Our Family, Our Story
“Life itself is the most wonderful
fairy tale.” –Hans Christian Anderson
Together . . .

WE MAKE A FAMILY
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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! |


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