Fingerprint appointment dates!!!

On Monday, we received our letters stating when each of our USCIS fingerprinting appointment is, Jason’s is April 8^th and mine on the 11^th.  In my eagerness to get them done and being told by others that they were able to walk-in to get them done before their actual appointment, I headed to the USCIS office only to be told that they would not do them till the appointed time - bummer. I tried anyway.  Not that it would necessarily speed things up.

Now we wait till those dates arrive, get them completed and then wait some more for our provisional approval letter, which will be the final paper we need to complete our Dossier!!!!  Should have that about a month from now, if things go on the timeframe others have.

We have PA!!!!

We received notice this morning that we have been Pre-Approved to adopt ZAG!!!!!

Therefore, it is now my privilege to introduce to you our precious little boy:

Tegan Arthur Aigeng Downey

Lovin' that "don't mess with me" look.

Wish I could share...

We received new photos, plus a few videos, of our little guy today.  He is so absolutely adorable.  I can't wait to kiss on his oh so chubby cheeks. Hope he doesn't grow out of those before I get to do that.

We are still waiting on the PA (pre-approval) notice; I can't share him till we have that.  I think it's taking a little longer this time due to the fact that we, technically, still have PA for Noel as well.  Our agency didn’t think it should be too much of an issue; they included a statement about the circumstances.  Then again, sometimes PA just takes a little longer to receive.  Praying we hear something tomorrow, waiting all weekend would be torture.

USCIS Acceptance Confirmation

We received an e-mail stating that the USCIS has received our I-800A application and that we should receive an official Receipt Notice via mail in 7-10 days.  Our fingerprint appointments should arrive soon after that.

I am shipping the 11 documents we have ready for the Dossier to our agency tomorrow so they can go through and make sure everything is done correctly. I'd rather have to redo something now while we are still waiting on USCIS approval, than to do it later when everything is ready to go.  If all goes on schedule, we should have our Dossier complete in about 2 months.  Then it's sent to China!!!

We are making baby steps.

My heart aches for Noel today....

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we received some medical reports of tests that had been run on Noel in mid-December.  They state that she has excess fluid in her pericardium chamber, which would surround her heart.  On the diagnosis page it states:  lung area acute purulent pericarditis. Melenoma.

I spoke with the International adoption doctor a bit ago and she said since there are no given results of any tests they ran (meaning if they tested the fluid around the heart, what did they find), she stated two possibilities as to the likely cause of the fluid around the heart:

1 – bacterial infection (which is possible to get from the Strep virus/pneumonia/TB) – typically treatable if diagnosed early enough

or

2- malignancy/melanoma – 0% chance of survival

She says the diagnosis listed on Noel’s diagnosis sheet are just the possibilities, that melanoma wasn’t necessary detected.  I’d say there is a fair chance that melanoma could be the issue due to the extent of her Nevus and because she is still ill. 

That second possibility makes my heart ache. I just want to go scoop her up and hold her.  Praying for a miracle and that she is free from pain if it is indeed the second possibility.

Noel - Update

I did receive an update on Noel today though it was not from the agency reps who were in China. They did contact the orphanage to try to find out more information only to be told that she was very ill and to stop contacting them.  

My direct contact at the agency happen to discover that there were some updated medical records on the CCAA's database for Noel.  They were completed mid-December 2010.  I have read through them but don't really understand all the medical jargon; therefore, we are waiting to hear back from our international adoption doctor, hoping she can shed some more light on probable diagnosis and prognosis. I did some of my own research and am hoping what I found isn't the news I get from her. I'll just leave it at that. 

I can share that these medicals were completed around the same time I first layed eyes on Noel. Another sign, in my book.  I think my stumbling upon her happend so we, and many others, would pray for her.  Please continue to pray for Noel's health.  Our God can work miracles and that is just what she needs.

Three milestones met in one day!!!

We met three milestone in the adoption process last Thursday!

1. Received our homestudy copies - yay, it's officially complete!
2. Submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to China requesting permission to adopt ZAG
3. Sent off our I-800A application, which is our petition to the US to adopt a foreign child (we have requested to be cleared to adopt two, in hopes of Noel)

Now we wait to receive a letter from China stating they pre-approve us to adopt ZAG. Should get that this week!!!!

In regards to the I-800A - we will wait to receive a letter with a stated appointment for us to go get our digital fingerprints done for Immigration Services.  Hope they clear the FBI records - just kidding, we have no doubt they will. I don't understand why this has to be redone, isn't not like our fingerprints have changed since we adopted Angel.

Joy amidst our disappointment

Despite the pain of Noel being pulled from our adoption process, we have found joy.

It's a BOY!!!!  Today, we locked the file of a 20 month old little boy who has a giant nevus covering most of the left side of his face, similar to our Angel's.  He is absolutely precious.  He also shares my birthday!!!  We will submit our letter of intent (LOI) to adopt him by Friday and wait for our preapproval.  While we wait on that, we are, once again, moving ahead with paperwork.  Our home study is complete and should have the official copy of it in hand tomorrow!!!! YIPPY

We have asked our agency to continue to inquire about Noel and if she is ever reinstated for adoption, we have every intention of bringing her home.