thinking about flights

Ive done some preliminary checking, and this is what I have today at least. Most flights go up and down based on the day of the week, time of day, and may book out the cheaper flights before we even get TA, so, it is very preliminary to say the least.

All fares were searched based on three adults traveling economy class roundtrip.

On All Nippon airlines- from Sanfrancisco to Guangzhou and back $3300 does not include the Wuhan leg of the trip

On China Southern- from Losangeles to Wuhan, then Guangzhou to Losangeles $3800

Through Lotus Travel also on China Southern without the Wuhan leg but including three nights stay with two buffet breakfasts per day in Guangzhou $2580

On Asiana airlines from Seattle to Guangzhou and back, no Wuhan leg, $2950

On Expedia on Air China from San Francisco to Wuhan and Guangzhou to San Francisco $2542

On Orbitz flying Cathay Pacific San Francisco to Wuhan and Guangzhou to Sanfrancisco connecting in Hong Kong $3128

Delight travel has a package that leaves from either Los Angeles or San Francisco and goes to Beijing, with a return trip from Guangzhou to either of the two port cities that starts at $1500 for three and goes up to $2400 for 3, does not include the Wuhan leg.

Since SWA takes care of our flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou, and all our hotel reservations, we only have to find flight information for the home to Wuhan and Guangzhou to home legs.

Trip preparations.

So, trying to get the last few things tied up for the trip, and since China may not have high speed wireless internet reliably everywhere we go, I picked up an ethernet cord for the laptop. I also got two headphone splitters so we can watch movies together on the flights without disturbing the other passengers.

All I have left to get is bubbles, pretty much. I think we're fairly well covered otherwise. I do want to get some of the larger ziploc storage bags for our clothes to keep them dry, especially since we will be traveling in winter weather, hopefully not bad weather, but, still, the chances of there being even one day when the weather is bad and our luggage ends up getting wet is greater than if we were traveling in the dry season. China is a very wet climate, especially in the southern provinces, and even in summer it's best to pack luggage for potential wet weather, monsoons and typhoons and all, but, more for the humidity. Hubei is known as China's furnace, and I am so hoping that means it will feel like Springtime. I'm packing for cold weather just in case, but, allowing for layering.

Im back at work for a four day stretch, with the holiday. Since China doesn't celebrate our New Year, and our paperwork is in their hands by now, I can kind of relax and know that this holiday isn't going to slow anything down. Work will keep me busy, and to some degree be a distraction to make the time pass. School starts again on Monday, and I have plans to get the whole house clean, organized, and the holiday decorations neatly stored before we get our TA, so, that should help, too.

I still don't know what we're doing for airlines for the trip. So much depends on the timing, but, I have settled more and more into Asiana. They seem to be comfortable and roomy compared to other economy aircraft. There is a connection in Seoul Korea, but, most flights that we can afford will have some kind of connection.

Article 5 baby!!!

Josh at Small World emailed me this morning with the news that our DS230 was signed off on and the paperwork was picked up and is on it's way to the CCAA as of today. He said it usually takes about three weeks from this point before we see our travel approval (TA) which puts it the week of Jan 20th. If we get it then we could be traveling the weekend of Jan 29th, which gets us there and back before CNY. That is if all goes well in Beijing and there are no further delays or slow downs in our TA. It could even come sooner, which would mean possibly travel the weekend of Jan 22nd, which would be great, but, I really don't expect it. A lot also depends on the available consulate appointment dates. The day we leave has to be about a week before our consulate appointment, so, we will just have to wait and see when that will end up being.

Correction... our cable has been sent!!!

We received a letter today from the NVC stating that our cable was sent to the consulate in Guangzhou on December 22nd. Finally, some news I can get excited about. Now we just have to wait for Small World to confirm that they picked up our paperwork at the consulate and have forwarded it to Beijing for that final TA. We might actually make it before CNY.

No news is,... well,.. no news.

Christmas was yesterday. I was glad I worked, no time to really dwell on the fact that Holly's presents are sitting in a bag, unwrapped, in my bedroom. I know the Chinese don't really honor Christmas as we do, it's kind of a fun new holiday for them, but, not focused on the Savior at all. They play non religious Christmas music, and decorate, and give gifts to some degree, but, I seriously doubt that the orphanages participate much if at all.

Im going to spend time this week, while waiting for news of our cable arriving at the consulate, putting together the talking photo album and get it sent, work on making sure our skype accounts are working and that everyone knows how to use them, and start planning for the trip ie preparing food ahead for the kids to just heat and eat, getting our bags sorted out and some pre-packing done, etc.

More travel prep

Amidst all the holiday hubub, I can't stop thinking about the trip, and just want to get packed and go. My mind is completely distracted from everything else. When I see children's clothes I think Holly and want to buy something for her, but, I have already shopped a ton, and have so much waiting for her, and really can't bring more weight in our suitcases, so, I have to tell myself to just wait, and take her shopping when we get her. Time is going slowly, our paperwork process at this point is out of our hands completely, and we are unlikely to be updated on the next step, which is the cable to the consulate. The USCIS National Visa Center (NVC) sends a cable to the consulate telling them we are approved, and that they can issue a Visa to Holly to enter the US as a citizen. When that cable arrives at the consulate, they prepare what is known as an article 5 document.

Lily, our in China adoption coordinator, will be told that the cable has been sent, so she will know that our paperwork needs to be picked up. At that point, she will bring our signed LOA to the consulate, along with our DS230 form, which will be processed and handed back to her with the article 5. This is my understanding of the steps, I could be wrong, but that is how I have gathered the process so far. Once Lily receives all the paperwork from the consulate, she will forward it onto the CCAA in Beijing. They then process it and issue a travel approval (TA) letter which tells us we are free to come to China to complete the adoption.

At that point, Small World will contact the consulate to make our official appointment which will occur at the end of our trip once the adoption is complete. When we have that date, we can make our travel reservations for one week before in order to have time to complete the Chinese side of the paperwork, receive her adoption certificate and Chinese passport allowing her to leave the province and the country.

Since we are looking at travel in January or February, hopefully, we need to consider the possibility of bad weather. I will be packing our clothes in ziploc bags to protect them from getting wet if the luggage sits on a tarmac in inclement weather, which happens fairly often. Holly will be dressed appropriately, Im sure of that because she comes from a very good orphanage, and they will know how to make her comfortable. Once we get her, and after a settling in period, we will take her shopping for more clothes. We did send her a warm jacket and a couple of springlike jackets, but, you just never know what they will let her keep and what ends up in the main laundry pile and shared by all the children, which is fine with us, but, it does make preparing for what to bring a bit more difficult.

In looking at the options, and following other families recommendations, plus my previous experience in China, I am planning on staying at the Shangrila in Wuhan and the Victory in Guangzhou. Both are very nice, comfortable, clean, and have free internet, so we can skype to and from home for free.

Once everything is packed I will start weighing the luggage and redistributing to make sure we don't go over the weight limits.

This is the info I gathered from the most likely domestic carriers, and since at least one leg each way will be in the US, to avoid overweight or extra luggage charges, we will stay with these limits.

For Delta, Northwest, and United

$15 for the first bag, per person, per flight
weight limit 50lbs per checked bag
1 carryon allowed and 1 personal bag dimensions must fit in an airport screening device 22x14x9
most will waive or reduce the checked baggage surcharge if checked online rather than at the airport

Southwest

two checked bags per passenger, free
50lb weight limit, carryon rules same as above

liquids, areosols and gels in carryons must be in 1 quart size zip loc bag per passenger, in 3 oz or smaller size containers

Holly will be given a luggage allowance and we plan to purchase a suitcase and carryon for her in Guangzhou where they are pretty cheap. We can use her luggage for any treasures we bring home to keep us from going over the weight limit. We sent her a cute backpack from the disney store, but, plan to get another one for the trip that is bigger than that one, and will check the disney one if she still has it with her when they bring her to us.

Travel plans

Now that we are approaching the end of this paperchase, and need to start thinking about when we will be traveling, I checked a few things to help us in advance.

First, the all important Chinese holidays which will affect our official appointments.

Chinese New Year is February 13th thru the 17th. Both the US consulate and the Chinese government offices will be closed, so there is no point in traveling in conflict with these dates.

Martin Luther King Jr birthday in February 15th, the US consulate will be closed on this day as well.

With that said, we really need to either be finished and back home by February 11th, which is a Thursday and completely doable, or wait until the 18th or 19th of February to travel. I really don't want to wait that long, but, if we are affected by a worst case scenario, and our travel approval doesn't arrive until the last week in January, there is no way we will be able to do that. We have to have our travel approval by January 22nd.

The new director at CCAA is purported to be speeding things along, and if that's true, we might just make it to China and back in time. If our government could get their butts in gear and push our paperwork through to the consulate, I know Lily is waiting to pick up our papers and take them to Beijing, so, we just need to get them there and out the door before the Christmas holiday starts to slow things down.

