Well my grandma had 9 boys and 3 girls!!

Thank you all so much for your wonderful words and kind wishes. I actually had forgotten I wrote that thread until Nakia reminded me a few weeks ago. Now I am printing it out and saving it for my daughter when she grows up so she can see just how desperately she was wanted. It is also a testimony to the power of God. Who am I that He would care to know me and answer my prayers...and do it so creatively! I woke up this morning and got a good giggle out of this picture I had in my head.... I pictured God up there watching me receive this miraculous gift He gave me for christmas last year and laughing and saying "Top THAT Santa Claus". :lol::lol::lol: It truly has been a remarkable two years. Since that post 2 years ago, God moved us to Malaysia where we have had some of the most incredible experiences. And God healed my dh after he broke his neck in a motorcycle accident 6 months agos and the doctors are flabbergasted at his recovery. And he gave us a daughter when we thought it would never happen. My prayer is that my story of answered prayer gives hope and increases faith in our amazing God this christmas. Merry christmas and glory to God on highest.

YES this thread is from two years ago almost to the day. I can remember exactly where I was sitting when I typed it. I can still remember exactly how I felt when I typed it. Heart-sick. Despondent. Absolutely sure I would never have a daughter. One year and two days later she was born. God has such amazing timing. I mean, she could have been born any day of the year. But I made a christmas wish for a daughter and one year later ON CHRISTMAS ....He granted it. And it is now one year AFTER He granted me my heart's desire. She turns one year old next weekend...on christmas. And today I went to a bakery and ordered the biggest, pinkest, girliest, most flowery birthday cake they could make for her party!! When I read that thread from two years ago...it is eery how prophetic it is...right down to the way she came into our lives...and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was meant for me. She is a miracle...an answer to prayer... She is my DAUGHTER. :001_wub:

Me either! I just re-read that post and cried as I look at the baby girl in my arms...asleep. One year and two days after I wrote that post she was born. Two weeks later she was in my arms. Today I ordered a HUGE PINK birthday cake with flowers and butterflies and everything frilly and GIRLY I could think of!!! We are having a huge bash for her first birthday next Sunday catered with Indian food in honor of her heritage. As I stood in the bakery today trying to pick out a design for her cake I was overcome with giddiness. :D I am ordering a cake for my DAUGHTER'S first birthday!! My DAUGHTER. This line from my post two years ago really made my jaw drop: I always hear these stories about women who find out some teenage girl in their church or neighborhood or that they know through a friend of a friend of a friend, is pregnant and they are able to adopt the baby. That never happens to me. Ever. I would do it in a heartbeat. Wow. That is EXACTLY how we got our daughter. God DOES answer prayers!!!

YES!! Thank you!!!

I started a thread almost exactly two years ago about my daughter and I really want to find it. Is it possible?

We are using "So You're About to Become a Teenager" with our ds for this same reason. It does the same job but is a lot less graphic.

We have a TV with DVD player for movies but that is it. When we moved here the cable was so expensive and the american TV show selection so limited that we said forget it. We have now been cable-free for one and a half years and we don't miss it!

If the theater has a policy posted that says "no outside food or drinks" then you abide by it. If they don't then it's ok.

I used to when I first started. Now I just ignore them because they have no idea what they are talking about and frankly, I am bored with defending my choice. If they don't like it, too bad.

GREAT book!!

Hmmmm...I don't know. I think the worst thing might be that your roots are showing. :lol::lol::lol: Nakia is it bad that your post made me laugh just a little? I have SO BEEN THERE. I have been there a lot lately. I am with you all the way sister. Get yourself the biggest jar of nutella you can find, lock yourself in the bathroom and eat the whole thing. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: And if it matters...your photography is BEAUTIFUL.

