What's In A Name?

We are slowly but surely moving along with our homestudy and dossier paperwork. Roger applies for his passport tomorrow, and then hopefully will get his physical on Thursday. After those things are done, it is a waiting game for our 2 home visits, and then our immigration clearance.

We really need to give this girl a name! I go back and forth between calling her Alexis(her "American" nickname that the CCAA gave her) and Jia Ming(the name on her birth certificate--the orphanage gave her). Roger doesn't really like Alexis as a first name. We both agree that we want Faith to be one of her middle names. It has always been a favorite of ours, plus it is the name of our adoption agency. And she will definitely have my late grandmother's middle name, Lee, somewhere in her name.
The rest is up in the air!
Nathan, our 4 year old, wants to name her Hannah Montana..lol! He is so excited, and he wants her home NOW! He loves looking at her pictures:)
Here are some names we are throwing around today(it changes daily):

Mylee Jia Faith Howard~~My fave, RJ's fave
Leeanne Jia Faith Howard~~Roger's fave
Layla Faith Lee Howard~~Jake's fave
Hannah Montana Howard~~Nathan's fave

As you can see....we've got a way to go yet;)

Suggestions??

Here She Is!!

We received word yesterday that China has pre-approved our adoption of Jia Ming! As long as we get all of our paperwork to them by the end of September (we can file an extension if needed) she is ours!!! We are overjoyed:)
Here are 2 pics of her at 16 months old...the first pics we ever saw of her:



And here are pics of her on June 6th....25 months old:






Isn't she beautiful?? Of course, I am a bit biased;)

Houston: We Have A Daughter {kinda}

Well, that was fast! What I didn't share in my last post was that we were viewing the file of a 2 year old little girl in Tianjin, China. Didn't wanna post anything until we heard back from the International Adoption Doctor (Dr. Jerri Jenista...who is *awesome*, btw) about her special needs. Well, she gave us a favorable report on what her future will be like. So we felt comfortable to commit to adopting her!! As of yesterday, 6/19/09, we are waiting to get pre adoption approval from China:) We should hear back from them in a week or two. Our agency says they have never had China *not* approve a family yet!! That is very encouraging!

Due to China's confidentiality laws, I can not post her pics yet....but as soon as we are able to, you know I will:)

The name her orphanage gave her is Jia Ming. Her name means good/fine(Jia) and bright/shining(Ming). She has been in foster care for nearly a year. She is just the most beautiful thing we have ever seen!

She was found in a marketplace, very ill. She had a serious blood infection, and unfortunately her feet became gangrenous. They were completely purple, and covered in blisters:(
At some point, although not listed in her medical report, they amputated all of her little toes and part of her feet. Poor baby!

Despite being found near-death and losing her toes, she has completely recovered and is now standing on her own, and walking with help:) Dr. Jenista seems to think she will need minimal help with walking in the future. She has enough of her feet left to walk normally. That is wonderful news!

Just wait until you see her beautiful face:) Our princess is coming home soon!!

China, Baby!

Our journey to our daughter has taken yet another turn. Being the true ADD'er that I am, I have changed my mind (and Roger's of course) and my country of choice. We are officially pursuing a China adoption!! Woo Hoo!
The only thing that kept me from considering China before was the fact that I would have to get *on* a plane and stay *on* said plane for many hours, without losing my cool or my dignity (I'm sure hiding under my seat with a barf bag in one hand and my inhaler in the other would be embarrassing). But I am willing to face my biggest fear in order to bring home my daughter.
We have also locked in an agency, Faith International Adoptions, out of WA.
Myriam and Amy are very nice, and we are excited to start the process.
More soon~~~

News

It's been a few weeks since my last post. A lot has happened. We decided on S. Korea!! It really wasn't a hard decision for Roger. He didn't want to travel...lol! He may change his mind, though, you never know:)
We settled on an agency, and called to schedule a meeting. But then my ADD impatience set in, and I asked if we could submit our application before the meeting. You see, the approved application was all we needed to be added to their waiting list. So, long story shorter....we were officially accepted into the program on April 6th...yay!! We are now on the waiting list for a baby girl...I can't believe it! I have to keep reminding myself that the hard work is yet to come. Our agency rep suggested that we wait for 6-8 months before we start our home study and paperwork. She said the wait for a baby girl right now is 15-18 months, and she didn't want our paperwork to expire (most of it only lasts one year) before we are matched with our daughter.
But....I have heard from other families who are using this agency that we should go ahead with the home study, and just take it s-l-o-w-l-y, so that it isn't complete til the end of the year.

So, this is where we are now. On the list, waiting to start our home study in a few months. Excited and ready for our daughter:) She can't come soon enough!

**Oh, almost forgot: Roger opened up a savings account yesterday! And he looked into refinancing our home next year to pay the final (big) fee. He said we were approved! Yay!