Officially DTC

Well, today we received the e-mail from America World that our dossier is on it's way to China. What a relief!!!! Once it arrives in China, it will be translated, and then reviewed. Then they will review Aiden's file with our file and approve us to adopt him. Sounds simple right? It will probably take about 2-3 months. We will then get what's called a RA (referral approval). We have already been pre-approved to adopt him, but that really just means that he is on hold for us until they reveiew our files. After we receive this approval, we will file our next application with USCIS (immigration) indicating the specific child we are adopting. More paperwork, but I'm trying not to worry about that until the time arrives, since I can't do anything about it now. So, we would appreciate your prayers as our paperwork travels thousands of miles over the next few days, and we begin the next period of waiting. Pray for a speedy RA, so we can go bring our boy home.

Kelly

DTC-next Friday

We heard from our family coordinator yesterday that our dossier should go to China next Friday. They only send them once a week, and because of Chinese New Year, the consolate was closed this week, and they couldn't get the authentication completed. They didn't even send a batch the Friday before because all of the Chinese offices were closed. Soooo we will wait another week, knowing that His timing is never wrong. Unfortunately we are human, and we want things NOW. So we continue learning this hard lesson of patience, but with thankful hearts that our Aiden is well cared for and loved while we wait. We have heard from 2 volunteers that loved on our boy over the last 1&1/2 yrs. They both raised money to fund his surgery, and we will always be grateful for their servant hearts. Rachel is actually the one who visited the orphanage and found him there. She told Amanda that he was very malnourished, and asked her to bring him to the home. She was able to see his first smile, as well as witness him crawling for the first time. She sent us photos of those momentous occasions. We will forever treasure them. Just another blessing along this journey, and we are thankful.

Kelly

Pre-approval!!!

We received our PA (pre-approval)from China today. Very fast, only 5 days after EA (electronic acceptance). We were told it could take 2-6 weeks. I'm thankful God is still showing us immeasurably more than we expected. Hope that trend continues, but we know His timing is perfect. Next up is DTC (dossier to China), hopefully late next week.

Kelly

Out of our hands

Well, the dossier is on its way to our agency for authentication, and then on it's way to China. We finished our copies at Kinkos tonight at 7pm. Glad FedEx is right there in the same building. I was nervous handing over all this paperwork I had spent so much time and money preparing. I wanted to tell the guy behind the counter that he was holding my child's future in his hands, and to be gentle with it. I decided at the last minute that by the looks of things, he probably couldn't have cared less. But I digress. Anyway, the point is that it is completely out of our hands and our control at this point. We must begin the dreaded wait for China to approve us to adopt Aiden, and we pray that the process will go quickly. Next up on the list is pre-approval that will hopefully arrive in the next week or two. We will keep you updated.