That was my intended original meaning (with some extra angst about my daughter not seeing my mom thrown in for good measure) but it was lost about 14 pages ago because I used the word "waltzed". My bad. :tongue_smilie:

Faith YOU are an AMAZING woman with an enormous heart. Thank you SO MUCH for your support in this and this generous offer. I am not sure how the details will work out. Natalie has a malaysian passport so she can leave Malaysia, I am just not sure what countries she can get IN TO. My mom does not have a passport...not sure about the new DL...but we could get her either of those before our planned visit in June. Just the mere idea that there is a glimmer of hope for her to see her grand-daughter has made my day! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: And yes, I sincerely hope that anyone thinking of adopting internationally learns from my situation not to believe one word anyone...lawyers, government officials, etc...says. It's all lies. Be prepared to have to put your entire life on hold indefinitely as a punishment for daring to adopt a child or be prepared to go about it in some "less than legal" fashion like thousands of others do. In the end, I still have my baby girl and I am so aggravated with the US government right now that if it weren't for my mom I would tell them exactly what they can do with our immigration application.

That is a very interesting idea... I will check it out! The school pays for our plane tickets so it wouldn't cost us anything more. Hmmm...

yes, I am trying very hard not to let it get me down. Today is better than yesterday. It doesn't help that my mom is so upset that she can't see Natalie and I feel helpless to do anything about it. I know God has a plan and none of this is a surprise to Him but I wouldn't be human if things didn't frustrate me sometimes. Dh and I are in prayer about it and doing all we can to appeal. Even if they say we can't move her to the US and we have to stay here another year...if we could just get her to the US for a short visit this summer I would be happy.

Please tell me you are not questioning my faith now too. Sheesh. Ease up already.

See that's just it. No prosecution. There are 'threats' from INS that they might deport the child or whatever knowing darn well they are not going to deport the child of two US citizens...and they don't. In the end they get a stern lecture about how they should have followed the rules and their kids got citizenship. :glare: I guess that's what I get for being a rule-follower.

Just got notice that Singapore American School is looking for a director of educational technology. That is an INCREDIBLE school!!!

I didn't see it but my dh took the boys to see it and he can't stop raving about it!

Well here is the thought that kept me up last night... If this go around I did everything correctly according to their instructions and they still turned her down...let's say we wait out the two years and try again, and do everything they ask exactly how they ask, and they STILL turn her down? Because it seems they have that right...to turn her down if they feel like it for whatever reason they feel like. We do not have the financial resources to enter a long legal fight for this. We could be locked out of our home country indefinitely! If I HAD done this illegally...just never applied for the i600, brought her in on a visitor's visa, then just stayed in the US, we would just wait out the two years in the US then apply and deal with the issues then (and I personally know two families who did this exactly and their kids are now US citizens) but at least we would be in the US while it was going on. Now, because we did things the right way, we are being penalized. Try...just try...to see things from my pont of view.

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Yes Nakia this is exactly what happened. After getting a lawyer and finding out what the REAL laws are we found out that it would NOT take that long (or at least it shouldn't). It SHOULD be over now as we DID all our homework and we did EVERY SINGLE THING they asked and more. And they are nitpicking a verb or an adjective in our home study. They are not holding our application up over anything SIGNIFICANT. They are just being obstinate. Imagine being told if you do A, B and C then everything will be fine...then you do A,B and C and they say nope...we wanted it in cursive. :glare: And again...no matter WHAT people went through to get into the US (tragic or not) AT LEAST THEY GOT IN...which is more than I can say for my daughter. Many seem to be missing my point...my point is not whether or not they should be allowed in, allowed to stay, or whatever...my point is NOT whether or not they suffered in their attempt to enter the US ILLEGALLY. My point is that they got in...however it happened...they got in and they got in illegally. My daughter can NOT get in (at least not for a long time) and we are doing it LEGALLY. If you cannot see how unfair this is then I don't know what to tell you. Keep in mind that if they turn down her application for immigration we also can NOT even get a VISITOR'S visa for her because they ASSUME that we will just try to get into the US and keep her there (yes they have already told me that in an email). So not only can we not move back if we wanted to, we can NOT EVEN VISIT. Period. Not for christmas or summer or even a funeral, god forbid. Nothing. Well I suppose we could if we are willing to leave our daughter behind...yeah right. So yes, I think it is stupid and unfair and frustrating and very, very sad especially for my mom who wants so badly to see her granddaughter.

Oh yes! You can buy HUGE jars of Nutella here. It is very popular!!!

