New Website

I have started a new website to blog about our travel to China to adopt our baby girl.  A lot of people have trouble with blogger in China, so I went ahead and started this new one now to hopefully make it easier on us to stay in contact with everyone back home.  Since this blog is not private I am going to ask that you email me if you would like to follow our journey.  Please don't hesitate to email me even if you don't know me.  Trust me, throughout this journey I have emailed numerous people who I didn't know and now I consider them precious friends of mine that had I not contacted them I would have missed out on a huge blessing and great support system.  My email is robkimd@hotmail.com.  Once you email me I will send you the new website address.
Thanks to everyone who has supported us this far in our journey.  Now the real journey is about to begin!!  We are filled with lots of different emotions, but we are definitely ready to see our baby girl face to face!!!

Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we got the call from our agency last night that we have the FINAL piece of paperwork from China saying we can come and get our daughter.  So, Monday night (China's Tuesday morning) our agency will call to get our US Embassy appointment and that will determine when we leave for China.  Our agency says we will either leave March 9th or 16th.  Either of those days will put us with Ansley on her first birthday.  That has been our prayer since the very beginning and God has answered our prayers!!!!!

I have so much to do.  My mind is racing with things I need to take care of before we leave.  I didn't sleep well at all last night and I think that will pretty much be the norm for me for the next 2-3 weeks.  I will also be starting a new blog to journal about the adoption while we are in China.  Blogger doesn't seem to work well in China.  Once I get that up and running I will post it here.  I plan on working on that this weekend and there will also be pictures of Ansley on there!!!  I know a lot of you want to see her!!

As soon as I get our dates I will post them here!!!  Pray for our family as we get ready to travel, leave Bryce with family (that one is going to be pretty hard on us), for safe travels, that God will prepare Ansley's heart for what is about to happen, and for Bryce when he gains a sister.  Ansley will also have surgery pretty soon after coming home, so needless to say we have A LOT going on.  Thanks to all of our family and friends for their love and support.  We could not have done this without you!!!!!

Waiting for Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we are officially waiting for Travel Approval.  Our Article 5, which is the last document, was picked up last Thursday, January 27th and was sent to CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs).  Chinese New Year started today so we will not hear anything for 7-10 days, but after that we could get Travel Approval at anytime.  Our agency said they are hoping we can leave either March 17th or March 24th.  Ansley will turn 1 on March 28th so with either of those dates we would be in China with our sweet girl on her first birthday which has been our prayer ever since we got her referral. 

The last update we got on her looked good.  She was 20 lbs and 28 in. long, both in the 50th percentile.  It appears that no surgeries have been done on her.  She will more than likely come home with her lip unrepaired.  We knew her palate would not be repaired, but there was a chance that her lip would be repaired in China while we waited to bring her home.  We are totally fine with this, but we are trying to get prepared to care for her.  We have a consult appointment with Dr. Angel at UMC on February 15th.  We are hoping he can give us some insight as to what her surgery schedule will be and give us some tips on ways to feed her and care for her while we are in China and before she has her surgery.  Please pray for us as we learn how to care for our baby girl!! 

I have her room almost finished!! I will post pictures as soon as it is complete.  I LOVE how her room has turned out!! I wouldn't change a thing about it!!

I am also loving all of the girly clothes, SO FUN!!!  Several friends of ours have given us clothes for her and we are so grateful.  I haven't wanted to spend a lot of money on her clothes since we are not exactly sure what size she will be, but I did want her to have some really cute stuff.  Well, our friends have really come through for us in the clothing department!!  In fact, Rob is going to add another rod to her closet because the one there is already full. 

Our family and friends have been so supportive throughout this entire process.  We are so excited and can't wait to come home with our sweet girl!!!  I think about her almost every minute of every day.  I think about what our house will be like with Bryce and Ansley.  Bryce cannot wait to be a big brother and I know he will be a good one. 

