Where Will We Go?

Among the many questions we've been getting since our LSC are where will we go in China and how long will we stay?  The trip usually takes 14 days.

We will spend the first few days in Beijing sightseeing and adjusting to the time change (14 hours ahead of CDT) before we have Sofie to care for.  We will get to see the Great Wall, as well as Summer Palace, Forbidden City (if you haven't seen "The Last Emperor", watch it and you will see how amazing this place is!) and of course all of the Olympic venue sites.  We have the option of skipping this portion of the trip and were a bit torn because it would mean going straight to Inner Mongolia and Sofie.  But, we don't know if or when we will make it back to China and think it is important to visit and document as much of Sofie's country of birth as possible.  Not to mention recovering from the 18 hours on planes to get there!  We'd like to be able to visit the New Day Foster Home while we are there and perhaps deliver some bottles and/or formula to them.  We are going to see if we can arrange that.

After Beijing we will fly or take the train to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.  Hohhot is the capital of the province and is where all of the adoption paperwork will be completed.  We will have time to explore, shop and see the sights in between our appointments.

We may be able to travel to Bayannur to visit the orphanage where Sofie was brought to when she was two weeks old and lived in for the first six months of her life.  We are also hoping we will have the opportunity to meet the foster parents she has lived with for the past two and a half years.  Many of the Inner Mongolia families we have connected with have met the foster family, so it looks like a good possibility for us.

Next we will head down to the coast to Guangzhou, which is where all of the U.S. immigration appointments are handled.  Sofie will need a medical exam and this is when they will administer any of the immunizations required by the US that she may not have already had.   There will be a visa appointment (adoption paperwork and Sofie's passport submitted) the next day and then an adoption ceremony and oath taking the day following that.  The day after that is when we will receive her passport back with her visa and paperwork required to enter the U.S.

Our agency routes their families through Hong Kong to fly home.  We can either fly there or take the train from Guangzhou.  Most families spend a night there before departing for home, but some choose to grab a late flight as soon as they finish up their appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  My cousin Stacey and her family live in Hong Kong so we may stay a day or two to visit.

We are looking forward to seeing a diverse variety of sights while in China.  But the most important part of this trip will be meeting our daughter and spending plenty of time bonding with her, which we are eagerly awaiting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brandon & I will spend the day relaxing, watching football and having a delicious non-traditional dinner, just the two of us.  We hope that you all enjoy your day, whether it be with family or friends, and have time to take a moment to think of all the things you have to be thankful for.  We will be thinking of our family in Washington, California, Arizona, Utah and Virginia and wishing we could be with all of them today, but are thankful to have them to miss when we can't be together.  We are thankful to have a comfortable home, plenty of food to eat and a business that is thriving so we don't have to work for the man!  We are also thankful this will be our last of many holidays that we normally share just the two of us, as soon we will be three.  :)

Enjoy your day!

xoxo

One Less Thing To Worry About

Our new social worker, whom had never even met us, showed up at our house yesterday with an hour's notice.  She visited with us briefly, got the info and answers she needed and made sure our home was ready for Sofie.  And that we weren't doing anything illegal, I'm sure!  Then she spent the rest of the evening writing up our homestudy update and a good portion of her morning going back and forth with a gal at our agency to make edits and corrections.  Finally, even though she was off and had family coming in to town, she ran out to get our copies notarized and met with us to hand them off.  Bless her heart!!!

The WC Client Relations coordinator at our agency spent her morning reviewing our update, responding promptly with corrections and gave our social worker the green light just before she left for the day.  They were only open until noon and we all know what half-days before a long holiday are like when you have to work.  Bless her heart!!!

I was a little confused about what exactly I needed to include with our immigration paperwork and really wanted to get it all sent off today, so I decided to e-mail our caseworker at the Hague Unit of Homeland Security in the hope she was working and would have time to respond, but was not expecting it.  She got back to me right away with answers to all of my questions and told me to keep them coming as long as I was still confused.  Bless her heart!!!

Getting this paperwork submitted has been a constant source of stress for the past 10 days.  It should have been ready to go the day we received our LSC.  With the help of these three very kind ladies, I was able to get everything copied and sent off to USCIS via FedEx this afternoon.  It will arrive first thing Friday morning.  Not only is it one less thing to worry about, but a reminder that there are some really good, caring people in this world who are willing to do whatever they can to help.  And for that, I am very thankful.

