Saturday, March 07, 2009

Good Morning and Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group!



Welcome to the Saturday Morning Chat Group! It's been pretty warm up here in Michigan. The lake is thawing and we're supposed to have a lot of rain today. I'm planning on getting together Sophia's package for us to send to her orphanage this weekend. I am also nesting big time. I have been sending bags to Goodwill and Spring Cleaning. It's really sinking in that my girl is coming.


Amy and Michael are leaving for China to bring home LynnMarie this week. You are going to want to follow their journey and give them all of the support you can. Their adoption blog is 'When Love Takes You In'.


Robin is still in China bringing home Mia Hope and it seems like things are really going well. Mia Hope was grieving quite a bit for the first couple of days which is to be expected, but she has been smiling and opening up to her new family more and more each day.


Thank you so much for supporting the auction to raise funds for Sophia Jane. I am receiving some amazing donations. Quite a few items are going to come off this week though, so if you have anything hiding in a closet that you would like to donate, please let me know. Also, if you would like to place the sidebar graphic on your blog, that would be wonderful too!

**THE SAT CHAT HAS NOW CLOSED, HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

282 comments:

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Marla said...

I will never tire of following families' journeys to China, I just love it. Nothing better than seeing another precious child find their family!

redmaryjanes said...

Oh wow, ok.

Kim said...

http://welcomesophiajane.blogspot.com/


Take a look..
It is up.. let me know if you want anything added...
Hugs..

Marla said...

Very pretty!!

redmaryjanes said...

I love following the family journeys too. I should really go back through my blog and see how many children have come home while I've been blogging.
It's been a blessing to witness. I have seen some really amazing things happen.

Marla said...

That chat widget is really neat!

Nancy said...

I am back, but it will be sporatic as I am working with a child on a writing piece. I can check in from time to time as she makes her corrections on the computer.

redmaryjanes said...

Kim,
That is just beautiful! I absolutely love it.

Kim said...

It will be fun on shower day.. very fast..

Kim said...

Kimberley~ do you want anything else added...

redmaryjanes said...

Hi there Nancy.

Have you heard anything more from your agency?

Nancy said...

Kelly- that is exciting about your oldest. What is he looking to study? My oldest has a project in LA that requires them to look at what schools offer their interest and what they need to get in.

Marla said...

I'm not going to be home the day of the shower, I hate that I'm going to miss it. :(

Kim said...

just to let you all know.. the new pictures of Mia HOpe are amazing. she is smiling all over.

Truly Blessed said...

Hi all, I just popped over to the new shower blog -- love the chat box!!

redmaryjanes said...

I think it's beautiful.

redmaryjanes said...

Yes, I think I may have to have Tim look into that chat box...very cool! He keeps saying we should all do video together.
He doens't understand that I don't want everyone seeing me on Saturday Morning. You girls should see my wild hair right now :)

But I love that chat box.

Truly Blessed said...

Nancy, Joe applied to and was accepted at the U of M School of Kinesiology. He's pretty happy that he got in.

Still waiting on word from Hillsdale and Kalamazoo College (his #1 and #2 choices)

redmaryjanes said...

Oh good, I haven't checked Robin's blog yet this morning.
It seems like they are having a good trip though.

Kim said...

well it was 6.00 for 3months of unlimited.. but 20.00 for a year.. of unlimited.. otherwise it is free for like 200 or so comments.. maybe it was 500

Truly Blessed said...

Um, yeah, Tim? Some of us wouldn't participate in the Sat Chat if there were video involved!

Marla said...

Yikes @ video. One look at me and y'all would never be the same.

redmaryjanes said...

Amen to that Kelly!
I am not looking too glam in the am!

redmaryjanes said...

I am still waiting for PA. How long does it take to get PA?
Does that mean that China officially accepts us as Sohia's parents?
Then what is LOA?

Nancy said...

We were told PA would be 1-4 weeks. I am unsure what the others are too.

I saw on your registry you had a date of May 19. Any reason for that date

Marla said...

I think LOA and PA are the same thing, right? I think the name just changed somewhere along the way.

Marla said...

And yes, that means that they've officially accepted the match between you and Sophia.

Truly Blessed said...

PA is pre approval. It's only based on the LOI and the plan for rehabilitation and nuture (if you had to do one). It's approval before they actually review your dossier.

