3rd Care Package Response!

NEW PICTURES!!!

We have new pictures of our daughter!!!  We received a message from the care package service (Gifts To China With Love) saying they spoke with the orphanage director and confirmed that Miao received the items we sent, yesterday. 

The orphanage also said,  in place of ordering a cake for our daughter, the money we sent was used to allow her the opportunity to have spending money at an upcoming outing to the EXPO event, currently held in Shanghai, China.  We were thrilled our money was used to allow her extra fun!! 

The director gave Miao a choice and she chose spending money at the EXPO over a cake...yep, she already sounds like a teenager.  :-)  We are thrilled our daughter has this special opportunity and that we are able to play a part in her having spending money!

My understanding, she is back at the orphanage for summer break and will be returning to the boarding school when school starts. 

PS:  We were told our daughter will write us a letter, when she returns from the EXPO.  YEA-we are looking forward to that.

PSS: We were also told, our daughter ate all the sweets we sent her, in one day!  That tells me, yes, she enjoys sweets as any other child AND we need to send more sweets with each care package.

She is beautiful!!

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3rd Care Package Sent!

Sent via, "Gifts To China With Love"

We sent Miao her third care package, this weekend...in honor of her birthday! The package included a letter written by us to our daughter, a birthday cake package, a leather-like pink backpack and another photo album. Yes, it is a belated birthday but we didn't want to send the package prior to knowing she received our Children's Day gifts. We don't want to overwhelm the orphanage director sending 2 packages so close together and risk our daughter not receiving one of them.  We received confirmation with pictures of our daughter (see our post below, 7/8...a few days before our vacation!) holding the gifts AND A LETTER!!! Yes, we received our second letter!!

While we missed sending a package on her birthday, Gifts To China With Love was considerate and took it upon themselves to call the orphanage director (on Miao's birthday) and asked her to please tell Miao Happy Birthday, from her forever family!!



The 2nd care package was sent in June, in honor of Children's Day, (a national holiday in China) and the 1st care package was sent in May, in honor of us becoming a family. The orphanage (or rather boarding school) had a "Forever Family Celebration"  for Miao. 

The 1st care package was really cool because the orphanage didn't know she had a forever family/was being adopted, until we sent the care package.  Gifts To China With Love has a nice "Forever Family Celebration" care package that we sent in addition to extra sweets and clothing.  One of the best emails ever received was from that 1st care package.  It consisted of the conversation between the orphanage director and Katherine, as she informed the director that Miao is being adopted and now has a forever family living in the US!  The director was thrilled to learn the news and seems to be a loving and compassionate lady toward the children.

When adopting our son from China last year, we had the same experience.  The orphanage director had no idea he was being adopted until we sent a care package and requested a call to his orphanage with our questions.  To be a part of the orphanage director hearing news of the adoption...that's priceless!

Heck, all care packages that families send while waiting to bring their children home and in turn, receiving updated pictures, information and letters....that's priceless, too!!

PS:  Now that we are DTC, I was able to give Miao some sort of a status on her adoption by sharing that our paperwork was sent to China, on July 22!! Also shared with her that we don't know exactly when she is coming home but we sure hope it happnes by end of year!!!

DTC-TODAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!! 

And what a birthday it is!!!  We are DTC as of 11:30 this morning, when DHL sent over a notification via email from our agency to say our paperwork is in the process of shipping to China!!!! 

Unfortunately, daddy is in China and given the 13 hour time difference and the fact, daddy was sick with food poison yesterday, I don't have the heart to call and wake him.  (It's now in the middle of the night!)

I can't wait to share the glorious news with him.....think it's safe to speak on his behalf and say, DTC is the best birthday gift, he's ever received!!!

NEXT STEP: LID!!!  (Log-In Date)

LID is the day our dossier (mounds of paperwork) is logged into the China Center for Adoption Affairs computer system.  This will start the "real" countdown for bringing Miao home!!!

The typical time for the LID is about 2-4 weeks after DTC but with an older child, it has been known to come much quicker.  (yea!)

Several families I've met through the Yahoo China Adoption Networking group, who are also adopting older children from the same orphange, have received their LID (Log-In Date) within a couple of days.  Here's praying we are equally as blessed and will receive our LID in the next day or two. 

Our agency makes a habit of "flagging" the dossiers that are to adopt older children.  They flag it by placing a note as the top page, specifying the dossier is specific to an older child and to PLEASE EXPEDITE.  Since our daughter is 13 years old our dossier was flagged!!! 

When flagged dossiers arrive to China, the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) is suppose to keep the file separate and not add it to "the stack," with hundreds of other dossiers wiating their turn to be logged-in.  Flagged dossiers should be handled as an expedite and logged-in ahead of those waiting dossiers.  However, agency also said, no promises...what should happen and what normally happens..doesn't always happen.  SIGH! Let's pray it does happen.............

It would be such a blessing to have our LID by the time Earl returns home from his business trip in China!!

COME ON LID!!!!!!  COME ON LID!!!!!  COME ON LID!!!!!

I797C Received TODAY!!!!!!

This is the I800A APPROVAL!!

We are thrilled to share with our family and friends, that our I797C was received in the mail today!!!  Sterling and mom returned from the movies, went directly to the mailbox and THERE IT WAS!!!!

The agency is receiving a copy as well.  Once the agency notarizes, certifies and authenticates this document, we will be DTC!!! (Dossier to China)  The dossier is the mounds of paperwork Earl and I have been gathering since starting our journey to bring Miao home. 

Once we are DTC (Dossier to China) it is estimated to take 2 weeks for China to input the information and provide us with an LID.  (LID: date information was logged in)

The I797C is a big step toward bringing our sweet girl home!!!!

