Travel Intinerary

This week has been very busy arranging all the travel plans for our trip to China.  Here is a general outline of our trip:

• 8/25/12 - travel to Beijing
• 8/27/12 - 8/29/12 - travel to Xi'an for a couple of days.
• 8/30/12 - return to Beijing and meet up with our adoption travel group
• 8/31/12 - 9/1/12 - tour Beijing with travel group
• 9/2/12 - fly to Zhengzhou (provincial capital of Henan)
• 9/3/12 - "GOTCHA" Day when we meet Maddison
• 9/12/12 - Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou
• 9/13/12 - receive Maddison's visa, travel to Hong Kong
• 9/14/12 - tour Hong Kong
• 9/15/12 - fly home

So here's the list from a previous post that I promised I'd update.....

• Receive LOA (DONE!)
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (asking US immigration for permission to adopt the child we were specifically matched with)  (DONE!)
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center (NVC) to petition visa (DONE!)
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China  (DONE!)
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed. (DONE!)
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval (TA)! (DONE!)

Exactly 1 month from today we will have Maddison in our arms!  Hard to believe we are this close.

Wonderful News

Yesterday afternoon we received a wonderful piece of information!!!!!!!!!!

     Praise the Lord!! TA stands for our travel approval.  We now have the permission to travel to get Maddison!  For the next step, we are waiting for an American consulate appointment date.   How that works is .....  CCAI suggests a few dates and we decide on 5 choices that will work with our schedule.  I will let Dave explain all the rest later.  I just know we are really, really going!!!!!! YEA!!!!!

      My prayer:  Thank you Lord for your hand of direction, guidance, and patience.  It has been hard at times and yet so worth the wait.  "You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God and I will exalt you." (Psalm 119:28)  "For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.  How great are your works, O Lord, how profound are your thoughts!" (Psalm 92:4-5)  Amen.  

~Robin

Notification from Our Adoption Agency

We received the following email from our Adoption Agency late this afternoon.

Wonderful news! We wanted to take the chance to send you a quick note before the weekend to let you know that based on the date that your documents were turned into the CCCWA, we believe a travel approval for your family will arrive in our hands shortly!  Although we are not sure on the exact date we will receive travel approvals, we are hopeful to receive them next week.  We are very excited for your family as you are one step closer to traveling to China for your little one!  Upon receiving travel approvals we will request a Consulate appointment for your family.  Once travel approvals arrive, we will email you as soon as we have them in hand.  We are contacting you today in hopes to be able to request consulate appointments as quickly as possible once the travel approvals arrive.

Potential travel dates were included as well.

Option 1

Leave around August 8-10 and return somewhere around August 24-25.**

**Leaving August 8 will include a 3 night/2 day tour in Beijing. If you would like to opt out of the tour you can potentially leave as late as August 10th 

Option 2

Leave around August 15-17 and return somewhere around August 31- September 1.**

**Leaving August 15^th will include a 3 night/2 day tour in Beijing. If you would like to opt out of the tour you can potentially leave as late as August 17th. 

Not quite sure how option 1 will work since we haven't received our travel approval yet.  We'll have to talk with our agency about potential options and see what transpires next week.  It is hard to believe, we will be traveling shortly to get Maddison! 
~ Dave

I could not let this moment go by without adding my thoughts.  We were in Walmart when we got this e-mail, standing in front of diaper rash cream and baby lotion, and all I could do was cry.  I made it out of the store with the diaper rash cream and totally forgot the baby lotion.  Oh,well.   On a more put together note, I just wanted to add a verse. 

 "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 

 II Corinthians 9:15 

~ Robin

 
 

Robin's Birthday and Updated Video of Maddison

Today is Robin's birthday!  I won't say how old, but today was made special from our friends in Canada.  Gwen sent us a video of Maddison when she visited her at the Hebi City SWI in China a few weeks ago after they had picked up their son Pierre-Luc.  Robin awoke to find a video and pictures from Gwen!  She says this is the best birthday present ever!!!!!  Gwen mentioned that the people from the orphanage said that Maddison, Pierre-Luc, and Wen Shin (the other little girl in the video) are best friends. It will be so nice that we can keep at least 2 of the 3 in contact with each.  Now if we could only find out about Wen Shin's forever family........

