Progress, Provision, & Care Packages

Progress!!!! 3 weeks ago we found out that there was an issue... when China processed our letter of intent to adopt Little Miss, they logged her approval as a dossier reuse instead of putting the approval with the dossier we'd just sent in Sept.  Our agency tried and tried to get them to accept the paperwork that was there for it, but ultimately China wanted a second application letter from us.  So we printed it, signed it, notarized it, authenticated it at the county, state, and Chinese consulate, & finally our agency sent it to China.  We knew we would be held up until they received it but hoped things would move fast once they got it.  So far, so good!! They got it on Thursday and Friday they changed our status to 'matched' for our wingman.  What this means is that we will hopefully get our official approval to adopt the kids in the next week or so!!!!!

Provision!!! Touch the Sky has been working on an amazing fundraiser for the kiddos orphanage fees.  So far it has raised over $1000 & if the full blocks fill it will raise almost one full orphanage donation!!! Yesterday we received our first approval letter for a grant!  Forever Families has generously gave us a $1000 grant!!!  We still have a ways to go in being fully funded but we know that it is all in God's timing and in accordance with his plan.

Care packages!!!  We sent a care package to Little Miss with some friends from Gladney adoption agency.  They are the agency I traveled with in April when I met her.  She officially knows we are coming for her!!! :)

I love that Rocky sat down with her and explained each of the pictures to her!!!  We included pictures of all of us, of our wingman, our house, our playground, our dogs, our kitties...

He gave her the special necklace we sent so she'll have her family's picture wherever she goes!

And he passed her the kitty cat that Laila picked out for her just days before!!  She had her kitty and that kitty sleep together for a few nights before she sent it on to China. ;)

We have a care package ready to send to the Wingman too!  His orphanage does not accept outside care packages, but we are thankful that two agencies are doing advocacy camps with his orphanage making it possible for him to receive one and know that we are coming for him!!! 

It's getting close to travel!!!  We are hoping and praying the next few steps are completed quickly and we can travel to China at the end of November or first week of December.  We are SO excited to get these babies home where they belong!!!  Can't wait for them to become Wilks kids!!!

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