We would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this page to our future daughter, Kaitlynn! This page will be filled with our journey on the road to adopting from China! We are just getting started but check back frequently for updates!
MID-APRIL, 1999
We have been talking about perhaps adopting to add to our family. After a long 2 year struggle with infertility we decide to look at other altnernatives. Marla makes several phone calls to different agencies, requesting packets of information from each of them for us to wade through. We are also in the process of selling our house and moving so it takes us a while to read through them all. However, we finally do and then decide that May will be our last month of trying to conceive on our own. It is such a relief to be able to say that!!
Tuesday, May 4, 1999
Tonight we attended an orientation at Chinese Children Adoption Agency (CCAI) in Englewood, CO. Doug's co-worker had adopted from CCAI and had encouraged Doug to go and talk with them. We had also read an article about CCAI in the local paper and thought we would go and attend one of their information nights!
We walked into CCAI and were very impressed with the numerous pictures of happy families and their children all over the walls of the office. We found a seat among the 15 or so people that were there and sat back to listen and learn. We watched a video on Chinese adoptions and then Josh, one of the agencies owners, spoke to us. He was so enthusiastic about China adoption and we were very impressed with his business philosophy as well as his philosophy on adoption. We walked out of there very excited to talk and learn more about China adoptions.
Tuesday, May 11, 1999
Tonight Marla attended an information night on domestic adoptions. While the agency seems really great, after much discussion with Doug we decided that domestic adoption was just not for us. We decided to check out Korean adoptions but again, we were not impressed with the agency or the program. We decide to explore China adoptions and CCAI a lot more!
Wednesday, May 19, 1999
After work today, Doug and I met with Kathy Rafferty of CCAI. She is their Children's Placement Supervisor. I had called Kathy earlier in the week to see if we could meet and ask her some questions we had on their program. Despite the fact, that we hadn't even signed on with CCAI, Kathy was eager to meet with us and answer any and all questions we had! We were very impressed and spent an hour talking things over with her! We went home that night, after having all of our questions and concerns addressed, and decided that China adoption was for us and that we would use CCAI as our agency. We now had to send off for our birth and marriage certificates as well as fill out the application for CCAI and the INS. This process would take place over the next few weeks!
Monday, June 14, 1999
Today we mailed out a letter and a packet of information on China adoption to all of our families and friends telling them that we plan to adopt a baby girl, age 0-6 months, from the People's Republic of China. We had a bit of help in writing it from an email buddy from APC email group but added our own comments and history and sent all 11 pages out in the mail! We heard back from many of you and thank you for being supportive of us! We can't wait to get started on the process to bring Kaitlynn home!
Wendesday, June 16, 1999
Today I spent an hour or so, calling and getting the information needed to mail out requests for our birth and marriage certificates! Yippee!! Las Vegas will let me do it over the phone and we will have our marriage certificate in our hands in 3-5 business days! Awesome! (we received our marriage certificate on Saturday, June 19th!) I mailed off our birth certificate request and hope to have those back by the first of July. We will also mail off our official application to CCAI next week as well! We are on our way!
