Article 5

Last night, our Article 5 was submitted to the US consulate in Guangzhou.  This begins a two week waiting period before all of the paperwork is picked up and taken to the China side for TA (travel approval).  So...we will now wait some more and pray that we are able to leave around Christmas to get our precious daughter.

NVC Letter Arrived - FINALLY!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!  After a VERY late night of shopping, I finally decided to get out of bed and see if the long awaited letter from the National Visa Center had arrived in my inbox.  Unfortunately, I quickly realized that it was not there.  I began my phone calls and sent an email.  I spoke with two different women at the NVC who were helpful, but they would only tell me that the visa petition was cabled on Wednesday.  I would received a copy of the PDF by email in 3-5 days and a letter in the mail.  I was explained that I was upset because we were told on Wednesday that the cable was going out, and that we would receive an email that night.  Since we didn't receive anything, I explained to the nice women that no one said 3-5 days, they said tonight.  I asked to speak with a supervisor, but none were available.  As I was typing out my frustration in an email to Karla, an email arrived in my inbox with the exact PDF letter that I needed!  I just knew God felt that I was on the edge of having a complete mental breakdown and needed to stop it right away. 

Now that we have received our PDF letter, Lifeline's China team will take everything to the consulate in Guangzhou on Monday (instead of today like I hoped).  This will begin our Article 5.  The Article 5 takes EXACTLY 2 weeks to complete.  If our paperwork is dropped off on Monday, it will be picked up from the consulate two Mondays later.  During this time, the consulate reviews our visa paperwork and makes sure that Amelia meets all of the qualifications to be issued an immigrant visa and that the adoption can take place.  Once this step is complete, our paperwork will be picked up from the consulate and taken directly to the China Center Adoption Affairs (CCAA) office for Travel Approval (TA)!  Please pray for a speedy TA!  We have had so many delays in the past month that I would really LOVE it if the TA came fast, especially since we will be trying to get a Consulate Appointment (CA) during the holidays.

NVC

Today, our paperwork was received at the National Visa Center.  After many phone calls to the NVC, we were able to finally have our information entered into the computer.  We were assigned a GUZ number at some point tonight.  David was actually able to make friends with someone who gave him the information and said that our paperwork should be cabled tomorrow to Guangzhou.  David asked if it could be cabled tonight, but he said the people that are in charge of that left at 4:00 today.  Hopefully, things will be cabled tomorrow.  We were hoping that it would be cabled tonight so that we could get our Article 5 to the consulate in Guangzhou, but that didn't happen.  The consulate is open on Friday, but we are not sure if the team in China that handles the paperwork delivery will be off for Thanksgiving holidays.  Please pray that this happens quickly.  The Article 5 takes EXACTLY 2 weeks to be approved.  Once that is approved, Karla will request a fast TA (travel approval).  We still hope to be able to travel at the end of December, but it will depend on the TA and CA (consulate appointment) dates.

Amelia's Finding Ad

On a brighter side of today's sad paperwork news, I received Amelia's finding ad.  This is the ad that was placed in the newspaper to try to locate her family after she was found.  This is the earliest photo that we will probably have of her.  Brian Stuy of Research China was able to find it for us.  Before you ask, yes, we have a translation of the ad, but we are choosing not to share the details of her finding place at this time.  We will never know why her birth mother did not feel that she could keep Amelia, but we will always be grateful that God gave this woman the courage to leave her precious baby that day.  I hope that she feels in her heart that her daughter will be raised by parents who will love her forever.

UGH!

Well, I was hoping that our paperwork would make it to the NVC today, and we could hopefully have approval tomorrow.  This would have made it possible for us to cable our Article 5 to Guangzhou.  Unfortunately, our paperwork has not made it to NVC.  It is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.  This means that we will have to wait until after Thanksgiving to get NVC approval and begin the China side of things.  I am VERY disappointed!  I have no idea what this means for travel time, but it looks like from my guesstimate that we will leave the week of Christmas.  I really wanted to have Amelia officially ours before the end of the year.  Now, we will have to pray that the adoption tax credit is renewed.  Otherwise, we lose out on the almost $13,000 credit that we were expecting to help with the adoption costs.  David has already written to our congressman, and I urge everyone else to please write to their congress people.  The adoption credit helps many families be able to complete their adoption processes.  Without this tax credit, many children may not be able to find homes because families may not be able to afford adoption.  Fortunately, David and I have been saving for a while and have all of our costs covered.  We were still planning on this credit since I will be taking off work for so long.  Please pray that the adoption tax credit will be renewed and that we will be able to travel to China quicker than I anticipate.

