New Pictures of Lily

This week I have "talked" with 3 families that have recently adopted children from the very same orphanage where Lily is. How amazing! The orphanage seems to be a small one. It appears very well kept from the pictures I have seen. Most importantly, the families I have spoken with feel that their daughters have all been very well cared for and loved. One family even had pictures to share. Thank you Tracy! She emailed me some pictures and we think Lily is in one of them! She would be about 15 months old in the picture. It is amazing that I have found these families that have a link to Lily. Our daughters know each other. They are in the pictures together. Tracy has given us something so priceless. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have also corresponded with Brian Stuy this week (The finding ad guy). He actually has Lily's finding ad photo. He is sending us the actual newspaper that her ad is in. I can not wait to receive it. Hopefully it will be here the beginning of next week. For those of you who do not know, China has to place a "finding ad" in the newspaper with a picture of the child that has been abandoned to see if the parents will claim them before they can be legally put up for adoption.

All these links to Lily have made the time pass a little faster and easier. It has already been almost a month since we received her referral. Come on China, we are still waiting for that darn LOSC!

Orphanage Picture

I am in the process of joining a yahoo group for families who have or are adopting from the same orphanage where Lily is. I can not wait to "talk" with families that have some knowledge of this orphanage. Sometimes other families will have info about your child because their children are the same age and in the same "group" as your child. It will be comforting to learn anything about Lily's life right now. When you do not really have much to go on, any little piece of info that links to her is precious. I did find a picture of the orphanage where she is. I found it on someones blog who has already adopted from Lily's orphanage. I just stare at the picture and imagine Lily in the window. It is so surreal that she is in that building. I know what the building looks like but we are half way around the world. I just want her to know we are trying our hardest to get to her. Hold on Lily, we are coming!

Update

It has been over two weeks now that we have been waiting for LOSC. About 10 more weeks to go or sooner if we are lucky. We are waiting for an update on Lily also. Our agency put in a request for updated pictures and information. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have updates. I can't wait to see knew pictures of her! (I just can't wait for all this waiting to be over with). I am also putting together a small photo album of us and her room to be sent to her by our agency. The caregivers at the orphanage will show her the album so she will have some exposure to what we look like and that we are her Mommy, Daddy, Brother and Sister. Hopefully this album will reach her. Many children bring these albums home with them and are so attached to them. It will be a great keepsake for her. Come on China, send us our LOSC! We need to get there soon!

Time line

It has been 1 week now that we are waiting for LOSC. Only about 11 more weeks to go! UGh. Things just take so darn long. I am trying to put a time line together in my head of how long each paperwork phase is going to take. I really shouldn't though because it is unusual for international adoption to go according to your plans. It just leaves you disappointed when more time passes than you expected. I am anticipating sometime this summer for travel but we will see what happens. Here are a list of things that still need to happen before we can bring our Little Lily home............

LOSC - Our agency has sent our LOI(letter of intent) to China stating Lily is the specific child we want to adopt. We now wait for their reply(LOSC-letter of seeking confirmation). This could take on average about 3 months! This would bring us to the end of May. I am hoping China will send us our LOSC sooner because our dossier(paperwork) has been in China for about 7 months already but I am not holding my breath.

USCIS- Once we receive our LOSC we then have a few forms to fill out and send them to USCIS(Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Services) with our LOSC. This should take about 4-5 weeks for approval. This would bring us to the beginning of July. Then this approval and other paperwork gets sent back to China and we wait for TA(travel arrangements).

TA - This could take about 6 weeks to get. So that brings us to the middle or end of August. To think we have to wait to the end of the summer seems far to long to wait. It is soooooooooo far away. I know we can do it but the wait will not be easy!

What next?

I spoke with Pam yesterday to find out what next. HAS has submitted our LOI (letter of intent) to China for Lily. We now have to wait for China to reply with LOSC (letter of seeking confirmation). This reply can take up to 2-4 months to get. Why so long? I do not know. Too much waiting with international adoption! Once we receive the LOSC then we submit MORE paperwork to immigration. Once we receive clearance from immigration again (about 1 month or maybe 2?) we return all the paperwork back to China. They then send us TA (travel approval). So if things happen very quickly we could possibly be going to China early summer. BUT as we all know, international adoption is never quick. So.......July or August is probably more realistic.

Lily Mei's picture is all over our house. We all are in love with her. Anthony and I can't stop looking at her cute little face. Hopefully soon we will be able to see that cute face in person!