TA is on it's WAY!!!

Our agency says our travel approval has been issued and is on it's way to their office!!!  We are going to ask for a May 15th consulate appointment.  As soon asour  CA is confirmed we will buy our plane tickets.

It looks like we will meet Jack on Monday, May 7th.  Five years to the day since we met Lily in the same province, in the same office, from the same orphanage.....

....and we'll be in China the same time as Donna & Tiffany that we know here in Atlanta....

Five years ago our adoption of Lily inspired Donna and her husband to adopt their Shelby.  Last year we started trying to find the file of an adorable little boy, Liu Baozhu, living in Lily's orphanage.  Donna had known we wanted to adopt again from SiPing, but would now'n then send me pictures of children hoping maybe one of them would catch our heart.  But she had NO IDEA that the picture of a little boy she was sending me was indeed Liu Baozhu.  When I opened the email and saw his picture I couldn't believe it!!  I called her right away---"where is this child?  WHO HAS THIS CHILD??!!"  And the rest brings us to now...

When we traveled to bring Max home in June 2009 Tiffany & Eric were in our travel group.  We were together in Zhengzhou & Guangzhou for 2 weeks.  Now we will meet in China again for our last week of the trip in Guangzhou.  What a cool picture this is going to make...

...we just roll like that...

so they say the LOA wait is bad....

well, it is....but I'm finding this last step...this LAST wait of the paperwork process for travel approval  to be grueling.  Will our travel approval come this week or next? ~ THAT is the question.

getting closer

What a fabulous weekend. Friday we received our I800 approval letter in the mail.  With the approval number on the letter I emailed the NVC for status of our visa petition for Jack.  Within 6 hours I got a reply stating that our information had been entered into their system.

Then Sunday morning I woke to .....this

and this...

and to a silly yet adorable boy that will definitely fit right into this family...

This morning I received an email from the NVC with our pdf. letter stating our visa petition is approved and CABLED to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  And, without haste I emailed this letter to our agency.  Later this afternoon our agency replied stating that our Article 5 will be dropped off at the Consulate in Guangzhou tomorrow the 27th, and picked back up in exactly 10 business days.  We will have Travel Approval in 2 weeks after the Article 5 is picked up. Upon knowing we have Travel Approval our agency will request a US Consulate appointment. 

It is POSSIBLE....that we COULD be in Changchun on May 6th.  We COULD meet Jack on Monday, May 7th.  And we WOULD be so BLESSED to be able to love on this precious angel...FINALLY

.
And, do you want to know another tidbit....IF we DO get to meet Jack on Monday, May 7th....it will be exactly 5 years to the day that we met Lily in the same office.....in the same city....from the same orphanage.

How crazy is THAT??  Either way it all happens....GODS smile is felt shining down.

Finding Jack...

...as told by an ANGEL in SiPing.

On another note...our I-800 was approved on March 20th.  Now it's time to wait a couple days and see if we have been cabled to Guangzhou...then Article 5...then TRAVEL APPROVAL.  Hoping to be on that plane the night of May 26th....right after we leave Angela's high school graduation ceremony.

I just want to pick him up....

LOVE him and HOLD him...

Jack's sweet voice!!

Hats & Blankets for Orphans

My sweet friend at work with a huge heart for children (Phyllis, aka "Mama Phyl" and nurse to all) loves to knit. Last week she brought in to work a huge bag of hats that she had been knitting for the children in SiPing orphanage. The picture above is just a sample of all the adorable hats knitted by Mama Phyl's caring hands and heart. We'll take them to the children this summer when we visit the orphanage.

And what a visit it will be! SiPing orphanage is where Jack has been living for nearly 3 years,, and where our Lily lived for the first two years of her life. Lily & Max will coming with us to China again....but this time Lily will get to see her hometown, the orphanage, and maybe even an Ayi that may remember her as a baby.

And how about the sweet blankets wrapped around the children in the pictures from my previous post??...Our daughter, Angela, made them for the children. We mailed a ginormous box a little while ago filled with Angela's blankets, candy, and pictures of all of us for Jack to see.

...dreaming of a sweet boy waiting in China...

LOA!!!!!!!

That's right! Happy Birthday to me!!! What a fabulous Birthday present!!!

Our beautiful son!

Monday is 52 days waiting for LOA. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed and saying prayers that tomorrow is OUR DAY. I'm ready to go to China now!

49 days waiting....

.....chugging right along on that long, black LOA train.

43 days...

....waiting for LOA.

Today is Day

.....of waiting IMPATIENTLY for our LOA.

Max and Lily.......Lily and Max....(2 of Jacks brothers and sisters)

LID!!

Our official dossier log in date to start counting is Friday, January 13th, 2012.

Look how big Jack is getting!

Oh, the wait.....OH, THE WAIT! At least now we have a real timeline to Jack. We haven't heard what our LID is yet from our agency, but I'm sure it was about a week ago. BAAS, our agency, says 5.5 months from LID until we are in China to meet Jack. I absolutely cannot wait!!

D. T. C.!!! December 30, 2011

New pictures of Jack...and....DTC 12.30.11!!

Our entire dossier has been sent to our agency. We will be DTC December 30, 2011!! Then we WAIT....for our LID ~ log in date. Praying big time for a fast travel approval.

SO CLOSE!....

The Dossier....13 documents ~ notarized, county certified, state certified, 1 department of state certified, and finally...authenticated.

2 docs done and back in my hands (yeah!!)

10 documents at the Chinese consulate getting authenticated

1 document waiting for approval (WHAT??!!)

That document would be our USCIS approval. Our I800A application receipt date is October 3rd. Apparently, our government is taking approximately 90 days to approve these application. (again...WHAT??!!) Today marks our 67th day of waiting.....ARGGHHH!!

I've been following this chart to see the current trend on approvals. There is a family on the chart that has a receipt date of 3 days prior to ours and they posted on the 7th that they received their approval. Maybe we'll be next??

waiting...

This is our precious Jack in the middle. Eric asked me if I knew who the boy is on the right...I don't know. What a cute bugger as well. My heart wants to bring them all home....

It's been easier to talk about Jack coming home recently with new pictures of him coming in often. It brings it "home"....closer to reality. It feels like there is a space here that is empty...we imagine "the littles" (since we have older children and now a younger bunch) running around...only hearing in our imaginations the laughter of another little boy's voice.

On to "the Bigs" news...Angela has applied to USF. She wants to major in Biology. And with A's in AP Biology and the rest of her classes I know she will make it there. I know it's not just the mother in me that sees how amazing she is.

I've been working...a lot. The cats hate me. The dogs hate me. The children....well, hate me for a couple of minutes once I'm home, but come around and are stuck like glue after that. I love it then. :) Now is the time to set aside the money for China Travel....to fill that void laughing only in my dreams....running through my house only in my imagination.

new pictures of Jack!