The Cheeky Robinson Clan: Our first few days at home

The transition for Abigail from China to America has been a bit difficult. Of course, we expected that and we are empathetic to all of the changes this little life is experiencing. New language, new faces, new home, new everything! And for this little missy who is quite shy until she lets you in, it really has been overwhelming. She wakes up two to three times a night (and it takes an hour or two to rock her back to sleep), hardly takes a nap, and cries if I leave the room even for a second. But all of this is normal, and we are doing our best to take it in stride and be the loving parents that she needs right now (and always). Our top priority is for her to know that she is safe and that we will never leave her. Today we had some breakthrough and there were some new smiles, kisses and hugs that we received from this precious life. I just really can't describe the incredible honor and joy it is to be Abi's parents.

Here are a few pictures from our first days at home!

She loves her high chair, and of course her watermelon!

Having fun climbing the stairs!

Spending time with bestie Ada!

Getting to know "Nǎinai" - mandarin for "Grandma" on Andrew's side. (There is a different word in Mandarin for Grandma/Grandpa on my side.)

Every kid loves to get into the cupboards. So I figured...why fight it. I gave her a cupboard to have fun with. And boy did she!

She saw me sweeping and wanted to help!

Discovering the tube toy.

"The world is my playground and you are my minions."

"Abi Lou Who"
(does the look in her eyes at her Baba get any more precious than that???)

This is Abi's "I told you I wanted to go for a walk, and I wasn't kidding" look.

Playing at the neighborhood park with the coolest kid in town.

She pointed to the camera, and then posed!

She absolutely LOVED the swing.

I love how much she gets into her laugh!

She is a true Robinson...sticking her tongue out when concentrating on something.

"Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

Look mama - I'm ready to go camping at Yellowstone!

Adoption Timeline At-A-Glance

March 28, 2009: Made the decision to adopt from Nepal.
March 30, 2009: Google-searched for an agency that has a Nepal program (there weren't any in 2008 since we had searched at that time), and found Adoption ARK.
April 6, 2009: E-mailed Adoption ARK expressing interest in Nepal.
April 6, 2009: Linda Podas (adoption consultant) at Adoption ARK e-mailed back, and sent the pre-qualification application.
April 7, 2009: Completed the application and faxed it to Linda.
April 8, 2009: Linda lets us know that we pre-qualify, and have been put on the 2010 Nepal waiting list.
April 16, 2009: Linda e-mails letting us know that our name has come up on the Nepal waiting list and we can officially apply into the Nepal adoption program!
April 17, 2009: Linda sends us the official contract, and says that we need to turn it around within 72 hours, along with money. :-) The contract is 35 pages (!).
April 20-22, 2009: Read the contract, filled out all the pages, and sent it in the mail with our money by April 22.
April 23, 2009: Linda e-mails saying our contract has been accepted, and that we are officially in the program. She said our case manager would be in touch with us within 48 hours.
April 24, 2009: Alina Radoslav e-mails us introducing herself as our case manager. Sends us lots of information and lots of attachments to fill out!
April 30, 2009: Phone call with Alina to meet each other and go over what we should be working on right now.
May 1 - June 9, 2009: Worked on our home study.
June 17, 2009: Overnighted our home study packet.
July 14, 2009: Mailed I-600A form to USCIS.
July 31, 2009: Home Study interviews in Seattle.
Aug. 28, 2009: Home Inspection at our house.
Sept. 30, 2009: Heather has her doctor's appointment for dossier medical report.
Oct. 3 and 4, 2009: Psychologist interviews; MMPI-2 test (457 questions!); Rohrschach test; intelligence test; and some other test that I don't know the name of.
Oct. 5, 2009: Meeting with psychologist to discuss report findings and review letters written by psychologist for our adoption agency. (Note: Tests confirmed that we are not crazy. Whew!)
Oct. 13, 2009: Andrew has his doctor's appointment for dossier medical report.
Oct. 22, 2009: Home Study approval reports received in the mail. (!!)
Oct. 22, 2009: Home Study approval reports sent to USCIS for I-600A application.
Nov. 10, 2009: Found out the USCIS address they gave us to send our home study report to was incorrect. Had to re-send to a different address.
Nov. 18, 2009: Sent all of our notarized documents to the Secretary of State for certification approval.
Nov. 30, 2009: Fingerprinting for USCIS approval.
Dec. 1, 2009: Dossier sent to Adoption Ark.
Dec. 7, 2009: Dossier sent to Nepal.
Dec. 11, 2009: Our agency's in-country Nepal represent receives our dossier.
Dec. 15, 2009: We are officially on the Nepal 2009 list! We are #500.
Aug. 6, 2010: The US closes adoptions to Nepal. We plan to keep our file there, praying that the doors will open again. May the Lord move mountains so these precious children can be with their forever families!

