Who am I?

Greetings, my name is Kim. I am 31 years old, single and live in TN. Here is the exciting part of my life....... I am adopting a little girl from China :)

Now before you start thinking "oh how trendy", its not that at all. When I was 19, I saw a documentary special on the children living in orphanages in China. It broke my heart, too many children, not enough resources. I looked around......at the time I had a cute little condo and was going to college. I was college poor but really is that poor? I had a two bedroom place all to myself, I had a nice car and I had a dad that was willing to pay thousands so I could attend college and better myself. Ya, poor pitiful me, who had to eat PB&J sandwiches a few times a month...I had no idea what poor really was.

So after I gave myself a good kick in the rear, I knew that I'd be visiting China to adopt a daughter someday.

I was married from ages 21 to 25 and that didn't work out and we didn't have kids. I had decided I didn't really want to be married again but still wanted a little girl. So I decided China was the best option for my first child...you see I KNEW I'd always go there, but thought that little girl would be my last, not my first. So at the age of 25, I made a 5 year plan:

• Fall of 2001, I started at a community college to get an IT associates degree.
  
• June of 2002 I found my fixer upper house...whew what a mess! But the price was right (DIRT CHEAP) and it was something I could see myself and a baby living in. It is just 1050 SF with three little bedrooms, but really more space than what I use. I have a nice little yard, a basement and a deck..what else could a girl want?
• June 2003, I started at a bank as a collections agent. What a horrid job, being yelled at all the time. But it was $10 an hour and I was able to put most of my money into the house.
  
• Fall of 2003, I started at a regular 4 year college to get a MIS degree (Management Information Systems) .
  
• December of 2003, I applied for a documentation job at the bank and I got it! I was now an exempt employee and making way more than $10 an hour. Plus I got 34 paid days off a year, wild huh?
  

So forward on to March 2004. I knew that China adoption rules had changed, I could now be 30 instead of 35 to adopt a baby girl. But what I didn't know, was the waiting list rules that had been put into place to help with the waiting times for single women (and a couple of brave men!). So at 29, I got on my waiting list because I knew it would be a year before I got to start and I had gotten the job that put me over the income requirement. I was good to go.

Funny how in March 2004, I was really ok with the wait. Around Nov 2004 I had decided I'd had enough with waiting. I don't know really why I was being so impatient, I had certain financial things to take care of (pay off the house, consolidate my student loans, pay off my Home Depot card) that wouldn't be done until first quarter 2005. So I pretty much had a quiet poor pitiful me party for 8 months until June 2005 when I got the call to start my paperwork.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the China Adoption program, its a lot of red tape. I appreciate their thoroughness, I believe they really want to place children with the best candidates that they can. But what I don't understand is how everything needs to be stamped/authenticated FOUR times before it hits China. Insane! But anyway, I started the paperwork of a home study, local police clearance, FBI clearance, a financial statement, a guardianship letter, an employment letter, my birth certificate, my divorce papers & a letter saying I wasn't a lesbian. I thought the latter was funny, I wanted to put To Whom It May Concern...I like boys...I don't know about men.......I'll let you know when I meet one!

Anyhooo, I wrapped up all my paperwork and made the 11-14-05 cutoff for it to be shipped to China. I was "logged in" (known as LID) on December 5, 2005 all while finishing up my MIS degree August 2005. I am getting my diploma on May 6, 2006 due to an office paperwork issue, but its all good since I already have a career position with Citi, the company I'll retire from :)

And now I'm just waiting...and waiting.........................................