I800!!!!

We received our I800 approval from the USCIS!!

They actually approved it yesterday, and it's on it's way to us as I write this. Our immigration officer answered my email today, on my birthday of all days. I guess the Lord knows that turning 50 is a big pill to swallow, and having great news like this eases the sting and gives me something else to think about.

Now the NVC at USCIS sends a cable to our consulate in Guangzhou saying we are approved, and the consulate will give Lily in China proof of that receipt, and then all the paperwork goes to Beijing for the CCAA to issue us our travel approval letter. This could take anywhere from two weeks to a month after the cable arrives.

Here we go!

Homestudy addendum is done

The homestudy addendum addressing Mindy turning 18 arrived via Fedex this afternoon, and I turned it right around and sent it to immigration in Texas via overnight Fedex. I am really hoping that this means our paperwork will be checked over, forwarded to the Chicago office, and then, logged into their system by next week some time. After that, the immigration officer assigned to our case will go through it, approve it, and then let us know that it was approved, which I am praying will be by the end of next week. Then he will send a cable to the consulate in Guangzhou letting them know we are approved for a Visa for Holly.

When that cable arrives, Lily with Small World will go to the consulate and pick up a form known as the article 5, and take it, along with our signed LOA, to Beijing to the CCAA. They will then go through whatever process they go through to issue us our travel approval letter (TA).

It is currently taking anywhere from two to four weeks for TA's to come in, so, we are looking at after Christmas before we hear anything from them. Probably more like January.

Once we have TA, our agency will make our appointment with the US consulate in Guangzhou China. Our travel is planned backwards from that appointment, so, when we know what day that will be, we will plan travel for about a week before. We will travel probably on a Friday from Salt Lake to Wuhan, arriving, based on time changes, on Sunday, and probably receive Holly that evening. She will come back to our hotel with us, and in the morning on Monday we will complete the adoption paperwork for the China side of the process. They will then prepare her passport which will take til thursday or friday before it is done. In the meantime, while we wait for her passport, we will spend time seeing her province, and getting to know each other. On Friday or Saturday we will travel to Guangzhou, which is a warm, tropical place much like Florida, to complete the US side of the process.

Holly will have a medical checkup, a TB test, and have all of her immunizations, yes I said all, that she would have had to age 5. She will have a picture taken for her Visa documents. Our guide will take all of these documents along with a stack of paperwork we will complete there, to the consulate on that Monday or Tuesday, and we will wait in our hotel room until she calls to tell us all is well, or that we have to take care of something for all to be well. Normally there isn't a problem.

Then, the next day, we go to the consulate with Holly to have her declared a citizen, basically, and then we are free to travel to the US. We will either leave that evening or the next day for home.

Pictures and an update!

We have all new pictures of our Holly Jun, with her first ever birthday cake. You can see some of the other children in her orphanage, mostly little ones from what I can tell. Im sure, when we bring her home, she will point out to us who each child is and tell us their name and which one is her best friend.

I asked some questions and here they are with the answers.


1. Does she know it's her birthday?

She knows it's her birthday but doesn't know it's on Dec 5 and she doesn't quite understand what birthday means.

2. Does she know what her American name will be?

She didn't know her new name but we have told her. She might not be able to used to her new name very quick.

3. Does Jun have a favorite toy or kind of toy?

She likes dolls.

4. What is Jun's shoe size or length of her feet?

Height 109cm, Weight 17.7 kg, Head 50 cm, Chest 53 cm, Foot 11 cm.

that translates to 42.9 inches or 3 ft tall give or take, 39 lbs, with a size 4 shoe ( way smaller than what I believe it is, perhaps a typo in the translation, should be closer to a size 9 or 10 based on her height and weight, should be more like 15 or 16 cm)

5. Did she like the stuffed rabbit we sent her?

She likes all the toys you have sent her.

6. Has Jun learned any words in English?

Jun has learned a few simple English words. She learned it from TV. Such as you, like, etc.

7. Is Jun allergic to anything?

We haven't found she is allergic to anything.

8. How much has Jun been told about the adoption?

We have told her she will have new mommy and daddy.

9. Does she ever talk about her new family?

She talks about you will take her home.

10. Does Jun get carsick?

No

Homestudy addendum

Well, I sent the paperwork and another check to Wasatch International to cover the fees for the addendum on our homestudy to the tune of $200, via Fedex to Ogden to Wasatch on Wednesday. I called yesterday morning to confirm they got it, and they had. They faxed the information to Tom Baxter and then left a message to make sure he got it. He had not returned that call as of this afternoon, so, I am starting to stress again. Major headaches and precious little sleep add up to Senora Cranky Pants.

To top it off, Tom is going out of town next week, so, we only have til then for him to get it done and sent back to me, or to whereever it's going. I am sending an email to him, just to try to move things along, but, who knows how long this is going to end up taking. Every day that goes by is another day Holly is waiting in an orphanage on the other side of the planet, probably wondering why we haven't come for her yet.

I haven't heard back about the phone call I requested from Red Thread, but, I am hopeful they will get back to me in a few days. A little retail therapy this weekend is just what the doctor ordered, since I haven't been Christmas shopping yet. Tim and I want to go together, but, it's looking doubtful with all we have on our plates.

time difference

I just calculated the time difference between salt lake and wuhan. It is 15 hours, and China is ahead of us. According to an online calculator, when it is 8am on Wednesday in China, it is 5pm on Tuesday in Utah. So, we could call home anywhere between 8am and noon, and we should be able to talk to all the kids, including Myleigh, as it will be before her bedtime. It will be the next day in China, but, that's how it works.

Sent another package

Well, this Saturday is Holly's birthday. She turns 5 years old. I really hate that we are not going to be there with her, but, I guess I should have expected that there would be further delays. The USCIS has requested a homestudy addendum to address the fact that Mindy turned 18. That is going to slow us down for a bit, but, once that is done, things should start moving again, and be back in the hands of the Chinese government.

Anyway, since we won't make it in time for her birthday, I have sent Holly a birthday care package thru a service called Red Thread China. They have promised that she will get her cake, and presents on her birthday, and are going to translate a letter for us to the orphanage director. They will also call the orphanage and ask ten questions, just like the last service I used. I would have used the ladybugsinlove service again, but, they are closed from tomorrow thru January, due to the owner being busy helping a friend with her adoption trip, so, I went with Red Thread.

I can't wait to hear the answers to the questions and see pictures of Holly celebrating her birthday for the first time.

28 days waiting for I800 approval

Great big sigh.

Another waiting family, who's I800 paperwork was logged into the USCIS system the same day as ours was, has received word that they were approved. I am hoping we get the same word. I think I will call later today when I wake up.

If it's true, we are now waiting for the US Consulate in Guangzhou to receive an official cable from USCIS and issue the article 5 paperwork. That will be picked up by Lily in China, and taken to Beijing to be dropped off at the CCAA. Then, we just wait for TA from them to make our consulate appointment and travel arrangements.

Just a little progress

Our passports arrived yesterday from the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC with our Visa's stamped in them. Our DS230 is on it's way to the consulate in Guangzhou, China. My packing is moving along, more like nesting really. I'm putting Holly's clothes into zip loc bags, and dividing them among the three suitcases for the trip. I'm trying not to overpack, but, at the same time, since we are traveling in winter, I want to make sure she has a few outfits and pj's in case we get stuck in the hotel due to bad weather and she only has what we bring to wear until we can get out and shop.

I've organized the toys, and the medicines into the three suitcases, and those are also in zip loc bags. The reason for the zip locs is two fold. If there is bad weather at any of the airports, and our suitcases end up out in that weather, which does happen, at least what's inside will have a degree of waterproof protection, especially our clothes and electronics. Also, when traveling, I find it so much nicer to have things seperated into ziplocs to make it easier to find what I'm looking for, and to allow any security searches to not cause a huge mess in our suitcases.

So, now we are waiting for word that our I800 is logged into the NVC (National Visa Center) system. After that, we wait for the I800 approval and then the Article 5 cable. That will mark the end of the US side of the process, and we will have to wait again for TA from China.

11 Days and counting from LOA

We are on our 11th day since LOA, 8 days since sending our I800, and 7 days since it was received at the Texas lockbox office. Next week is the BYU ballroom competition, so, hopefully with that and the upcoming holidays my mind will be busy and not think too much about the wait this time.

Shopping and packing continues

I have basically completed the medicine kit, just a few more things and its done, plus I need to compile a first aid kit.

I have all of Holly's clothing for the trip, and a bunch of toys. All I have left to get for the trip is some food items for us and an ID badge for Holly. I can actually start packing what I have based on the distribution lists. It will be nice to see how it pans out and how I will need to rethink my list, if at all.

