Adoption Time Line

September 2005: Began talking about adopting
October 11, 2005: Received AWAA information packet
October 25, 2005: Decided to adopt our daughter from China!!
November 12, 2005: Attended AWAA "Spitit of Adoption" seminar in Lees Summit, MO
November 14, 2005: Sent application to AWAA
December 7, 2005: Application approved through AWAA
December 15, 2005: Signed AWAA agreement and sent the first of many checks . . .
December 19, 2005: Happy Birthday Nate!!
January 6, 2006: Ordered Mom's birth certificate from D.O.D in Washington, D.C.
January 10, 2006: Homestudy visit #1 with Steffany at AWAA
January 11, 2006: Ordered Dad's birth certificate from MA and Nate's birth certificate from OR
January 12, 2006: Mom's and Dad's first attempt at physicals. Doctor Gibson found lump on Mom's thyroid that will need resolution before adoption physicals can be completed. Dad got his tetanus shot.
January 13, 2006: Homestudy visit #2 with Steffany at AWAA
January 14, 2006: Homestudy visit #3 with Amy at AWAA
January 15, 2006: Happy Birthday Mom!
January 16, 2006: Sonogram for Mom's thyroid . . .
January 17, 2006: Sent off for the KBI background check and SRS child abuse check
January 19, 2006: Consult with endocrinologist for Mom's thyroid
January 26, 2006: Mom's fine needle biopsy on thyroid - OUCH!
January 31, 2006: Biopsy results are in - NO CANCER!! YEAHOOOOO!!
February 7, 2006: Mom's physical and tetanus shot
February 9, 2006: Mom & Dad fingerprints to FBI for background checks
February 20,2006: FBI background checks came back
February 14, 2006: Dad's physical
February 21, 2006: Nate's physical
February 23, 2006: Picked up all physical forms and surgery letters. We're almost done with the home study packet!!
February 28, 2006: Hoorray!! Our home study paperwork is finished . . . when will we be able to submit it?????
March 9, 2006: Well Dad's letter regarding his knee surgery is not specific enough . . . will have to get it rewritten.
March 10, 2006: Submitted our application to be on the interested families list for the Waiting Children program.
March 13, 2006: Helped out at the Topeka AWAA seminar hosted by our own Fellowship Bible Church.
March 20, 2006: Received the Waiting Children information packet from AWAA - still waiting to hear if we have been approved to be on the interested families list.
March 23, 2006: We're approved!! We got the official word today from Laura Lundy that our name has been added to the interested famililes list for the Waiting Children program.
May 19, 2006: Yippee!!! We mailed off our homestudy today! After 2 months with vehicle breakdowns and a variety of other financial delays - the home study is in!! We should hear from our social worker next week regarding her visit to our home. We also sent off several dossier documents off for state certification.
June 2, 2006: Met with Tonya tonight for our home visit. What an enjoyable evening. Very relaxed and not nearly as stressful as we had anticipated. We are looking forward to receiving the completed home study write up and sending off all of our documents to China! Mackenzie girl - we're coming!!
JUNE 15, 2005: Received a MOST welcome phone call from Allison at AWAA . . . she called to tell us about a little girl who just turned 4. She is in the provice of Zhejiang at the Hang Zhou Orphanage. She has a correctable heart condition and Allison asked us if we wanted to review her file. Of course we said YES!!!!
June 16, 2006: Received the final draft of our homestudy! Hooray! We are one step closer to our little girl. We will review and submit to our social worker on Monday. Soon we will have the notarized copies!
June 17, 2006: We received the referral packet of a most beautiful little girl. Her Chinese name is Wang Cong. DOB 5/19/02. She has a heart condition and in light of that we will be meeting with our doctors here in Topeka to see what we are looking at. We have been blessed with a FABULOUS health care plan through our work which will cover any medical needs for our new daughter . We are sure that this precious child is our Mackenzie. Pictures to come - watch the Referral page. As soon as we receive PA (pre approval) from the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) we will be allowed to post the pictures. We wanted to share our joy with all of you! Can't wait to share her beautiful photos with you all! Please check back often as we will have many updates in the near future! Check the links page also for links to Zhejiang China..
June 22, 2006: Sent rough draft of LOI to Allison for our Wang Cong (soon to be Mackenzie).
June 26, 2006: Sent our LOI for Wang Cong. Our agency will receive our LOI paperwork on Wednesday before 10:30am and be on its way to China on Friday!
June 30, 2006: Our LOI is on its way to China - it will be there on Monday 7/3. We are 1 step closer to our Mackenzie.
July 3, 2006: Well our LOI is in Beijing and on a FedEx truck for delivery. Of course at 8:30 pm my time tonight it is 9:30am on July 4 in Beijing. We also sent off for our passports today. Should have done that weeks ago, but we kept putting it off. Pray for speedy passports for us.
July 8, 2006: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
July 17, 2006: Today we went to our local Department of Homeland Security office to be fingerprinted and submit our I-600A application. Here's hoping and praying for a quick turn around.
July 27, 2006: Mom's passort arrived!! Hoorray . . . but where's Dad's???
July 28, 2006: Dad's passport arrived. Hooray now we can both go! We also sent almost all of our documents to the US State Department for the next to last level of certification. We are still missing the all important I-171H (that's the immigration document that will allow us to bring Kenzie home).
August 8, 2006: We have the I-171H!!! We received it in 22 days. That is quite the short time considering I have heard folks even here in Kansas waiting 4-8 weeks. Other states have people waiting 2-4 months!!
August 14, 2006: We got our dossier back from the US State Department. We will be sending that golden paperwork off to the Embassy this week. That's the final paperwork step . . . are we really getting to the end of paperwork????
August 15, 2006: It finally came!! We have our PA. China has said that yes we can pursue Wang Cong's adoption!
September 5, 2006: WE ARE DONE WITH THE PAPERCHASE!!!!!!!!!! Words cannot express how delighted we are to have every single document in our hands and certified and authenticated and ready to go to China. Please join us in prayer that all of the finances will fall into place in time for our dossier to be sent to the agency on 9/12 so it can go to China on 9/15. Precious daughter - Mommy and Daddy are one step closer! We love you.
September 22, 2006: We are officially DTC (dossier to China)! Hoorray!! Now begins the countdown to TA (travel approval).October 19, 2006: Our Chinese Visas arrived today. Another step closer. Kenize, we're coming!
November 16, 2006: We have our LID. Our official LID is October 19, 2006.
November 20, 2006: We have our TA!!!!! Our tentative date of departure is 12/7/06. If that works out Kenzie will be in our arms on December 11! Another step closer.
December 7, 2006: We are leaving today for China!
December 11, 2006: Gtocha Day!!!
December 12, 2006: Wang Cong is officially, legally, etc. our daughter MacKenzie Eilene Cong!!
December 19, 2006: Happy birthday big brother!
December 20, 2006: We're HOME!