LOA, I-800 and more!

First...we received our LOA on December 1st!  Pretty amazing that this exact date was my “best case scenario” guess as to when we could possibly receive our LOA way back when I made my first time line estimate.

We were able to share our adoption news with the rest of our family on Thanksgiving.  Even better to be able to share our “soft loa” news with them at the same time!  Yeah, you can guess what came to mind when we thought about the many things we were thankful for!

When our adoption agency received the actual LOA paper on Dec. 1, they emailed it to us.  I printed it out, drove it to Kevin’s work so he could come out into the parking lot to sign it, scanned it in, and emailed it back to our agency the same day.  Excited much??  ;)  The next day, they overnighted our I-800 application to the USCIS.  Not to be confused with the I-800A that we already did, this approval will let us bring Little Guy back to the US, where he will become a citizen as soon as his feet hit US soil. :)  We are told to expect about a 2 week wait for this one.

In the meantime, my email box has exploded with information and instructions from our adoption agency!  We had a few more forms to sign, notarize, and send back to them.  We also had a few checks to write.  One large chunk of money goes to Little Guy’s orphanage to help cover the cost of his care.  Luckily, his province accepts a wire transfer from our adoption agency, so we won’t have to carry this bit of cash with us to China.  Not all provinces accept this.

On Dec. 4, the actual LOA arrived at our house.  We had to sign it and send it back to our adoption agency to be sent back to China.  It felt amazing to hold that piece of paper in our hands!  I wanted to take like a MILLION pictures of it from every angle possible!

Our agency has requested an update on Little Guy.  We were able to submit 5 questions with this request.  It was hard to narrow down our questions to just 5!  We decided we wanted to ask things we thought would help us care for Little Guy in those first few days.  There is no guarantee that we will get this update, but we remain hopeful.

On Dec. 5th, we received word that our I-800 application had been received.  This gives us a receipt number, so now I can call to check on the status of our application.  I’ve only called 3 times, so far.  I got a little anxious about it on Friday, when I found out a couple other people on our timeline had received their approvals.  Well, our application is on the officer’s desk, so hopefully it will soon be approved soon.  I’m trying to decide what time I should call on Monday...

Once our I-800 is approved, it will be forwarded from the NBC (National Benefits Center) to the NVC (National Visa Center), where it will be entered into their system (which gives us a GUZ number) to start Little Guy’s US Visa process.  I will email the NVC to get our GUZ number, Invoice number and an email copy of the NVC Letter, because these things are needed for our next step- to fill out Little Guy’s Visa application on his behalf.

If I understand this correctly...  Once our adoption agency has proof that we sent Little Guy’s Visa app (DS-260), an email copy of the NVC Letter, and perhaps another document or two, they will be able to send our file to their team in China, who will deliver our file to the US Consulate.  They are only allowed to drop this off on certain days of the week.  The US Consulate will review everything and produce our Article 5.  This Article 5 will then be picked up by our adoption agency’s in-China staff and sent to the CCCWA (Chinese government).  THEN, the CCCWA will issue us a Travel Approval, which is our invitation to come pick up our son!  Whew!!

As you can see, we still have several more steps, but they are happening much more quickly than, say, the LOA.  Our adoption agency is starting to prepare us for traveling.  We have consulted with a travel clinic at the Adoption Center in Chicago.  I am starting to have all kinds of lists running through my brain at all hours of the day- packing lists, paperwork lists, to-do lists, you name it!  Add that to the usual fast pace of the holiday season and you can understand why my head feels like it might explode some days!!

Travel is typically 9-12 weeks after receiving LOA, but it can be delayed by things such as holidays and CCCWA computer upgrades, both of which we are dealing with.  Still...it will be here before we know it!!  <3 <3

54 days and Christmas decorating

We are getting close to that 60 day LOA wait mark.  That is the point at which I will allow myself to start obsessing and counting every single day.  Not a day before then!  Maybe.

We are staying busy with the kids’ activities and the holidays approaching.  The kids and I decided to start putting up Christmas decorations, last weekend.  I guess  Kevin figured there was no use fighting it, so he put up the tree for us.  The kids had a blast looking through ornaments from years past.  Each year, they get to choose a new ornament that signifies something about them for that year.  This makes it extra fun to look through the ornaments as they hang them on the tree each year.  I didn’t want Little Guy left out, so I bought his first ornament.  I would like to also find a 2013 ornament for him. <3

And you’ll notice a distinct open space in the line of stockings.  Yep, we need to do something about that!  Our 14 y/o said we definitely need to get Little Guy’s stocking up and I agree.  Thankfully, we have decided on a name for him, so we can have that embroidered on his stocking like everyone else’s.

We have also been working on Little Guy’s next care package.  We had 2 more sleepers left from the last group we bought, and we added a pack of washcloths, some bibs, another bag of candy for the nannies, a picture drawn by our 5 y/o (he really felt strongly about adding something personal to the package) and Daddy, two more pictures of the kids (including one of them holding Little Guy’s picture), and another disposable camera for the nannies to, hopefully, use and give to us on Gotcha day.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get this shipped because I have been under the weather since Tuesday evening.  I plan to send it early next week!