All documents were delivered safely

I love Fedex. All three packages of documents were delivered safely by noon today, less than 24 hours from when I sent them out.

Now the I800 packet that went to USCIS in Texas will be reviewed, takes about 10 days. After that, they send it to the National Visa Center, which is an office in the Dept of Homeland Security. They complete it's processing, which also takes 10 days, and cables the consulate in Guangzhou , China that we are approved. By then Lily will have our DS230 and our LOA and have delivered them to the consulate to meet up with the cable. It takes about another 5 days for the consulate to sort it out, and finish their part of the approval process, and then Lily will overnight the whole thing to the CCAA for them to process our Travel Approval letter (TA).

Worst case scenario right now is 50 to 80 days for this entire process from LOA to TA. I am really hoping for more like 40, but, would be thrilled if we can get the whole process done in much less than that.

LOA headed back to China

I got the LOA via Fedex today, quickly signed it, made the necessary copies, and sent the original back to SWA along with the DS230 consulate approval form. They will send that onto Lily in China.

Also sent the I800 and accompanying documents to USCIS. They will do their thing with them, and then tell the consulate that we are okay to bring the child to the US.

I also sent our visa applications and passports to the Assistant Stork to be walked into the Chinese Embassy so we can enter China when the time finally comes to travel.

Now we wait for the last piece of paper, a Travel Approval letter. Really praying we get that quickly, I want her home for Christmas. Now its time to finish the shopping list for the trip, and think about packing.

LOA LOA LOA

It's here it's here. Josh from SWA emailed me today to tell me our LOA arrived!!! I think he was as surprised as anyone. It should arrive here at the house on Monday and the next step in the process begins, the wait for Travel Approval (TA).

We still have a shot at getting her home before Christmas, and we could even arrive in China in time for her birthday. It's not likely, since timeframes are longer than that lately, but, anything's possible.

Update!!

Josh from Small World contacted me today to say that the CCAA told their in China coordinator that our LOA would be coming soon. Josh said that usually means it will arrive in a week or so.

According to what I have been reading on other blog sites, the person who signs the LOA's has been out of the office, and everyone is expecting a batch of them to come in next week. Maybe ours really will be in that batch.

75 Days.

I was sure we would know something by now, but, not even a whisper of a rumor. Everyone else that is waiting for news from China is wondering why it is taking so long. A lot of speculation going around, but, nothing concrete. I just want a hint of what to expect. Is that too much to ask?

For now, I am content to send the third box, it went on it's way yesterday, and in it is a stuffed bunny I made at Build A Bear that has a voice recorder in it. I included a letter to the orphanage workers with instructions for Holly to be shown to press the paw and she will hear my voice telling her I love her in both Chinese and English. As always, I tossed in a bag of candy for her to share with the other children and some new clothes for her. I also put in a warmer coat as the weather will begin to turn chilly, at least as chilly as it gets in Hubei, which is about 55 at the coldest in January. Still, for someone who lives there, I'm sure that feels pretty cold.

Her pictures are on our fridge, and it helps some to see how happy she appears to be. At least I can believe someone cares about her and shows her enough affection and attention that she can have such a ready and sparkly smile.

We have an update!!! And pictures!!

We heard back already from Lady bugs in love. They were able to get two new pictures of Holly Jun. She looks so beautiful and healthy. What a sweet smile and such bright eyes. In the first picture she is wearing the hat I got her and the dress Tim got her. In the second picture she is playing with one of the toys we sent. I also noticed that she is still wearing, in both pictures, the same necklace she was wearing in the first pictures we got of her four months ago. It must be very special to her.

We also got answers to the questions we asked. I'll just copy and paste it here.

Does she know about us?
Yes. We have shown her your pictures.

Has she gotten the gifts we sent?
Yes. She has the clothes on, looks at the pictures and plays with the toys every day.

What is her favorite color?
Red.

What is her favorite food?
Sweet food.

How is she doing in school?
Our teacher teaches her sing some children songs, recite poems.

Does she have a favorite friend?
Yes. Huang Fu Yi.

Is she happy about being adopted?
She doesn’t understand it yet. But she knows she will have new daddy and mommy.

Does she like to dance?
Yes.

Is there anything she wants to tell us?
She hopes she can meet daddy and mommy soon.

Has she been using the coloring book we sent to learn about what her adoption trip will be like?We have told her about what it says in the book. She’s been coloring/reading the coloring book.

Her updated measurements:
Height: 106cm; Weight: 32kg; Head: 49cm; Chest: 51cm.

We are even more anxious to bring her home that we were before, but, we are so grateful for the new pictures.

A sad day in the law enforcement community

We lost one of our own yesterday. She was a friend. We'll miss you Shauna.

ladybugs in love

I contacted a service called ladybugs in love. They offer a service where they contact the orphanage in China and request updated information and pictures of the child, and also allow you to send them ten questions that you may want to ask the workers there about your child. It all cost 40 dollars, and they often get information in as little as one week. Im thinking more like two weeks. It would be so exciting to see a new picture of Holly. The most recent ones we have are from June. I am also hoping to have the questions answered. I asked the basics about her favorites, and likes and dislikes, but, specifically asked if she has gotten the boxes we sent, does she know about us, what does she feel about being adopted, and has she been using the coloring book I sent to prepare her for the adoption. I also asked if she had anything she wanted to say to us. How precious these answers would be if we actually got them. Ladybugs in love warns you that not all orphanages will give you information, some will answer questions but not send pictures, and some give you more than you ask for. So far, the experiences of other parents has been very positive, so, I guess we'll see.

66 Days.....

Referrals came in today for Non Special Needs adoptions. They are for people who sent their request to China on either March 27th or 28th of 2006. Yes, I said 2006. That is how long it is currently taking for China to process the paperwork for families who are requesting a healthy infant. To make it worse, they are continuing to slow the process. Each day that China recieves paperwork for NSN adoptions is called a log in date, similar to the special needs process. This month they sent out two days worth of requests, and next month they will likely do the same, sending out the next two days worth, and only finishing with March 2006 after having started on it months ago. At the rate of only two days per month being processed, it will take years just to finish all of 2006. I guess if I look at it that way, waiting more than 66 days for our LOA doesn't sound so bad.

Then again, they don't have a four year old child looking back at them from a picture taken months ago. Their babies won't be born until about a year before they get their referral. My baby girl is waiting right now, and every day that passes is another she will wait, and another day I don't get to hold her and be her mom.

60 Days

We are at 60 days waiting for LOA. I'm getting a little stir crazy. My emotions go up and down all day long. I toss and turn when I really need to be sleeping. Now that it is the Harvest Moon Festival in China, no one is working and no one will be back in the CCAA offices until Thursday. That means at least another week with no word.

We spent the official Moon Festival day, Saturday Oct 3rd, sitting around a bon fire in the back yard, eating moon pies instead of moon cakes, and I told the story of Chang Er. It is a bit of Chinese folklore, and the kids expect that I will tell her story as we all sit around looking at the moon. It had been cloudy all day, and I was sure there was no way we would see the moon, except perhaps a bit of a glow behind the thick layer of clouds. It was such a nice surprise to see the clouds had parted, the rain had stopped, and it was actually a warm night.

Next year, on the Harvest Moon night, we will again gather together around a bon fire in the back yard. Holly will be there, and our family will be complete. Now if we can just get that LOA in the next batch, my prayers will be answered.

54 Days

Still waiting. The CCAA has sent out packages to the adoption agencies around the world. No one knows, not even the agencies, what is in the packages. All we know is that they are due to arrive sometime in the next few days. If our LOA is in there, we hopefully will get a phone call from our agency. So far, they have only communicated through email, so, maybe that is how we will get the news.

This weekend, on Oct 3rd, is the Harvest Moon Festival in China. We will be celebrating with a bonfire in our fire pit in the backyard, and homemade moon cakes, which are our version of the moon cakes made in China, except ours are sweet pastries, and theirs are often made of bean paste, or cheese, more savory and my kids just aren't into them. When I was in China on the adoption trip to bring Myleigh home, I bought some authentic moon cakes. On that first Harvest festival at home, we tried them. Not as yummy as they looked. They were very artistic looking though as they are made in special presses, that shape them and imprint designs on them. So, I found a moon cake press on ebay and use it to make our own cakes. I use cookie dough and fill them with different fillings, jams, preserves, that kind of thing. Even chocolate could be used. Then, before baking, you fold a note inside each cake, a message to the person who gets that cake, usually wishing them good luck or something or it can be a special message meant just for them. We sit around the fire and open our mooncakes and look at the huge moon. In China, the harvest festival is a time of family reunion. Families travel from all over China back to their family home. It lasts for the weekend.

Since we are now approaching this year's harvest festival weekend, the CCAA is planning to be closed for the next week due to families traveling to and from their reunions. This may have an affect on our wait. There are rumors that the CCAA is planning to clear their desks and send out a large amount of LOA's and TA's this week, and then have a fresh start when they come back to the office. Another rumor says they are not planning to send out anything until after the holiday.

