We are going to China! March 30, 2013

We have our Consulate appointment on April 11, 2013 which means that we will finally get to hold our beautiful daughter on April 1^st! We have been waiting so long to hold her, tell her how much we love her, and will always keep her safe.

2 weeks to finish everything in Cora’s and Sasha’s bedroom, finish making backpacks for the children that we are filling with gifts and treats, and shopping for the Ayi’s. I am very close to being done with all of the shopping and just need to find a way to get it all in one suitcase.

Then the hard part starts; being in a country when you do not know the language, being totally dependent on others to complete something so important to us. Having to keep calm, happy and smiling even though you are so scared something bad will happen and you will not be able to do anything about it. We just have to trust that we are doing what we were called to do and that the plan will work because it was meant to be. It is the hard times that show us how hard it can be to keep the faith.

We got our Travel Approval tonight!

We put in our 5 dates for our Consulate appointment and hope to hear tomorrow what date we are approved for. The Consulate appointment is our last appointment before we come home. We asked for April 11, 16, 17, 18 and 23. The adoption agency feels that they should approve us for April 11 but there is no way to know. If they do approve us for the 1st it means that we will be leaving for China on March 28 or 29! We will get to meet Cora on April 1 (Gotcha Day) and she will be officially our daughter on April 2, 2013!

Email about the Article 5 for travel date

We received the email about the article 5 for our

travel date. This is a copy of the email explaining

the rest of the process to bring Cora home.
 

Dear Adoptive Parent,

 The Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou has finished processing your child's Article 5, and your file is ready to be returned to your adoption agency's facilitator. 

 Next, your agency will deliver the Article 5 and Letter of Seeking Confirmation to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA), which will issue the Travel Approval (TA).  The TA allows you to come to China to finalize the adoption, so once the CCCWA issues the TA, your agency can email us to request an immigrant visa appointment at the Consulate.  When your agency requests an appointment, they are required to submit your five choices in rank order.  The ACIVU strives to schedule every family for their top appointment choice on which we still have available visa appointments.  We do not reserve certain days for children of certain ages.  All appointments are open to adopted children of any age and medical condition, and they are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.  We then notify your agency of the scheduled date and time. 

 We understand that plans change and occasionally an agency must request to change an appointment, but we ask them to minimize such requests and only make them in the case of true emergencies because frequent appointment changes impede our ability to give other families their top choices.   In order to avoid the need to reschedule, please coordinate closely with your agency in formulating your list of five preferred appointment dates. Regarding booking flights to return to the United States: Please be aware that difficulties that are completely beyond our control often arise in the approval and printing of visas.

 When you book flights for your return travel, please be aware that while we make every effort to issue visas the afternoon following the immigrant visa interview, from time to time issues beyond our control prevent us from keeping to this schedule.  Guangzhou’s  Consular Section issues thousands of visas each business day, and problems, while rare, do occur.  In order to avoid the costly need to change your travel plans, we strongly recommend that you allow at least 48 hours after the time of your visa interview to depart Guangzhou.

 We look forward to meeting you and your new family member when you come to the Consulate for your visa appointment!

 Best regards,

 Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU)
U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou
Phone: (86)(20) 8518 7653
Fax: (86)(20) 3884 4420

 

We are getting so excited! To be able to see her,

hold her, and finally be able to show her how

much we love her.

Article 5 was scheduled to be picked up today

Our Article 5 was scheduled to be picked up today, March 1, 2013. Lauren will receive confirmation when it has been picked up and sent to the CCCWA in Beijing and will let us know as soon as she hears from them. We may also receive an email directly from the consulate letting you know the Article 5 has been signed and has been picked up.

THE NEXT (AND LAST) STEP IS A TRAVEL DATE!!

I cannot believe it is finally almost time to travel half way around the world to Ningbo China and bring home our beautiful little daughter Cora Yan. It has felt like we have been waiting forever but now that the time is here I feel like we have so much to do to get ready to travel and for her to come home.

I am putting finishing touches on the girls room, buying the last few things that are needed and practicing packing it all into a suitcase that is not supposed to be over 44 pounds. You should try it... clothes for 2 for 14 days, toys, gifts for ayi's and director, donations for the children left behind, food and snacks, medicines, extra shoes, shampoo, lotions, pull ups (just in case)... and the list goes on. The suitcase has filled up quick!

