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Welcome to the Raschke Family wiki page! Information on Joe, Cathy and the Raschke's

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Click here to see our Taiwan Travel page. Please comment on our Taiwan Guest Page.

Our Nicholas - Vietnam Travel Blog from August 2006 is at our current events page.
June 16, 2010
Look on Taiwan Travel for updates on Gibson! I found these photos from April of Nicholas hitting a bucket of balls. Notice the hip rotation!



May 27
Seriously click on the Taiwan Travel Link for our updates!
Be afraid (for Cathy) of clicking the Joe link.
May 21
So finally we have confirmation on everything! We will be leaving Thursday the 27th and returning Thursday the 3rd (at 6AM!). Please follow along on our Taiwan Travel page.

May 13
Still no confirmation on travel dates, so we won't hear anything until next week. So, travel on the 22nd is in question. Hopefully we will hear something on Monday.

May 11
We just heard the news that the "Final" ruling was in. We can now travel to adopt our second son, Gibson! We will leaving May 22nd and coming home May 28th or 29th so follow along on our Taiwan Travel page!

May 6
We are still waiting for the final ruling before we can travel! It was supposed to take 4-6 weeks with the average being 4 weeks. We are at 7 weeks right now. AIT now does have the correct I-600A paperwork but we checked yesterday and they don't have the final ruling yet. Tien (our agency coordinator) is out of the office until next week so maybe we'll hear something then. If it turns out we can travel in a few weeks Sue (Joe's sister) can still watch Nicholas. If it is one of first weeks of June my parents have offered to watch Nicholas since Sue will be on vacation. We've had Sue lined up for a year to watch Nicholas while we travel but she didn't think it would take this long so she planned a vacation. Anyway, another thing is our fingerprints expire at the end of June so we have to watch out for that.
The wait has been very difficult but if you remember 3 years ago the same thing happened with Nicholas. We waited longer than anyone else to travel and now we are in the same situation. Once we traveled the wait was forgotten but it is the exact same feeling this time. It truly feels like it will never happen. But I guess Nicholas is proof that it can happen.

April Update
Here are the latest pictures of Gibson at 6 1/2 months.

March Update
We have new pictures and video of Gibson at 5 1/2 months. Happy as usual! And flexible!
The latest is that the Taiwan Embassy AIT does not have our adoption approval paperwork (I-600A). This is supposed to be sent from the National Visa Center (NVC) in the US. NVC doesn't have it either. NVC was supposed to get it from the Chicago office of the US CIS (US Immigation). We have letter from US CIS saying they sent it to the NVC but it isn't there. So, first we have to get US CIS to sent to NVC, then NVC needs to send to AIT. All of this needs to happen before the final ruling that could come anytime, probably in a few weeks. Hopefully this will all be straightened out next week so we will be ready when the final ruling comes!

First Ruling 3/18/2010!
So we got our first ruling on Thursday! This means we are about 6 weeks from travel, which would be at the beginning of May! We are very excited! We are starting to collect baby gear and prepare the house for Gibson, who will be about 8 months old when we get home. So, we need to put away those Playmobil and small lego pieces! We should get updated pictures and video next week!

Gibson at 4 1/2 months! 2/19/2010
So we got this update a month after the pictures were taken. Video is on Facebook. He is right on the 50th percentile weight and 25th percentile length and head circumference. Just like Nicholas!
We haven't heard about the first hearing yet so we are still at least 6 weeks from traveling. Maybe early to mid April?

Gibson at 4 months!
We just got the cutest pictures and video of Gibson. I'll post the video on Facebook by the end of the week (need to convert it first). It seems that the court cases are being processed as normal so we still hope to travel in March! Yeah!

New Pictures of Gibson at 3 months!
We have new pictures and video of Gibson. I can only post pictures here, video is on Facebook.

Court Hearing Today, 12/9/2009
Our court hearing was today! If everything went well, we won't hear anything from our agency until the first ruling in 1-3 months. The birth mother is represented at the hearing and has some period of time to change her mind.
Yesterday we heard some bad news about TWCA, the agency in Taiwan that Journeys of The Heart (our US agency) works with. They have lost their license and has announced a restructuring plan. During this time referrals will likely be on hold. They don't know how long referrals will be on hold, but are guessing 6-8 months. It also may cause delays in travel plans or an additional step in the process. We are kind of freaking out but our agency is saying that those already with referrals are OK and should be approved by the courts and allowed to travel. However, we know this could change. WE WERE THE LAST BOY REFERRAL BEFORE REFERRALS WERE PUT ON HOLD! If our paperwork was completed just a few weeks later we would now be in limbo for some unknown period of time. Again! But, maybe this adoption will actually happen by some miracle. If it doesn't we are still have a backup backup plan to adopt a toddler or preschooler from Vietnam when it reopens (in 2012?).