All I know is, I want my LOA this week. I will be sleeping most of the day tomorrow, since I am working all night tonight, so, if it comes in and our agency calls or emails in the morning, I won't know it til I wake up. Maybe that's for the best. Nothing like waiting around for news, especially if it never comes.

46 days

Still waiting. Trying to get shopping done a little at a time for the trip. Pulling together the last few items for the final paperwork we will need to complete our travel arrangements, including our Visas.

39 days and counting

we are at 39 days since our LID, and tomorrow marks the day when we enter the timeframe where LOA's have been known to come in. We still have no idea when to expect ours, and could be waiting for two more months, but, I am so hopeful that ours will come in this week or next. Preferably this week.

More paperwork done....

I finished the I800, the I864W, and the DS230 forms . I read through the instructions Josh sent, and will have to send him an email to clarify some things he said. I believe I finished it all, but, I'm not certain, so I guess I will have that answer tomorrow. Now we just wait for the LOA. Then, the process looks like this...

SWA receives the LOA and Consulate Acceptance Letter (CLA).

SWA sends the original LOA, a photocopy of the CLA, a copy of our referral, and something he referred to as "the three letters" to us.

We sign the original LOA, keep a photocopy, and send the original back to SWA along with our completed DS230.

We send the photocopy of the signed LOA, the photocopy of the CLA, the referral, the completed I800, a photocopy of the i797C approval, and "the three letters" to USCIS

SWA sends our signed original LOA, the CLA, and our original DS230 to Lily in China

Once the USCIS approves our paperwork, they notify the consulate in Guangzhou China by cable. SWA is also notified by email or phone. Lily will delver the CLA, and the DS230 to the consulate.

After they consulate approves everything, Lily then takes the signed LOA to the CCAA who will then send our TA to SWA.

That is when we can make our consulate appointment, which all our travel dates revolve around. As soon as we have that confirmed, we can leave for China.

It's all a bit involved, but, as long as I keep my head and take it one step at a time, I can handle it.

32 days and counting

We are at 32 days waiting for our LOA. Josh at SWA emailed me that our dossier is through translation, and in review. He said the CCAA told him that dossiers are usually processed in six weeks from LID unless there are problems, and, that he also got LOA's today for three other families that came in at around 40 days, which would be next week for us, and an incredible miracle. Sept 18th if it is truly at six weeks.

I really don't expect it that soon, but, pray that whatever happens, we can have her home before her birthday. That's the main thing.

Josh also sent me a bunch of paperwork for us to get started on, at my request, so we can be ready when that LOA does come in. It includes the I800 , I864w and DS230 for USCIS. Yes, we still have more paperwork to process through the US government even after all the hoops we already jumped through. When our LOA comes, we will have Visa applications to fill out and send, and some back and forth mailing, but, we will be ready for that. We are praying that the Lord will bless us with our LOA arriving next week, probably closer to the end of the week. That would put us at 6 weeks post LID.

Waiting for LOA

Based on the trends currently, and keeping in mind that nothing is set in stone when it comes to China, I am beginning to worry we won't get to China before the Christmas holiday, and may actually be spending the holiday in China.

The current averages put our wait for LOA at 90 days. That would be November 5th. Then we have about a six week wait for our TA, which puts us at December 17th. Travel is averaging about two to three weeks after TA, which puts us in January. Ugh. That just cannot happen.

Now, based on a happier trend, we could get our LOA as soon as October 22nd, and then our TA December 3rd, and travel by, believe it or not, Christmas Eve. Of course, anything could happen, and we could actually get our LOA much much sooner. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for us to get our LOA in September. That would be fantastic.

A little shopping while we wait

Melissa at work told me about a great recordable photo album. It holds 24 pictures and each picture can have a message recorded for it that is saved in the book's memory. I ordered it from Amazon. We will be boxing it up to send to Holly. Each family member will have a page to put a picture in, and record a message to Holly for that page. I am putting some other things, like pictures of the dogs, of the pond, our car, stuff like that, and recording messages telling her about the things in the picture that will be a part of her new life.

Katie and I went to Build A Bear today and created an adorable bunny, with a button in its paw that I recorded a message on for her to play. It says, Wo Ai Ni Holly Jun, Mama loves you. Wo Ai Ni means I love you in Chinese. I dressed it in a baby sleeper outfit, with bunny slippers and pink bows. I picked up a soft baby blanket and wrapped the bunny in it. I'll toss in some packets of fruit snacks and more clothing items like socks. This will be the third box we send to her, and I will be interested to see if she brings any of these items with her when we pick her up on "gotcha day".

Gotcha day, for those not in the adoption circles, is the name referring to the day we meet her and she becomes ours. Myleigh's gotcha day anniversary is August 3rd.

LOA's came in today, there was one family that only waited 59 days, so, it's encouraging, but, there is absolutely no way to predict when ours will come in. I just keep hoping, keep praying, and keep my fingers crossed.

time goes slowly by

This waiting is the worst part of the entire process. There seems to be no end to the waiting. First it was the paperwork, then it was the LID, now, its LOA. come on, there is a little girl in China that is waiting for her family to bring her home, and she should be such a high priority that we grown ups, both here in the US and in China, would be moving heaven and earth to get her home as fast as possible. It just seems like the whole adoption business is crawling along. I can't imagine that any of the people involved in processing the paperwork have any motivation to get their rears in gear. It's just a job, day after day. To them it's what they do for a living, to us, it's our life.

We sent a box this week to Holly. Tim bought some clothes for her, I put a blanket and some toys and another camera in the box, along with a bag of suckers for the kids in the orphanage.

This week did bring a surprise. A friend from work, Emily, asked if it was ok to buy the DS for Holly that we were planning to pick up to take with us to China. That was such a sweet request, and both Tim and I were so touched that she would want to do that. I know Holly is going to love it.

We got our LID!!!!!

Josh emailed me today with our official log in date. It is August 7th. WOO HOO!!!

Now we just wait for LOA.

I was really expecting a LID on the 14th, so one less week of waiting is fine with me.

With the average wait time for LOA being 70 days, I am projecting a date of October 16th for when we get ours. It could be sooner or later than that, and I am hoping for sooner. It would be incredible if we could get LOA in September.

It's on it's way!!!

Josh from SWA just emailed me that our dossier is on it's way to China right now!!!

It should arrive this week, and be logged in officially sometime this week or next. We won't know for sure, I wouldn't think, until a few weeks from now when CCAA relays that date to SWA and they let us know what it is. Or, perhaps because it is being hand delivered, it will be logged in right away, and we will know that date basically the same day or the day after. I have no idea, but, it will be fun to watch.

We have finally arrived at the point where it is in China's hands.

Long weekend

Wouldn't it just figure that one piece of paper is what our dossier is waiting on before Lily can take it to China. WIAA needs to send SWA a letter of agreement that states they are working together as Hague approved agencies to process this adoption. Since Utah has the odd practice of celebrating it's very own State holiday on the 24th of July, and my dossier did not return to SWA in Tennesee until then, Josh was not able to reach anyone in the WIAA offices to get that letter sent ASAP. Everything shuts down on the 24th of July, to celebrate Pioneer Day honoring the pioneers that settled Utah and recognizing the date that they first entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At least I think it was 1847. Having grown up in Maryland puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to all things pioneer, and leaves me wondering why it needs to be a State holiday, shutting down banks, government offices, etc...

So, when Josh tried to reach someone at the WIAA offices in Ogden, he got an answering machine, which he left a message on, and we will just have to wait until Monday, when the office is open, before we can make things happen.

Still, as long as we can get it done on Monday, we will be ok. I sent Beesh at WIAA an email, which I know she always responds to within hours, and I will be calling her first thing Monday morning, to get that expedited. Hopefully, it can be faxed. We must have this agreement for the dossier, in order for China to know these two agencies are in a working relationship.

Dossier complete

Our dossier is complete, all documents are in. This week, Lily from China (she is the in-china agency rep that found Holly) is in the US and will be taking our dossier with her back home. She will hand deliver it to the CCAA herself. This is very unusual, as dossier's are normally mailed by the agency, but, Lily has taken a personal interest in Holly's case. It makes me feel better to know it won't run the risk of being lost in the mail.

As soon as it is delivered, CCAA will look it over, and log it in officially to be reviewed. That will be our official Log In Date (LID). We start counting from LID to letter of approval (LOA). Once we get that, we finish the process with US immigration by sending the form I800 to have a Visa prepared for Holly. Immigration sends the US consulate in Guangzhou, China notification of our case and that we will be traveling to China to adopt this child. The consulate forwards, through our agency rep, probably Lily again, that notification, and Lily includes our LOA, to the CCAA so they can issue a Travel Approval (TA) letter allowing us to make our consulate appointment and travel arrangements. So, literally, we have just three more steps before we can travel, LOA, I800, and TA.