Baba and I went shopping for Cora

I took daddy, papa, baba (he needs a few more names!) shopping to pick out some toys for Cora. The toys were a lot harder to pick out than I thought. Everything needs to be on the small side and packable. She is 4 but we were thinking a blend of toddler and baby toys. We could not find anything we liked! Baba picked out a Michigan State tee shirt and a Michigan State cheer leading outfit. It seems that he will have a new cheering squad for football season this year.

I ordered a book that is for adopted children. It is meant to be filled out by the Ayi at the orphanage. It is called The Red Book of Questions. Maureen, an adoptive mother that is a book binder by trade, makes them. She has two styles; basic and deluxe. This refers to the cover and quality of paper and design. The book has 88 questions that an adoptive parent may need or want to know. In the front of the book is a letter to the Ayi stating that we understand that her time is very valuable but we would be greatly appreciative if she could fill out the ones we have marked as the most important to us. A family that adopted from the orphanage that Cora is in sent a book a month before traveled. They got the book on Gotcha Day filled out! The book is done in silk and is a display item. Her website is sharpbooks.com. I will put up a picture when it comes in.

Waiting...

I was looking at blogs today trying to find information about Gotcha Day and packing for the trip. I came across a posting that gave me the "reality check" that I was in need of. I spent most of yesterday angry and pouting; feeling very tired of waiting, tired of paperwork, and tired of dealing with the process. I am ready to just travel and get my girl home.

I am hoping the family does not mind that I borrowed this but it is worth passing along.

Waiting...

Most of us don't like to wait. (Waiting in line at the grocery, waiting in the lobby for a dental appointment that's running behind, waiting for that train to finish as you’re already late). Waiting is ANNOYING and not one of us will disagree as we sit there tapping our foot and muttering under our breath.

Now, if you've ever been part of the adoption world "waiting" takes on a whole different meaning. Not to say that we aren't tapping our foot or muttering under our breath, but it's painfully different and hard for those outside our circle to completely understand.

Why is it so different? It's really quite simple and one word can explain it: L-O-V-E.

Love and complete devotion for someone you've yet to meet, a little someone who you've only seen a few photos of and read a few pages of vague information about. For me, the feelings are intimately similar to when I was pregnant. The hopes and dreams and complete feeling of awe that I had for the unseen, unknown child(ren) I had I carried within my body are the same for those that are born in my heart.

Adoption is waiting. Everything is a deadline and a countdown. Do this, copy that, mail form D-E-F, but not until you receive document A-B-C.

Await this approval, file this government form, notarized this, authenticate that. USCIS, CCCWA, NBC, NVC, Secretary of State, I-800, Article 5, I797, US Consulate, Chinese Consulate. The list goes on and on.

Submit a form and await your approval. Count the days between submission and approval then start again with another part of the process. Tens of hours of work turn into weeks, weeks into months and sometimes months into years.

Around the world a child waits for their family, OUR children wait. Our children wait for someone to love them unconditionally, to hold and comfort them when they need it or simply to the give one-on-one attention where they've never had. This wait keeps them from the opportunities they may never have in their birth country.

Our children are "taken care" of to the best of the ability of the ayi's (nannies) with sometimes scant resources and we are forever indebted to them for this care, but it's not the love of a family that children need and deserve.

As I sit here in the comfort of my home, with running water, electricity, ample food and the love of my family I begin to feel very selfish, no I am selfish. I am spoiled and lack patience. Where else can I be channeling this wasted energy for a greater good? The process is what it is and I need to find peace in it, I am not in control.

YES!!! I want my kids home but my wait is nothing in comparison to theirs. I need to recognize that before I delve into a case of "woe-is-me" and rant about why it takes so long. I have to step off the pity train and remember this isn’t about me no matter how I spin it; it’s my sense of entitlement that’s annoying, not the waiting.

As I look at photos of Cora I know I am not the one waiting, she is, and it gives me the good slap I need to regain my perspective of the waiting game knows as adoption.

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!!