Now What?

I've been getting that question from quite a few people now that we have our formal approval (LSC), so I thought I would go over the rest of the process to help make some sense of it.

We need to have our homestudy updated.  When we first met with our social worker, we discussed what we hoped for in a child.  We originally thought we wanted to adopt a child as young as possible, so she approved us for 0-24 months old.  That all changed for us very quickly as we started to look at all the beautiful children waiting and we decided we would prefer to adopt a toddler.  Sofie was 35 months old when we were matched so we need an update to our homestudy approving us for her age.  Since our social worker is no longer working with our agency, we need to be reassigned.  The agency is working with our new social worker to get this done so hopefully it will happen soon!

Last week, we dropped off our signed LSC at our agency along with a DS-230 form, which is Sofie's immigrant Visa application.  She needs that Visa to enter the U.S. when we return with her from China.

Next, we need to file a I800 form (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative) with U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  This is used to determine Sofie is an eligible adoptee and to finalize the immigration process.  We had already been approved to adopt a child from China and this approval is to adopt Sofie specifically. 

It will take 10 days for USCIS to process the I800.  They will then cable our approval to the US Consulate in Guangzhou (China).  The Consulate will verify all of our approvals, approve us to immigrate Sofie and issue what is called the Article 5.  The Article 5 will be picked up at the consulate by a courier and delivered to the CCAA.  We are told this process is taking 5-8 weeks.

Once the CCAA receives our Article 5, they will work on issuing our Travel Approval.  This will take about 2 weeks.  When our agency receives our Travel Approval, they will schedule our appointment with the Consulate in Guangzhou and this is the date our travel will be based on.  It will be at this point when we will know the exact dates and will book our flights.  We are told travel will be 3-4 weeks upon receipt of Travel Approval.

So that is what happens next...but none of it will happen until we get that update to our homestudy done!

***Update***

The new social worker called at 1:30 today and asked if she could come at 2:30!  She understands the urgency and is on board with getting this done a.s.a.p.!   We were told this update would not require a home visit but oh well...she just left.  She is hoping to get it to us on Friday, if the agency can review it and give her the green light tomorrow!

A New Package for Sofie

We sent our girl another package today, this time with more sweet treats, a kitty stuffed animal (it's a Hello Kitty in a bee outfit! Cute!) and a photo album ("pleasant goat" on the cover, apparently a popular Chinese cartoon character) with lots of pictures of us and a few of our pretty four-legged princess.  To think...in a matter of days she will be seeing our faces for the first time...Wow.  WOW!



On another note, we are STILL waiting for our homestudy to be updated.  All of our documents are current so it's a very simple update, but a week has been wasted and quite frankly, I am more than a little frustrated.  Anyone involved in this process knows a week delay can mean much more down the road.  *Sigh*

It's Cold In China

Sofie Yan lives in Inner Mongolia and it is quite cold now -- highs in the 20's and dropping down to single digits at night.  There is even snow in the forecast for next week.  It is likely we will be there when it is still really cold, so I bought her a cute coat, hat and mittens to take with us.  Got some cute pigtail holders too.  :)  With the help of the wonderful ladies from Lady Bugs N Love, I've decided to package it up to send to her now, to keep her warm while she is waiting.  It's pink, and cute and the warmest one I could find.  This is Texas after all!  I am also going to send some Texas goodies for her foster family.



We dropped off all of our paperwork at our agency today.  It was really nice to meet all the ladies we've worked with so far.  As soon as we can get our homestudy update (we are waiting to be assigned to a new social worker), we can file the necessary forms (I800 & I-864W) with immigration.  It takes 2 weeks for approval and another 2-3 weeks for the US Consulate in China to issue our Article 5.  We should get our travel approval 2 to 4 weeks after that and then travel just a fews weeks later.  So, just another 6-9 weeks more of waiting once we get our I800 filed!

Here is the actual LSC

Pretty cool, huh?

[caption id="attachment_426" align="aligncenter" width="205" caption="Letter of Seeking Conformation from Adopter"][/caption]