November Update, 11/25/2009
We have new pictures of Gibson! These pictures are from October, but we just got them now.

Summer Pictures of Nicholas, 11/16/2009
No word from Taiwan yet, we are waiting to hear when the hearing date will be. I found a few cute pictures of Nicholas over the summer!

Dossier to Taiwan, 10/15/09
Our dossier is on the way to Taiwan! Now we wait for the court process to complete, which usually takes 4-6 months but can take longer depending on the judge you are assigned. The average wait is 5 months so we would be traveling in March. However, knowing how things go in adoption, waits always get longer not shorter so we are planning on April and would be pleasantly surprised if we traveled in March. We will get updates starting in November every month or so. The updates will include pictures and likely video as well.

Referral!, 10/2/09
We have our referral! He was born September 2nd and we will be naming him Gibson Ming-Hsiu Raschke. We expect to travel in about 6 months, so maybe April?
Here are pictures from his referral video:


Here is a picture at just a few weeks old:

Update on adoption #2, 9/16/09
Yesterday there was a referral so we are now #1 on the list for a boy! So, it could happen any day!

Update on adoption #2, 8/26/09
I just found out were are #2 on the wait list so we should be getting our referral in the next few months! After such a long wait I can't believe we are almost there!

Halloween Costume preview, 8/04/09

Nick and first girlfried Ava, 7/30/09
Yes, he does want tell us he wants to marry Ava!

Spring 2009 Pictures
We have had requests for new pictures so here they are!

Update on adoption #2, 3/12/09
We are now officially on the wait list to adopt from Taiwan! Our agency is stating a wait time of 4-6 months at this point so we hope for a referral this summer. Travel is approximately 6 months after referral so we would be traveling about a year from now. It is likely the baby will be approximately 6-9 months at that time and will likely be a boy. In the adoption world, nothing is for sure though. The wait could be longer or shorter, but likely longer.
While we wait, our agency has lots of activities for us to keep busy. We have to complete a service plan, which a very time consuming activity. We also we will be working on photo pages to send to Taiwan. We will be busy working on these things for the next few months, and it pretty much takes up all free time. But at least we will be done in time for summer!

Santa & Nick
Nick asked Santa for a drum for Christmas and yesterday he got his drum!

Merry Christmas
December 2008. Well it has been a great year for us, but aren't they all? We have truly been blessed. Hopefully we'll have more of the same. Instead of boring everyone with the details in a letter in card -- you can catch up with everything here.

Growing the family in 2009 (Hopefully - keep us in your prayers)
We have now applied for another country, and restarting a new Home Study....

Home study complete! 12/4/2008
Our home study (third one!) is complete! Journeys of the Heart is reviewing it now! This process will take about 4 weeks, then Sunny Ridge may release it to JOH or they may want to wait until Illinois DCFS approves it (3-4 additional weeks). Soon after they release it to JOH we will be on the waiting list! So, possibly January, I would think definitely by February.
Renovation project is moving along but of course slower than planned. We have to go outside to go upstairs and it is 15 degrees right now! There is lots of pounding and banging all day long. I'll be so happy when it is over!

Girls weekend in Charleston, SC 11/14/2008
My sisters and I headed to Charleston last weekend and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect (although chilly at night)! We ate in some great restaurants, SNOB (Slightly North of Broad), Hank's Seafood, and High Cotton. We also went on a carriage tour, visited a plantation and went a ghost tour. We were a bit disappointed in the ghost tour, I just can't believe the light reflections in the pictures are "Orbs"! Although when you zoom in on them it looks like the orbs have faces - very strange!
Here is a link to the pictures (I ran out of batteries the last day so I don't have any ghost pictures):
http://picasaweb.google.com/craschke/Charleston2008?authkey=4skQQK0Kx-Y#

Nicholas Update 11/4/2008
It has been a long time since I've posted pictures of Nicholas, but now that we have been accepted to the Taiwan program, I feel more upbeat about this blog and ready to post some new ones!
Nicholas as ring bearer in Joe's counsin's wedding.