Last, but certain not least, we received a surprise email from our adoption agency, this morning.  They wanted to let us know that our dossier is listed in the system as having been reviewed.  We were not expecting this information because our agency doesn’t typically check for these small steps unless asked, and we haven’t asked.  But...WOW!!  The next step is “match reviewed” and that will mean we have been approved.  This gives me some new numbers to obsess over research and count!  :)  Our adoption agency told us we could hope for LOA news within the next few weeks.  My research tells me it may be sooner than that.  SQUEE!!!!! <3

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to refrain from checking my email every 10 minutes, starting Monday morning...

LOA wait day 38

I really am not counting every single day, but every few days to a week I like to look and see how many days it’s been.  I am hoping we are over half way thru our LOA wait but only time will tell.  Thanksgiving Day will be day 60 and the day we get to share our news with more family members.  I didn’t think I could wait until Thanksgiving to share our news but I also wanted to do it in person.  Looks like I’m going to make it. ;)

Kevin and I have been working on Little Guy’s name.  I spent quite a few hours reading a baby names list and writing down names I was open to considering.  I then handed the 150 names to Kevin and told him to cross off any names he really didn’t like.  You can probably tell where this is going.  He handed me back 9 names.  NINE.  I looked over the short list and crossed off 3-4 more names.  I think we are close to a decision!  This is only for the first name but we already had some ideas/feelings about the middle name(s).  I’m not sure if we will share his name on here ahead of time or not.

Tonight I bought a toy for Little Guy.  It is one of those multi-sensory toys we typically give babies, but I think it may be good for our man.  Most likely, he has not had a lot of experience with different toys, and we expect him to be behind in his development.  We’ll just meet him where he’s at developmentally.  This makes it kind of hard to plan ahead on things like toys, but we’ll do the best we can. :)

Last weekend, we took the kids to the town square and got some pictures of them.  In retrospect, I should have removed the glass from the frame with Little Guy’s pic.  Next time...

And now for a couple of out-takes...

Yeah, the “jump on the count of 3” thing didn’t quite work out for us.  Their heights and jumping abilities are so varied.  I gave up on that one. ;)

As the kids left the house to trick-or-treat on Halloween, I couldn’t help but think about next year and having Little Guy join in the fun!

A little shopping

Well, I finally bought Little Guy’s first outfit.  I had to guess on the sizing but I could not pass this up.  The shirt is just perfect!  I love that I was able to buy the matching blanket and hat, very similar to the early outfits I bought each of my other 3 children. :)

I also thought I’d share a pic of the toddler sized backpack I bought on clearance a month or so ago.  I thought we could maybe use the lunch bag for snacks when we are out and about in China.  And the water bottle I’m not too sure about.  I’ve done a lot of reading about children with cleft palate and they can’t create suction for drinking out of sippy cups, etc.  This straw cup is the type you bite on to open up the valve.  We will likely take several different bottles/cups with us, since we don’t know what he is able to drink out of.

I finished reading the info packets from our adoption agency and decided it was high time we sent our little guy his first care package!  I mainly wanted to send photos labeled in English and Chinese, so he could get a glimpse of us and also a disposable camera for the nannies to use up and (HOPEFULLY) give us when we come to pick him up.  I didn’t want to send a toy he wouldn’t be able to keep (everything must be shared in an orphanage) but decided to send something that would be useful to the orphanage- a couple sleepers, some baby hats and diaper rash cream.  I have been told that they are always in need of these things.  Last, I included some candy for the nannies.

I think I will try to send at least a couple more care packages while we are waiting to go to China.

My brother was able to pull Little Guy’s picture out of the sponsorship update we received, so now I can share it with you.  He is 15 months old in this picture.  Doesn’t he look adorable?! <3

More documents and another update

OK, I thought we were done with paperwork for a while but I was wrong! ;)  Our adoption agency sent us a packet requesting that we go ahead and complete the I-800 (not to be confused with the I-800A that we already did) and send it to them so they can send it to USCIS the minute our LOA arrives!  OK, maybe not “minute” but it will be a fast turnaround.

Along with the I-800 was the I-800 Supplement 1, G-1145 and I-864W.  I was able to complete these over the weekend and mail them off, today.  Having paperwork to do at least makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.

I still need to finish reading a previous packet of info our agency sent.  I have been so impressed with them!  They are very responsive and communicate with us a lot.  I love their packets of info that they send at just the right times!

This afternoon, we received our first sponsorship update on our little guy.  It included a short report with measurements and 1 photo.  I started to think he was shrinking until I read the date on the report.  It’s from July.  Whew!

This is the 3rd time our little guy has been described as “very mischievous.”  Hm...  The photo is adorable!!  <3  I need to figure out how to copy just the photo so I can share it on here.

And I may or may not have just purchased my first outfit for Little Guy.  Sizing is quite a guess at this point, but I couldn’t let this outfit pass me by!