 7 days a week. It actually works out quite well, but leaves me little time (or energy) for keeping this site updated. Nevertheless, I will attempt to make up for that with this post.The biggest news, of course, is that we have accepted the referral of a beautiful little girl from the Waiting Child list. Her name is Du Hongmei (Mackenzie Grace Hongmei Hamel) and she is from the city of Kunming in Yunnan Province, located in Southwestern China. We received three initial pictures of her, then 2 additional pictures followed soon thereafter at our request. She has been living with a foster family since July 2010, and is a perfect match for us in so many ways. We are beyond thrilled to be adding her to our family, and eagerly await the time when we can finally travel to bring her home, most likely late July or early August.
At the time of my last blog post on October 10th, we were still putting our dossier together, completing the Home Study, and awaiting our immigration appointment. Since October, all of those steps have been completed. Our fingerprint appointment with USCIS was on January 10th, we received our I-797 (Pre-Approval) from USCIS on February 14th, and our dossier was completed and sent to China on February 24th. The day the dossier is sent out is referred to as DTC (Dossier to China) day. Here are the remaining timeline steps and guesstimated timeframes from each preceding step:
DTC: February 24
LID (Log in Date): 2 weeks (~March 10)
LOA (Letter of Acceptance: 6 weeks (~April 21)
I-800 (USCIS Approval: 3 weeks (~May 12)
Article 5 Letter: 2-4 weeks (~June 9)
TA (Travel Approval): 3 weeks (~ June 30)
CA (Consulate Appointment: 2 weeks (~July 14)
Depart: 3 weeks (~August 4)
It looks like we will probably travel alone rather than with other families. This has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, we have much more say in which hotels we stay in, what activities we do, where we eat, and what timetable we are on day-to-day while in-country. While in China we will be in 3 cities: Beijing (2-3 days), Kunming (5-6 days), and Guangzhou (6-7 days). We will arrive in Beijing first and will not yet have Du Hongmei, so we have already requested to go to Cameron’s orphanage as well as visit a hutong. It is highly unlikely that we will be allowed in the orphanage, but we want Cameron to show us those places he visited or spent time in outside the orphanage (his school, local shops, etc.). In Kunming, we definitely want to go to the Stone Forest, even though it is a 2.5 hour drive away. However, from Kunming through the rest of the trip we will have Mackenzie with us, so that is where our focus will be with our daily planning and, as you can imagine when uprooting a young child from the only life he/she has ever known, it can be quite difficult.
Now to get caught up on other things……a week ago we completed Cameron’s readoption here in the States. This will allow him to get an American birth certificate and passport, both of which he will need in the near future. He continues to do quite well in school, although he likes studying about as much as I like the Georgia Bulldogs (NOT!)! Good thing he’s a quick learner. He continues to like all things football, and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are his favorite team. He even wants to paint his room orange for his birthday! He achieved his first Hapkido (martial arts) belt a couple months ago and will be going for his next one in May. He will be celebrating his 12th birthday in early April and his top gift request is…….a power drill! What 11 year old kid wants a power drill for his 12th birthday????? I might have to install an electric fence around the house to keep it safe from Cameron’s experimentation!
We are in the midst of many house changes as we get ready for Mackenzie’s arrival. We are transitioning from 2 bedrooms and a man cave, to 3 bedrooms. I am less than thrilled at my loss of personal space, but Mackenzie is well worth the sacrifice. We are completely remodeling one bathroom and partially remodeling another. Add to that all the handyman projects of multiple ceiling fans being installed, additional storage going up in the garage, etc., and the house is going to look quite different when all is said and done.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention or include a picture or two of the epic winter weather we experienced earlier this month. Claremore, Oklahoma averages about 7 inches of snow a year. The previous high for a day was 12 inches and for a season was 22 inches. Within a span of just over a week we got three snowfalls: 20 inches, 4 inches, and 10 inches. For the first time in its existence, the Tulsa World did not have home delivery, and didn’t have it for 4 days. The physical therapy clinic where I work was closed for four days…..it took them that long to finally clear the parking lot. The snow was so high that most vehicles, including many 4-wheel drive vehicles, were too low to the ground, and thus acted like snowplows regardless of their traction. On top of that, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma was achieved in a town a mere 20 or so miles from our house as the crow flies……31 degrees below zero in Nowata, so I’m sure we were within a few degrees of that at our house. Our cove was frozen solid and, one morning, there were a couple coyotes wandering around the middle of it!
That’s it for now! I’ll try to post more regular updates, especially when each of our remaining timeline milestones get met.