Article 5

Today we were notified that our agency has picked up our Article 5 from the consulate in Guangzhou! Here is the email we received:

"We just received an update from our Guangzhou staff stating that they have picked up your family’s Article 5(s) (signed 2^nd acceptance letter) from the Consulate and now it is off to the CCCWA.  The Article 5 typically takes about 2-3 days to be delivered to the CCCWA. Once the CCCWA receives this document, they will have all that they need to issue your family’s travel approval.  The CCCWA typically takes about 2-4 weeks to issue a travel approval.  Once the travel approval arrives families typically leave for China about 10-21 days later.  We see this update as great news for your family as you are one step closer to getting you to your little one in China! "

So here's the list from a previous post that I promised I'd update.....

• Receive LOA (DONE!)
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (asking US immigration for permission to adopt the child we were specifically matched with)  (DONE!)
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center (NVC) to petition visa (DONE!)
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China  (DONE!)
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed. (DONE!)
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval (TA)!

Getting closer!!!!

We got our VISAs!

Today we received our Visas from the Chinese Consulate in Washington DC.  Thanks goes to the Assistant Stork for handling our applications! They did a fantastic job for us as always.  We are one step closer to traveling.

New picture of Maddison

June 26, 2012

 Another child from the Hebi City SWI  joined his forever family yesterday.  Praise the Lord!  Little Kia became Pierre-Luc, our little French speaking Canadian.  To the best of our knowledge, Wen Kia and Wen Jia (Maddison) have been together in the same room since she was five days old minus any days the two children were in the hospital for surgeries.  Therefore, we think,  they are pretty close.  Pierre-Luc's mom was so sweet to take a picture of Maddie for us.  Maddison is the first child being held on the left side, wearing a yellow-orange tank in the front row.  She still has short hair, but it does seem to be growing out just a little.  Maddie looks healthy and well.  Praise the Lord, our little one is doing great!  
~ Robin

NVC Letter Arrives (PDF format)

Today we received an email from the National Visa Center (NVC) with a copy of their approval letter.  We forwarded this on to our adoption agency this morning who sent it to their office in Guangzhou. CCAIs office in  Guangzhou will deliver our DS-230 paperwork to the US Consulate where it will take approximately 2 weeks for our Article 5 to be issued.  Once our Article 5 is issued it will be mailed to CCAI's office in Beijing. They will deliver it to the CCCWA (Chinese government for adoption) and they have 2-4 weeks to issue our travel approval. Once we have our travel approval and a confirmed consulate appointment we will be on a plane to China in 10-21 days.  Mid to late August looks possible!!!

I-800 Approval

Robin and I have been wondering if we have been approved by immigration.  I have been looking on-line and it looked like everyone who submitted their I-800 the first of June had been approved.  Most folks were getting emails stating they had been approved - not us!  I got home from work today and went to the mailbox.  What do you know, we had a letter from Homeland Security with our I-800 approval!!!!  They had approved us on June 15th.

So here's the list from a previous post that I promised I'd update.....

• Receive LOA (DONE!)
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (asking US immigration for permission to adopt the child we were specifically matched with)  (DONE!)
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center (NVC) to petition visa (DONE!)
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China 
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed.
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval!

Getting closer!!!!

Received Letter of Action from Lock Box

Today we received notification that USCIS had received our I-1800 application June 5th.  Hopefully, they approve us quickly!  It appears from what I am reading on blogs that it usually takes 21 days to get approval :(.  With our luck, it will probably be the whole time!

LOA Arrives

The day started off with us having to take our dog Mandy to the vet for a checkup at 9:00 AM.  We weren't sure if we had to sign for the FedEx delivery, so Robin's dad, Bill, came over on his way home from a Gideon meeting to "watch" and "wait" for the delivery.  We made it home around 9:45 AM, and nothing :(.  We sat down for a couple of minutes and then Bill saw the truck pull up.  Robin went to the door to get the package, and by the time I got there, the FedEx gal was on her way back to the truck!  Oh well, the package is what we wanted anyway!

Missed taking a picture of the FedEx Gal!

The "Cherished" Paperwork

Opening the Package

Reviewing the Documents and Completing Additional Paperwork

This is what our Letter of Acceptance looks like!!  We waited 116 days to receive this VERY important piece of paper.... and had it in our hands for less than 3 hours!!  We had to check a little, tiny box that said "We accept this child" and then sign/date it.

