I-800

We found out today that our I-800 was provisionally approved by USCIS on Tuesday!  We should receive a letter in a day or two.  Then I may out another round of paperwork for our agency to get started filing for our Article 5. We are mailing this packet incomplete, because I read that it could save us a few days when it comes to travel.  While we still don't know our travel dates, I'm hopeful for early April!  Jerry mailed out our care package for Chazz on Tuesday.  Not sure how long it will take to get there, but I'm sure he will be excited to receive mail!  Continued prayers please!  We serve an awesome and mighty God!

Give One Save One

See that button over on the right?  The Give One Save One button? It is a site that promotes adoption.  They publicize a different family each week in hopes of helping them raise money to fund their adoption.  Guess who is going to get to be the family the week of March 17?!  We just found out today.  We made a video, but you'll have to visit our site again that week to see it.  Brooks and Reese were our producers during one of our many snow days.  In case you are wondering, they used iMovie on an iPad.  It was great fun.  We are so excited.  There is also a grant that we may get that would match any funds we receive from this site.  We hope to find out soon and then we'll let you know.  Please help spread the word. 

Isn't he just the cutest?

News...well, we have submitted our paperwork for immigration - I-800.  We've gotten notice that they have received it.  I can call them this coming week to check on the progress.  I've read that families typically get this within 2-3 weeks.  Our 2 weeks will be Tuesday.  Then we wait for a letter to send more paperwork.  Wait for Article 5 and finally travel invitation.  Sounds excruciatingly long, but hopefully we'll be in China in April.

A few years ago, we heard Third Day say that they think everyone should be involved with adoption in some form - advocacy, financially, or adopting.  We happen to agree.  Watch this video and see why...Global Orphan Crisis

Introducing our son!

Today is the day!  We at last received our LOA - Letter Of Approval - from China.  This grants us permission to publically share his picture and send him a care package!  We've been working on the care package for a few months now, and it still isn't finished...  We're going to get that done this week.  I can't wait.  We've created a brag book of pictures of the family.  We realized though that we used primarily pictures from Florida, so now we have to include some of snow!  We don't want him to get the wrong idea. :)
OK, so here is Chazz Jian Long.  He is 8 years old (4 months older than Hanna) and currently lives in the same orphanage that Hanna used to live in.  They were friends, as they were part of the same group.  We have many pictures of both of them together; however, the pictures and their friendship are more than 5 years old.  Hanna will get to travel with us - mainly because we are traveling to her home town.  We are hoping to get to see her sponsor family.
We are so thankful to God!  Without Him, this would not have happened.  He just kept whispering and we finally listened.  Blessed for sure.
We definitely welcome your prayers.  Prayers for paperwork to go thoroughly quickly and easily, prayers for speedy and safe travel, prayers for open and loving hearts, prayers for his transition to a family, prayers for our transition to him, prayers for Hanna when traveling, and prayers for the boys staying home.
Stayed tuned for more updates.  We most likely won't get to travel until April, but I'm hoping for earlier.  I feel like I've waited long enough - and these next three months are going to be killers!

Tonight we had Chinese for dinner- orange chicken!  You'll never believe what my fortune cookie said...  The object of your desire comes closer!

11 weeks and counting

Oh goodness.  We were told that our LOA (approval from China) could take 6-12 weeks. Well isn't it just fabulous that ours is taking the longest possible?  I was hoping to be in China in February, but that is not going to happen.  It is more likely April!  On the bright side though, the weather in northern China will be much nicer in the spring than in winter.  Hopefully this week, Thursday will be 12 weeks, we will get some news.  After LOA, we will apply for our I-800, travel visas, and send Chazz a care package!  We've been gathering things to send to him and even made him a brag book of pictures.
     We've kept ourselves busy these last 11 weeks with school, sports, Christmas, church, and Florida.  We so can't wait to get these next steps over with and just have our son home.  So many things we can't wait to share with him
     Tonight our friend Hillary prayed for God to prepare his heart for our family, a seamless transition for everyone, and love. It was just what we need.  Please keep Chazz in prayer while we wait and pray that he is ready for a family of his own.

LID

I can't believe it!  We received an email from our agency telling us that we are "Logged in" at China.  Our official LID (log in date) is October 31.  While this doesn't mean much, it is at least progress.  We are still waiting on our LOA (letter of approval).  We should hopefully get this in 6 to 12 weeks.  Our God is great, so let's all pray for the quickest possible!  We weren't expecting LID for another week or two, so all things are possible with God!  Until then, thanks so much for prayers. We appreciate them.

DTC

Ahhh!  So wonderful to finally hear.  I logged onto our agencies portal message place and saw the announcement!  Our dossier is on its way to China today!  That is incredible news.  Now we wait for China to translate and officially log it into their system.  We'll receive what they call our LID - log in date.  Then it will get reviewed and officially matched with our son.  They'll issue our LOA - Letter of Approval - and the fun will begin!  That's when we'll get to apply for our Visas and something else and await for the most important news....TA (travel approval).  My best guess is February and Jerry says April.  Can you guess who the optimist and pessimist are in our family!  Jerry says he's actually a realist.  Today we applied for Hanna's passport and it should come in around mid-December.  It's starting to get fun! :)

Dossier complete

Finally, finally, our dossier is complete and is in Grand Rapids.  We waited from August 12 until September for our final documentation -approval from the USCIS. but it finally came.  I had to send the rest of our dossier to Grand Rapids the end of August to get authenticated early, or we were going to have to redo several pieces.  Not a huge problem, just extra money.  Now, we're waiting to hear that our dossier is on its way to China.  I hope we'll hear that in less than a few weeks. Then we will hear from China that they received it, reviewed it, and matched it with Chazz.  That could takes a few months.  Our timeline really hasn't changed.  We're still uncertain of travel, but our best guess is January to April of 2014.  Since my last post, Chazz has turned 8!  We can't wait to announce to the world he's our son and more importantly send him a package to let him know he has a family!  It's amazing to see how God has been working all along.  I need to remember that He's in charge and His plan is ultimately better than mine.  I'm still a work in progress!  No pictures yet, but soon!  Keep checking back