1st blog and 1st post so please bear with me :) I know this is long...
So what seems like a long journey already, has actually moved right along fairly quickly.
    Our journey began when I decided to join one of my former Pre-school students at the Buddy Walk last September. We had great fun being part of Cate's Crusaders. Before the actual walk, I wandered around and grabbed information from several tables. When I got home and opened one of the pamphlets, I was intrigued. It was a pamphlet from Reece's Rainbow. I turned on my computer and visited their site. Well, that was it I was hooked. I knew that I was being called. This is what I am supposed to do at this point and time in my life.
    I lurked for a while on the site, but didn't really make a move forward until March. That is when I talked it over with my daughter and my dad and then shored up my support system and backup care plans. With my plans in place I inquired about my first child in mid March. He already had a family working toward adoption, which was great for him, but left me a little sad.
   I kept studying all of those precious faces on Reece's Rainbow and branched out to other websites and, boom, there he was. Immediately this little boy fell into my heart. His special need was listed as progressive muscular dystrophy, a disease that I am very familiar with. But , this child was in China and I didn't meet the requirements. Ugh! But wait! Could it be? You can get a waiver for China's BMI limit? Ok bring it on!
    The agency I am working with, WACAP, has been great. They sent me his file and then when I said "Let's go for it!" They helped me wade through the paperwork to apply for a waiver. The had all my waiver paperwork translated and sent to China, who said... we need more info :( My chances just fell to 50% I had to write Parenting Plan (that was a long one!) and send a full length picture. Ugh! I am rarely in a picture because I take the pictures, but lo and behold I found one from our Disney cruise last summer. It was of Taylor and I with Goofy. Well, we sent the plan and picture and kept our fingers crossed.
    Yahoo. That was the email I almost didn't open. What did Yahoo want with me? Oh wait, it's not the company, it's the title of the email. I opened it and Yahoo! China gave approval to move forward.  That was 5/22. So now onto more paperwork so that I can apply for Pre-Approval for this little boy. I had 2 weeks, but not really as we were leaving for Orlando on 6/1. I managed to finish and send out my last piece- Master Parenting Plan- 27 typed pages!- at 2:15 am and we left at 8:00 am.
    WACAP had to hold my forms until all the people with waivers could be turned in as a group per China's direction. So, it was sent to China on 6/12 with an email to me saying that they hoped to hear something by the end of the next week. WACAP is closed on Wednesday, so on Thursday I had an email titled "Congratulations!" I thought "No way, it's only been a day and a half!" I opened the email and sure enough, China received my paperwork on Tuesday and met and extended pre-approval on Wednesday. How's that for quick! Uh oh! Now I need to start my home study and quick!
    Enter Families First. My first meeting was yesterday and my next meeting is on Monday here at my house (thank you Molly Maids for doing an emergency clean to get rid of all the new flooring dust!) The 3rd and final meeting will be mid June. I still have many more forms to gather and fill out and when the home study forms are done, then there are a few more for our dossier. I do not have a timeline, so I do not know when we will travel and when we can bring him home, but it can't come soon enough!
   My little boy is currently listed on Reece's Rainbow under new commitments. Sorry, there is no picture as we are following the regulations from his country, but there is some info. All of the kiddos listed there are given Reece's Rainbow name. He is listed as Nathaniel, after my dad. That will not be his name when he arrives home. We will combine the English name the orphanage gave him as well as his Chinese name and add the last name, Baird. Feel free to go check hs info out   http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorbaird
  I will try post as updates occur. I hope you enjoy joing us on this journey!