Moving along

Our application letter is back from the Utah Secretary of State and making it's way, as we speak, to Washington DC to complete the same process our dossier just went through, so, if all goes well, we might see it back next week. Crossing fingers, toes, and eyes. I had thought it could jump over that step, but, it ended up being required that it be Utah State certified, so, another delay, but, a needful one to avoid problems later on during the review in China.

Waiting for LID

Our letter of application had to be sent to Washington to be authenticated. Another detail we were not told about, but, has to be done. It was sent Fedex on Monday, so should already be through the certification and in the middle of the authentication, and on its way back to Small World the first of next week. Then, it all goes to China and we get our official Log In Date(LID), which means that our paperwork was officially received by the CCAA and is being processed in order along with all the other dossiers that have been sent.

Normally, the LID is about two weeks after it was sent, not because it necessarily takes that long to get there, but, that is how long it is typically taking for them to enter it in the log as having been received. We may not know this date for a month though, as China is notoriously slow in sending that or any kind of information. They just don't see the need to rush I guess.

Everyone that is currently waiting for LOA right now (Letter Of Approval which means we can proceed with the final paperwork to prepare to travel) is seeing a long wait, averaging 90 days. Some have gone as long at 117 days, and others, about 55 days, with the shortest wait being 28 days, no one understands how they got LOA so fast, and it was the only one so far to come that soon.

There was a rumor, probably pretty accurate, that the CCAA wasn't sending LOA's because of H1N1. They wanted to slow down the influx of foreigners for a bit, and it has actually helped with the outbreaks in their country. The families currently waiting are going a bit stir crazy though, and have been hearing that LOA's may come in this week for a lot of them. I hope things speed up, maybe getting the average down to about 40 days or so. If it stays as is, we won't see ours until the end of October, and with the remaining wait for a travel approval letter (TA) we won't travel until December, and we might miss her 5th birthday. I really don't want to miss another one, so, am praying for things to really speed up.

Done and done

Finally, after 11 months, and so many delays, snafus, wrong turns, and frustrations, our adoption dossier is on its way to the agency for its final translation into Chinese and then the agency, Small World, will send it to the CCAA for the final review, which can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days.

Whatever happens, I know it will be the Lord's will, because, if any of the aforementioned craziness hadn't happened exactly as it did, we would not have found our Holly. So, if there are more delays, or if things go much faster, it will be because that is how it needs to happen.

Right now, we are looking at traveling in the Fall, and really hope we can have her home before her birthday in December.

27 days since LOI

It has been 27 days since we sent our LOI for Holly, and 21 days since we received PA.

WAAAHOOO!!! Our dossier is complete!!!

It came today via Fedex. The completely certified, and authenticated dossier of all the documents we need to bring Holly home.

Now, we send it, along with our agency fees, to Small World adoptions, they will translate it and send it to China for the final, and I do mean final, review.

In tracking the package we sent to Holly, it arrived in China on Thursday the 25th, so, I am hopeful that she has received it by now, and knows who her new family will be. I wonder what she thinks of us, and if she feels any connection at all. I'm just so excited, and anxious to get to China to bring her home.

Just one more week

I contacted Steve at the Assistant Stork today, asking what the status is of our dossier. The State Dept had a death of a co-worker, and that delayed processing of our dossier a bit. It is now at the Chinese Consulate, and is expected to be done on Friday. Hopefully, that means it will be on its way back to us on Friday.

Time goes slowly by

Waiting for our dossier to be completed and sent back to us is going slowly. Still, they should be done today and on their way back to us, arriving next week. Once they are here, we will combine our family life photos, and passport photos with the dossier of documents, package them, and send them to our agency along with our next fee installment. Then, they will be translated into Chinese, and sent to the CCAA to be gone over with a fine tooth comb. This is where our notaries, and time stamps are most important.

As long as all is well, the CCAA will send us a LOA. They usually take months to send these out, average being 90 days, but, today I saw posted on another adoption website that someone received their LOA in less than 30 days, so, perhaps things are speeding up. Doesn't matter to us, really. We have planned a late fall trip, so, earlier would be ok, but, we are already settling in for the wait.

We sent Holly a package of gifts. Mailed yesterday. We sent her a backpack with a couple of Disney stuffed animals, hair barrettes, bracelets, and rings, a play sleeping beauty cell phone, a cute sucker shaped like a Daisy. I also put some fruit snacks to share with some of her friends at the orphanage. We put together a photo album with pictures of all of us, our house, some of the things we do, and put subtitles in both english and simple chinese. I made a coloring book for her by typing out the story of our adoption trip. For instance, page one talks about how Tim, Matthew and I will be coming to China on a big airplane. I pasted a picture of an airliner and pasted the dialogue in both english and simple chinese. Each page had a space where I had Myleigh draw a picture of what that page is about, so on that page she drew an airplane with our faces peeking out of the windows. I then laminated the page, and bound them all together as a book. I sent washable markers and an eraser for her to use to color, erase, and color again. I asked, in a note, for the staff at the orphanage to read her the story and let her color the pages. We are hoping this will help Holly to understand at least to some degree what is going to happen when she leaves the orphanage. Maybe she will have less stress, since there won't be so many unknowns, and as each page is fulfilled, she will recognize it, and know what is coming next. Like checking off a calendar.

We will send her another package, unless things move quickly, with a few things, but, this is basically the big package. I have been gathering some things to take with us to China, toys, some clothing items, etc, but, most of what we will get her we will wait until we have her in China and take her shopping for, to make sure we get the right sizes. It will also be a way of passing some of the down time we will have while waiting for her passport before going to Guangzhou.

Packing lists, yes already.

I am trying to keep myself busy while I wait for our dossier to be authenticated, so, I decided I need to start picking up the things we will need for the trip a little at a time. In order to know what to get, I had to know how old she is and what part of the country she is in, and what time of year we might be traveling. Since getting the referral, I know that she is 4 years old and wears about a 4t in clothing. She lives in a sub-tropical climate, which means, even in winter it only gets down into the mid 40's during the day, and we will likely be traveling in the Fall at about mid 60's to 70's during the day. The last few days of the trip will be in Guangzhou, which is even warmer, so, we may not need the warm coats unless they are expecting cold temps, which we will know when we get a bit closer to traveling. I am planning for that contingency by leaving room in our carryons for the coats.

I've divided the packing into several lists. A list for each of us, Tim-myself-Matthew, and a master packing list. I also have a running shopping list that will be updated as we get the things on the list.

When packing for a trip like this, you consider the fact that you won't be far from a Walmart or other store, but, you may have a sick or grieving child that would prevent getting out to the store for at least a few days. Also, it will be a two week long trip, and while we will have the laundry done a few times, we don't want to risk running out of clean clothes, especially if we get stuck in China due to weather or some other unexpected delay.

The last trip to China to bring Myleigh home I took a veritable medicine cabinet, and while I didn't use hardly any of it, I was so glad I had it. This time, I will again bring plenty of American medicines, enough for all of us for two weeks.

I won't need to bring too many clothing items for Holly, since we will be taking her shopping in China, but, again, not knowing what her health or state of mind may be, I will bring several outfits to be on the safe side.

In case of lost luggage, I always distribute clothing evenly among all the luggage so no one gets to China and finds they have no clothes to wear because their suitcase got lost or misdirected.

My packing lists are on the side bar if you're interested.

PA has arrived today!!!!!

After only eight days, we received pre-approval from China to adopt our little Holly Jun. Our agency rep, Carol, was so excited at how fast this arrived that she sent the message in all CAPS. Now we can send Holly a package and start communicating with her. Tim wants to send her something special from her Daddy, possibly a locket with our picture in it. I have a lot of plans of things to send, and that includes the baby doll I bought for her this week. I plan to put together a box that includes a picture book of photographs of each of us holding her baby doll, and just pictures of our house, inside and out. I will have to talk to the Half The Sky program reps to see what they suggest we send and what they think we should not send.

Now, finally, I can post her picture on our blog.

So far so good.

I sent our dossier packet to the Assistant Stork on Monday, and Steve called me today to tell me they arrived this morning. There was one glitch, and it was the I797c. Apparently you don't send the original, you make a photocopy, have it notarized, state certified and then authenticated. Since we didn't do that and no one told us we needed to, I sent the original, and he called right away to let me know about the problem and offered to fix it. He was so wonderful, and is making the photocopy, having it notarized, and then will take it onto the state dept for the final steps. He said this wasn't the first time this happened, and that he was confident in the fix. We'll pay a little extra for the extra trips he will make to Washington DC, and for the notary, but, that's not as big a deal as if we had to do all those steps ourselves. We would have had to wait until Monday to do the state certification, since that was going to be my first day off. Then, wait the week for it to come back, and then send it to him for the remainder of the steps. That would have easily added weeks to the process.