Girl Cousins!

Adoption #2 Update 11/4/2008
Yesterday we were accepted into the Taiwan program! I'm sure there is a lot more we have to do but these are some of the steps:
- Home study update (scheduled Nov 21st)
- Journeys of the Heart training
- Journeys of the Heart reviews home study (4-6 weeks)
- Home study DCFS approval (3-4 weeks)
- Submit to Taiwan, get on waiting list, apply for 171H country change
- Wait for referral (3-6 months)
- Waiting to travel (4-6 months)
So, we hope to travel late 2009 or early 2010. Nothing is happening with Vietnam adoption. There was supposed to be a meeting in October regarding the new MOU but they had to reschedule it. So, it is not looking good. Even special needs adoption has stopped. Hopefully most of the kids will be adopted by other European countries. I am sad that we ended up having to give up on Nicholas' brother in Vietnam. But, happy we will find him in Taiwan!

Adoption #2 Update 9/22/2008
So today we submitted our application to adopt from Taiwan. The program we are applying for is very strict in who they will accept for the program. According to the list of requirements provided the agency we are going through (Journeys of the Heart) we should qualify. However, nothing surprises me anymore so who knows. I am sure we will have to jump through a lot of hoops once again. I will just do one thing for the adoption every day and not worry about the next thing on the list. We need to decide whether to start our home study update to transfer from Vietnam to Taiwan right away or wait until we are accepted. Tomorrow I will call Sunny Ridge to see what they suggest. I haven't heard if our file has been transferred to them yet from Children's Hope, so that is the first step.
If we do not get accepted we will continue to wait for Vietnam. We are sad to think about losing our chance to adopt again from Vietnam. But, it is out of our control and we just need to accept it and move on.

Another Vietnam Journey began ... in January of 2007... and ended in October of 2008.
The Vietnamese foriegn adoption program closed. Along the way there was a lot of waiting and frustration. But we meet some great people. One staffer of our Congressman Danny Davis -- Jill Hunter-Williams; and another adoptive parent -- Kim Ortiz

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Adoption #2 Update 9/15/2008
OK, so Joe and I were right (unfortunately), scenario #4 played out just as we had expected. So, Vietnam is shut down to adoptions. We are now trying to decide whether to wait until Vietnam reopens (could be years) or change countries to Taiwan or to give up altogether. Theoretically we could be home with a baby in 18 months from Taiwan but in reality it would probably be longer. But now we need to do a home study update and decide what to do quickly. Our agency is shutting down all of their branch offices so we will be changing to Sunny Ridge for our home study and local support.

Adoption #2 Update 3/11/2008
Today our agency told us to send in our dossier ASAP, we have until April 15th to get everything authenticated and May 1st to get it to Vietnam Department of International Adoption. We will be sending it in with an expired 171H (US Immigration approval) from our first adoption. So, we think one of the following scenarios will play out:
1. Slowness at the Vietnam Embassy so we receive the dossier after April 15th. We are done.
2. Our dossier will be rejected outright because of the expired document with not ability to send updated 171H, we are SOL. Could happen, we have no idea how likely this is.
3. By the time our dossier is reviewed we will send in our updated 171H (expected in about 6 weeks), or they will allow us to send in the update after May 1st.
4. Dossier is accepted, Vietnam shuts down and referrals are suspended prior to ours coming through. Joe and I think this is the most likely scenario.
5. Dossier is accepted, referrals are not suspended, but wait another year or more for referral.
6. Referral comes through but travel is shut down until Vietnam reopens (unknown timeframe). This will be a very difficult situation since we will then be bringing home a toddler and will go through a very hard time waiting.
7. Referral comes through and we are allowed to travel (expected about 6 months after referral). Joe and I are praying for this but given the way things are going seems unlikely.
Adding to the complication is that Vietnam may only work with Hague compliant agencies. Our agency is pending Hague approval but because of an issue with Russian adoptions by a few employees a few years ago, may be denied.
This is all very stressful, I will update with more on this, it is complicated and confusing!
The bottom line is that we are not very hopeful we will be adopting Nicholas' little brother or sister and do not think we can go through this again with another country or domestically. So, Nicholas may grow up an only child. The good thing is that he is so easy going and hopefully will be OK with this as he grows up. It is too bad, but I think will be a common situation with adopted children his age because of the slowdown in international adoption right now. China's wait is 3-5 years, Guatemala is basically shut down right now, Vietnam may shut down, all other programs have long wait lists because of China/Guatemala. If anyone says "just adopt", there is no such thing! Adoption is a very long, difficult and costly process with no guarantees of success. We were very lucky to adopt Nicholas!!!!
By the way, we think we are around #60 on our agencies wait list, our agency has been getting an average of 2 referrals a month so things have basically come to a stand still. The frustrating thing is other agencies are getting many more referrals. We don't know what is going on, it is getting ridiculous since our agency has 250 people on the wait list! I don't know what will happen when other agencies no longer have families on their wait list - do their referrals become waiting children? In the mean time, we wait while these children sit in the orphanage? It is crazy, it is easy to understand why Vietnam adoptions may end since everything is so messed up! Things are so different than 2006 when we adopted Nicholas, everything was so positive!!

