A little more waiting,

....on the US Government.

We have sent in the application to USCIS (Homeland Security) to qualify Joy as an immediate relative of ours when she lands in the US. This will make her an immediate US Citizen. This process takes about 15-20 days.

We are on Day 10 and not so patiently waiting anymore.

I'm anxious.

I'm not so anxious that I'm in a bad mood. I'm excited anxious. I'm ready.

Pray with us that we fall within the "normal" processing range this time around and not the LONG WAIT we've had with every other phase of this adoption.



~ (3/5 update: just an update to my prayer request about having a normal processing time. Would you believe we ran into yet another delay!?! This time it was MY fault! I forgot to sign the stinkin' i800 application and on day 15 of waiting, received it back in the mail to sign and return. So our new countdown begins from 2/28/2012 (the 2nd date that USCIS received our application). I can't even tell you how mad I was at myself. God in all his glory really does have this under control even though my humanness does not see the method to this madness of delays yet. There is a plan. I believe that with all my heart. ~ We are on our new day 7 of waiting and hoping that our approval arrives by 3/13)

More good news of great Joy!

Today we received updated photos of our sweet Joy. We have not seen photos of her since July. And, to get them this day, the day our Referral arrived in our hand is Double-Blessing, Double-Joy.

REFERRAL

Today I behold in my own hand, the formal Referal of my waiting daughter. A letter stating "Based on your application and in accordance with the Adoption of Law of the People's Republic of China, the China Center for Adoption Affairs match a child with you. ......Name: Gau Er Gou, From: Xi'an, Shaanxi Province"

Decision of Adopter:
~We accept the adoptee mentioned above
~We cannot accept the adoptee mentioned above

AND, what do you think we checked!!! Yes, of course, WE ACCEPT, WE ACCEPT, WE ACCEPT.

We accept you Joy, just the way you are, just the way your Maker made you, with open arms, open hearts, without expectations, with no conditions, we accept you Joy.

Goods news from a distant land!

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
Proverbs 25:25

After 68 days.....we have.....

Glor-glor-glorious news!!!! Our adoption agency received our Final Approval from China today. (It's called a Letter Seeking Confirmation, which is a document with Joy's information on it and we "check" the "yes" box that we want her, sign it and send it back.)

Now...
We start processing the Immigration papers with the US government getting permission for Joy to enter the country...

After that....
The approval from China and the US immigrations are sent to the US Consulate in China, which starts processing a visa for Joy...

Then...
The Consulate lets the Chinese government know they are ready to process Joy's visa....

And Finally....
The Chinese government invites us to come to China to complete the adoption.

The entire above process take about 8 weeks. SO, in about 8 weeks we will be setting our travel dates. We will not travel in 8 weeks but we will start planning the dates and things will start to firm up here pretty soon.

Restless

I am Restless.

Restless from Anticipation.

Restless with the Hope.



I move around a lot. I try to sit but my mind can't focus on any one thing. I move around more. I can focus on little projects but not big ones. My mind wonders from one thing to the next without finishing the previous thought. I have lots of little to-do's each day that I forget all about.

It's a good thing.

Really.

It means we are expecting news of our sweet Joy.

It means the time is getting closer.

It means I am getting excited.

Restless.

This is the best restless I know of. Let me relish in it for just a while.

~ Day 63 of waiting on our formal referral (average wait 42-72 days) ~

49 days & happily waiting

Today is 49 days since our dossier was logged in. LOA's (Letter of Approval) have come in this time frame. Which makes me so excited to be so close. At maximum we should just have another 2 to 3 weeks.

It's exciting!

China is closed next week for Chinese New Year but I sure hope to be emailing & posting good news the week after that!

Keep praying for quick processing but most important 'God's Timing!' - I am so blessed to serve SUCH an awesome God who would choose ME (of all people!) to be the mom to our 4 children and then again he chooses me to be Joy's mom!!!! ME???!! The woman who wanted 1 child & a career?! Me?! He is an awesome God.



Waiting....

All Logged In

As posted previously, our dossier was sent to China on November 28th. ~ We have been waiting and waiting (6 weeks weeks of waiting) to hear that our dossier was "logged in" to the database at China's Adoption Affairs office in Beijing. Thankfully, today we heard. It has been logged in and logged in for quite some time.

Our LID was December 2, 2011

We are now waiting on China to send us our formal referral of Ms. Joy. We hope to receive that in February. We'll sign it and send it back pronto. After that, we'll be waiting on China to issue us our Travel Approval.