The Cheeky Robinson Clan: October 2012

Abi in Jeans

I just couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures of Abi in her jeans. This is the first time she has worn jeans. As I tried to squeeze her legs into the jeans, I realized they were "skinny jeans," and let's just say - today may have been the only day she'll get to where these. My chunky monkey just isn't a skinny jeans girl at this time. :) But for today - look at the cuteness!!!

Ponytails

Cutest girl on Planet Earth!

First ponytail on top of her head. (Sort of hard to see because of the dark granite counter behind her head.)

Still kind of hard to see the pony.

And finally - got a pic where you can see the ponytail. But Abi just wants to eat her fruit roll-up! This face says, "Enough pictures mama, let me eat my snack!"

Monkey mug shot

Harvest Baby

We spent last Saturday in the yard harvesting the rest of our garden veggies, peppers and pears, and cleaning out garden beds and such. We had one cute harvest helper!!

This and That

We were headed out for the afternoon, and Abi grabbed her favorite teddy bear and her "laptop." She looked like she was headed off to school!!

Goofy girl!

Abi is in a new phase of eating, which is mainly not eating much and not interested in much. So we improvise...this night it was hard boiled eggs, cheetos and figs. Haha!

At least she was eating and happy!

Andrew harvested our pears!

And she's still happily eating!

Yummy figs

She loves putting on my shoes. Here she is sporting my slippers.

Our Fun Critter!

Abi Mei is so much fun. She is always making us laugh!!

Here she is with her conga drum turned upside down on her head. She looks like she's en route to mars!

One morning last week, she wanted to run around in her diaper. No problem. How cute is she?? Later in the morning, she put on her shoes, grabbed her favorite teddy bear, then turned to me and said in the cutest voice ever, "Bye!" She pointed to the door for me to open it, so I did. She walked out on the front patio and looked around. It was too darn cute. Then she wanted me to put her PJ's back on her. (I'm sure she was getting cold!) And she stayed outside for a bit longer, just looking around. I love this girl!

Life with this little treasure is so absolutely wonderful!! I also want to say that I am so grateful that I get to stay home with our precious daughter, and therefore get to see all of the darling things she does!! Thank you to my husband for working hard at his job so I can have the best job ever! Abi Mei, you steal my heart over and over again!

Pumpkin Girl

My parents, Jim and Bonnie, came to visit last weekend, along with my sister Kristi, her fiance Wally, her youngest daughter Kaylea (11), and my stepsister Jenni and her family - husband Sheldon, sons Gabriel (7) and Gideon (5). What a wonderful time we had! On Saturday we got to see my nephews Gabriel and Gideon play soccer, and my niece Kacey (Kristi's oldest) play Volleyball against Whitman College. (She plays for Pacific Lutheran University.) Unfortunately PLU lost, but we had a great time watching them play their five matches!

One special event was taking Abi Mei to her first pumpkin patch. We had fun pulling her around in the Radio Flyer wagon, picking pumpkins, and going down the slide! Then we went through the corn maze, and had a blast amidst our many failed attempts to figure out that darn thing on our own!! We had to ask for a few hints by some of the workers. But hey, we made it!

Baba pulling around our 28-pound pumpkin!

Cousins! Kaylea and Abi

The slide!

Here we go!

She loved it, and couldn't wait to go again! I KNOW that I have a thrill-seeker on my hands. Truth be told, that slide was steep and Mama was actually scared, even though she didn't show it. :)

Here we go again!

Good times!

She was ready to go again!

Beautiful

Our little pumpkin wanted to move, not take pictures. :)

The cutest pumpkin is right in the middle. :)

My sis Kristi with my niece Kaylea, and once again...Abi was not interested in photos. :)

Time for the corn maze! Looks like Abi is leading the pack!

Baba was hiding and Abi found him!

Abi's hunchback walk. It's hilarious!!

Coming for Baba!!

Abi LOVES being on Baba's shoulders.

Like father, like daughter

Mom and Dad, Wally and Kristi, Kaylea, Abi and me and Andrew

Kristi and Wally

My girl

Home stretch! We finally figured it out!

"Where's Dad?" We didn't know where my Dad was!! He was waiting for us on the other side. :) Silly guy.

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/

The Cheeky Robinson Clan