Finally GOOD NEWS!!!

 This little girl is READY to go get her brother!!!

I'm so excited to update that in the last week, we received our USCIS approval, NVC approval & the PDF we needed!  Then last Friday our agency dropped off our Art 5 with an expedite request and to my utter shock and amazement, the consulate issued Art 5 last night while I was sleeping!  Wahoo!!!

Friends, we will SOON be going to China!!  So now there's one thing we are waiting for and that's our TA!  It is our official approval from China's adoption affairs to go get our son!  We are hoping that we receive a medical expedite on that as well, but if we don't, the general timeframe is 2 weeks.  However, with the new CCCWA system backup, many have waited almost twice that long. 

We pray to receive our TA as soon as possible, knowing that God's got this.  We surrender to his timeline. :)

Oh there is so much to do, I can't even begin to get into it!!  Pray for us!!  We're hoping to get a consulate appointment that allows us to travel mid-July for Ben but we need that TA before the consulate closure on July 10th!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Fannie, Matt, & Katie

NO news! Well, good news anyway...

Yep, that's the story I'm about to tell. 

I've been keeping myself busy. 

I put together a picture letter for Ben to help him understand what will happen as he becomes part of our family in China.  It will get sent off in his care package.

I've been shopping.  Buying clothes, toys, bedspreads, etc. to prepare for his arrival.  Kate's room is now Kate & Ben's room.  Half the closet is his as well!

I've been learning all I can about thalassemia, treatments, etc.

I've completed all the training required by the military for us to travel to China.

I purchased Rosetta Stone and am *trying* to learn some mandarin ahead of our trip to China.

I started a summer photography class.

I've been making plans for a final "family of 3" trip to Florida.

I've prepared for our PCS move.  Reserved movers, scheduled car shipment, planned a road trip and nailed down some time spent in Oklahoma before all the craziness that is a Coast Guard transfer season begins.

In spite of all the things I'm doing to keep busy, I have one thing on my mind. Chengbin.  His I-800 STILL isn't approved.  Extremely frustrating since I have watched so many who got their LOA the same day as us rocket past us!  On top of that, I've seen people with no medical expedite receive their I-800 approval over a week faster than us.

At the same time, CCCWA's new website is having difficulty and we've been told they are about 3 weeks behind processing Travel Approvals.

Also, the US Consulate announced that they will close for two weeks in July to move to a new facility.  This means that we need to receive our travel approval AND get our consulate appointment booked by July 10th our time or we will be delayed in getting to China.  We won't be able to make our appointment from July 11th to July 23rd.  So this basically would put us traveling in August...

So NO good news, but plenty of complications.  I know that God will take care of our boy.  I know that he still has the power to help us beat this deadline.  So, I will continue to keep busy and be ready for each step as it comes in this phase of the adoption.

Hoping my next post means that things are FINALLY moving again!!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie