Our Family's Journey: Disney Vacation Day 7

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Disney Vacation Day 7 - 01/01/11

Day 7 was spent at Animal Kingdom, where we rode all the rides and saw all the shows. Ashlyn was finally able to ride the Primeval Whirl. Back in July when we came she was just under the 48" mark and couldn't ride, but if you look at the picture, she's well over 48" now. Last I measured her, she was 50". She's grown 3 1/2 inches and gained 10 lbs over the last year. Amazing! She was scared on the Dinosaur ride, but when Kaylyn said she liked it and wanted to do it again, Ashlyn changed her tune, and said she wasn't scared and wanted to do it again. So we did it again! In the picture, Ashlyn still looks a little scared, but she said she liked it. It was loud and bumpy. We should've taken a picture of the picture that was taken of us on the Everest ride, because Ashlyn's smile was so big...she absolutely loves the pure roller coaster rides. Wonder what she'll think of an upside down one when we decide to let her do it!

On another note, I wanted to say, Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart of 13 years today! I love you so much Jason. Oh yeah, and Happy New Years!

2 comments:

JenJanuary 6, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Yeah Ashlyn got to ride the ride! I can't believe how much she has grown and her hair too!
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KaraJanuary 13, 2011 at 5:24 PM
You guys all look so happy here!! HAPPY 13th Anniversary!!! Holy cow, you guys are getting old...13 years?!?! crazy!!!

It looks like you guys had an amazing vacation...so much fun!! Well, minus Kaylyn getting sick...I really think somehow she's got my genes in there too somewhere...she's entirely too much like her Aunt Kara in some ways!
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Ashlyn

is an adorable 13 year old girl who has overcome VSD. She had surgery when she was 2 years old to correct this heart defect and God put it in our heart to reach out to her and take her in to be our daughter. Kaylyn was excited about getting a younger sister (even if it's only 6.5 months younger). We couldn't wait to go to China to get her and bring her home so that we could be her forever family. Since being back, we have learned that she has had other special needs like infundibulum of the right ventricle, a submucous cleft palate, and a cholesteatoma with hearing loss. We take it day by day and we wouldn't want it any other way! She is a joy to everyone who meets her and God has very special plans for her.

Our Adoption Timeline

12/5/2009 - Travel back home

12/3/2009 - Oath-taking ceremony

11/24/2009 - Adoption is finalized with China

11/23/2009 - Gotcha Day...meeting Ashlyn

11/19/2009 - Travelling to China to pick up Ashlyn!

11/11/2009 - Mommy, Daddy, & Kaylyn getting 2nd Hep A shot. Done with immunizations.

11/5/2009 - Received Travel Approval (TA) (~ 42 days from Article 5 or ~ 87 days from LSC)

9/24/2009 - Article 5 is approved and paperwork is being sent to CCAA. (~15 days)

9/9/2009 - I800 paperwork was sent from the State Department's National Visa Center to China. (~ 13 days)

9/8/2009 - Received our Passports with the Visas in the mail. (~ 19 days)

9/3/2009 - Sent Ashlyn her second care package from Ann at Red Thread.

8/27/2009 - I800 was approved. (~ 13 days)

8/20/2009 - Sent off passports and paperwork to get Visas.

8/14/2009 - Our signed LSC and DS-230 paperwork was sent to China today and USCIS received our paperwork today

8/13/2009 - Sent the I800 and I864W along with all the proper paperwork to USCIS

8/12/2009 - Sent the signed LSC and DS-230 application to GWCA

8/10/2009 - Received Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC) through agency (~59 days)

7/20/2009 - Received the updated I-797C letter from USCIS and emailed copy to GWCA (~ 17 days)

7/19/2009 - Received updated pictures and measurements for Ashlyn.

7/10/2009 – Sent care package for Ashlyn XiangLing to China. Sent to Ann at Red Threads to send out to the proper place

7/3/2009 – Sent paperwork to USCIS to get updated Approval Letter I-797C

7/2/2009 - Received updated Homestudy update correction in the mail

6/25/2009 - Received updated Homestudy in mail and found mistake with age range, so it had to be re-done

6/17/2009 – Signed the Homestudy Update Agreement

6/12/2009 – Received Pre-Approval (PA) letter from China for Xiang Ling and our dossier would go into the procedure for adoption of special need children. (~ 8 days)

6/5/2009 – Learned what Xiang Ling’s name means:

XIANG:From Chinese 翔 "to soar", 祥 "auspicious, lucky" or 香 "fragrant" (which is usually only feminine).

LING: From Chinese 灵 "alert, quick" or 铃 "bell, chime".

HUANG: From Chinese 煌 "bright"

6/4/2009 – Got more passport photos so that we could send color copies to GWCA for our LOI package & LOI was officially sent to China

6/3/2009 – We locked in Xiang Ling’s file to put together our Letter of Intent (LOI) and Waiting Child LOI Referral Agreement

6/1/2009 – Xiang Ling’s file was pulled for us

5/27/2009 – Another shared list came out and we saw a little girl named Huang Xiang Ling, age 6, on the list. We did not see the list till Saturday 5/30/2009 because we were on our 4th Disney cruise. We emailed GWCA and asked to see Xiang Ling’s file.

5/15/2009 – Mommy & Daddy got 3rd Hep B vaccine and Mommy, Daddy, & Kaylyn got 1st Hep A vaccine

4/8/2009 – Dossier Log in Date (LID) (~19 days)

3/20/2009 – Great Wall China Agency approved dossier and sent dossier to China

3/18/2009 – Sent completed dossier to Great Wall China Agency with next day delivery

3/17/2009 – Received the authenticated document from Los Angeles Chinese Consulate (~ 14 days)

3/15/2009 – Gathered pictures and created the lifestyle pages for the dossier and obtained our passport photos for the dossier

3/14/2009 – Received the authenticated documents from Houston Chinese Consulate (~ 12 days)

3/3/2009 – Sent the New Mexico document to Los Angeles to be authenticated by the Chinese consulate

3/2/2009 – Sent the Florida documents to Houston to be authenticated by the Chinese consulate. Received the certified document from the state of New Mexico (~ 7 days)

2/28/2009 – Received the certified documents from the state of Florida (~5 days)

2/23/2009 – Sent all Florida documents to Tallahassee for Certification & sent my birth certificate to New Mexico for Certification

2/20/2009 – Received I-797C Approval Letter (~30 days)

2/13/2009 – Approval for I-800A

2/10/2009 – Biometrics for I-800A

1/21/2009 – USCIS received I-800A

1/16/2009 – Completed the course With Eyes Wide Open and received 4 hours of Hague training (this completes our 10+ hours of Hague training)

1/14/2009 – Home Study complete and received

12/29/2008 – Home Study home visit

12/23/2008 – Mommy & Daddy received 2nd Hep B vaccine

12/8/2008 – Completed the course The Journey of Attachment and received 2 hours of Hague training

12/1/2008 – Completed the course Medical Issues in International Adoption and received 2.5 hours of Hague training

11/30/2008 – Completed the course Conspicuous Families: Race, Culture, and Adoption and received 1.5 hours of Hague training

11/25/2008 – Mommy & Daddy received 1st Hep B vaccine. Attended a China Adoption Waiting Child Webinar and received 2 hours of Hague training

11/24/2008 – Signed adoption agreement and paid 1st adoption fee. Received our birth certificates & marriage license

11/22/2008 – Attended Great Wall China Seminar