Baby Shower for Grace
We went to a baby shower last night for our friends John and Krista who just adopted a baby girl from Korea. They got home a few weeks ago and Grace is almost 6 months old. We had a great time celebrating with John and Krista. Here are some pictures.
Stephanie, Mandy, Tanya, Sarah
Sarah and Carson
Stephanie, Mandy and Carson
Sarah, Ken, and Carson
John (Dad) and the star of the night Grace

Gable, Mandy and Carson
John and Grace

Ken ran his first 5k yesterday and I am so proud of him. He did it in under 30 minutes without stopping. He has been running everyday for the past 8 months on a treadmill but outside was completely different for him. I'm not really sure if his outfit matches! I wasn't up when he left, maybe I should have been.

HOMESTUDY COMPLETE!!
Our homestudy is done! Ken and I met with Nan yesterday and read our homestudy report (our lives written in about 9 pages). Thanks for all your hard work Nan! :) It will now be sent to USCIS late next week and we wait for immigration to approve us. Right now the turn around time for that is about 3 weeks (fingers crossed). Some states it takes up to 3 months. They will send us a form called a I171 which says the we are approved to adopt an orphan. Then we can finally get all of our papers certified and sent to China to be logged in. I will post later with more developments.
Sarah

Not much to report. My homestudy should be completed in about a week. Ken and I will meet with Nan again to go over it. It will be sent to USCIS to meet up with our fingerprints. Hopefully it will only take a few weeks to get our 171 approval form. Then we should be on our way to China to be logged in.
I have picked out fabrics for Kate's bedding. I am going with pink/chocolate polka dots and stripes. the skirt will be pink with chocolate polka dots and the bumper will be one side pink/chocolate stripe and the other choc with pink dots. I will buy the fabric and have it made. I have plenty of time so I will take my time. Above on the left is what her room looks like now. Hope all is well with everyone.
Sarah

http://www.familyoffour.homestead.com/June05CCAA.html

This is a great website that someone made to show pictures of the CCAA in China. It gives you a good picture of how the process is going to work. I got a great book yesterday on questions children ask about adoption
is she really my cousin?
why do they have to go to China to get her?
was she abandoned?
what does adoption mean?
This will be great for the girls and any of our friends who have children and are curious.
Later
Sarah

I have all my paper work ready to be certified by the county. Nan is writing our homestudy and once it is written Ken and I will meet with her to look over the final draft. Our homestudy will be sent to USCIS which is immigration and we will wait on the magic form that says we can adopt.
Our friends are in Korea right now picking up their new little girl Grace. She so precious Ken and I can't wait to meet her. www.raceforgrace.blogspot.com

Ken says that he is going to start posting weekly (we'll see).

Katherine Douglas

凯瑟琳 道格拉斯

Yesterday was our house visit for the homestudy. Everything seemed to go well. We showed Nan all our rooms, smoke detectors, and cleaning supplies. I will have to get some shelves put up so I can store the cleaning supplies high up ( now I probably won't beable to reach them). The visit took about an hour and I was more nervous than I thought. Now Nan will write a 9 to 12 page report on what she thinks of Ken and I (oh boy) and if we are suitable to be parents.
I got my Asian dolls yesterday in the mail and now they have been taken over by my nieces Sydney and Chapel. We think it is important for them to understand what their cousin Kate will look like. I told Chapel age 4 that her new doll looks like my baby. She quickly and loudly responded " you're gonna have a baby?!". How do u tell a 4 year old we are going to China to get a baby? I will leave that up to her parents. Good luck Christiaan and Anne Marie. When I got home I got back on ebay and ordered more dolls. Well to celebrate the 4th we are going up to the lake today and spend time on the boat.
Have a great holiday weekend
Sarah