Somewhere out there

We are thinking of you baby girl....We are somewhere out there.

October Fun

Updated Pictures

Be still my heart!!!!!  Here are some updated pictures of Juliet, she is almost 2 in these photos.

Juliet's Special Heart

We are adopting Juliet as part of Ch*na's special needs adoption program.  Right now there is a 6 year wait to adopt a non-special needs or "healthy" infant from Ch*na.  The families receiving referrals right now for a healthy infant have been waiting since September 2006!  Most of the Children in Ch*na's special needs program have minor and correctable needs.  With the non special needs program virtually coming to a standstill (with wait times projected to reach 10 years) most families wishing to adopt are opening their hearts and minds to a child with a special need.  We felt that with our backgrounds in medicine and service we were more than capable of caring for a child with a special need like Juliet's.  

Juliet was born with a special heart.  Shortly after she was found and taken to the orphanage she got very sick.  During her hospital stay they found out she had a heart defect.  She has two holes in her heart known as an ASD and VSD with bi-dirrectional shunting.  She has hole between her two atrium and a hole between her two ventricles that allows the blood to flow back and forth between.  The pulmonary artery and aorta do not appear to be switched (Transposition of the Great Arteries) but are in a slightly abnormal position.  She has not had any further echocardiograms since she was 4 months old.  

Based on her medical updates we do know that she is developmentally on track and very active little girl.  A child in the US would have  had this defect repaired and the holes closed as an infant.  God has been protecting her heart for her to be growing and playing with no major illnesses.  We do know that she is a tiny girl, often seen in heart babies.  

We have talked to a few specialists in the US who have graciously reviewed the information we have on Juliet's heart.  There is some information they feel is "lost in translation" but overall based on the old echo believe her condition is operable and will be successful in Juliet living normal life.

We of course are praying that God has completely healed her heart and when she is tested in the US all will be well.  We are however prepared for a heart surgery and healing.

LID!!!

Today we found out that our Dossier was officially "Logged in" and received by Ch*na on 10/19/12.  Now begins the official Letter of Acceptance wait (LOA).  This could take anywhere from 30 to 90+ days with no rhyme or reason for the length of wait.

We are praying for a short wait!

The current estimates show that Travel Approval (TA) in given about 2 months after LOA.

It's a Girl

Below is a link to a documentary called "It's a Girl"  It very powerfully documents the plight of millions of girls in countries like Ch*na and India.  After watching this trailer I'm so thankful that Juliet's birth mother chose life for her.

Today Ch*na and India eliminate more girls each year than are born in the United States

The United Nation estimates there are nearly 200 million girls "missing"

www.itsagirlmovie.com

http://youtu.be/ISme5-9orR0

DTC!!!

On October 12th we reached a huge milestone in our adoption process called "DTC" which means our Dossier was sent to China.  The Dossier consists of hundreds of hours of chasing down official papers, completing a homestudy and having all of it notarized, certified and authenticated by the Chinese consulate in Houston.  It took us just about 3 months to complete the process from scratch which is actually a pretty fast time frame in the adoption world.  We are very lucky that J is home a lot right now and was able to help move along with our paper chase.

Jackson was able to go to FedEx that day and kiss our package goodbye.  The FedEx folks are familiar with us by now with our many trips.  I felt like I was sending off Juliet with that package and was nervous for its travel across the world.  Now we wait for our official LID (Logged In Date) that China has received and processed our paperwork to the translation department.

It is certainly a sigh of relief to have it all done and out of our hands.  The hard part now is the wait because it is entirely out of our control at this point.

We can only hold tight to our pictures and pray that our paperwork moves through the process quickly.

Where in the world in Guangxi?

The small light blue region on the Southern border of China is the province of Guangxi.


"Guangxi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.

Guangxi has a subtropical climate. Summers are generally long and hot (like Florida!). Average annual temperature is 17 to 23°C, while average annual precipitation is 1250 to 1750 mm.

Major cities include: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Beihai."

Here are some pictures of the current city that Juliet is living:

Meet Juliet

When we inquired about Juliet we received these referral photos (as well as the one above):

"On November 25, 2010 E’shan police station of L**zhou City received a call which said that a person reported an abandoned baby was found at the downstairs of the sixth Building.  After a lot of search the birth parents of this baby was not available. The policemen sent the baby to Children’s Welfare Institute to be raised with some certificates.

Baby girl wore an orange suit, with a can of milk powder which is yet eaten up, a bag of clothes and a good luck amulet on her.

According to the development of the child, her DOB was estimated as Sep XX 2010 and she was named as Liu Yilan. “Liu” is the surname of all the children in this institute. “Yi” is the common name of the girl who entered to this institute in 2010.  Lan is the name this institute gave to her with no special meaning."

The mass abandonment of baby girls in Ch*na is a very complex problem.   (The Lost Girls of China is a very moving book on this subject.) There are very deep seated cultural preference toward male babies as well as the "One Child Policy" in Ch*na that contributes to loss of nearly 5 million baby girls.  I can't begin to understand why Juliet's mother after giving birth to a beautiful baby girl and nursing her for nearly 2 months would abandon her.  I do believe that she loved her.  She left her bundled in clothes, with a can of milk to be fed and a good luck necklace commonly worn by babies in Ch*na.  Abortion is very common in Ch*na as well as female infanticide.  The fact that her mother chose to give her life and leave her in a place where she thought she would be found quickly makes me not feel angry towards her but grateful that she chose life for Juliet.  I believe God protected her knowing that someday He would bring her home to us.

Our Journey to Juliet

We are excited to include our friends and family on our Journey to Juliet.  This exciting journey has its up and downs as we patiently or inpatiently wait for our baby girl.

We first saw this precious face on July 1, 2012.

James and I had talked about adoption, specifically from China, very early in our marriage.  It was something that we knew we would do at some point in our lives.  Our lives were very busy after we got married and included medical school, graduation, residency, and a BIG move back home to Florida.  In that time we had our biological son, Jackson, in January 2010.  He has been the absolute joy of our lives.  We wished for Jackson to have a sibling but didn't feel the draw to have another biological child of our own.  In China there is a magic age in which both parents much reach in order to adopt.  I reached that magic age earlier this year.  We started just "looking" without any specific intent to adopt right away.  Life was busy with a new job and new house.

Life was not to busy for that beautiful face.

All it took was one look and our hearts were hooked.

Our Journey has begun.