A New Beginning - China
Mar. 21, 2011: Chose Lifeline Children's Services as our agency.
Mar. 22 to Oct. 5, 2011: 10 months of all of the same stuff as above. :)
Oct. 21, 2011: Received USCIS approval to adopt from China.
Nov. 9, 2011: DTC! (Dossier To China)
Nov. 23, 2011: Our agency confirmed that CCCWA has received our dossier.
Dec. 20, 2011: Matched to our amazing 12-month old daughter!!
Dec. 30, 2011: Pre-approval received from China for our daughter!
April 24, 2012: Letter of Approval (LOA) from China
May 16, 2012: i800 approval (USA approval) for our daughter
May 25, 2012: USA approval cabled to US Consulate in Guangzhou. Now the Consulate will prepare the "Article 5."
June 11, 2012: Article 5 picked up from the Consulate and taken to the CCCWA.
June 25, 2012: Travel Approval (TA)!
July 13, 2012: Leave for China!
July 16, 2012: "Gotcha Day" – family of three!
July 17, 2012: Official adoption day with China.
July 25, 2012: Consulate appointment – Abigail became officially ours according to the US, and officially an American citizen!
July 28, 2012: We returned home to Walla Walla as a family! Abi also became an American citizen the moment she stepped on American soil.

Adoption blogs I follow (all but the first one are Nepal adoptions):

http://hernkekid.blogspot.com/ http://achairtospare.blogspot.com/ http://aboyfortheharrells.blogspot.com/ http://pebbletostone.blogspot.com/ http://apennyanickeladollaroradime.blogspot.com/ http://themelsersfaith.blogspot.com/ http://yoloholloway.blogspot.com/ http://bfsmoms.blogspot.com/ http://oak2ktm.blogspot.com/ http://nepaladoptionadventure.blogspot.com/ http://bugbeanandreed.blogspot.com/ http://kjernald.blogspot.com/ http://www.nepaladoptionblog.com/ http://jsjobeadoption.blogspot.com/ http://whenwebelong.blogspot.com/

6 comments:

Mummy JAugust 1, 2012 at 6:06 AM
These are such precious pics. It is so wonderful to see the pics of her settling in at home! Thank you for sharing that there are some difficult moments of the adjustment period as well, and not just the rosy picture of things. It will help so many who are about the experience the same. I loved the pic of her on the swing with her head back in laughter! Thank you for blogging!
KristenAugust 1, 2012 at 7:25 AM
Heather she is just adorable!! I am so happy for you!!
AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Toooooo awesome! I can't stand it! :) Alanna
BethanyAugust 2, 2012 at 10:35 AM
I can't help but cry. I 'm overwhelmed looking at your photos. She is beautiful!!!!!! I'm so so happy for you both. WOW. I really have no other words. Love you both.
AnonymousAugust 2, 2012 at 10:35 AM
LOVING ALL THESE MOMENTS!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to play together when you get back! The DeLongs P.S. we have a pretty awesome park by our house too ;) and Isaiah and Aliyah who like to come over too. HUGS!!!!!
AnonymousAugust 5, 2012 at 9:18 PM
I think I passed you two out on a walk last week! She is just so precious! God is good. Can't wait to meet her. Love, Jane

The Cheeky Robinson Clan

Our first few days at home

6 comments:

Blog Archive

Labels