St. John's Baby Shower

Today, the precious women of our church, St. John's, celebrated our adoption with a baby shower.  We had a fabulous time!  The women of St. John's really went above and beyond with an Asian theme in the decorations and food.  Julie and Gabrielle used their talents to create a beautiful cherry blossom tree on which prayers were hung in little homemade envelopes.  We are so fortunate to have found such a loving and supportive church family.

Enjoy our celebration!

Tuscaloosa Baby Shower

Yesterday, David's sister, Laurie, and his mother threw us a baby shower in Tuscaloosa.  We appreciate all of their hard work.  A big thank you to all who came to help us celebrate Amelia joining our family!

My niece, Sarah, was a huge helper!  She really enjoyed opening the presents.

My cousin, Bunny, used her talent to knit Amelia a stocking to match ours.  Thank you, Bunny!

Thank you for keeping up with the gift list, Laurie!

Somewhere Between

Tonight, David and I went to see a viewing of Somewhere Between.  It is a documentary film that follows the life of four teenage girls who were adopted from China.  Hearing each girl's story was moving, and David and I had much to discuss on the way home.  While I was there, I saw many women from my mom's group and also others who I have met throughout the adoption journey.  I spoke with the doctor who saw Amelia twice on visits to China.  She seems to think that I have been viewing my pictures of Amelia incorrectly.  I thought the photo of her in the yellow pants was from the first visit, but it seems that the ones where she is wearing pink were from the first visit, and the yellow pants were from the second visit.  She is going to double check her file to make sure. 

I also met a couple whose son is in our daughter's same room in Chongqing.  David has known her for many years, but this was the first time that we had met.  God has really touched both of our families through adoption.  We can hardly believe that we both live and teach in Birmingham and that our children are in an orphanage together sleeping in the same room!  They will have a forever bond, and I am sure that God destined these children to live close together for a reason.  This family is still many months away from receiving their son, so please keep them in your prayers. 

David and I would also ask that you continue to pray for us as we finish up these final steps of our process.  Our visa paperwork should arrive at the National Visa Center tomorrow.  We really want everything to be approved by Tuesday night so that our visa information will be received at the US consulate in Guangzhou before their Thanksgiving holidays.  We are still hopeful that we will travel around Christmas to bring our Amelia home.

I-800 APPROVAL FINALLY!

Our officer at the National Benefits Center just sent me a wonderful email!  It was a PDF of our I-800 approval!  It seems that this step in the process took much longer than normal because there was a computer switchover in Homeland Security.  Our paperwork got trapped in the changeover.  It arrived on our officer's desk today and was approved.  Now, our paperwork is being sent to the National Visa Center.  Once Amelia's visa is issued, the paperwork will be sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou for final approvals (it is called the Article 5).  The Article 5 takes EXACTLY two weeks to be approved.  Then, we will receive our travel approval a few days later.  PLEASE pray that the visa approval will be before Thanksgiving holidays!  I really don't want any more delays in the process.  We want to be able to have her in our arms before the end of the year.

Ziplining at Red Mountain Park

David and I decided to do some things that we normally don't do before we become parents.  We decided to go ziplining at Red Mountain Park.  I highly encourage everyone to try it out.  This was our first time to go and we had a blast!  Our guides, Chelsie and Kacy, took us through seven different lines and even taught us how to zip upside down.  We met a very sweet couple, Terri and Vinny, who were a lot of fun!  Terri encouraged us to go skydiving, which we plan to do for dad's birthday when his shoulder heals.  Here are a few pictures from our fun time:

Amelia's First Baby Shower

Yesterday, my precious co-workers threw us a baby shower.  We had such a wonderful time!  David and I truly appreciate everything that went into the planning and preparation for such a meaningful event.  Amelia received so many fabulous gifts that will definitely be useful!  The generosity and love that was shown to us means so much to me!  Here are a few pictures from the big event: