HAPPY PICS & HAPPY NEWS!!

This week we received pictures of Laila and her special friend Anna enjoying the birthday cake we sent her!!  I've been staring at them all week, but figured it was about time I shared them with all our amazing friends and family! :)

 

This precious little girl enjoying cake with Laila will be living RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM US!!!  Her family is in China right now and will be celebrating "Gotcha Day" on Monday in Nanning.  How amazing that two little girls living in the same orphanage on the other side of the world will be able to be together in the same town here in America????!!!!!

Just look at our sweet girl trying some birthday cake!!!  Let me tell you, thanks to the support of Love Without Boundaries, our sweet girl is looking healthier!!

Isn't she beautiful????  Oh, I have been staring at this picture all week!!!!

Oh how I love Ann from redthreadchina.com for making her birthday celebration a success!!!

 

And the other happy news is that we have Supplement 3 approval!!!

 

We should receive the hard copy in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday and then we will forward it to friends in DC to act as couriers for us!! :)

 

Hoping to be DTC by Memorial Day weekend!!

 

Oh I can't WAIT to get our baby girl home!!!!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Fannie, Matt, Kate, Chengbin, & Laila Jean!!

Good News & Downright Bad News

Which to share first...

We'll start with the good news!!  The good news is that Laila's belated birthday cake and first care package are enroute to her!!

In only a few days our daughter will see the very first pictures of her family and her house and her room!!!  She will also get her belated birthday cake, which took much longer for us to get to her than we thought it would!! ;)

Now for the downright bad news...

We sent our paperwork to immigration three weeks ago.  It was supposed to be the easy form.  Just an extension of our approval we already have that is valid until June.  The USCIS officer I spoke to said they will email our fingerprint notice right away, we'd get it in less than a week, could go fingerprint, & she's approve us since Miss Laila needs a medical expedite.

They sent it to our old address...

When I called Friday explaining how worried I am that we still haven't received it, the lady figured out it had been sent to our old address.  Even though the receipt letter from immigration was sent to our current mailing address.

I wanted to scream!  Don't they understand that this little girl's life is on the line, and every day they waste is a day she may or may not have to waste????  I asked the lady to email it and she said that she isn't allowed to.  I was polite, hung up, and then stewed...

So I called back to ask for a supervisor.  The officer that answered this time told me that they had all left for the day.  I explained how it had been mailed to the wrong address, how Laila NEEDS this to be fast, how Birmingham is willing to let us walk in for fingerprints as long as we have the fingerprint notice...  And she hesitated, but then stuck with that it isn't allowed to be emailed.  Then gave me the time the supervisor would be in on Monday and suggested I call and talk to them Monday since they might be able to make an exception.

Praying they say YES!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie, Matt, Katie, Chengbin, & Laila Jean

Finally some progress!!!!

We started our homestudy back in November.

After 5 long months it is finally approved and I sent our Supplement 3 overnight to USCIS. :)

 

This is a LONG time coming and this Mama has spent many, many days waiting and worrying about getting this part complete.

 

SO GLAD we are homestudy complete and moving on to our immigration approval!!

 

For my non adoption "speaking" friends, here's what this means:

The very first step is complete.  The next step is to compile our China dossier which includes immigration approval & many authenticated documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificate, employment letters, etc.  A total of 14 documents have to be sent to the Secretary of State and then Chinese Consulate for authentication before we can submit the dossier to China.

 

We are hoping and praying we can get all authentications and approvals and be DTC before May 15th!!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Fannie, Matt, Kate, Chengbin, & Laila

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

Things are moving fast!!

Today I checked the mail, hopeful, but realistically not expecting to see our USCIS approval until we get back from vacation.

God may be up to something because we got this approved from delivery to approval in 30 days!!  It has taken 45-60 for most people I've seen!

Looks like all we have left is authentication of this over in DC and then our dossier should be complete!  Yea!!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie