From Charleston to China: The Clark Family's Adoption Journey

Thank you! Did we say thank you for your support enough yet? If not, we need to say it some more. Thank you for your support. It was quite the feeling and blessing to see everyone coming to support us and Bailor at the Bring Bailor Home 5K a few weeks ago. We even had long distance support going on across the country and around the globe as we had folks do the 5K virtually where they were. The global part was Mackenzie's parents who were on a cruise in Europe and found time to get their 5K in on the deck of the ship as it was crossing the ocean. :-) It's been such a blessing to see everyone supporting us, but even more so when everyone's there in group fashion taking to the streets of Summerville/Ladson! Shower! Also this past weekend our sweet friends Sarah Ramsey, Hannah Coyne, and Janet Coyne threw us a China-themed shower for Bailor! We had a great time eating Chinese food and doing activities, not games! And opening special presents for Bailor! We are excited...

Thank you thank you thank you! A big thank you to everyone who came out for the Bring Home Bailor 5K! We had a beautiful morning and a good turnout. We are so thankful for everyone's support! A shout out to Sarah Hathcock for organizing the race, you were phenomenal! And to Monica O'Dea and Kim Boutin for being there to help setup and open up the school. Another shout out to our virtual run/walkers, Norman, Susie, Hillary, & Kelly Clark; Jessica Burton; and Barney & Pauline Morris (they did theirs on a cruise ship!) Beautiful photos by Jessica Smith of Smith Photos & Ink ! View all photos on the Facebook page .

Okay so this acronym may need explaining after explaining it. :-) LID = Log In Date = The official date that China has logged all our information into their systems = A step we have been somewhat anxious about completing as we had a deadline of March 20th to complete this after we were prematched and preapproved to adopt Bailor = All of the paperwork, home studies, donations, personal funds and prayers and support from everyone over the last 6 months was all pushing towards this date = YAY!!!! = Sigh of Relief = Yes still more to go, but meeting this deadline helps us not have to redo anything we have done in the last 6 months = Yes, there are many more things to do and pray for and funds to raise, but this checkpoint is like doing a Marathon and getting to the checkpoint before the designated time and knowing that you won't be picked up by the bus even though you still have a good chunk of the race to run. :-) = Thank you for your continued support and prayer...

We hit a big milestone in the adoption adventure checklist this week- DTC! No that doesn't mean we now control the stock exchange and we aren't able to repel mosquitos better (although that would come in handy here in Charleston). :-) If you aren't familiar with the acronyms of the Chinese adoption world, this means that our dossier has been sent to China. Here is a really good acronym explanation that we borrowed from another Lifeline adoptive family's blog ( teamsecrest.blogspot.com ) ( highlighted items already done!) : DTC- Dossier to China : large packet of paper work including legal and government documents, as well as your home study review with your social worker, pictures, fingerprints, etc. that is authenticated by a couple of government agencies and then sent to China. LID- Logged-in date : after you are DTC it takes a few weeks to be logged in to China's system  LOI- Letter of Intent : when you have received a file of a child you are ready ...

Mackenzie's school has been awesome to help put together this event to help us fundraise. Walking, Running, Skipping, Galloping, Fulfillment of a New Years resolution to be more active, whatever your motivation to get there, join us on April 16th @ 8 am at Oakbrook Elementary in Summerville/Ladson. S ign Up online and get more info at fromcharlestontochina.com . $5 or more suggested donation for walk/run only, $25 or more with awesome Bring Hone Bailor 5K race shirt which we think you'll really like! Think you can't do a 5K? Trust me you can! :-) I used to facilitate training people to do them so don't let that stop you. Think Summerville and think "that's far away"? Believe me it's just outside North Charleston. Here's a link:  Oakbrook Elementary School 306 Old Fort Dr, Ladson, SC 29456 Plus you'll be helping us bring this awesome kid home from China! Someone at our recent adoption training put it best: we have the bles...

I-800A Approval! No, we didn't get the IRS to allow us to use a special tax form although it sounds like it. :-) This is the very exciting. All of our documents have been approved on the US Immigration side (before heading to China). This is a big relief as this is the document we kept having weird things happen with. But now it is DONE! Does this mean Bailor's on his way? Not yet. This is the US approval. What's next is getting our Dossier (I-800A approval + Fancy Finger Prints taken at the covert government office next to Chuck E. Cheese + Homestudy + family pictures + original documents (where we never got a copy of our marriage certificate) + References ( I hope you all said good things) + Checks for random amounts like $3 to Shelby County Probate, $4 to Alabama Secretary of State and two random amount checks to someone name Cindy Marut (you're welcome Cindy if you're reading this) then subtract 15 and divide by the square root of 4 = Dossier) w...

We were excited to recently get our biometric finger print appointment mailed to us from the US Immigration office. This is one more piece in the puzzle of the elements that will be sent to China once all documents are approved and assembled on the US side. This is one of those things where the government tells you when it is and that is when you go. No phones or purses allowed, you jsu bring your appointment letter and your ID. :-) At our recent training we talked to couples who were done within an hour of their appointment to being there 5 or 6 hours. I'm blessed that with my recent change to 4 10 hour shifts I can take that full day without having to take vacation that I'll need later to travel to China. Pray for us on February 4th at 8:30am that all goes quickly (and if not quickly for patience) and also for the approval of our I800-A documents which have been having some odd unexpected technical hiccups along the way. In other recent news we received some new pictures of B...