LOA

 

Back in January, when we accepted the file for Maddison, we had to write a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Chinese Government (CCCWA) stating that we wanted to adopt her.   We sent our LOI to CCAI, our adoption agency.  They translated it and put it onto the official forms.  These forms were in the FedEx envelope along with the LOA.   We had to write "WE ACCEPT DANG, WEN JIA" on the Chinese and English versions of this form and send them back to our agency!

We got the LOA, LOI(s), the I-800, Supplement 1, and the I-864W all filled out, signed/dated, and pictures taken.  Next, we had to run to the UPS Store to make copies of all our paperwork.  Once this was completed, we came back to the house and put together our package to send to CCAI.  Back to the UPS Store we went and our package was shipped by 12:44 PM.  It should be delivered to CCAI by 10:30 Monday morning.  The LOA will be sent to China and the remaining paperwork sent to USCIS for our I-800 processing.

L O A !!!!

We received an email this afternoon notifying us that they had our LOA from the Chinese government.  They are sending it to us overnight and we should have it in our hands tomorrow.  We have to sign the LOA and send it back to CCAI along with our I-800 and I-864W paperwork.  They will send the LOA back to China and forward the other paperwork to our immigration for approval.  We should be traveling to China to get Maddison in 10-14 weeks!  Praise the Lord!

Count....

I forgot to let you all know that today is day 108 in the waiting process for our LOA.  Patience Lord, patience please. 
~Robin     

We received a video of Maddison - oh what a cutie!

Do you remember that special family, the Bolens, who took pictures of Maddison during their trip last month?  Well........we received a video of their visit to the orphanage this week in the mail.   YEA!!!!!!  It is full of wonderful images that warm the heart.  We are so thankful to Jennifer and Kevin for their time and effort.  It is wonderful!!!!

The video consists of a couple of sections.  They are as follows:  the outside of the orphanage, a couple of rooms inside, Maddison and her roommates, the orphanage director, a few office staff, a  few nannies, and the Bolens.  Unfortunately, it is to big to load the whole video on the blog, but Dave figured out how to do a few little clips.  

Jennifer got to hold her.  Praise the Lord she got to hold our baby.  We got to see her facial expressions and watch her walk.  Maddison was like a weeble........"weebles wobble but they don't fall down."  She just teetered around and was as cute as a button.  She was very quiet and interested  in everyone and everything.  

All the children looked well taken care of.  We saw gentle touches and kind faces in the workers and staff.  They seemed very proud that some of their children were being adopted.  Up until this spring, the Hebi City Social Welfare Institute has had less than a dozen children adopted out to our knowledge.  We know of 5 (and that includes Maddison) that have or will be joining their forever families during this spring and summer.  Isn't the Lord good.  That means 5 less orphans in Hebi, China.  

Maddison did not like the flash on the camera and would make awful faces after the pictures were taken.  Dave thinks she already can give that teacher look that I have so wonderfully perfected over the years.

She was quiet and very mobile.  She seemed to accept and enjoy the love that Jennifer gave to her.  She was not crying and never made a noise.  The orphanage director carried her around in his arms for a little while and she acted very comfortable being carried.  Like she was used to that kind of attention.  She was very interested in Kevin, Jennifer, and one of their boys.  He tried to hold her, but she did not want anything to do with that.  That is a good thing.  MaddieJi, stay away from those boys.  Dave, just out of the blue, told me the other day she was never going to date!  Pitty the boy who wants to date his little girl!!!

~Robin

Woohoo! We Got Updated Pictures!!!!

This afternoon we received an update on Maddison from our adoption agency.  It included updated measurements and a few additional pictures.  Looks like they shaved her head again!  Robin was so hoping that they would let her hair grow....  Oh, well, the bows will have to wait.

Our personal favorite!!!

Here are her updated measurements (5/14/12):

• Weight - 22 lbs
• Height - 32.3 inches
• Chest -  20.5 inches
• Head Circumference - 18.1 inches
• 13 teeth
• Health Status - Good

Other notes from Update:

• She can walk
• She is learning to go up and down stairs
• Still needs diaper (shucks!)
• She smiles a lot
• She drools a lot - family had better take a bib for her
• She is eating bread, biscuits (cookies), and drinking water
• She is quiet (takes after Dave, not Robin)
• They call her Jia Jia (Jia translates as beautiful and yes we totally agree.)