As it stands, with Steve doing this for us, he expected to have the documents to the State Dept on Tuesday, pick them up later that day, drop them off to the Chinese consulate that afternoon, and then it's about 4 days later that he can pick them up. We may just have the whole thing in our hands by the end of the following week, and then can send them onto Small World to be sent to China.

We have finally chosen a name for our little Cricket. After seeing her face, and getting to know a bit about her, we chose Holly Jun Nicole Anderson.

More interesting facts

Ok, so, years ago when we initially planned our adoption, I told Tim that this child was "his". I just felt that she had a strong connection to him, more than just that she would be his daughter, but, that perhaps this adoption was a promise he had made.

Anyway, in reading the interesting facts about her home province Hubei is known as the "Minneosta of China" because of its many lakes. Since Tim was born and raised in Minnesota, this just strikes me as a very interesting coincidence.

Interesting facts

I learned today that the provinces that Myleigh and Jun are from share an interesting link. Myleigh is from the Hunan province and Jun is from the Hubei province. The name Hubei means "north of the lake, and Hunan means "south of the lake". The lake they refer to is East lake. Both girls were brought from the East "China" to the west "US". I found this very interesting. There is a good chance we will be staying at the East Lake hotel in Wuhan, Hubei, so, that would be a fun fact to add to this journey.

Another fun fact, both Myleigh and Jun's Chinese names mean "pretty".

Jun's referral was sent to us on Myleigh's birthday. We didn't open it until June 1st. We sent our paperwork for Myleigh's adoption, to China on June 12 of 2002. Myleigh was found on June 11 2002. Our referral was sent to us for Myleigh in June 2003. It arrived July 3rd, 2003.

The month prior to both girls referrals, there was a pandemic that affected the world, for Myleigh it was SARS, for Jun it was H1N1.

Huang Fu Jun

Our new daughter is Huang Fu Jun. She is 4 years old and lives in the Huangshi social welfare institute in Hubei, China. She was born on December 5th 2004, the year of the monkey. She is a healthy, waiting child.

This is what the remaining process looks like.

We have sent a letter of interest (LOI) to the CCAA. They will then send back to our agency a Pre-Approval letter (PA). Once we have the PA, we send our dossier which is still in the authentications process. When the CCAA recieves our dossier, they will give it an official log in date (LID), and we will then wait for a letter of approval (LOA) which means our adoption is officially approved by China.

At that point, we send our LOA to USCIS along with a new form I800, and they will then send paperwork (DS230) to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, telling them about our adoption. Our agency rep in Guangzhou will pick up a copy of that document, and take it to the CCAA along with other documents. From that paperwork the CCAA issues a travel approval letter (TA) which is sent to our agency.

When we have the TA, our agency makes an appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou to have our adoption paperwork finalized and our daughter declared a US citizen just before we leave China.

The timing of this appointment is very important, as it dictates all of our other official appointments. We cannot enter the US without the consulate approval of her travel Visa. We will need about a week, maybe five days, in her province to have her adoption finalized as far as China is concerned, and a passport issued for her to leave the country. Once we have her passport and her China paperwork is done, we have to take her to the approved clinic in Guangzhou for a quick check of her overall health, confirm she is the child we were expecting, and to have her immunizations done prior to entering the US. She will also need a picture taken for her Visa. That takes a day or so, and then the agency rep meets with the consulate to have all our paperwork looked over for correctness. The next day we bring our daughter with us to the consulate to swear that this is the child we were referred, and we promise to fulfill the obligations we signed off on in our paperwork, financial support etc.

Once all that is done, we are free to leave the country.

So, for right now, we wait for PA and finish the authentication of our dossier. We should be ready to send it to be logged in sometime the end of this month or beginning of next month.

Very close to an announcement

After the last time, we are not going to announce our big news until we have confirmation that the child we have requested has been locked and that nothing else can take her from us. Until then, I am sending our dossier to the dossier courier in Washington DC for the final steps.

Beginning of a busy week

I dropped off our Utah documents at the Lt Governor's office on Wednesday, and they said three to five days before we should expect to see them back in the mail. With the Memorial Day holiday this weekend, I'm looking at Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest, but, really, expect them to come on Friday.

Once they are back, I will package all the docs up and send them to my courier in Washington DC to have the authentications done at the US Secretary of State office, and the Chinese Consulate.

In the meantime, we can work on getting our passport size pictures taken, and take some candid family life photos. We should get Matthew's passport going, too.

Mindy's pageant is this Saturday, so, the preparations for that will keep my mind off everything.

Sad News

We lost our referral of the little girl we hoped to adopt. another agency found out about her and locked her file before we could. So, we continue to wait and search.

We have found her!!!

After such a long process, and so much searching, we have found our little cricket. Her name is Qu Le Yong, and she lives in Guangdong province. She is four years old, turns 5 on August 15th. We can't post pictures of her yet, as we don't have approval from China for the adoption, so, until that happens, all I can tell you is, she is so adorable, and has a very interesting story.

We dropped off the rest of our documents for state certification, and then we can complete our dossier and send it to China. The agency that she is listed with is Small World Adoptions. I feel pretty good about them, but, don't know as much as I will after doing more research. They come highly recommended by other adoptive parents, so , that is always a good sign.

Once our dossier is ready, which will probably be about a month or so, we will have to wait until it is approved by China. I will be looking into how long that is currently taking, but, I am thinking we will be waiting through the summer. We will miss her birthday, but, I am praying that we can at least have the pre approval in time for us to send her a birthday present.

I just can't express how much I love her already. I just can't stop looking at her pictures.

She is one of the two little girls that were on the Special Needs list that really don't belong there. She is healthy, happy, growing normally, and get this, she loves to pretend her toy cars are Police cars and she is catching the "bad people". For now we will call her Le Le which is her pet name in the orphanage, but, will choose a more permanent name. In Chinese, the name the orpahanage gave her, Le Yong, means beautiful music. She loves to sing, and make up her own words to songs.

Ill post more about her as I sort through all the referral information, but, for now, Im doing the Snoopy dance.

Big week ahead

This week brings with is many paperwork and financial challenges.

I need to get up to the Capital to get the dossier State certified. That will cost about $100.

Mindy's costume for the pageant is ready to be picked up from the seamstress, and I am thinking that will cost around $500.

I need to get rhinestones for Mindy's pageant swimsuit, too.

Tomorrow I have a training to go to in the morning, then lessons for Mindy in the afternoon. Tuesday is a four hour staff meeting, and Wednesday is the city council meeting where Mindy presents her platform for Miss Salem.

Thursday Im back at work for four hours, and then more lessons for Mindy. I work all weekend, and, it's Memorial Day weekend so we will be hammered in Dispatch.

Somewhere in there I need to start stoning the costume and swimsuit. The end of next week is the pageant. Phew. Gotta keep moving, or as Dori says, just keep swimming , just keep swimming.

We're approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just recieved an email from our USCIS agent telling me the following:


Good morning.

Your I-800A application was reviewed and approved on May 12. It was put in the mail that day so you should be getting it any time now.
Congratulations!

Kirk Giffen

It's official, we are on our way. Now, as soon as it gets here in the mail, I will be walking it, along with the rest of our paperwork, into the Utah Secretary of State's office for certification. Then, pack it all up and send it to Washington DC to the U.S. Secretary of State office for their authentication, and then, onto the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC for final authentication.

At that point we will need to know who we are using for our placing agency, as they will need to send it onto Beijing, China to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) office to be logged in (LID) and then reviewed for their approval of our adoption of a special needs child. Yes, another wait. Probably shorter than the last one though, I hope.

Paperwork almost complete

I sent the updated homestudy to USCIS yesterday. It should arrive on Friday. I haven't done this before, so, Im not sure how it will all turn out, but, I expect that, if this is the only thing holding up our approval, we should be immediately approved.

When USCIS issues an approval, they send you an email that day with that document, and then a hard copy arrives in the mail about two weeks later. I am hoping we get that email early next week.

Baby steps

After two weeks, finally, Tom Baxter has sent the addendum to USCIS.

I called Beesh yesterday to see if there was any news from Tom since he has never answered my emails, and I couldn't find his phone number. She said she had just spoken with him and that he had finally received the paperwork from her last week, which is a contradiction to what she had told be before, but, oh well, and he had finished writing the addendum and was preparing to send it out. I'm hoping that means this week. All I can really say at this point is, I would not adopt through WIAA. Thankfully, this should be the last dealing we have with them until we do our post placement visits and 6 months post adoption and 18 months post adoption.

Changes in the wind

We may be changing agencies after all. In calculating the costs we will end up paying for Mr Li's, AAI's in country attorney, travel expenses , and what we get for our money just doesnt seem worth it. AAI ends up being over $3000 more expensive than the other agency we are looking at, Families Through International Adoption(FTIA).