Christmas 2007
12/18/2007

Nicholas Christmas 2007

Adoption #2 Update 9/1/2007
We are now 91 on the list, our agency is currently quoting wait times of 15-18 months for boys if you are already on the list, 2+ years for girls. For people just coming on the list the wait is 18-24 months. Personally, I believe it will be at least another year before we have a referral and wait times just keep going up. It is frustrating but our agency confirmed that there are agencies out there that are using unethical means to obtain referrals for babies. This could result in Vietnam being closed for adoptions once again.

Adoption #2 Update 8/15/2007
We are currently on the waiting list for adoption #2 from Vietnam. We have been on the wait list since January 2007 and expect a referral in Spring of 2008. However, given that referrals have been coming in more slowly to our agency (Children's Hope International), it could be delayed further. We started around 136 on the wait list and now we are at 90-something. I expect travel in fall or winter 2008 unless we get really lucky. Nicholas will be 3 or 3 1/2 when we travel. So the kids should be about 2-2 1/2 years apart, which will be perfect! We expect a referral for a boy although there is a remote possibility we will be referred a girl. Our big dilemma is whether to bring him to Vietnam with us for the trip. It would not be a good idea if we were traveling now, Nicholas would not be happy to share "my ma ma"! But, maybe when he is 3 it will be easier, although I doubt it!

Friday 7/27/07
We are working on posting pictures from the last 6 months!

Friday 7/20/07
Happy 2nd Birthday Nicholas!

Tuesday 7/4/07
Nicholas is an "All-American" boy in the Des Plaines 4th of July parade!

Tuesday 6/9/07
Nicholas at Blue's Fest eating Robinson's Ribs!

Tuesday 5/22/07

Nicholas is now 22 months old! His favorite things are:

- Trying my keys in every lock in the house. He has discovered the black key goes to the back door and can actually get it to work (with some help from mom).
- Buckling every stroller, car seat, high chair around.
- Car rides, preferably in the yellow Nissan XTerra.
- Water - playing with it, running in it, taking a bath in it, etc
- Swings and slides at the park
- Pasta, eaten by the fistful
- Music, life must be accompanied by music at all times

Amazing things he's figured out (we are biased, I know):
- Can do the Leap Frog alphabet puzzle by himself
- Figured out we have a camera pointed at him in the crib, waves at it every morning
- Saw the Baby Einstein logo in a book and asked for the video. Same thing with the Little People logo.

Cute/funny things he does:
- He says "My ma ma".
- He says "Hi" in a very high pitched, breathy way.
- Dad says "da", Nicholas says "da" very sweetly, repeat.
- Laughs histerically when you "get him".
- Sticks his stomach out just like the Teletubbies.
- DAAAAAAAAA!
- Shows his "guns"
- Blows kisses
- Salutes
- Does "I Dream of Jeannie"

Baby signs he knows:
- Mommy - Daddy - More - All done - Please - Thank You - Oh Oh - Oh My Goodness - Eat - Drink - Cracker - Apple
- Cereal - Milk - Fish - Dog - Cat - Cow - Bear - Bird - Elephant - Monkey - Giraffe - Help - Music (he made this one up)
- Uh oh - Water (also made this one up) - Balloon - Bath - Boat - Share (doesn't use this sign often!)
- Car - Brush teeth (made this up) - Where? (made this up) - Hot (made this up) - Shoes - Socks - Hat - Shirt - Diaper - Baby - Gentle - Sleep - Train - Ball - Book - Tree - Airplane

will add more later, can't remember all of them now!

Friday 5/18/07
Mothers' Day was fun for the whole family. Cathy has to post her thoughts.

