Ever hug the UPS guy?

I almost did today because he brought our...

LETTER OF APPROVAL!!!

Thankfully Matt was home to encourage me to get a grip. We will be filling out forms this weekend, rushing them back to Welcome House on Monday and then waiting for I-800 approval, the second and final step of Anna's immigration approval.

Tana

So We Wait

Today it has been 60 days since we submitted our Letter of Intent to Adopt and we still have not received a Letter of Approval (LOA) from China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). Who's counting? Me, our agency and an online forum that other obsessing pre-adoptive parents are a part of. Not Matt. "When we get it, we get it. Its out of our hands." And he's off planting more sweet corn or something for the deer. While I wish he would share in some of my stress over this, its probably very good he doesn't.
Why are we counting? We can't move forward with her adoption until we receive the LOA. Our agency expected to receive this letter by the end of May. They know where our dossier is at in the process for us to receive the LOA so we do feel very taken care of. CCAA doesn't give estimates on "how much longer" so by our own estimates we are expecting our travel will be bumped back to October/November. That is assuming we receive the LOA in July or August.
So we wait. It is a relief to know that she is not waiting for us in the same way we are waiting for her. The extra time also gives us an opportunity to learn some more Mandarin and possibly Cantonese (because we don't know which she is familiar with), put together a photo book to send to her that introduces us to her and read, read, read about what to expect.

Tana

Introducing...

Anna Yuan Landis!!!

She is now 19 months old (18 months in this picture) and we are hoping and praying to bring her home before she turns 2 (October 2nd). Yuan (pronounced youON) was the name given to her by those in the orphanage. It means "a beauty." We couldn't agree with them more. We chose the name Anna as well for its meaning: Gracious and merciful. It is our deep desire and prayer that she will live life filled with a gracious spirit as well as be merciful to all (us included) who have made drastic decisions and changes on her behalf, without her consent. She is in the city of Yulin which is in the province of Guangxi. Yulin is in southern China, between Hong Kong and the Vietnam border. As far as we know she is currently in foster care and has been so since almost 9 months of age. She is said to be active, fairly extroverted, energetic, restless and fond of imitating, listening to music, playing with toys, reading picture books and playing games. She has "a ready smile", gets along with others well and enjoys being outdoors. She is also noted as being a deep sleeper :). We were thrilled to see that she experienced some difficulty transitioning from the orphanage to foster care but after 10 days attached to the foster mother. Thrilled because it hints to us that she had bonded to those in the orphanage. We expect to have our own significant difficulties with this but we are optimistic that she knows what it is to be loved.

These are two of the 5 pictures we received with her referral. In the picture to the left we anticipate her to be about 12 months. In the picture below we anticipate her to be about 7 months.

You can click on any of these pictures to make them larger. Thanks for sharing in our joy and anticipation!!!

We Have a Daughter!!!!!

On Tuesday night Tana received a call at 10:30 from our agency saying that they had a little girl they thought might be our daughter. She is 18 months old and has a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate. It was a long night reviewing her info alone and then doing so together when Matt woke up for work at 2:30. Wednesday morning we forwarded her file to CHOP for review and later in the day they set up a phone consult with us for 8:30 Thursday evening. By late Thursday afternoon we were both nauseous from nervousness over the upcoming consult. They search her records for the smallest indication that there is an underlying syndrome or undiagnosed condition present. In addition they give you a good dose of reality of what it will be like to parent a child with these needs. It had only taken seconds for her eyes to permanently etch themselves on our hearts and minds and we didn't know what we were going to do if there were red flags with her records. The doctor went through everything, focusing especially on her small size and what that could mean. Afterward however she stated that she "does not look in anyway unhealthy". HUGE relief!!! Today our agency is submitting to China our Letter of Intent to adopt her. They expect we will travel to bring her home in September or October. Pictures and info about her will be posted in the next few days!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who thought of and prayed for us over these stressful days.

Fundraisers?