 We are still waiting on LOA (day 102!).  Getting this update sure helps the wait!

Day 100

Well, today we have been waiting 100 days for our  LOA.  We did receive an e-mail today from our adoption agency, but it was just to inform us that China has raised the price of some of their post adoption translation fees.  No longer can they translate the reports, but a company contracted by the Chinese government has to do it.

Maddison is 18 months old today.

Today is the 15th of May and that means Maddison is 18 months old.  Oh how we wish we could be with her today!!!!!! 

The wait for our LOA is at 99 days today.  I keep telling myself patience is a virtue.  Don't we have lots of that by now?    Please keep praying for Maddison and this set of paperwork specifically.

Thank you

 

~Robin 

Anxiously Awaiting LOA !!!

Still no news :(.  We are on day 97 of our wait for LOA.  For those who have been following along, I thought I'd update the remaining steps left before we leave for China.  Once we get our LOA, it will still be between 10 and 12 weeks before we travel.  So here's the list..... (I'll update list as we go to count down the items remaining!!)

• Receive LOA
• Send I-800 application to USCIS (asking US immigration for permission to adopt the child we were specifically matched with)  
• USCIS forwards our approval to the National Visa Center (NVC) to petition visa
• The NVC forwards the approved visa petition to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China 
• The Consulate reviews the visa application (the DS-230), makes sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa, and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed.
• The approval is forwarded to the CCCWA, which issues our Travel Approval!

Continue to pray that we will get our LOA this coming week!  Had to leave you with one picture... :) !

 -Dave

What number are we on today?

Just an update on the number waiting game............today is day 91.  Have a blessed Sunday and please keep praying for our paperwork.  Thank you!!!!!!!

Here is the latest verse,  "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9.  I think I needed the words strong, courageous, terrified, and discouraged.  I have changed the wherever you go to wherever you are too. Thanks for your words Lord!  
~Robin

Good News

We received updated pictures of Maddison from our new friends the Bolens.  They were in China getting their daughter Naomi a few weeks back.  Here is a picture of their family in China.

As part of their travels, the Bolen family had to travel to Hebi to get Naomi's passport.  Apparently, this is a new requirement that the Chinese government enacted in April of this year.  Robin had been in contact with Jennifer and she hoped they would be able to get into the orphanage.  If the Bolens did get in, they were going to request the opportunity to visit and take pictures of Maddison.  God would have to open the doors if this was to happen!  Needless to say, God worked miracles and the requests were granted!  Praise the Lord!  He did move mountains!!!!!  Here are some of the pictures that they were so kind to take.  We are so thankful to the Bolens for their time and interest in Maddison and for these pictures. 

Maddison with the Orphanage Director - How about that Smile!

Jennifer shared with us that Maddison has a sweet disposition and is precious.  (For those of you that don't know .....  Robin's little dog, that came home with her from Kenya, was named Kipenzi..   In Swahili, precious is the word kipenzi.  We had to put Kipenzi to sleep in February and it was VERY difficult.    Robin believes Kipenzi was a gift from God and we believe Maddison is our next gift from Him too.)  Jennifer's words have brought such comfort and peace to us both.  She mentioned that Maddison was in the palm of God's hands and again if you really know Robin, especially through this whole process, you would know that those words bring the "peace that passes all understanding."  Thank you Lord, for allowing this peace. 

She has a little truck in her hands.

 Jennifer with Maddison

Maddison in Her Crib - She appears a little apprehensive.
  Notice she is next to a window.  Robin prays she can see the birds and God's beautiful world.

What'd you say "Willis" - Maddison with one of the Bolen Boys

Another picture with one the boys.

Maddison and Naomi

The Bolens were also so kind to send some pictures of the orphanage.  It appears that the orphanage is pretty nice.  We have another picture of the orphanage a few years back and it appears they have built a new orphanage.  It looks so much nicer!  Jennifer thought that it was a little sterile, but the director and nannies really loved and took very good care of the children.  Here's some pictures of the exterior and interior of the orphanage.

The Nannies in the Orphanage with Maddison's Playmates

Pretty Nice Play Equipment

We just want to thank the Bolens for taking the time to take some pictures of our little girl.  It was so kind that they took them and sent them to us.  They were also able to take some video of Maddison while they were there.  The Bolens just got home and will be sending us this video once their life settles down and they recover from the jet lag!  Praise the Lord for selfless new friends.