Boy this eastern hemisphere time difference is really a pain. OK, I haven't the slightest idea how to multi-quote so I will just do a general response to two main areas: whether or not I "did my homework" whether or not I am an evil person who thinks all illegal immigrants should burn in hell 1. There are a lot of things flying around about whether or not I did my homework. This is funny. I am type-A, left-brained, NT, you name it. Of course I did my homework. There are several separate processes involved that are being confused here. - there are no adoption agencies in Malaysia. All adoptions are considered private adoptions overseen by the malaysian government. According to Malaysian laws it CAN take UP TO 2 years to finalize the MALAYSIAN end of the adoption but it doesn't have to. The process is this: you get the baby (as a foster parent), you have the baby for 3 months, you get a court date, at this court date they decide HOW MUCH LONGER they are going to supervise you before your adoption is final. The least amount of time is 3 months. The most is 2 years. And it is completely up to the judge. Our judge chose 3 months. So after those 3 months were up we went to court again and they finalized it. There were lots of visits, paperwork submissions, money, etc that went along with it. But the MALAYSIAN end of the adoption is FINAL. - Now that the malaysian end is final we submit a monstrous stack of paperwork for the I600 to the U.S. This is to get her classified as an orphan so we can finalize the adoption in the US and bring her to the US and get her citizenship. If everything is submitted according to their liking, it will take 2-3 months to get this approval. In fact, the USCIS in Bangkok (which is where our application was sent as it is the closest office) reviewed our app in less than a month. IF they had approved it, that would be the end of it. We would have her visa, she could go to the US. But they didn't approve it. WHY? Well, there are 16 different reasons according to their letter and all of them are ridiculous. For instance, they want us to take our ahma (nanny/maid) on a 5 hour trip (one way) to KL to be fingerprinted because she helps take care of the baby. That MIGHT sound legit except for the fact that I could easily fire her the very next day, or a week later, or a month later and they would never know. So what is the purpose of this? More money of course. About 11 of the reasons have to do with the wording in our home study. For instance, they say our home study does not have a "specific approval" of me and my dh to adopt the baby. But the very last line in the home study states "this application is supported without any objections". ??? They mention being unsure of our residential address even though it is on the home study THREE times. They also say that the homestudy preparer (which is a malaysian government official representing the social welfare department...not just any old joe) did not state that he searched the child abuse registry in Malaysia to see if we are on it. This one is really funny. Why? There is NO child abuse registry in malaysia. How do I know that? It is ON THE USCIS WEBSITE!!!! They are rejecting my application because this guy did not check a registry that ACCORDING TO THEM DOESN'T EVEN EXIST. Those are just a few examples. But all the rest are equally ridiculous. We are filing an appeal of course. Now if the appeal is denied... There is a DIFFERENT process we can follow. This one requires us to have legal and physical custody of Natalie for two years before we can apply and it is an entirely different form and an entirely different process. So that is where all the "two years" confusion is coming from. The problem is that it all seems quite arbitrary. We did everything they asked and she SHOULD be approved right now. They did NOT question "how" we got her and whether this was "trafficking" because we suppplied countless documents INCLUDING the birth mother's name, address and phone number. So the validity of the adoption is NOT their issue...they are just being picky about wording on this and that. Technically, our contract here is up in June. If she doesn't get approved we "could" be in trouble. LUCKILY we have the option of renewing our contract for another year if we have to. But my mom (who is not well enough to travel here) still will not get to see her granddaughter until she is 2.5 years old and I think that is sad especially when the reason is ridiculous. Whew. Now as to my evilness regarding immigration...I am obviously a fan of immigration as I have or am trying to bring two children to the US through this process.:D And for every story you have about someone who had a tragic time trying to illegally enter the US, I know lots and lots of people both in Detroit and NC who entered this country illegally and did NOT have those troubles. And really, to me it is not so much about whether they "waltzed" across the border or dragged themselves through the mud. The bottom line is they are IN THE COUNTRY and they got there ILLEGALLY. I am trying to get my daughter INTO THE COUNTRY and I am trying to do it LEGALLY and yet...we are still stuck in Malaysia unable to even visit our family. Immigrants who entered illegally (and maybe went through a lot of awful things to do it) but are still IN THE COUNTRY....my daughter NOT in the country, trying to do it legally. yeah, I think I have the right to be aggravated.