Adopting Sophie Grace

As we’re a week away from travel, we are getting ready to pack.  You might ask why (as I did).

Well, we’re carrying the normal clothes and toiletries as you might expect, but we’re also carrying all sorts of gifts for orphanage workers.  We’re taking a variety of medicines for all sorts of rashes, ailments or even an upset tummy.  We’re carrying clothes of several sizes for Sophie since we’re not exactly sure what will fit.  We’re packing for two vastly different climates of northern and southern China.  We’ve got a lot of stuff to cram into the 4 suitcases that we’re trying to limit ourselves to, so the logistics of this trip are pretty intense.  It’s like packing the space shuttle – every inch and ounce counts.

On the positive side, we’re all very excited about the whole trip and the idea of holding our new daughter for the first time.  If we can ever get packed, that is.

We had our “travel call” with our agency today and talked over all of the little details. We already have plane tickets in hand and our Chinese visas are on their way back to us, so we got to talk about how everything will work when we’re in China. Our agency has representatives on the ground in Hohhot and in Guangzhou, so we should have help every step of the way.

It’s always tough to know what questions to ask in a call like this, and since we’ve travelled internationally quite often, the normal “don’t drink the water” type of discussion is not necessary.  Still it was good to know that we’re on track and getting closer every day to bringing our little girl home.

Tears were shed today.

We got our consular appointment, travel dates, and (closest to our hearts) we now know when we’ll pick up our daughter.  She will be the best Valentine’s Day gift in history this year.  On February 23rd, we’ll stand in the US Consulate in Guang Zhou and swear her in as a US Citizen (although she won’t get that paperwork officially until she gets back to the US).

It is truly a relief that we’re now only a little over a month away from bringing our little girl home!

Faith is important in a situation like this.  We have no backup plan, and the majority of the process is out of our hands.  Sure, we can make phone calls and ask for updates, but other than chasing down some paperwork, we really do not have much influence over anything in the process.  Still, we fell like God is calling us to adopt again, even though there have been traumas in our life in the last year, even though a number of things are unclear, even though we are already blessed by such wonderful children.

Several people have asked “why do it again?” or “how can you afford it?” or “haven’t you done enough?”  They comment about how “people like you are special.”  I keep telling them that we have submitted our lives to the control of Jesus.  That’s the only reason.  No other reason makes any logical sense.

In the years since we gave up on the stuff the world thinks is important, our lives have been rich beyond belief in every way.  There have been insurmountable tragedies and huge problems.  There have been so many changes and challenges. And yet one thing keeps shining and making the whole thing a joy.

There is nothing else that I can say to explain it – I have joy in all of this because of Christ.

We’re doing this because we believe that God is very clearly asking us to adopt again and to do it this time without borrowing a penny and without much of a plan, and without much worry — to show that anyone can do it if and when God calls them to.  I believe that we are supposed to prove to people that when God calls you to a thing, he will provide the way to make it happen, whether that’s handling the financial issues, or getting a government approval or two, or giving you the hope to continue when hardship hits, or just giving you the feeling that you’re living where he wants you to live.

This is not some positive thinking mumbo-jumbo.  This is not some new age thing.  It’s not some magical formula.

If it were up to me, I would live quite happily on my own, making my own way.  I did it for years.  But somewhere along the way, though we were happy enough on our own, God called us to listen to him and we actually did.  Continuing to follow him has made all the difference in our lives and we would not trade our relationship with God for the whole world.

Faith matters.

Our Article 5 is now in China, confirming what all of the other paperwork before had already said – that we’re going to adopt a beautiful little girl and that it’s OK with the various governments involved.  Hooray!

Well, our I-800 and accompanying papers are back in China again for the Chinese to assign us an adoption date and the US to make us an appointment to get our Visa after the adoption is complete.  It’s a little step. but it’s nice to know we’re a little step closer.

We got our I-800 approval back.  This basically says that the paperwork we filled out before has taken its next step toward approval and acknowledges that the Chinese government is happy with us too.

It looks like Christmas will come and go without Sophie being home, but hopefully we will travel in January or February.

Our Letter Of Adoption is here!  It’s official – we’re all cleared to complete the adoption!

Now all that remains is filling out the last bits of paperwork and raising the rest of the money.  Not small tasks by any means, but the path is finally clear and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Lots of people who are doing an adoption from China talk about their LID.  ”What’s your Ell Eye Dee?” they’ll ask each other.  That’s because the Log In Date is a huge step in a Chinese adoption.  In general, the Chinese Government, or more specifically the China Center of Adoption Affairs (also called the CCAA) processes paperwork in order based on the LID, so if you can find out that someone else with an LID just before yours has gotten their paperwork back, you can begin to guess how long it will be until yours arrives.

I think we all talk like this because there are so many months of just waiting around with no way to help the adoption move forward, so we begin trading stories with other adoptive families and come up with our own little language.  So we have our LID from CCAA – it’s 9/7 officially.

The next step is to get our LOA back – that’s the official Letter Of Adoption saying that CCAA has given their final approval.

After that, we get an I-800 from USCIS – or in English, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office sends us back their final approval.

Then the NVC (that stands for National Visa Center) in China gets our paperwork and sends it to China to tell them that we’re all ready.

Then an Article 5 letter gets sent – that’s the part of the Hague Convention that governs adoptions – saying that we’ve met all the Hague Convention requirements to finish the adoption.  Personally I think it’s just because they like paper.

Finally, once all of the paper in our immediate vicinity has been consumed, we get our CA and our TA – our Consular Appointment from the US Government and Travel Authorization from the Chinese Government – usually all at once.  That will tell us when to travel, complete our adoption (also known as “Gotcha Day” and travel to the US Consulate to get paperwork to bring our new daughter back home.

Got all of that?  There will be a test on this stuff.

A few days ago, we got the approval from the US government, and now after a few photocopies and some overnight mailing with our agency, our documents are being shipped over to China.  It’s great to have one government approval and be on our way to the next one.

Our documents are on their way to USCIS, and with an average of 60 days wait time, we’re hopeful that August will see our documents come back and be ready to go off to China!