Waiting to be Cabled

Our next step and last bit of paperwork for us personally (until we go to China) is in process. We wait to receive an e-mail saying our case has been forwarded to Guangzhou so we are cleared to travel. Hopefully that will come early next week and we will just be waiting on the rest of the process which will be handled by our agency. On Friday all but this last piece of paper was mailed to China.

800 Approved!!

Another wish has been granted! I just received this in my inbox:

Good morning.

I have provisionally approved your I-800 petition and have placed it in the mail. You should be receiving it soon. Congratulations!

Another step down! Yahoo!!!!!

July Update!

One of our hopes for the week has been realized! We received the latest update on Abbie. She is doing well and actually managed to grow 2" in the last two months. Our request included asking for photos of her with the album we sent her and here they are! They also responded that they have read her the letter and she is happy to have her mom & dad! Too sweet! Don't you just love that smile!!

800 Progress

Well, even though I wasn't going to call until Friday I decided to check today to make sure our 800 made it to Missouri. Just like when I called to check on our 800A our officer is the one who answered the phone. He was in a better mood this time and verified that 800s take priority over 800As and it was in the building and would be on his desk soon and he would watch for it! Maybe that a.m. delivery that cost us $46.63 will pay off!

Visas are Here

You know, I never thought I would actually be in possession of a passport and here I am not only with a passport, but a passport with three China Visas in it! Life can be pretty unpredictable at times! All we need is to be in China no later than July 2012. I think that's doable!!

Hopes for the Week

On one of the forums I frequent they have a Monday thread where members can post their weekly wishes. Everyone in the adoption process is at some stage of waiting and it helps to express what you are hoping to happen for you next. The wheels of government grind slowly so it usually has something to do with either USCIS or CCCWA. My hopes for the week involve both - oh goody! As of Wednesday, USCIS will have had our 800 application for two weeks. This is usually the amount of time it takes to get to your officer's desk. I plan on calling Friday to see if we have been approved yet. The sooner the better for several different reasons. My other wish is that we see an update on our Abbie this week. Today our passports with visas are scheduled to be picked up from the Chinese Consulate and should be in our hands very soon!

USCIS Receipt

In our mailbox today was our official receipt for the 800 application. I sure hope our officer makes up for his absence during the 800A process and approves us quickly! The application should be on his desk sometime next week and perhaps we'll also have an update then?

Update Requested

So far we have already had two updates on our little girl. Our agency said that we can request updates every two to three months and I can tell you that if it's possible to get more information and pictures during the wait for our girl then darn it we are going to ask! Last time we had the first half of the update exactly one week later so let's see how long this one takes!

When?

I am still trying to get used to the fact that we have our LOA and are heading toward the final steps before we can travel. I can't tell you how anxious I am to get that little girl and feed her! The travel guy thinks we should travel 10 - 12 weeks from our LOA. That has us leaving between September 9th & 23rd. If we are very lucky and we leave the 16th we can make it in time for Abbie's 5th birthday and arrive home before Ellie's 3rd birthday. The 23rd would be too late for Abbie's birthday, but we could still be home for Ellie's. There is a national holiday from September 10th - 12th so that week is probably out anyway. I actually thought the earliest we would leave would be early October. Don't get me wrong, this also has me very excited!! I will add a disclaimer, though. The other two adoptions had us leaving much later than the estimates so that could very well happen again!

More Deliveries

The LOA is at Holt and the visa applications are in the hands of our courier. She is off this week for the Independence Day holiday so they will be taken to the Chinese Consulate Monday and she should be picking them up the following Monday July, 18th.

Delivered

The 800 application was delivered this morning! Now we wait about two weeks to call / e-mail to check on our status. Our officer never answered our inquiries last time so I don't know if I will have any luck this time either. When the approval comes in the mail we send it off to our agency so they can mail it to China along with our other paperwork for this step.

Paperwork!

Fed Ex delivered our LOA at around 12:30 today. I got busy making copies, signing, and getting everything together to send. The 800 is on its way to Texas. The LOA, signed LOI and other signature page are on their way to Holt. The visa application and passports are on their way to Denise at There's Always Hope. Maybe this will be our last trip to Fed Ex for a little while!

Our Agency Has IT!!!!!!!!