February 10th is the Chinese New Year

I was so caught up in the fact that our paperwork was moving along at such a fast rate that I totally forgot about the fact the February 10th is the Chinese New Year (I even sent Cora and her class gifts!) and that the whole country closes down for two weeks! The U.S. Consulate office closures during Chinese New Year and President’s Day will affect the processing time of our Article 5. WACAP's representative confirmed that our documents were dropped off at the U.S. Consulate and our Article 5 is scheduled to be picked up on March 1. We will receive confirmation when it has been picked up and sent to the CCCWA in Beijing. We may also receive an email directly from the consulate letting us know the Article 5 has been signed.

We found a company that researches finding adds for Chinese orphans. Brian at research-china.org has been collecting newspapers from China and organizing the finding adds for many years. I think as far back as 1999. He not only found Cora's finding add at a few days old, but had an extra copy of the whole newspaper which he sent to us. He made a CD with the information on it and a copy of her add that was photo quality. We were worried that it may not be true so we sent a copy to our adoption agent and she verified the information matched Cora's (there is no way to be 100% sure). The add included the fact that the infant girl had a leg deformity and was found in the same location on the same day and born on the same day as Cora. We are pretty sure it is Cora. It is amazing to have a newborn picture of a child that you are adopting at 4 years of age!

Sasha (big sister/Jei Jei) is getting very excited to get her baby sister (Mei Mei) home and is hoping that Cora will love her new room and home. She is going through clothes, toys, and books and getting everything organized. Sasha even cleaned her room and is keeping it clean to make room for Cora.

New timeline because of the Chinese New Year:
March 1, 2013 Article 5
March 15, 2013 Travel Notice
March 29, Travel to China to bring Cora home!!