Pictures of Kai

More pictures of Kai taken near the end of July. We received these on July 29th.

Kai is at the Dongguan City Children's Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province. She was taken in by the orphanage in May of 2008 at the age of 5-months. Born on December 8th, found on May 8th and we applied for the waiting child program on December 8th, 2008, so "8" is now our lucky number, although Tabatha has always claimed it was hers. She is approximately 27-inches tall and a relative light weight, although I must say she looks to have quite a sizable foot.

In the documentation that we received from the Chinese officials they say she is obstinent, which could explain some of the attitude in these pictures.

We Received Our Referral Acceptace...Kai Is On The Way

Kai Coleman Walker - Born December 8th, 2007
Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China

It's been a while since my last post but I am coming to you with GREAT news! We received our referral acceptance from China this week. This is significant because it is one of the last major paperwork steps to bringing Kai home. It looks like we will be traveling to China sometime in mid to late October.

Since we have received the RA we can now post pictures of Kai for everyone to see.

Sign up to follow us on Twitter during our travels in China.

My new venture as a javis davis Design Partner!

Almost one year ago when we found out we were approved for our adoption my shopping kicked into overdrive. I started looking for the perfect crib bedding to start designing the nursery. A friend recommended javis davis for their custom nursery and big-kid bedding . This amazing website allows you to design your own crib sets and accessories from a collection of gorgeous and unusual fabric sets at really affordable prices. Their online crib configurator is great...you can get lost for hours designing crib sets because the choices are endless!

We ended up purchasing from the Babushka Dolls Collection & absolutely loved it. After I saw the quality and quick turnaround time (we received our custom crib set & accessories in 7 days) I started recommending javis davis to everyone I knew that was expecting.

Skip ahead a few months and I was showing a friend one of the collections on javis davis that I thought was exactly what she was looking for & I saw a new posting on their site...they were hiring Design Partners. I thought this would be so much fun & a great opportunity for me to make some extra money for the "China fund". I spent almost three hours one Friday night completing the application and designing nurseries. About two weeks later (I had given up hope that I was going to be a Design Partner) I got a call from the owner & she wanted to discuss my application & what I could offer javis davis. I am thrilled to say that out of over 400 applications they chose only 8 to represent javis davis & I was accepted as the Design Partner for the Raleigh/Chapel Hill area!

As a Design Partner with javis davis, I'm able to bring the website to life. I have swatches of all the fabrics on hand, along with samples of the different products for you to see the quality up close.

If you are a mom with a vision or have no idea where to begin, I can help you find the perfect mix of modern and traditional for your nursery or big kid bedding needs! Call or email me to get started today!

Red Thread, Ancient Chinese proverb

One Step Closer!

We are finally one step closer to actually beginning our "wait". We have finished the paper-chasing process (after almost 10 months). Our documents were sent to the US State Department and the Chinese Embassy in DC, then they were translated into Chinese. Our dossier arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, April 7th 2009! In about 6-8 weeks we will receive a log-in-date or LID. This is the actual date that the China Center of Adoption Affairs (or CCAA, everything is referenced in letters) logs our dossier into their system.

Your LID is THE most important date you can have. All referrals from the CCAA are based on LID's. The CCAA is averaging a processing time of around 5-10 LID's per month. This is why the wait is SO long. As of today the CCAA has only placed LID's through March 8, 2006! The photo below is of the matching room at the CCAA. As you can see the entire wall is thousands dossiers. This gives you a little perspective on just how many people are waiting for children.

You might be adopting from China if...

YOU MIGHT BE ADOPTING FROM CHINA IF...

1. You know that I-800 & I-171 aren't highways.
2. You've been expecting a baby for over 3 years.
3. You understand that it's 2006 in some parts of the world.
4. You've "paid for" 3 citizenships, but never brought anyone into the U.S.
5. You know that waiting for China has nothing to do with dishes at Macy's.
6. Your homestudy is followed by a number (i.e. #3 or #4).
7. You never know how many days next month will have.
8. You know that babies come in batches.
9. You've been fingerprinted four times, but never committed a crime.
10. You own new clothing in 3 little sizes for all 4 seasons (because you don't know when or how big).
11. You're more interested in what will happen in March 2006 than in March 2009.
12. You know people who understand when you talk about 2 day months & 5 day months.
13. Your due date hasn't changed by days, but by years.
14. You know who the Rumor Queen is ... AND...you don't know who she is.
15. You've waited so long, they re-checked your fingerprints to see if they changed.
16. When you speak of "that time of month" you're talking about CCAA updates & referrals.
17. You might be adopting from China if you love someone you've never met with all your heart.

And all we need is a baby...

We decided on the perfect crib bedding. Javisdavis.com has the most unusual fabric collection called "babushka dolls". I knew the second I saw it that it was what we were going to use in the nursery! It combines me & Kendall because the top is Russian dolls (joke between me & Brandon) & the skirt is woodgrain which Kendall loved!