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.