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Our Family, Our Story

“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.” –Hans Christian Anderson

Together . . .

WE MAKE A FAMILY
 

We belonged to the same youth church group. Rival schools. High school sweethearts…well, for the most part!?! That’s how our story began. I was a sophomore. He was a senior. He graduated, attended a year of college and then served a two year proselyting mission to Copenhagen, Denmark. We wrote letters during that time and were engaged a few months after he returned home from Denmark. We were married that summer in 1989 and began our lives as college roommates and newlyweds. Ian was studying exercise science and I (Kim) was studying speech-language pathology. In the spring of 1991, we were thrilled beyond words to be expecting our first baby! Every single thing seemed perfect as the baby, our little girl, was to be born just days after I would graduate with my bachelor’s degree. However, in my eighth month of pregnancy, sadness like we had never known before enveloped us as we learned unexpectedly that our sweet, little girl had passed on. It was a tremendously difficult time filled with uncertainty and grief. But with the passage of time and through faith, that sadness was slowly, but surely, replaced with peace and comfort. I began my graduate studies in speech-language pathology that fall. In the summer of 1992, joy again filled our lives with the birth of our daughter, Jessica! It was shortly after Jessica’s birth that Ian and I reflected one day on the extreme sadness and happiness that had been ours those 15 months. During that conversation and from out of nowhere, Ian casually said, “one day, we’ll bring home a little girl from China”... I just smiled not realizing at the time, that one day, we really would…

We have since welcomed three, absolutely wonderful boys to our family! Our lives have been busy, full and happy with all that comes with a family of four kidlets. But, throughout our marriage, the possibility of adopting a sweet, little girl from China has repeatedly surfaced time and time again. Unexpectedly, in the fall of 2005, a series of circumstances occurred which set in motion the possibility of making this dream a reality. Many months later, after much reading, study, discussion and prayer, Ian and I knew that we were meant to add a little sister to our family through this miracle called adoption. After three months of paperchasing, our dossier was mailed to China the week our first, little daughter would have celebrated her 16th birthday. Life is sweet, and we have been so blessed!






OUR TIMELINE TO SOPHIE

“A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.” –Chinese Proverb


At the beginning of the holiday season, we took our first “official” step towards Sophie. We were thrilled how quickly our dossier came together (our initial application was approved on December 13th and our dossier was mailed to China on March 13th)…three months to the day!

05 December 2006
Initial application mailed to CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International)

06 December
First contacted our home study agency

08 December
Kim’s official birth certificate was issued

11 December
Ian’s official birth certificate was issued

13 December
Received approval to adopt from CCAI

14 December
Requested letters of recommendation from friends, neighbors and family members

22 December
Ian and Kim applied for passports

27 December
Official marriage certificate was issued

28 December
Applied for I-171H

02 January 2007
Kim’s employment verification letter notarized

05 January
Ian and Kim’s police clearance reports obtained

06 January
Family pictures taken for dossier

09 January
Kim’s physical completed

10 January
Ian’s physical completed

20 January
Ian and Kim fingerprinted, notarized our adoption petition and financial statement, additional passport photos taken for dossier

22 January
Ian and Kim’s passports issued

23 January
Home study visit

30 January
Home study interviews

02 February 2007
Ian’s employment verification letter notarized

06 February
Home study approved and sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

14 February
Processing completed for our I-171H

16 February
Received I-171H

20 February
Dossier documents taken to the Secretary of State’s office for certification

26 February
Received certified documents from SoS; mailed all documents to the Assistant Stork in Washington D.C. for U.S. Secretary of State certification and authentication at the Chinese Embassy

04 March 2007
Last minute snapshots for our dossier

06 March
Received certified and authenticated dossier documents; mailed our completed dossier to CCAI

09 March
Critical review of our dossier completed and approved by CCAI…sent to translation!

13 March DTC!!!
(Dossier to China)

16 March
Dossier arrived in China!

29 March LID!!!
(Log-in Date)

01 April 2007
The wait begins…

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

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