Getting Closer!!

One more step down, one to go!!  The US Consulate finished processing our daughter's visa and has signed off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed.  Our agency's in-China representative picked up this approval from the Consulate yesterday and will deliver it to the CCCWA.  This means our wait for Travel Approval (TA) has begun!!  Let's check this off our list:

• Receive LOA (CHECK!)
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (CHECK!)
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center to petition for baby girl's visa (CHECK!)
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China (CHECK!)
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed (CHECK!)
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval!

Travel Approvals are currently taking about 2 weeks to receive.  Our agency's next two travel dates are June 29 and July 13.  WE WILL BE LEAVING ONE OF THOSE DATES!!!  Unfortunately, we won't know which date until at least the second week in June when our TA comes.  This brings us to prayer requests, if anyone feels led to pray for us:

• Please pray that the dates we need for our Consulate appointment will be available when we get our TA.  This is what decides whether we get to go in June or July, and also determines the length of our trip (please pray for SHORT AS POSSIBLE since we're leaving Ella & Myles here).
• Please pray for a miracle when it comes time to book our plane tickets. June/July is the most expensive and busy time to fly to China. We've been watching the ticket prices climb over the past several weeks.  Or maybe I should pray for someone with an extra 75,000 Delta airline miles that they weren't planning on using!  :)
• Please pray for our hearts to be calm and simply rest in the knowledge that God is in control. The next month is bound to be crazy (our to-do list has no less than 60 items on it) but we'd like to have quality family time and to continue to glorify God in all that we do no matter how crazy it gets.

We don't have any pictures related to this, but we'll leave you with another one of our favorites from our last update:

Just What We Needed Today!

This is JUST what I (Heather) needed today!  I was feeling pretty down this morning. This wait is starting to take its toll on me and I haven't been getting as much sleep lately so I am feeling pretty run-down. Then, THIS shows up in our email inboxes:

Be still my heart!  Isn't she just beautiful!!  This picture came with an update from our agency.  She is healthy, growing, and now has 12 teeth!!  Her hair is growing in nicely too :)  It's kind of bittersweet to see the new pictures, as she is getting so big and growing up without us.  We shipped a picture book to China a few months ago with photos of us and the kids, and they confirmed that she received it.  How great to think that she's been able to look at photos of her family!  We're so glad her caretakers are so responsive to requests for updates.  That has really been a blessing to us.  We know of others waiting to get their little ones who are having a much harder time getting updates. 

In other exciting news, the National Visa Center has forwarded our visa petition to the US Consulate in China!  One more step down, and only two more to go until Travel Approval!  Given the current typical wait times, we should be in China by July at the latest.  Recap of the remaining steps:

Receive LOA (CHECK!)

Send I-800 application to USCIS (asking US immigration for permission to adopt the child we were specifically matched with)  (CHECK!)

USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center to petition for baby girl's visa  (CHECK!)

The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China  (CHECK!)

The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed.

The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval!

It's a Good Day!

Lots of good stuff happened today.  The biggest news, we received our I-800 approval from USCIS!  This means US Customs has officially approved us to bring this precious little one into our family.  If things continue to go this smoothly, there's a chance we could be hopping on a plane before the end of June!  If not June, we'll be heading to get her in July.




Also, our Passports arrived back via UPS today, with our China travel visas neatly inserted (see picture).  We're approved to travel to China until April 2013, but thankfully we'll be heading there MUCH sooner than that!


Recap of what's left (starting from our April 11 blog post):

• Receive LOA (CHECK!)
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (CHECK!)
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center to petition for baby girl's visa (CHECK!)
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed.
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval!

We're coming, baby girl!!!