Still waiting for AGCI to review homestudy.....

Still waiting and waiting. Lots of layers to go through. Must remember to be Patient. I am wondering how easy it is for George to wait since he knows we are coming and he is only 7 years old. Must be pretty hard for him when some of these timelines and waits are pretty arbitrary and dependent on people's time off schedules. Must remember to be patient and not bitter as time slips by that he can't be home with his new family while all these layers of forms and more forms are reviewed and reviewed to death by people needing a full day to look at a paragraph or two and then needing another day to walk it someone else's desk that needs another day to review it and change it back ad nauseum.

Finally an email. The reviews are back and it is ok to send it to CIS today.

Just 5 weeks to review and edit it. One extra month for our son George to live in an Orphanage when he is already 7 years old. I find it hard to believe that there could be a more maddening process than a Domestic Adoption like we have done in the past but this is an indication an International Adoption might be just as frustrating if not worse.

I will run out immediately and mail it overnight to Chicago for our I600a!
I wouldn't want anyone calling me to ask me about paperwork I am supposed to send them that might be a day or two later than they were expecting. I really couldn't quantify how little respect I have for double standards. : (

Also sadly this 5 week delay on finalizing our Homestudy ensures that George will turn 8 years old in the Orphanage as his Birthday is coming up at the end of February and he will have to celebrate yet another year without a family of his own around him yet. And it also ensures our file will get bogged down several extra weeks by shut downs at AGCI and any other US service providers for the week of Thanksgiving and at least a week if not more at Christmas. I would love to know who I could thank for those outcomes. : (

Still waiting for AGCI to finish editing the Homestudy on 10/14/07

Still waiting on AGCI. : (

A Care Package and a letter to Shen Yong's Children's Home Director

Here is the letter we sent off hoping for some word on our son. It has been 4 months since we began to work on bringing George home to our family so we are hoping to hear something soon if possible.


Christina and Jim Copeland

Shen Yong

02-29-2007

Ningbo City, EnMei CWI, Zhejiang Province


We would like to request updated sizes and pictures and get the answers to the following five questions:

1) How is Shen Yong feeling about his adoption into our family?

2) Is he doing well in school and what grade level classes is he taking now?

3) What are some of Shen Yong's favorite things to do, games to play when he gets to choose?

4) What is he most looking forward to about having brothers and sisters?

5) Is Shen Yong's medical condition (hypospadias) corrected to a normal range level or will he require further surgery or medication treatment when he gets to the US?

We are looking forward to traveling to China and becoming his parents. He looks very healthy, happy and full of energy in the pictures we have seen of him from his referral so we know he will get along with everyone in our family just fine.

If you have the opportunity, can you start working with him to learn some English prior to our arriving in China? We will be working here in the US to learn some Mandarin so that we can communicate more easily with him when he moves to the US. We will be happy to pay for the Tutor as described to us by our Adoption Agency, Families are Forever.

Thank you for taking such good care of him until we can arrive to complete his Adoption.

Sincerely,

Jim and Christina Copeland