3 Weeks for this… 3 Weeks for that…

So we are hoping that we get our National Visa Center approval sometime this week. If we do, it would be roughly three weeks since we submitted our paperwork to the US Consulate in China. After we receive the NVC approval, it is again, roughly three weeks before we will hear anything about our Travel Approval. After that, we were told that the local province needs about 10 days lead time in order to get all the paperwork together. So as it stands right now, we are looking at traveling about the first week of August.

There is one other Ningxia family who was supposed to travel in this week’s group, but their Travel approval did not arrive yet, so we are thinking we might end up traveling with them at the end of this month or the beginning of August. I can imagine how frustrated they must feel.



Things that help to pass the time:

Packing!! You might not think so, but “test” packing our bags so that we can weigh everything and make sure we are under 44 pounds really helps. I actually had to go out and buy a scale becuase we didn't own one.  So there was alot of "weigh me" then "weigh me + bag" in order to figure out whether we were ok weight-wise.  Saiya’s bag had to be unpacked and redistributed so that we could fit all of our clothes and still be underweight. At first try, Chris’s bag weighed about 60 pounds!! Needless to say, we had to rethink some of the things we were taking and do some creative packing.

Yard Work!! We have been slowly tearing out the palmetto palms in our back yard in order to make room for a deck. When I’m not working on the weekends, we have been cutting, trimming, and hauling those out of our yard. It really helps keep our minds off of the intense “hurry up and wait” that this process has become.

Shopping!! We have been shopping like crazy for clothes for the trip to China. I realized that it has been years since I actually went “shopping” for clothes. Yeah, I might buy one or two items here and there, but I have not been “shopping” in forever!! So we have been clothes shopping for shorts, light t-shirts, and other things to take with us to China.


That’s about it for now, we are still very excited and anxious to get going! We are ready to bring our little girl home!!

Happy Independence Day!

Today is one of the most important holidays in the United States.  The day we celebrate our Independence.  It's days like these that we really think about all the things we are going to get to introduce little Saiya to.  American Holidays are one of them!  There is so much to teach her.  Chris is very excited that we will get to teach her all about American BBQ!  Haha!  He's always thinking about food!

We are really hoping that we will be traveling to China in the next CAWLI group at the end of the month. 

Happy Independence Day!!

Looking back...

Today is July 1st.  We were supposed to be leaving one week from today to go to China.  But because we had a paperwork issue in the middle of the process, we have been pushed back to round about the end of this month.  If we had left when we were supposed to it would have been exactly one year and one day from the date of our intake interview with CAWLI.  Its amazing how much our lives have come to revolve around this little girl.  Everything we do and plan now includes plans and intentions for her.  It has been a very interesting year.  A LONG year.  I can't imagine what it would be like for those families having to wait almost four years for their children.  Chris and I talk about it alot.  I guess it makes a difference whether you are an older parent or younger one.  Our lives change rather quickly (just think about where we were four years ago).  Now I understand the age requirements for adoption and why they are so important.

Well, here's hoping that we hear about our Article 5 approval very soon (maybe today or tomorrow??).  Soon after that we should have the last piece of paperwork... the travel approval and then its off to CHINA!!

Shopping for the trip to China!!

So, we are hopeful that we will be traveling to China sometime in the next 4-5 weeks.  We have started to think about the things we want to bring with us and we have both come to the sad conclusion that we don’t have enough clothes!  So that means shopping!  We have been looking for shorts and other “cool” clothing because we know it’s going to be very hot in Hong Kong.  At the same time, we are preparing our luggage and making sure everything will fit and still be underweight.  China has a weight limit of 44 pounds for rail travel, so because we are not sure how we are going to be traveling while in China, we are trying to keep our luggage below that threshold.  We are definitely going to be doing laundry while we are over there.  We are also packing one or two “nice” outfits just in case we have meetings that require more professional/nice clothing.  Chris just rolled his eyes at me.  At least we don’t have to worry too much about shoes.

We are also experimenting with which kinds of snacks/crackers we both like.  This way we have something to munch on while we are in the air for several hours at a time.  So far, goldfish are the running winners!  It’s all I can do not to pack all my clothes now!  I know if that happens I will end up unpacking and repacking at least three or four times.  So I am holding off as best I can!

Paperwork to US Consulate in China

We received the receipt from the National Visa Center on Friday, June 11.  We thought we would be waiting about a week for the official approval letter.  The one we got was not very “official looking”.  While I was away in Las Vegas for training last week, our agency asked if we received anything from the NVC.  I told them that we received the receipt, but nothing else.  They had me send a copy of the receipt and said that was the letter they needed to send all of our documents to China for travel approval and a Visa appointment.  I wish we had known that!  So the final portion of our paperwork went to China on Friday, June 18.  We should have travel approval sometime in the next two weeks.  We are not going to make the early July deadline, and therefore, my sister will not be able to travel to China with us.  We hope to be traveling in late July or early August.  We are feeling much happier that we are on the downslope of the all of the paperwork and this whole process.  We really can’t wait to  come home with our little girl!

Happy Father's Day!!

Provisional Approval from the USCIS

After more than 6 long weeks of waiting, we finally received our USCIS approval in the mail today!  We are so excited!  Now we can work on getting our travel approval from China and making a Visa appointment for Saiya.  Although we dont want to rush through what is going to be a very stressful time with tons of paperwork still needing to be done, we are hoping that we can still travel with the group going to China in the beginning of July.  We have a little over three weeks before then, so it is seeming more and more likely that we will be traveling at the end of July or the beginning of August.  But we are keeping our fingers crossed none-the-less.  In either case, we are set to bring home our daughter sometime this summer!!!

We are super happy and can't wait to hold her!!

News From the USCIS!!

I spoke with the USCIS this afternoon and they said that even though what we provided isnt the way it is supposed to be done, they are going to accept it and push our application through! YAY!! What a relief! So I'm hoping that in the next week or so we should have our I-800 approval. I am checking to see if we will still be on track for the July travel dates (provided we have no more hiccups along the way).

YAY!! Thanks everyone for keeping us in your thoughts!