AAI wants $5075 up front to send our dossier to China. FTIA only wants $3000.
AAI charges $3350 for the referral and associated expenses, FTIA charges $1000.
AAI will then want us to pay $6180 in China for the remaining adoption fees, plus, we have to pay for Mr. Li's airfare, room, board and expenses if our daughter is in a province other than Guangdong, where he lives, plus, we have to pay his taxi fares and a daily fee regardless of which province she is in for Mr Li to complete the paperwork portion of the adoption, and then, he won't even spend any time helping us get to or from the airports, or help us navigate China when we aren't on official appointments.

FTIA charges $7560 in China, and provides a full time guide who stays in the same hotel we are in, and accompanies us at all official appointments, assists with the paperwork, and will be our escort wherever we go, including to and from the airports. Baseline difference is $3045 which would end up closer to $4000 to $5000 with Mr Li's expenses, depending on where in China our daughter is.

So, we are seriously going through the process of switching agencies, just waiting for the new list to come out just in case she is on AAI's private list. If she isn't, we are switching.

This week will likely have our paperwork moving forward again, with the i797c USCIS approval, finally.

Then, onto the Utah Secretary of State, and then the whole dossier goes off to Washington for the paperwork courier service to have US certified and Chinese Embassy authenticated. Then, we are done.

It's all coming together, I think.

Hooray for California

It finally came. Beesh from WIAA just called me to tell me that Jared from California called her this morning to ask for her email address. He immediately sent over our clearance, and she faxed it, along with the others, over to Tom Baxter for him to write the addendum.

Now we just wait for him to get that done and sent to USCIS, and we should hear from them shortly after they recieve it.

Phew, we are so close, it is almost scary.

Sigh

Another week has come and gone, and still we are waiting to complete our immigration paperwork.

It would appear that Jared in California did not locate a manager to sign the form, and it will have to wait until the office managers get back in town next week. I guess we will just have to be patient through this last weekend, and hopefully, next week will be full of progress.

It is highly likely that, once WIAA receives the email from Jared, they will send the addendum to USCIS showing all our backgrounds completed. USCIS may well be ready to just email us the approval letter in advance of it being mailed to us. We could be approved by the week's end.

Well, maybe I should be happy with the week after that.

Once I get that email, I will be off to the state capital to finalize our dossier.

Almost, but, not quite

Well, I spoke to Sharon in California yesterday and she said her part of the background clearance was done and that she forwarded our paperwork over to someone named Jared. So, I called him today and after searching through about 500 (according to him) other documents, he found ours, and that he just needed to have a manager sign it and he would then email it to Wasatch.

So, it's done, but, the problem is that all the managers are out of the office til next week, at least all the managers who usually sign those clearances. He said he was going to try to find a manager to sign it, and hopefully he will get it to Beesh by tomorrow.

Ky said our medical clearances will be good for a year, so, I am stressing a lot less now about that, but, still, can we get this over with please.

Patiently waiting

Our Minnesota, Idaho and South Dakota clearances are all in. Still waiting for California.

Mindy's pageant stuff is getting busier and busier. She had dinner with Miss Utah and Miss Salem last night, with the other contestants. Now we have a hair appointment on Saturday, pictures next week, and a host of other activities over the next 6 or so weeks until the pageant.

If California doesnt come in by tomorrow, I will be calling Sonya at the Ca office on Monday morning.

Still waiting

Tim's South Dakota background clearance came in on Monday. Still waiting for California and Idaho.

I've been so busy with Mindy's pageant prep stuff that I haven't been able to dwell on it, so, that's good. Next week, though, things won't be so busy. Gotta get this stuff done.

Hope for the week to come

Here I am on Saturday, sitting at work, wondering if this week will bring forward movement with our USCIS approval. We need to have our California background check come in, and I believe it will. The lady at the office in Ca. seemed to be on the ball when I spoke to her last week. She was very helpful, and it all sounded done except for the paper she needed from WIAA. I know they got that on Thursday, so, hopefully that will come in early next week.

We are waiting on Tim's background clearances from Idaho and South Dakota. We haven't heard anything from them, so, if nothing comes in next week, I will have to start making phone calls.

This whole mess is due to the Hague treaty requiring background checks done for every state, and/or, country you have lived since you were 18 years old. We have lived in Utah for 26 years, but, that isn't good enough for the Hague. Luckily, Tim was stationed at only one air base the entire four years he was in the Air Force, so, that cut down the number of places to check.

Oh please, let it all come in this week so we can finally get our paperwork finished. Now that Mindy is done with Nationals and the play, we only have Miss Salem to prepare for, so, my mind is starting to have more time to think about the adoption. Not a good thing.

still crawling forward

Our Minnesota background checks came in today, both clear, of course. We had two paperwork delays, one for Tim's SD background check, Beesh sent us the wrong form, so we corrected that and sent it again.
The second was a request from CA for the agency, WIAA, to send them an official request to have the background done, which was faxed yesterday. No word on Idaho, so far.

Tim's birth certificate came back in all certified and ready to go.

Just waiting on the backgrounds, one down, three to go.

Another step forward

Our marriage certificate and my birth certificate are both back all nicely certified and ready to be packed with the dossier. Maryland is so fast, I was astonished that they came back so quickly. Hopefully, everything else will go this smoothly from here on out.

Beginning of a long week

This week is probably going to be the longest of them all. Everything will be in limbo while all the paperwork is processed. I am praying that next week I can start to see some things coming in. It may be the week after, but, oh please, let it be next week. The good news is, once it starts to roll in, it should happen very quickly and our paperwork will finally be done. I can wait a bit longer for that.

Paperchasing

Myleigh asked me why I call it paperchasing when the paper can't move, it just sits there.

Today I mailed out all the background check forms for South Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, and California. Yesterday I sent off my birth certificate and our marriage certificate for certification in Maryland. Tomorrow I will be sending Tim's birth certificate, which finally came in the mail, back to Minnesota for certification.

When the background checks come back, I expect our USCIS approval will be quickly on its way. Once it arrives, I will take it and all the Utah documents up to the state capital for certification. Then, we will be done with our end of the paperchase.

Background checks

I should have actually predicted this, but, we just barely got the applications for background checks from WIAA. Apparently, they moved offices and in the change over, somehow, in this age of technology and portability, they did not have computer access to get the info to me until Friday. We have waited two weeks since finding out about their failure, and now, we have to continue to wait while these checks are processed.

I know I should be patient, and that all things happen for a reason, but, it's hard to accept that they could not access this info from another computer somewhere, especially since it was their error not ours.

I do work from home, everyone does work from home, everyone has access to a computer, even if it means going to the local library. How could it take two weeks? I guess it will all make sense eventually.

So, today is about getting our paperwork together and packed up for mailing or faxing tomorrow. Then, more waiting.

Dossier status

Now that we have nearly all the documents we need, this is the status of our dossier to date.

I need to get our marriage certificate and my birth certificate packaged and sent to the Maryland Secretary of State for authentication.

I am waiting for the I800a from the USCIS, and then will package all the Utah documents and walk them into the Utah Secretary of State office for authentication.

As soon as Tims birth certificate gets here, I will turn that right back around and send it to the Minnesota Secretary of State office for authentication.

I need to take a bunch of family life photos, make copies of both our passport pages, and we both need to have 3 or 4 passport sized photos taken.

Our financial statement is being notarized probably tonight.

Once all the authentications are done, we package all of it up and send it to AAI for them to get the final authentications from the United States Secretary of State, and, the Chinese consulate in Washington DC, and then it is sent to China.

Truly, the longest part of the process is almost over. Once the I800a gets here, the rest will go pretty fast. Then we just look for our little girl, and wait for PreApproval (PA) from China.

Oh boy, a big step forward.

Today we had our fingerprints done for USCIS (immigration) and both passed with no problems. We were in and out of the office in about 15 minutes. I am so relieved.

Also, our marriage certificate arrived in the mail today. Finally, I can send the Maryland and the Utah documents to be state certified.

All we are waiting on now is Tim birth certificate, and the background checks from Ca, SD, MN, and Id to come back and our I800a should be quickly approved.

and yet another step back

Did we even make any progress, it's hard to see if we did at this point.

The agency that did our homestudy, WIAA, failed to complete the background checks in all states we have lived since we were 18. Tim lived in Mn, SD, ID, CA, and Ut, and I lived in MN, CA, and UT. They only checked Utah, and since we have lived here for 26 years, except for the three months in California back in 1986, it really seems foolish to me that we have to jump through this hoop, but, it's a Hague convention requirement, and most of their requirements are fairly rediculous anyway.

