A delay

Well, we were hoping Chinese New Year might not affect us too much, but it did.  Chinese New Year is today, January 31, and it's the biggest holiday of the year in China.  Everything shuts down for a week - businesses, government offices, etc.  So if you remember from the last adoption post, we had Article 5 pickup scheduled for January 27, which was this past Monday.

What is supposed to happen on pickup day is the the courier picks up the Art. 5 from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and express mails it to the CCCWA (China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption) in Beijing, and then the 1-3 week wait for Travel Approval begins.  Well, what happened with our Article 5 pickup was this...the courier picked it up on the 27th as planned (that was Monday of this week), but the mail system in China had shut down early for Chinese New Year.  So....our Article 5 just sits on the courier's desk until next Friday, February 7, when it can be express mailed to Beijing.  It's sort of like our Art. 5 pickup hasn't even happened yet.  It's frustrating that we are losing almost two weeks when the government offices only take one week off.  But we lean on God and His perfect timing, and we know He will work things out the way they are supposed to be!

In happier news, we received our second update on M on Monday as well!  (Some good news to go along with the bad that day.)  We got seven new pictures of our little sweetie, and have enjoyed studying them and getting used to her older-looking little toddler face!  On a humorous note, we have marveled at her absolutely terrible new haircut.  ;)  Orphanages tend to keep the babies' and little kids' hair very short or shaved, likely to keep the risk of headlice and contagious skin diseases to a minimum.  So M has always had short hair in the pictures we've seen of her.  But in these pics, she has a freshly-buzzed haircut with a round circle of longer hair in the front - sort of an attempt at bangs, it looks like.  She's truly adorable, but the poor thing has a pretty bad haircut!

In the update we learned that, well, we feel even more of a sense of urgency to get her out of there.  Her head circumference has not increased since October (not good, as it was too small to start with) and she's only gained a pound.  Our almost 2-1/2-year-old weighs a whopping 16.5 pounds.  It's so hard to be stuck here knowing that she needs more food and we can't give it to her yet!  We ask your prayers for her health and nutrition, and protection for her brain from permanent damage due to malnutrition...and also for speedy processing of paperwork.  We'd love to travel at the beginning of March.  We trust the Lord for His protection for M and His will for the timing of this entire process!

A moms' night out!

Tonight was a sweet and refreshing night of fellowship for me. A friend of mine had a bunch of us ladies over for some nail painting and Valentine card making!  I made cards for the three men in my life and painted my nails bright pink with little flower decals. :)

It was wonderful to take some time away from my regular routines and enjoy fellowship with these dear sisters in Christ!

Oooh, snazzy!  :)

Tonight I'm grateful for friendship and fellowship. 

Visa applications sent!

Well, after much agonizing over which visa courier/consulate to use, we finally made a decision, and got our applications out today, Express Mail.  They should arrive at the courier tomorrow, and be taken to the Chicago Chinese Consulate on Monday (or maybe Tuesday, since Monday is MLK Day?  Not sure if the consulate is open or not).  Unfortunately, this courier doesn't go to the consulate on Fridays - so it would have been really smart to get this in the mail yesterday, so it would get taken to the consulate on Thursday (tomorrow), but alas, it didn't happen.

If you've ever got a visa before, then you know this already...but we had to send our passports in that Express Mail envelope, and it was a little nerve-wracking to do that!  Losing our passports at this point would be...well...very, very bad.  But I guess that's the point of Express Mail - quick, trackable, and supposedly very safe!

I'm glad that's done.  There were a lot of very specific instructions for how to fill out the application and what to enclose with it, so now we can concentrate on other things.  :)

Adoption progress

Here are some snippets of an email we received recently from our caseworker at WACAP.  I really don't think I can paraphrase any more clearly than the way she explained it, so I'll just copy and paste her words here (words in brackets are mine): 

"We received confirmation from our representative in Guangzhou [the city in China which houses the US Consulate that handles international adoptions from their end] that your DS-260 [M's US visa application] confirmation page, copy of the NVC [National Visa Center - US] letter, agency version of the Letter Seeking Confirmation and all other required supporting documents were submitted to the U.S. Consulate today! The scheduled pick-up date of the Article 5 Letter is January 27 and I will confirm once this step has been completed.

"The Article 5 Letter is basically a written approval or verification that the receiving country (U.S.) is approving your family for adoption and that the child you adopt will be allowed to enter the U.S. and become part of your family! The CCCWA cannot issue your Travel Notice until they have received this document, both the agency and family version of the Letter Seeking Confirmation and signed Rehabilitation and Nurture Plan. From the Article 5 pickup date, families have been receiving their Travel Notice around 1-3 weeks later."

This part of the process really does seem more complicated and "fuzzy" than the rest of it has, mainly because there are quite a few small things happening at the same time, where before, it was just one BIG thing at a time.

(By the way, I'm not sure what is causing the white lines behind the text in this post!  Maybe it's because part of the text was copied and pasted?  Hmmm...)

Care package & Provisional Approval Notice

"Provisional Approval Notice" is most recent document we've received in regards to our I-800.  The document's title is I-797, Notice of Action.  Adam and I are now in the process of applying for our own visas for our trip to China, too.  Things are moving along!  :)

We're also preparing a care package to send to M in her orphanage in the near future (hopefully by the end of the week).  We were advised to keep the package small and light, and only include a couple of special things.  It was also suggested to have duplicates of the items when we travel, in the case that she actually has become attached to them (or one of them) and they are somehow left behind in the orphanage, which can happen.  They must also be marked with her full name in Chinese characters.

We chose a small doll/blanket (x2) and I am in the process of embroidering her name (in characters!) on the edge of the blanket part.  We also created a small photo album (x2) of our immediate family with family names (also in characters), so she can perhaps have at least seen pictures of us before we arrive.  It has been fun to put these things together for her!  (The front cover of the book has M's name and photo on it, so I opened it to the first inside page for this pic.)