Our Family, Our Story

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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