I am not the least bit concerned about the checks, they will be routine, and hopefully quick. It's just that it adds more weeks, probably, to this process. Since we still don't have our marriage cert, and Tim's birth cert has been delayed by weeks, I guess that's not going to be a huge hairy deal, but, still, I just want this part to be over already.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and another step back

USCIS processing office sent me an email today asking for clarification on the other places we have lived since we were 18. I looked in our homestudy, and sure enough, it was not spelled out that those places were checked and cleared.

I mailed Tim's birth cert request again. I emailed a copy of the letter from USCIS to both Beesh at WIAA and to our SW Tom.

Please, don't let this be the other shoe I keep waiting for. I still have not seen our marriage certificate come in the mail, it seems to be taking a very long time. Sigh

Two steps forward one step back

Well, we got our fingerprint appointments scheduled for March 6th, which is this Friday. Then I got the application for Tim's birth certificate returned to me in the mail. I had somehow, adoption brain or something, post dated the check for March. So, they returned the whole thing to me. ARGH!!!

Tomorrow I will mail it out, again, and pray it doesn't take too long.

We're logged in

The paper came in the mail today from USCIS. Our documents were received on Feb 11th. That isn't our official log in date, but, pretty close to it. I have sent an email to USCIS for confirmation of the actual log in date, but, it should be within a few days of the 11th. Our fingerprint appointment should be some time in March, possibly the first week in March. Approvals are taking around 30 days, so, we may know if we have been approved for immigration of a Chinese orphan by, oh, about March 15th or so.

I am packaging the Utah documents, all 7 of them, to be certified by the Utah Secretary of State's office. That will take a few weeks, which is fine, since our I800a approval from USCIS will be about a month away anyway. I am still waiting on Tim birth cert and our marriage cert to get here, so I can get them state certified in their respective states.

Then, our paperchase is done, and everything gets authenticated in Washington DC. We are almost done.

Just waiting

It has been 18 days since we sent our USCIS paperwork in. Several other families that sent theirs on the same day have recieved word that their documents are being reviewed. We have not gotten any news yet, but, I am not going to fret about that til we get closer to the end of next week and have not heard anything by then.

Tim's birth cert and our marriage cert are not back yet either, but, again, not worrying about that yet.

In watching the stats for USCIS approvals, it is getting even shorter, with the average being about 30 days now, so, we may actually, barring any problems, be approved in the next two weeks. That would be incredible, since the approvals were taking until 90 days minimum when we started this process in September.

Final documents

Today the forms to request Tim's birth certificate and our marriage certificate went to Minnesota and Maryland, respectively. Expect to see those come in sometime in March at the latest.

Now all I have to do is complete the financial statement and get it notarized. Then, all of the Utah documents can be sent to the Utah Secretary of State for certification of the notaries. As soon as Tim's birth certificate comes back, I will turn that right around and send it back to Minnesota for certification, and when our marriage certificate comes in, I will package that up with my birth certificate and send them both to the Maryland secretary of state for certifications. Then, when all documents are certified by their respective states, I will package them up, and send them to Ky at AAI for authentication, unless she doesn't do that. The paperwork says she does, but, I have found that the paperwork isn't always accurate or up to date, so, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Authentications are no big deal, I can handle that myself if need be.

Then, we need to send for Matthew's passport, since he is going to travel with us to pick up his little sister.

I800a today!!!

Well, today we sent the I800a packet to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) office. From the way the approvals have been going, we expect our next timeline to look something like this.

Date of receipt (the date the USCIS stamps our documents as being officially received in their office for processing. Probably about 1 to 2 weeks from today.

Fingerprint appointment. Probably one month from the Date of receipt. We will then go up to Salt Lake to have our fingerprints taken at their office.

Any requests for further information, clarification, etc, will happen during this month's time.

Approval, which right now is taking anywhere from 48 to 60 days from date of receipt to approval.

HOMESTUDY APPROVED!!!!!!

I have it in my hand, the first draft of our approved homestudy. We can now, finally, say that we are adopting from China again.

Tom emailed me the first draft, asking me to look it over and make any corrections I needed to. Just a few here and there, nothing big, and now we move on to getting the USCIS approval, which is really based on what the homestudy says.

So far, so good.

Almost done with homestudy

So, I sent, via return email, the information he wanted, which was very thorough descriptions of the children living in the home, interests, talents, accomplishments, education, etc, and very basic information on the adult children living outside the home.

He said it was something new, that the Hague treaty made necessary or our homestudy would get bogged down with questions.

I also have sent through email, copies of our scanned police clearances.

So, now we wait.

Finally

The reference letters are all in. The homestudy is being finalized, as so far, no indications of a problem. Tom's email had to be resent to my work email. I had called yesterday to see if he had gotten my email for him to reply to on Sunday, and he said yes and that he had replied immediately to it with the information he needed. I don't know why I never got it, but, I gave him my work email and he resent it with no problem.

He just wanted some basic descriptions of the kids, and I have already sent that to him, as well as, copies of our police clearances, which will be faxed on Thursday. So, that's it. Now, after Thursday, we just wait for him to write it and send up the copies. As long as it all goes well, we can then submit our paperwork to USCIS just as soon as we have that homestudy in hand.

That means we wait again. Once they get our paperwork, they send us a fingerprinting appointment for us to go up to Salt Lake, to the local USCIS fingerprinting office, and have them done there. Then we wait again for the approval from them and we are done. Again, as long as it all goes well, we could be done with all the waiting on paperwork in a few months, tops. Maybe less than two, who knows. The process is speeding up, so, we'll have to wait and see.

Im just relieved he wasn't telling us that we weren't going to be approved. At least not yet.

Ahhhh!!!

OK, I called Tom this morning, and he said he had emailed me some questions he needs to have answered, but, couldn't remember what email address he had sent them to. I never received any emails from him, so, I asked for his email address, and said I would send him a message for him to reply to with the questions. That way, I knew he wouldn't get the wrong email address.

Well, that was at 9am, and it is almost 2pm, still no reply from him.

He hasn't called the house, and I am at work, so, it's difficult to call him, but, I may call again in a bit if I don't see an email soon. I really don't want to bother anyone on Sunday, but, this is so important.

On the edge of my seat

I was getting ready for bed last night, about 10pm, and noticed the light on our bedroom phone flashing that we had a message. No one told me about a message, so, I went downstairs to check. It ended up being a voice message, and when I played it back, it was our social worker Tom, saying he has some questions in writing our study.


Questions!!, that's all he said, Questions!! I don't know what that means. Does he want to just clarify some of the information he is writing, or is there a problem that might deny us? AAHHHH!!!

Since it was so late, I didn't feel good about calling him then, but, brought his number with me this morning and will call him from work later on. Please, Please, don't be anything wrong.

Going into turtle mode, pulling my head and arms inside my shell and hoping nothing bad is going to happen.

and the beat goes on

I feel so somber today. Just trying to patiently wait for that last reference letter to be confirmed in. Heidi said she sent hers in, again, on Wednesday, and we asked two other people if they would send reference letters, Frank Harter and Melanie Meacham. Both said yes, and Franks was mailed Wednesday morning. Not sure the status on Melanie's.

It only takes one, maybe two days at the outside for mail to go from Salem to Ogden, so, Frank's letter could be there today. Beesh at WIAA said she would email me to let me know when any reference letters arrive, so I can relax about it. Once the letter is in, no matter who's it is, Beesh will be forwarding it onto Tom so he can finalize our homestudy report.

I'm really not overly anxious. Just a bit pensive.

USCIS wait times are coming down. We may only have to wait a month or two for approval on that. There is also a rumor that things are going to be speeding up at the CCAA, so, that is good news.

I was afraid of this

Just as I predicted, the one thing that could go wrong is that a reference letter could be delayed. Well, that happened. Heidi says she sent it in twice now, and is going to send it again today.

I don't know what has happened. All the other three, including one from out of state, have come in. So, we have asked two more friends to write and send in letters, and hopefully, one of them will arrive sometime this week or next. This is the only thing holding up our homestudy.

Beesh still won't say, or can't say, if we are all set to be approved. She also has not said that we are not likely to be approved, or what possible difference one reference letter is going to make to that decision. Perhaps she hasn't asked Tom if we are being given a positive homestudy report or not. All I know is this is keeping me guessing, and I never like to guess.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Waiting, waiting

Have not heard back from Tom since his last visit. According to Beesh at WIAA they have all of our documents except one reference letter. I was concerned that one reference letter could hold us up, and just pray that isn't happening already.

It's New Years day and I know we may not hear anything until Monday, since most offices probably won't open for just one day this week. It would be great if they did, but, I'm trying to keep myself open to the possibility that nothing is going to happen for the rest of the week.

It's agonizing to not know if we have cleared that hurdle yet, or not. If Beesh could just tell me that we are approved, and are just waiting for that last letter to make it final, that would help me wait. I would think that, if there was a problem, we would have been contacted. Still, last time around, this was the point where we found out we were not going to be approved. The not knowing is the hardest part.

After this hurdle, we have to clear the USCIS approval.