LOA means they've looked at your dossier and you ARE her parents at that point.

TA is travel approval or travel authorization - they expect you to travel within a 3 month time frame to bring Sophia home.

CA is Consulate Appointment and that is set by your agency. It's usually the day before you leave China, and all other dates are determined by working backward from that date.

Hope this helps!

Nancy said...

If your dossier has already been reviewed, would they have to do a LOA if they did PA

Kim said...

When can you post photos of Sophia.. after TA...

Truly Blessed said...

After PA it is possible to lose the referral, though it rarely ever happens. That's what Nancy's hubby meant on his comment on her blog that they could still be denied.

redmaryjanes said...

Steffie was told she could post Andrew after she received TA.

But the Director of the China program at my agency specifically told my SW to tell me I can't post until I have LOA.

Kim said...

Just sent the blog address to everyone who asked for the wishlist and instructions..

redmaryjanes said...

We submitted a letter stating we were wanting to adopt Sophia and in it were our plans for medical treatment. But that was just a little over a week ago, so we haven't heard anything yet.

Truly Blessed said...

Kimberley, it's not looking like we're going to have another beautiful day like yesterday. Drat.

I am SO OVER WINTER!!!

redmaryjanes said...

We are through the review room, so I'm hoping things will move along pretty quickly for us.

redmaryjanes said...

Yesterday was really nice.

It's rainy here and gray.

Kim said...

It is chilly here.. when do you guys warm up..

Truly Blessed said...

I agree, PA usually comes within a month. LOA can be another month of waiting if you're already thorough review, as far as the dates I've seen.
Then TA is next and then it's up to your agency to choose CA and arrange your dates of travel. Don't forget, Trade Fair is the 2nd half of April. Few agencies travel during that time.

Truly Blessed said...

I know some of you aren't fans of RQ, but you should get on the RQ forum, in the SN room and see what dates are being posted. It will help you get an idea of what other families are getting, timeline wise, and may help you figure out when your stuff may come. I LIVED on that board when I was waiting for Ella. I had so many scenarios for my husband every day (date ranges of getting LOA, TA and CA) based on the other families dates. It helped me in huge ways to deal with the wait.

Marla said...

Guess they do it differently now than when we were in the SN process. Hope things go quickly Kimberley!

I need to get going ladies, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

redmaryjanes said...

Thank you Marla, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Kim said...

Have a great weekend. Marla..

redmaryjanes said...

We were thinking we would travel some time in May most likely.

Kim said...

I sooo can not wait for that day...
Does anyone have any special plans this weekend..

k1 said...

Good morning all. Been reading through all the comments. Hope you all have better luck with the IM box on the shower blog than we did on Tristan's blog. Not everyone could log into it, so went scrapped it and just used the comment secrion.

Kim said...

Diana used the IM thing for a party she had online adn it worked really well.. I had to upgrade sothere isnot a certain number of comments that you are limited too..

redmaryjanes said...

Good Morning Karen,
How are you?

Kim said...

Thank you Karen for all the suggestions..

Chrissie said...

Goodmorning ladies. I am popping on here to ask for prayer for Savannah-Hope. She has severe pneumonia in both lungs and was hospitalized yesterday at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for respiratory distress.

Truly Blessed said...

Hey Karen!

Did you see J's big news? He got accepted at UofM!

redmaryjanes said...

Oh no Chrissie. I will definitely pray for little Savannah-Hope. I didn't know that she was ill.

Nancy said...

I told my husband about Amy's time line of about 4 months from finding LM to travel, and they were not through review, so am kinda using that as a guideline

Kim said...

Chrissie ~ so sorry. you and the family are in my thoughts and prayers...

k1 said...

Kim, I'm sure there have been improvements in the technology in the past couple of years. It was frustrating during Bianca's shower that some could log in and others couldn't. Glad this one is up and running well! And, you're welcome for the suggestions. It was a fun time... both designing the blog and how it was going to operate having everybody scatterered around in different states.

Kimberley, good morning. Glad to see so much activity here today. Glad to see the activity on the auction blog too.

Kelly, congrats to Joe on an acceptance letter. When did UM go to the #3 position? I thought it was the ONLY place he was considering for a while.