Now I know why we tried all of those years to have a baby and were unsuccessful.  This was God's plan for our lives the whole time.  We just had to realize it and let go and let God!!!  If you are reading this and are struggling with having a baby or trying to decide whether adoption is for you, IT IS!!!  You will be blessed! Everyone tells us that Ansley is a lucky girl and she definitely is, but we feel pretty lucky that God chose us to be her parents!!

Hopefully I will be back soon with our Travel Plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!  We did!! Usually Christmas is my favorite time of year and I never want to see it end, but this year was different because I was ready to move into 2011, the year we will bring Ansley home.

On December 13th we received a wonderful update and 3 pictures of our little girl from Ann at Red Thread China.  For those of you adopting from China I highly recommend her for sending care packages and getting updates on your child.  She is great!!!!  So, our little girl appears to be very healthy!! At 9 months she weighs 19.8 lbs and is 27 inches long.  As far as her growth she seems to be right on target and we are praying that she is developmentally on target as well.

We got our I-800 approval on December 30th!! So, now our paperwork goes to the National Visa Center for some kind of approval.  Even though I am the one doing all of the paperwork it is confusing to me too.  We are still hoping for a March travel date.  Our agency knows we want to have her by her first birthday which is March 28th and they said they will do everything they can to make that happen, but if we are not paperwork ready they can't send us.

Also, when we got her update her cleft lip/palate had not been repaired and we are thinking at this point that it won't be before we bring her home.  So, we will have to prepare to care for her with her cleft and we will have to take her to the surgeon soon after returning home.  We are fine with this, but want to make sure that we do what is best for her and get her the medical attention she needs ASAP.  So, please pray for us as we make decisions for her medical care and continue to pray for us throughout the end of the adoption process.  We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so prayers are definitely needed!!!!

Merry Christmas From Our House to Yours!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Love,

The DeLoach Family

Rob, Kim, Bryce and Ansley

LOA!!!!!!!!!!!

Our LOA (which is China's final "are you sure you want to adopt Ansley") is coming today!!!!!! This is a big step in the process. We will take the LOA (along with some other forms that I have filled out and ready to go) and send them to USCIS for one last approval. I am really unclear about the steps after that. A lot of something going here that takes 2 weeks, then it goes here and that takes 3 weeks etc..... Our agency says from LOA to travel is usually between 8-12 weeks. We have Christmas coming up and China will celebrate their New Year in February so that may add a little delay. I am just glad to be one step closer. I will be really glad when I mail all of this tomorrow and it is out of my hands. All of this paperwork is so stressful!! I think I am officially done with paperwork from here on out. We are still waiting on an update for Ansley. It has almost been 2 months since one was requested so hopefully we won't have to wait much longer. I really can't describe the feeling of knowing you have a daughter, but you can't see her, check on her etc.. You really have to have gone through the process to fully understand. Please continue to pray for us!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have been so supportive.

Thankful

Nothing new on the adoption front. We are still waiting for our LOA from CCAA and once we get that we will start more paperwork with Immigration. Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year in that even though Ansley is not home with us we are so thankful that God chose us to be her family. We spent the day with family and we had a great day!! I think about Ansley all the time and wonder what she is doing and dream of the day that she is home. I wonder how she will change the dynamics of our house, how she will probably drive Bryce crazy and for sure wrap her daddy around her little finger. I bought her a few clothes yesterday and I can already tell that shopping for girls clothes is going to be so fun and so expensive!! I am so ready for all that will come with her joining our family. I know there will be some adjustments and not so good times, but I am certain that the good will outweigh the bad. We are so thankful for our family and friends and for all the love and support you have shown us so far through this adoption process. We love each and every one of you!!! I do have one specific prayer request. We still have not received an update on Ansley since our referral and we really need one. Please pray that we get this very soon. I will keep you posted! Happy Thanksgiving!! We serve a mighty God who has blessed us so much!!