Thursday 4/26/07
Another month has passed! We need to post some photos, don't we? He is still adorable!

4/07/07
The Raschke family makes a trip out to Colorado. Thanks, Lina and Rob for throwing a wonderful party! Nicholas made lots of new friends on the trip.

Tuesday 3/29/07
Looks like spring is here. I can not believe that we have not posted any information during the winter. Nicholas is now 20 months old. He is running around and loves to play outside.
Peter, Jeannette, Blair, Andrew and Elise Raschke were in town and we visited the zoo (in the rain!). Nicholas loved the giraffes but was afraid of the monkey house. Here he is peaking out at the zoo!

3/6/07
Nicholas loves music and guitars! He looks very sweet in this picture!

Friday 12/29/06
Baptism Day - Ascension Church

Sunday 11/26/06
A beautiful day in Chicago - Mid 60's. We took Nicholas to the University Club for lunch and a walk around Millenium Park.

Walking in Millenium Park

More in the Park

Doing the Hokey Pokey Walk

Family at the Bean

Touching The Bean

Twisted Mirror of the Bean

Leaving Millenium Park

Tuesday 11/07/06
Another check up today. After two months he has been great, and healthy. He caught another little cold and has a runny nose. It doesn't seem to slow him down. He is walking from room to room in our house. He has grown an inch (29.5"), and gained a couple pounds (23.5#) and his head circumference has grown a CM.

Here is a picture of the Lion and his King!

DA is still his favorite babble. He'll hold his breath saying UMMMMMMMMMM....

Then the big DAAAAA!!!!!

When not playing, he might be thinking. Actually he is reading a pop-up book (out of view).

Or a quick walk, starting from his chair.

Monday 10/16/06
Nicholas is doing great! He finally is over his cold that he caught a few weeks ago at the toddler music class. He is making progress every day standing up and walking! Saturday he stood up by himself for the first time. It is kind of like a yoga position since he doesn't bend his legs while standing. He is now up to 8 steps walking to mom or dad. He will sit in his little padded chair and stand up by himself and walk to us! Of course, he is laughing the whole time and very proud of himself!
About a week ago he caught on to waving goodbye and hello to everyone. A few times he waved to me while I was giving him his bottle which was very cute! We are working on transitioning him to whole milk, I don't think he has noticed yet. He eats everything in sight and continues to be our "Chunky Monkey". He eats his first dinner at 5PM or so and then his second one with mom and dad at 6 or 6:30. You would think he had never eaten before at the second dinner, stuffing food in his mouth with gusto! When he starts throwing food or putting it behind his head we know he is probably done eating (or just doesn't like what he is eating). Peas and mandarine oranges do not go over well.
He vocabulary now consists of lots of "Das", some "Bas", "Mas", "Pas", "Nas", a few "Las" and lots of "Te", "Te", etc while he plays. We are not sure if he knows that "Ma Ma" goes with me and "Da Da" goes with Joe since he calls both of us Ma Ma and Da Da.
We have taught him a few fun "tricks" - "Touchdown" (also "So Big"), Uh-Oh (hand to head) when something falls or is out of place, "Left foot, Left foot" (he kicks his left foot), "Both Feet, Both Feet" (he kicks both feet), but he is reluctant to do "Right Foot, Right Foot". He is learned how to wink with both eyes, when we wink with one eye, he winks back with both eyes. It is very cute.
He is now sleeping from 7PM to 7AM and napping once in the morning and once in the afternoon for about an hour (somes more, sometimes less) for each nap. This makes life much easier for us! We have been following the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and it has worked well for us. Sunday 10/1/06
So we have been back a month and needed to update this page before it gets too boring. We have a few series of photos that we'll be posting.
Nicholas (and us) have been doing great. We truly are thankful for the support we have received from everyone. We have beenb truly blessed by God to have such an easy time. As I write thi sit is just 8:00PM and we just put Nicholas into his crib to go to sleep for the night. He has been able to sleep consistently 11 hours or so each night, pretty much non-stop. Click on the next link (his name) for all of the photographs ---> Nicholas Dan Raschke
Here is the link to Family Movies hopefully we can upload as we travel.

As we travel we will post information on the Current events pages. Here is a link to the Weather in Vinh Long

If you have questions for us, post them on the Guest page. We'll answer them as we travel.

The current events are getting updated.

Need some info on Nicholas Dan Raschke?

And, here are the latest house plans in PDF format.