Hi to everyone else :)

Chrissie said...

Thanks for the prayers. Savannah-Hope's blog is Johnsonangels.blogspot.com

It has been quite an ordeal. S-H has had breathing issues since she got home nearly a year ago. The doctors have had her on continuous breathing treatments and thought she just needed time to adjust to the climate. They are now running more tests and proceedures to try to get to the bottom of these breathing issues.

redmaryjanes said...

Poor little Savannah, I hope that they can figure out what is wrong and come up with a good treatment plan.

redmaryjanes said...

The auction blog is doing well. For those of you with bigger girls, Livi Lu just donated a peasant dress in a size 4.

Chrissie said...

She was admitted to Children's Hosptial to receive IV antibiotics. They nurses refused to listen to Crystal and get the IV team right in the beginning. Savannah-Hope had Marasmus in Malawi which is severe malnutrition. She is an estremely difficult "stick" for blood work because of her flabby tissues. And her dark skin makes it even harder. They stuck her 5 times!

Chrissie said...

After a all of that they didn't give her any antibiotics before the doctors decided she needed to go home because they had no beds and too many babies being treated in the hallways. So they sent this child in respiratory distress home with Crystal in the middle of night to come back in the mprning for antibiotic shots.

k1 said...

Poor little S-H. I got poked just twice (they weren't even looking for a vein) and it isn't fun. I shake my head at the thought that there are professionals that think they always know best and won't listen to the people involved who DO know best.

BYW, just in case anyone wants to know, belly shots hurt! I pity people that have to go through rabie's treatments!

Truly Blessed said...

Oh Chrissie, that's just horrible about Savannah-Hope. I'm so sorry Crystal is having to go through this.

I'll be praying for her and her family.

Truly Blessed said...

Nancy, are you still here?

Kim said...

Ok.. ladies..I need to get started on cleaning.. I am almost done with the laundry.. YES..
I am sooo glad that I got to chat this morning..Guess I will get to chat two times this month.MARCH 28th is the BIG DAY..
Can't wait..
Hugs to you all..
Have a great DAY...

redmaryjanes said...

I am really shocked that they sent her home like that. They must be over-run at that hospital to send a child home with pneumonia and no medications.

k1 said...

Gotta go do some house cleaning before going to the Open House at church. Have a great weekend everyone. Won't be here next weekend, will be in Honduras.

k1 said...

Maybe Mav will chime in and say Hi during my absence.

Kim said...

Have a great day Karen...

redmaryjanes said...

Oh wow yes...have a great time in Honduras girl!

Kim said...

Have a GREAT day Ladies..
Hugs..

Truly Blessed said...

i just wanted to tell Nancy (and Kimberley, this is for you, too), that if you're already through review (Amy wasn't when they found LM on the SN list) the timing may look different for you.

Here's an example of someone who posted yesterday (already through review):

LID 9-28-07
LOI 1-23-09
PA 2-12-09
LOA 3-6-09
TA ???
CA ???

That's why I was continually on the RQ Forum, using those dates to help us have an idea of when we might travel.

Nancy said...

I'm here. Had to work on a persuasive writing piece for a bit

Nancy said...

What is the usual wait between LOA and TA

Nancy said...

I'm gonna have to find that site on RQ. I don't think I have ever seen it

Truly Blessed said...

Nancy,

Here's a link to the specific "home for SN timing stats: LID before LOI"

http://chinaadopttalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=14638.0

Be warned, there are 25 pages of posts, so you'll want to look at the last few to get an idea of dates that would help you out.

redmaryjanes said...

Ok, so it looks like May travel is a good assumption for us anyway.
I just keep trying to get things done so we'll be ready.

Truly Blessed said...

Alrighty, the girl are heading outside in the rain, I'd better supervise!

Bye all, have a wonderful weekend!

redmaryjanes said...

You have fun too Kelly!

Kim said...

Have a great day Kelly..
I am really getting off to do housework this time..
Have a Great day Kimberley...
Hugs..
BYE to all the ladies still on here..
Have a Great weekend..

redmaryjanes said...

Bye Kim!

Nancy said...

I should be focusing more. I guess I should go too.

HUGS to all

redmaryjanes said...

Ok, I'm going to close the chat...I think everyone has started their weekend!

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