Brian's Approval Arrived

We received Brian's Approval from UCSIS. Now we are waiting on mine to arrive. We had hoped it would come today but no such luck. All of our documents are gathered to submit our Dossier except for the 6 to 8 photos of our family we need to send in. We are going to do that tonight as a family.

As we have been closer and closer to our Dossier submission, Jael seems to be regressing a bit. She is very excited about having a sister but has alot of anxiety about it being Ting Li. She knows the child she was in China and although she is not that child anymore she is worried that Ting Li will think she is the same. She wants to have this great sisterhood that everyone desires her to have with Ting li but her fears and insecurities are keeping her from that. She was talking to Chao Yan the other day and I overheard her say, "Do you think Ting Li will be happy to be my sister? Will she get me in trouble?" All genuine concerns of course considering their background together. We are really trying to work through these feelings with her right now which is difficult at times given her maturity level. She has made so much progress but is still so fragile. We know that it will be very challenging in the beginning but as we have seen over the last 2 years with Jael it does get easier. The gratitude and appreciation doesnt happen instantly with older children it is happens over time and requires alot of patience. They do reach that point where they are able to grieve for what they lost and begin to learn that the security of having a family is one of the greatest things they could have. Jael writes us letters and draws us pictures almost daily now saying thank you so much for making her a better person and not giving up on her. She loves writing about what a great thing we did for her and what we will be doing for Ting Li.

We havent decided on an American name for Ting Li. Brian assures me that I will name her this time but we all have to agree on the final name. So far we have Miley, Taylor, Bristol, and Palin. I really like the name Bristol alot makes me think of our ski resort back in NY. Brian and Jael really like Palin after Sarah Palin of course... Brian and I like Miley too but Bristol doesnt seem to be out of the running yet either