Hooray! More photos of Chao (and brother Jun) from a family traveling in Luoyang! Thanks for taking the time to find our sweet boy!




He's SO TINY! Look at those little legs! I'm thinking Emma-Grace could squash him. I think it may just be the angle of the photo but he and Jun both look small for their ages (Chao is supposed to be 5, and Jun is 6). There must have been a big sale on pink and yellow jelly shoes! ::grin:: Isn't it funny how our cultures are so different. I don't think I've ever seen a boy in Jelly shoes in the US. But, hey, that's okay.. at least he doesn't have on the Minnie Mouse shirt ::grin:: I'm only picking. I imagine they do the best they can with what they have - I just think of it as a funny cultural difference.. not a put down, just an observance.




ALL of our paperwork is turned in to our Dossier Consultant - we're just waiting for it to be back from being authenticated, verified and whatever else has to be done. Say a littel prayer that it gets done quickly. I want to travel and be back before October 20th. ::PLEASE:::???

Hooray. Our Home Study is at USCIS, I believe. Our HS agency Nathanson's is just so awesome. We couldn't be happier with them - Helene is the bomb. And Sheryl, our SW, is wonderful and efficient and on the ball.



She said she requested an expedited I-171H - so hopefully that will be here soon. Our Dossier Consultant is sending out our paperwork to be authenticated/verified, etc. So we're really under way!!

New photos of Chao! I was happy to see someone posted new photos from their trip to Luoyang in March -and there was our boy! He is SO DARNED CUTE - even if he is mine.. I can say that since genetically I'm not to blame for how good looking he is ::grin::



Here are the ones I think have Chao in them...

Here's a scrapbook page I made about Chao.

Our homestudy should be done next week and then sent to USCIS. If we get a fast enough turn around, we will hopefully be DTC in June...

Finally we can post photos of Chao! We received our Pre-Approval (PA) from China on 5/2! Here is the description of Chao from Harrah's site:

In April 2004, Chao had surgery to repair his neck area meningomyelocele. His surgery went smoothly and recovery went well. Chao’s intellect is normal.


He is an active, smart and very understanding little boy. Chao attends the institute’s “Little Sisters” classroom where he learns daily life skills, recognition and children’s songs and poems. Chao likes to “show off”. He can sing a few excerpts from local Chinese opera and can also recite poems. Chao has a very good appetite. His favorite foods are milk, eggs, fruits and meat. Chao enjoys playing games and playing with blocks. Chao is described as being an adorable, healthy child that everybody loves.



Chao is fortunate enough to be in a program that is run by Half The Sky Foundation - Little Sisters Program. I read on their website that the children in this program will have a "life book" to bring home with them, so we will have more history of Chao's life, which is such a blesssing. We know that Chao was in a family before being brought to the orphanage in 2004. His "foster" brother Jun is being adopted by a family in NJ and he has a "foster" sister already in the US. We are hopeful that these children can keep in touch and maintain their relationship as they grow.



I'm only missing a couple of pieces of paper to be finished with our dossier - as far as I know. Our homestudy should be completed this week - I have 2 papers to run by to the HS SW. I sent everything to our agency except for the kids' TB tests which we'll get next week. Hopefully we can be DTC in June and travel before our fingerprints expire in October.




Our new house is almost done - http://www.aeolius.com/house - I'd say we'll be moving in August. We're busy packing and getting things done around here so getting the paperchase done quickly was a high priority. Hopefully when our papers are reviewed, we'll be in synch and everything will go smoothly.

We have sent our LOI for our son Dang Hai Chao from Luoyang SWI in Henan Province, PRC. He is 5 years of age and has had surgery to repair a meningomyelocele on his neck. I have been fortunate enough to get information from people who have met him to know that he has no physical limitations. We hope to be DTC soon so that we can travel before our fingerprints expire in October.