Next step.....DTC!!!

Received New Pictures!!

Our Care Package Service ROCKS!
GIFTS TO CHINA WITH LOVE

Our morning started out the best way possible, with new pictures of our daughter!!!
 
Our care package service seems to have a good relationship with our daughter's SWI and boarding school because we received new pictures, today.  (With 2 care packages sent, we've received pictures both times and a letter from her on one occasion)

If you'd like to send a care package to your child, their website is: http://www.giftstochinawithlove.com/


Below are the pictures we received.  She is holding a bag containing the items we sent her!  A stuffed mama & baby panda bear,  a pillow with a collage of family pictures & a personal letter from us.

She's such a cutie!!

I800A Approval: I797c IS COMING!!!!!

Yesterday, Tuesday, July 6, I phoned our USCIS caseworker as a follow-up from our conversation on Friday, which was to notify her that we walked-in for our fingerprints  (20 days early, might I add!)  AND check the status of our approval and mailing of the the I797C. (The  official I800A approval form/paperwork) 

She answered the phone but was busy at the moment. I quickly gave an overview of Friday's conversation and that I was calling to check the status of our I800A approval.  She said there are approximately 700 files on her desk and that she will need to pull our file.  She also added, that our approval will be going out soon and if we didn't hear from her the next day, all should be good.  I politely said thank you for her time but was hesitant to "just wait."  Well, shortly after we hung up, she called back to say, sorry she didn't have time when I called to check my file but the approval was mailed out earlier that morning!!

YES, OUR APPROVAL WAS MAILED  TUESDAY MORNING, 7/6 AND SHOULD ARRIVE ANY DAY NOW!!!

The I797C is the final piece of the puzzle required for our dossier...once the I797C is received, notarized, certified and authenticated...our dossier will be sent to China!!!!  A BIG STEP TO BRINGING OUR SWEET GIRL, HOME!!!

PS:  For those not familiar with adoption lingo, a dossier is the mounds of paperwork required for adoption.

An Unexpected Connection: A Friend of Our Daughter!

Today, when opening emails to ensure the USCIS office or our adoption agency was not attempting to contact us via email, I came across an email entitled, "Searching for Texas Family" posted on our GSWI yahoo group.  (GSWI is the abbreviation for Guangzhou Social Welfare Institue-where our daughter is located).  When opening the email, it was a lady searching for the family adopting "Huang Miao," yes, our daughter!!! I immediately replied.

The family sending the email adopted an older girl back in October and during their stay, met our daughter!  As it turns out, the girls are friends!!!  This is totally amazing and what are the chances of finding a close friend of our daughter's...this has been a prayer since the start of our daughter's adoption.  What better way to help Miao to feel more comfortable about a move to the US, half-way around the globe,  than to tell her that we are in touch with a friend's family!  This is surely an answered prayer!!  We've exchanged a few emails and received pictures of our daughter!  We look forward getting to know this family better and one day, getting our girls together.

Fingerprinting Today!!

God is great....all the time!

Thanks to the Good Lord's grace, we were fingerprinted TODAY!!!  This is ahead of our scheduled appointment!!  We were told that Houston is the one city in particular known to deny families for early fingerprinting.  Fortunately, thanks to God's grace, we got through with no questions or problems!  We had Earl's itinerary in hand, showing he would be traveling out of the country on business and proof of our beautiful daughter's birthday, showing she will age-out in 11 months.  (Aging-out means she will no longer be available for adoption) BUT, we didn't need either of these!!!  The 4 USCIS representatives we spoke with didn't ask questions or hesitate to allow us to be fingerprinted!!

Also incredible is the fact, it only took us 15 minutes, from start to finish!!!  Yes, only 15 minutes at a government office.  Is that incredible or what?!?!

I phoned the USCIS office and spoke with our caseworker when returning home.  She kindly pulled up our record and said we are approved and once the fingerprints were loaded in the system, she will mail the I797 Approval form!!!!!  Prints will be loaded either this afternoon or on Tuesday!

Earl and I were so excited and gave all praises to God on the drive home.  This adoption continues to show us the capacity of  God's love, God's work and that HE is always in control....amazing how much of God's grace we've seen between the two adoptions.  We almost timed-out and lost the opportunity to adopt our beautiful daughter BUT when God is involved...he can move mountains and find a way..even when it involves government rules and regulations!!  God is great....all the time!!

What next?
1.  Receive the I797 (USCIS Approval to adopt & bring our girl home!)
2.  Send the I797 Approval form to Madison Adoption Associates
3.  Madison Adoption Associates will authenticate & certify the I797 Approval Form
4.  DTC-DOSSIER TO CHINA! Our mounds of paperwork is sent to China
5.  LID:  LOG-IN DATE:our paperwork is logged into China's system (approx. 2 weeks after DTC)
6.  LOA: Letter of Approval from China
7.  Article 5**
8.  TA: Travel Approval
9.  Schedule CA (consulate appointment)
10.  Schedule travel

**The Article 5 has several steps involved

We hope to be traveling by end of year but will know a better estimate, once we receive the LOA.

Thanks to God's grace, we were sucessful at walking in to be fingerprinted, ahead of our scheduled appointment!!!  It was totally God's grace at work.  We had been told that Houston was the one city that is known for turning away those who request early fingerprinting.  We went prepared, Earl's China business trip itinerary in hand along with proof of our daughter's birthday and the fact, she will be aging out (ie: unadoptable) in 11 short months.  If we don't make it to China by June, we lose the beautiful opportunity to adopt her.  Fortunately, we didn't need any of this information!!  The USCIS office didn't question us one time and we went through 3 people before the fingerprinting.  What a blessing!!!!