The dossier has arrived

After much mad-dashing, between us and our agency, our Dossier was mailed to China on 11/22 and arrived in the hands of the Chinese government on 11/28/2011.

So what's next?
We wait for a Log in Date (LID). This is when they remove our dossier from a stack and log it into their system and begin processing it. From the date it arrived (11/28) it takes about 10 days for it to get logged in. We are looking at a LID of about 12/10. But we won't hear what that log in date is until probably the end of December.

After that?
We wait about 45-75 days to receive a Letter Seeking Confirmation from the Chinese government. That letter is our formal referral that China sends to us saying "Hey, there is little girl Gua Er Guo, and here is her picture, would you like to adopt her?" And we say "Uh, yeah!!!!" and send it back.

Then?
We wait again. Another 2 months. For TA (travel approval). TA is our formal invite to come to China, then we get to set an appt with the American Consulate, get our travel visas and airline tickets. All that takes about a 4 to 6 weeks.

Then?
We are OFF to China to get our baby girl.

This wait is exciting! And it's frustrating because you want everything to happen yesterday. But we know that God has the moment ordained that Joy will become a Clark and we anxiously look forward to that date.

77 days in the wilderness

There are several wilderness periods in an adoption. Where you "hurry up and wait" and then wait more and more and more. One of those wilderness periods is your wait for your USCIS (Homeland Security) Approval to arrive in the form of a documented numbered I797. Our wait was 77 days. But, it arrived and this wilderness period is OVER!!!

OUR DOSSIER IS COMPLETE!!!!!

After 6 months of paperchasing.


We took it all to the County Clerk:

Then to the Secretary of State in Annapolis:


Then to the Department of State in Washington, DC:


And finally the Chinese Embassy:



OUR PAPERCHASE IS OVER!!!!

The Fantastic FedEx man shipped it all off to our adoption agency:

A Promise is A Promise

The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. Man will fail us. Man will break his promises but God never will. And God promised me a child. He promised me Joy. So why do I fret?

It's day 76 of what we had been traditionally a 50 day wait for the Homeland Security (USCIS) clearance. Why us? Why did God choose us for this long wait? Why now when it was our turn to receive the approval? Why? Why? and more why?

Bottom line: I don't know. I may never know. And in all my worrying to make it happen yesterday, my worry does not accomplish one single thing of good.

God promised me Joy. Worry only makes us sick and doesn't accomplish anything. God keeps his promises. God has an appointed time that will not be missed.

And, so each day I try harder and harder to release my worry, my stomach knots over to Him.

You may not be an adoptive parent and wonder why 25 days is a big deal. Let me just say if you were pregnant and 25 days beyond your due date, you would have been induced. And friends, I am READY to be induced here!!!

I wish I could say I have fully handed it over. That would be a lie but I am leaning on the Everlasting Rock. I am pulling my strength from him. I know he will fulfill his promises. I know he will make my joy complete. I know she will be in my arms. I know that our family will be all together on one continent. I know these things. Let me focus on what I know and stop fretting over what only God knows.

Authentications & More Wait

We have almost our entire dossier complete. All we need is our USCIS (Homeland Security) Clearance.

The girls and I took all documents (our dossier) to the Secretary of State in Annapolis to get the State Seal. That was a fun trip.



The next day, Dale stayed home and watched all the kids so I could then take the dossier to the Dept of State and the Chinese Embassy to be Authenticated.

So here we are with our entire dossier certified and authenticated (since early October actually) AND we just KEEP WAITING and waiting and waiting. 73 days of waiting at this point for our USCIS clearance.

On day 70 we did hear from USCIS, yes, we did. But it was request for more information. A "pink slip" known as an RFE. You don't want to get an RFE. Really, you don't. It was 48hrs of scrambling and drama only to find out that our homestudy did indeed contain the information that they were requesting and we didn't need to do anything. Unfortunately that has added at minimum 6 more days of wait for our approval. They mailed the 'unnecessary" RFE on Nov 2, we received it on Nov 7. 5 days wasted. And now here we are on Nov 9th still without our approval email. Any day now. Any day now!