Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The care package is off!




Shopping with Grandma Shaffer was a lot of fun! We finally made it to Babies R Us, after an hour delay (they didn't open when they said they were going to!) and made a stop at JC Penny too. Then a yummy lunch at our favorite - Sweet Tomatoes! See the picture below for all the cute things we rounded up - plus a beautiful sweater and one of the blankets Grandma Shaffer made!I am keeping the little yellow t-shirt in hope that Leo will be able to wear it on the way home - it has the cutest airplane on it :-)





Alex sent the 14 pound care package off today - oh my, this chlid just may be a bit spoiled... :-) We figure that we will not send another (except maybe Christmas if he's not home yet...)


Here are some things we included:





  • Too many clothes - in 3 different sizes, since we don't know how big he is!


  • Socks


  • a few stuffed animals


  • a baby blanket and sweater made by grandma


  • a small blanket, which Alex and I slept with all week


  • Baby Photo album with pictures of our family - our chinese teacher so nicely translated some labels for the pictures


  • A small tape player along with a 60 minute tape of our voices and songs for toddlers, extra batteries and a translated letter to the foster mom asking her to play the tape


  • 2 disposible cameras


  • Candies for our agency workers who will deliver the box


  • Oil of Olay and body lotion for the foster mom





Too much stuff, but I hope it's useful to his foster mom, and hopefully she can keep the clothes for future kids she will foster!





Thanks for all of the comments!

Thanks to Uncle Pete for teaching me to write my name in Chinese - I'm only 30, I guess I should learn, eh? and congratulations Kupers on the birth of their new son!! Steve and Tashia, Sarah and Chris, and Jim and Katy are all next.....

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Hi Katie!
Congratulations on adopting Leo - cute announcement! You know I never hear about anything. I didn't even know you and Alex were working on adopting. I hope the last parts of the process go quickly and smoothly. You will have so much fun, one year is right about the time I actually started to have fun with Olivia. Take care and keep us posted. And send me a new email address for you!

Sarah, Tim & Olivia

Kathy said...

Spoiling is good, and that's a good collection of things... we have been trying to sleep with a blanket as well, but everytime we wake up, the dog has pirated it... what is this foster mom going to think of us when we send a blanket that smells like a dog?

Good luck... it's fun to FINALLY be able to buy stuff!

Kathy

Learn Chinese!

Timeline


January 8, 2007 Attend Adoption 101 Information Session in Mesa, AZ
January 22, 2006 - Apply for preapproval from our agencyand Taiwan
January 23, 2007 - Application for USCIS (I-600A) form submitted
January 28, 2007 - 1st Homestudy meeting
January 28, 2007 - Sign adoption contract with our agency
January 29, 2007 - Approved to adopt from Taiwan
February 1, 2007 - Clearance from state of Arizona
February 6, 2007- Maricopa application to adopt is filed
February 13, 2007 - Clearance from state of Michigan, Medical clearances, and Fingerprint invitation arrive from USCIS
February 24, 2007 - Fingerprinted for USCIS
March 11, 2007- Homestudy Complete and Court Certification from Maricopa County received
April 28, 2007 - Homestudy is translated into Mandarin
July 1, 2007 - Finally receive 171-H in the mail
July 6, 2007 - Get new case manager
July 22, 2007 - Sign adendum to contract
August 8, 2007 - Our lucky day! Referral for Lin Kai-Yi, born 6-3-06
August 8, 2007 - accept referral
August 13, 2007 - Sign Child Referral Agreement
August 23, 2007 - Paperwork arrives in Tucson
August 24, 2007 - Paperwork arrives to us
August 26, 2007 - Documents notorized (How many adults does it take to use a stamp?)
August 28, 2007 - Documents certified by AZ Sec. of State
August 29, 2007 Documents sent to TECO to be authenticated
September 4, 2007 - Documents arrive in Tucson from TECO
September 6, 2007 - Documents sent to Taiwan! YEAH!
September 10, 2007 - Update day! We receive 4 pics and a video!
October 2, 2007 - Receive word from TWCA that our hearing date is October 9, 2007 (this happened extreamly fast!)
October 9, 2007 - Keep your fingers crossed for a quick 1st ruling (even better yet, keep your fingers crossed for a final ruling!)
October 11, 2007 - October updates are here!
October 19, 2007 - Receive more pictures and videos from Ray's visit to Taiwan!
November 5, 2007 - November updates are here!
December 2, 2007 - December updates are here! Can't believe there has been no news all month!
December 13, 2007 - FINALLY! Word of our First Ruling! Yippeee! It happened on Dec. 13th in Taiwan (yesterday here)
January 4, 2008 - January updates
February 4, 2008 - February updates
February 28, 2008 - Leaving for Taipei!!!
February 29, 2008 - Arrive in Taipei!
March 4, 2008 - Gotcha Day! Can you even believe it!?!?!?
March 5, 2008 - FINAL RULING FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY! (by the way, our paperwork says the final ruling was issued December 24th!)
March 6, 2008 - First AIT appointment
March 7, 2008 - VISA DAY!
March 10, 2008 - Leave for home!
March 10, 2008 - Arrive home with our boy!!!!!!!!!!!
July 5, 2008 - Find out about Wil's arrival!
March 10, 2009 - Wil Shan-Yi Shaffer is born at 3:38 am 8 lbs. 4 oz. 20 inches long