As noted in the last post, we have been asked if we are going to have fundraisers or the like to help with funding her adoption. The point of a fundraiser is to solicit funds which misses much of what we felt we have been called to with this and are seeking. While we need funds, we also just as much need support, encouragement and prayers. We desire those who are called to give, be it financial, meals, gifts, prayers, to "get" what they are giving to and not give out of obligation.

God led us to this point and He will provide. When it comes to the funds, of course we want all the funds up front and not have to repeatedly declare that He will provide. Of course we want the easy way: Who doesn't? But the easy way misses the "WOW" moments that scream of His presence with us and the easy way keeps us working, working, working for our own good and purpose.

With this said, for those of you who are led to support us financially you can do so by giving monies directly to us or if you prefer to give anonymously we have set up a savings account for all adoption related expenses at National Penn Bank. You can either stop in at the Red Hill branch or mail a check to the below address.

National Penn Bank
Red Hill Community Office
433 Main Street
Red Hill, PA 18076
Attn: Julie Clemmer

On the memo line please note that it is for Matt & Tana Landis, Adoption Fund. Julie Clemmer can be contacted if you have any questions (215-679-8040).

New Look and Update

I'm new to the blogging realm and it was fun tonight trying out new looks for this. The visual volume of the original was just too much for me! I also added a subscribe button which I think will notify you when I publish a post. I think anyway... If any of you know how this works please let me know so I can pass the info on.

We found out today our dossier was logged into CCAA on April 8 and a new shared list (shared between adoption agencies worldwide) of children needing families is coming out Wednesday China time/Tuesday night our time. There is a possibility she is on that list! We will let you all know either way.

A number of you have been asking about giving towards the adoption costs and our plans for fundraisers. I will post more about this in the next day or two.

Tana

The Process

This is a more technical post but a necessary one because it both documents our journey and answers the question so many have: "When?"
The process starts with figuring out an agency which goes together with deciding if you are going the domestic or international route. If you are going international you need to know which country you qualify for and if your agency adopts from there. This was the most difficult part of the process for us by far. We knew we were to adopt but experienced confirmations rather than leadings when it came to choosing an agency and country. We attended an information meeting at Pearl Buck in March 2009 and in August we mailed them the face sheet of our application. A few days later we received a stack of instructions, policies, forms and procedures which made up the remainder of the application. In all there were 26 documents we had to complete or obtain in order to finish our application. This became another part time job for Tana and very overwhelming to be honest. The end was not in sight and we felt so vulnerable in opening up our lives and navigating through the newness and tediousness of it all. We commented numerous times we could not begin to imagine having to prove ourselves capable of adopting with the pain of infertility in our backgrounds. If this was or is your situation, our hearts go out to you and we deeply admire and respect your strength.
On October 7, 2009 we completed our application and on October 21, 2009 we had our first of two home study visits by our adoption coordinator. Despite Timothy amusing himself by belching during supper and feeling the need to talk about the Captain Underpants book he read at school that day, the first visit was a great time in meeting her face to face. During the second visit the kids loved their individual interviews with her and we were much more at ease.
After our home study was completed we had to apply for her immigration approval. US Citizenship and Immigration Services conduct background searches on us, review our home study and approve (or not) our application to adopt. We received USCIS approval on January 20, 2010. This was the last document we needed to complete our dossier (the packet of papers that is sent over to China)! After some adjustments to a few other documents, we were ready to have our dossier go through the process of being notarized, certified by the state of PA and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate General in NY. Today, March 3, 2010, Natalie and I took our completed dossier to Pearl Buck who will send it to China!
Now we wait. Every 5 or so weeks China Center of Adoption Affairs puts out a list of children with special needs that are available for adoption. Pearl Buck's matching coordinator looks over this list and our info and sees if there are any potential matches. If there is one she forwards the child's file to us to review. Part of us reviewing it will include a review by the International Adoption department of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If the child's needs are more than what we think we can manage, we can decline go back to waiting. We could be matched with a child within the next couple of months or it could take a year. Most likely however our little girl has already been born so please keep praying for her and those caring for her! After we are matched we will travel in about 4 months. What we are semi-expecting and hoping for is that we will have her home by the end of 2010.