Drop off

Our documents did, indeed, get dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China on Monday the 29th!  I’m looking for our Article 5 to happen on January 13th.  Man, it’s hard to wait for these last steps!

I sent our travel visa applications to our courier.  She will take them to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for us.  That should take about a week and a half.

In the meantime, Kai has turned 21 months old... <3<3<3

DS-260 done

I ended up having to wait until the next morning (12/23) to get into the system to fill out Kai’s Visa application on his behalf.  This is the DS-260.  Some of the questions were a bit comical for a 20-month-old, but you do what you have to do!  I was able to finish, print out the confirmation, and email a copy of that confirmation to our adoption agency.

I was hoping to receive our email copy (PDF) of the NVC Letter on the 23rd, but it didn’t come.  I emailed them again that night and received it the next day (nice Christmas Eve bonus!).  This letter states that our I-800 petition for Kai has been forwarded to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, where our interview will take place.  I have forwarded a copy of this letter to our adoption agency, so all should be set for our necessary documents to be dropped at the US Consulate by their China team.

Documents can only be dropped off at the Consulate on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Due to the holiday on Thursday, they were closed.  I am hoping our documents will be dropped off on the next available drop-off day of Monday (12/29).  Our adoption agency will email to let us know when this has happened.

And then we get to wait again! :)  The Consulate will review our documents to make sure all is in order and then issue our Article 5.  I have been told this takes a pretty standard 10 business days, so subtract the New Year’s Day holiday and you get maybe 1/12 or 1/13, depending on whether they actually start working on it the day it is dropped off or the next day.  Yes, we are down to counting each individual days! ;)  When our Article 5 is ready for pickup, our adoption agency will be notified.

We are getting down to the nitty gritty, folks!  I am headed to the basement to sort through baby clothes!  I am guessing Kai will wear somewhere around a 12 month size, based on our most recent measurements.  Tonight, I will probably work on our travel visa applications!

Email from NVC

And it’s good news this time!  They sent us our GUZ # and our Invoice #.  This means we can fill out Kai’s visa application online (the DS-260).  It is not letting me into the system yet, but I have heard it can take a day from the time you get your numbers before it is accessible.  I guess there is not as much of a hurry since we missed the last drop off date before Christmas (Tuesday).  The next drop off opportunity is Monday, 12/29.  So that’s my next goal!  I want to have our DS-260 Confirmation as well as a copy of our NVC Letter (which they will email to me soon) sent to our adoption agency in time for that Monday drop off!  Once these documents are dropped off at the US Consulate in China, we will be waiting for them to issue our Article 5, which takes about 2 weeks.

Come on NVC Letter!

We received an update, today!

No GUZ # from the NVC, yet.  :/  I was really hoping to get it before the weekend so we could fill out Kai’s visa application and have our documents dropped off at the US Consulate next week before Christmas.  We could still get it Monday and do the visa app then, but I kinda doubt our agency would have everything in time for the last drop-off day before Christmas (Tuesday).  Bummer.  I need to figure out when the first drop-off after Christmas will be.

And now something to cheer us up...we received an update on Kai!  This will probably be the last update we receive before we go pick him up.  He is 20 months old and his new measurements show him at 22 lbs and 30.5 inches tall.  Now I can start guessing on his clothing size for travel!  His feet are 12.5 cm long.  I think we will take a pair of Robeez (need to figure out size) and then just buy regular shoes in China if he doesn’t have any that fit right.

They did answer a few of our questions we’d sent with very general info.  He is extroverted and active.  He eats congee (rice porridge), noodles and formula.  And best of all....they sent us 2 new pictures!  <3<3

I-800 approval

I called the NBC on Monday and found out our I-800 had been approved that morning.  Now to wait a few days before emailing the NVC!

I’ve started doing some shopping for things we want to take to China and things we need at home for Kai.  It’s been a while since we had a toddler in the house!  I feel like I am forgetting very obvious items.  I know we still need to get his carseat.  I couldn’t remember if we still had a crib mattress or not, so I finally went to the basement and checked.  Um...nope!  Add that to the list!

I still can’t believe this is really happening!