Better Day

After all of my complaining yesterday, it ended up being a good day.  I received news that my package to Natalie arrived and will be delivered to her in the next few days.  Last night I got an email from the Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou telling me that our Article V has been issued, which is good news.  This means that our Travel Approval should definitely come in 3 weeks.  Usually it would be 2 weeks, but we are delayed due to the holiday in China.  

I talked to Holt yesterday about our chances of being able to leave on March 6th.  It is definitely possible, but several things do need to fall into place pretty quickly after we receive TA.  If we get it by 2/20 like I am hoping, that leaves us 2 full weeks to get the trip planned.  Holt has to make all of our in country arrangements in China for travel between the different provinces, etc.  They also have to receive permission from our province that we can come that week to get Natalie.  Apparently most provinces in China always grant permission, but there are a few that sometimes decline and make you wait until the next trip.  Well Natalie's province is one of those of course!  

Holt has now added another travel date the following week (March 15th) so even if we get delayed we will only have to wait a week.  We REALLY want to go on the 6th though because Luke is on spring break and will miss much less school, and our friends Pete and Addie are also going at that time to pick up their daughter.  We have walked through this adoption process with them after meeting at our parenting class back in April, and have said all along how great it would be to travel together.  I will push as hard as I can to make this happen so we can leave on the 6th, but as with everything else in this process, I can't control much.  

Please pray that -

Our TA will come by the 20th so Holt has enough time to get the arrangements made.

Natalie's province grants permission for us to come that week.

That we get her visa appointment in Guangzhou at the right time.


 

Waiting and Waiting

Speaking of being sick of waiting, here are the things we are waiting for right now:

Article V to be issued so that we can move on to travel approval. 

The gift I sent to Natalie 26 days ago to arrive in China so that it can be delivered to her at her orphanage.  When it gets there, they may or may not even give it to her.   That whole deal was way more complicated than I expected, and expensive.  The main thing is I really want the caretakers to use the disposable cameras I sent, so that we have something to show her of her life in the orphanage.

The update on Natalie that I requested 23 days ago now!  You are only allowed to ask for an update every 2-3 months.  Well I waited 2 months to ask for one and now I am waiting almost another month to hear back.  All I want is a few updated pictures, and current weigh/measurements.  Why is that so hard?????  I know the Holt staff is extra busy trying to get things done before the big Chinese New Year.  Still, my patience only goes so far.  I feel like I don't really even know what she looks like because all I have to go on are a few pictures.  I am not sure that I would even recognize her.

 

One More Traveler

We just decided to take Luke to China!  It will be Chad and I, my mom, and Luke.  It really would have decreased my stress level to figure this out before, since now we are rushing to get his passport and visa.  We have debated about taking our kids all along, but in the end, we just wanted to have that time with Natalie ourselves.  Once we started planning the tours and sightseeing, I felt like it would be too great of an experience for  Luke to miss.  He is excited and probably a little shocked.  I just picked him up at school one day and told him we needed to go get his passport picture immediately.  

It will still be awhile before we know for sure, but we are planning on leaving March 6th so that we can arrive in Beijing by the 7th.  We will spend a few days there, and then meet our daughter on March 11th.  The main thing we are waiting on is something called an Article V which I think I mentioned before.  It literally should be coming ANY MINUTE.  As soon as that is in, we will wait for our final travel approval, which normally takes about two weeks.  According to that timeline, we would have nothing to worry about as far as being ready to travel on March 6th.  The problem is that Chinese New Year falls on February 10th, and all government offices shut down for a week!  That means our travel approval will be delayed, and without it, Holt cannot schedule our final appointment in China at the US Consulate.  Until that appointment is made and confirmed, we will not know for sure that we can travel at that time.  
Worst case scenario is that we would go a week later, because the agency has added in another travel date on March 15th.  The not knowing and being able to plan is seriously annoying for someone like me!!!  I am just sick to death of waiting for things.   

Planning for Travel March 8th

We are getting excited for travel to China but also anxious about all that has to be done first.  After this very LONG, seemingly endless paperwork trail, we are only waiting on two more things.  Our agency sent our final documents to the US Consulate in China last week. Two or three weeks after that, the Consulate should issue an Article V, which is a formal request to the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) asking them to issue our TA (Travel Approval).  When you are adopting you have to learn what a lot of things stand for!  

In a few weeks after that, the CCAA will send our travel approvals to our agency and we can finally book tickets to fly to China.  The only travel dates that the agency does in March are March 1st and March 8th.  After that, the next opportunity would not be until April 5th.  Needless to say we are really hoping for March and based on where everything is right now, we should be good to go for March 8th departure.  Actually we are taking an optional trip to Beijing before heading to Natalie's province, so we would most likely leave on the 7th.  For something that once felt like it would never happen, I can't believe that this trip is probably only 7 weeks away.  Crazy.  I now have a "due date."  I am feeling the pressure to be ready for her and since January is so unbelievably busy for me, I don't feel ready at all. I guess that is good because it helps me to be patient with the waiting. 

 



 

Little Miss Natalie's Room

The transformation from Luke's old room to Natalie's new room.  Her crib will go right under the flower picture on the empty wall once we get it.  The bed is for someone to be able to sleep with her if she wants, which I have a feeling I will be doing!  It feels so much better to have things in place for her. 

Gifts for Natalie

I sent some gifts to Natalie this week.  I have no idea how long it will take for her to receive them, hopefully not too long since we will be going to get her in about 2 months!  There is a photo album that has a ton of pictures of our family, that her careworkers will show her in the orphanage.  I also sent a lullaby CD, blanket, stuffed animal, and a couple of disposable cameras.  I had read in one of my adoption books that if you send a disposable camera and you are lucky enough that the workers use it, you will have a lot of pictures of life in the orphanage.  I would love to be able to show her those someday.