Open Letter to Rorrie

This is a blog posting from April 2006 in another blog that I have merged into this one.

This blog is being written as an open letter our our second daughter, whom we hope to adopt during the summer of 2007. We wrote in a journal for our first adopted daughter and thought we would try blogging and this time. (Trying to keep up with the times!)

So some background information of characters appearing in this story would be appropriate.

MaMa - that is me.. Pam
BaBa - that is my husband
SiSi - our first adopted daughter-Kasssidy
DiDi - our biological son-Elrik
Nona- Pam's Mom
YeYe - Pam's Dad
YiPow-Pam's Aunt
Zia - Pam's MeiMei (which means little sister)

Those are the most common recurring characters. I will add to the list as names come up in the telling of the story.

Our general story begins with BaBa and I getting married in December of 1991. We had always planned on adopting to complete our family. We started first by adopting Kassidy in July 2004 from China. It was the biggest event in our lives up to that date. We were so thrilled with our journey with adoption that we decided when we were in China that we were going to adopt again. Now your BaBa & I had been trying to conceive without any luck. Since we had always planned on adopting we decided to work on that and just see what happens.

Well Rorrie, if you have not already figured it out by living with your MaMa & BaBa, before we give you this to read.... Your father is the poster child for Murphy's Law! We no sooner sent in our application to CCAI to start the paper chase for your adoption and we found out we were pregnant with your brother Elrik. So that required that we place your paperchase on hold. Once your brother was born and just about to turn 6 months old we could begin your paperwork again, which we did.

Okay so that is a quick background of your immediate family.

So the day came when your BaBa and I decided to call Judy at Acorn Adoption to tell her that we wanted to start our homestudy. She was slightly surprised to hear from us. Now I'm sure you have heard tales of how much your brother Elrik did NOT sleep when he was a baby. Well let me tell you now... When there isn't much distance between his birth that it is all TRUE! Your MaMa & BaBa have been dealing with sleep deprivation for the past 6 months. Judy had heard how things had been going so she was surprised that we were calling her. Now in all fairness to your brother at about 5 months he had started to sleep more and more through the night. And now that he is about 6 months old he is usually going 7-8 hours during the night. It is just too bad that MaMa can't get to sleep when he does!

Okay so we talked to Judy and began your paperchase. Fortunately your MaMa knew all the pit traps to avoid this time. We got our employment verifications, physicals and police reports done quickly. Judy meet with us to do the homestudy. We just had our fingerprints done on Wed 3-29-06 and now we are just awaiting the FBI to clear us so BCIS can issue our I-1711 approval to adopt a foreign child. The day after it arrives SiSi, DiDi and I will be taking a day trip to Montpelier to have all our notaries certified. And then within a day the documents will be heading to the Chinese Embassy in NY to be authenticated. Then once we get that back off to Colorado the dossier will go to be assembled and reviewed by CCAI.

So that is the nuts and bolts of our chase.... And we are also ready to begin the long wait. It is that long wait that has your BaBa and I worried. As of today 4-2-06 our agency CCAI had not received any matches since 2-28-06 - over a month! The wait time is increasing and your father and I are getting worried. China has age bracket requirements and with the waiting increasing we are pushing one of those brackets. We are hoping that China will preserve our family's birth order... Meaning that you will be younger than your brother Elrik. As I write this we don't know as of yet. (But that will be the topic of another post).

So we are racing to finish our paperwork to wrap up the part of this process that is in our hands. Because once we send all the papers to CCAI we are no longer in control and it is all in Gods hands.

So that is the beginning of my blog to you. I have so many things to tell you and many things will happen between today and the day we get to hold you in our arms. I hope to tell you how I feel and what our lives were like while waiting for you to join our family.

Where ever you are today Rorrie, I pray that God is keeping you safe, warm and happy. Know that your MaMa and BaBa are doing everything humanly possible to have you join your family as quickly as possible. We love you and know that we will be together soon. Take care until that day and we promise to make up for all the missed hugs & kisses.

Forever and Always,

Your MaMa