Visa's

Last night while Steve and I were going up our lane, we were talking about how we should be getting our travel visas soon. I was hoped they did not come while we were gone because of how bad the wind was blowing. I was afraid that they would end up in a field a mile away and our passports would then be lost. Steve assured me that they would tie them to our door knob. As soon as he said that, I looked over towards the back door, and there was something tied to the knob. When we got into the garage, I jumped out and ran to the door. Sure enough, it was our visas. Now that we have that, we wait for our TA (travel approval).

Countdown!

We have received word that our paperwork has been submitted to the US Embassy in China. This begins the final process our paperwork will go through. In two weeks it will be picked up and taken to the C**WA (Chinese adoption authorities) for a few weeks for our official approval to travel. This would ordinarily set us up to travel in January. However...

When adopting two children from different regions, we will be required to stay an extra week for the second child (a total of 3 weeks). This year Chinese New Year is very early - starting January 23. As all government office shut down for that week, we could either plan to spend an extra week there or wait until February. So assuming there isn't some other delay (which always seems the case in the process) we will be spending the majority of February abroad. All of this is sort of a blessing in disguise. It allows us to have a relatively calm Christmas season and spend an extra few weeks getting ready.

On a side note, we consulted a doctor today concerning potential health problems that we could encounter with Jade and Abram. Most of it confirmed what we already suspected - mainly that we won't know the extent of their special needs until we get them home. Fine by us, we want them home too.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Things have been going fast this past week. Friday (11-25) we got both I-800 approvals. The I-800 is the USCIS (immigration) giving us approval for us to adopt Jade and Abram and allow them to become citizens. The next step is was to hear from the National Visa Center that they have processed the approvals and send them to the US Embassy in China. We got the e-mail confirming that it was done today. Today we also sent out our visa applications so we can go to China. We are updating our timeline which is further down the page.

Abram's LOA

On Monday Steve got a phone call to tell us that our agency just received Abram's LOA. Now that we have both children's LOA's we can start the combined process of Abram and Jade. As of now we have our permission from China to adopt both kids. Now we just need to work on getting our approvals from Immigration and work on travel visas. We have to get visas for us to go to China and we have to get visa for Abram and Jade to come into America. We have been told that we could travel in 2 to 3 months.
We are so excited and can not wait to have all our kids home. We are asking for more paperwork. It is very hard to just sit here and do nothing. We will keep posting on here as we get more news.

Some "News"

We have not gotten our Letter of Approval for Abram yet, but I recently talked to our agency and our paperwork is moving along. On September 19, it was transferred to the second part of the processing in China. We were told that it normally takes a month after that date to get the LOA.  However, the Chinese offices were closed down the first week of October for a festival.  So we are expecting (and praying) that we have the LOA by the end of the month. Not BIG news, but it does make us feel better to know that our paperwork hasn't slid behind a filing cabinet somewhere.

Log In Date!!!!

Today we got a wonderful e-mail fro our adoption agency. As of Aug. 25th we have our log in date for out mini dossier for Abram. Now we are just waiting for or LOA. We also got some new pictures.

    

   

Updated Timeline for Jade & Abram

It's very hard to tell how long until we can go get the rest of our family. Paperwork has been moving fast for some things and slow for others. Right now we still hope to travel before November, but expect to go in either December or January. This is later than we'd hoped, but all things happen in God's time. As with everything, we celebrate with the good news and endure the bad news and the waiting. We've sent additional paperwork in order to add him to our adoption. Right now we are pursuing Abram's Letter of Approval from China. At that point, we will be able to file paperwork for both kids together and have a better idea when we will travel.

"Jade" CaiYi, 11/26/07 Xining, Qinghai

_X_ Preapproval by C**WA in China [PA] – requested 12/27/10, rec’d @1/6/11

_X_ Letter of Intent to Adopt [LOI] – sent 1/11/11

_X_ Permission to Adopt – 1/14/11

_X_ Homestudy (Update) – 3/5/11

_X_ I-800A (USCIS form) – sent…3/28/11

_X_ Notice of Reciept – 4/1/11, rec’d: 4/8/11

_X_ Appointment Notice – 4/15/11, r ec’d: 4/18/11

_X_ Fingerprints Taken – 5/12/11,walked in: 4/25/11

_X_ Notice of Action [approval] – 5/19/11, rec’d: 5/23/11

_X_ Dossier To Chinese Consulate in U.S. – sent 5/23/11, rec’d 5/24/11 [TN], 5/25/11 [DC]

_X_ rec’d back: 6/6/11 [TN], 6/7/11 [CA]

_X_ Dossier To China [DTC] – sent 6/8/11, 6/10/11

_X_ Dossier Login Date at CCCWA [LID] – 6/16/11

_X_ Letter Seeking Confirmation [approval][LSC / LOA] – 8/4/11

“Abram” Aoze, 5/10/05 Liuzhou, Guangxi

_X_ Preapproval by C**WA in China [PA] – requested 7/6/11, rec’d 7/12/11

_X_ Homestudy (Addendum) – 7/12/11

_X_ I-800A Supplement 3 (USCIS form) – sent 7/13/11

_X_ Notice of Reciept – 7/18/11

_X_ Notice of Action [approval] – 8/1/11

_X_ Dossier (update) To Chinese Consulate in U.S. – 8/2/11

_X_rec’d back: 8/11/11

_X_ Dossier (update) To China [DTC] – sent 8/15/11

_X_ Dossier Login Date at CCCWA [LID] - 8/25/11

_X_Letter Seeking Confirmation (approval from China)[LSC / LOA] – 10/24/11

Paperwork for both children done together from this point

_X_I-800 / I-864W (USCIS forms) – 10/26/11

_X_Notice of Reciept – 11/7/11

_X_Notice of Action [approval] – 11/18/11, rec'd 11/25/11

_X_ NVC CABLE Letter (of I-800 approval) to US Embassy – 11/30/11

_X_Article 5 letter by US Embassy – 12/20/11

____Travel Acceptance by C**WA [TA] –

____Consulate Appointment by US Embassy [CA]

Ready for Travel !!!