The count for today is...

           Yes, you heard me

                                 days.

That's right

             days till Maddison. 

Thank you, Lord,  for this special little gal.

~ Robin

Updated Pictures

A while back we contacted Ann of Red Thread China to arrange a "Fruit Party" for Maddison and the other children of Hebi City SWI (we saw another family do this on another blog). We kept emailing Ann each weekend hoping for an update from the orphanage.  She kept telling us, maybe next week we'd hear.  Robin and I had pretty much written this off and assumed that we'd not get anything before we travel to China to pick Maddison up.  We were getting ready for bed on Sunday night when the "ding" came through on our cell phones.  I opened up my email and it was an email from Ann.  Attached were 6 pictures of Maddison's "Fruit Party" with updated information on Maddison.  We quickly replied to Ann thanking her for the pictures.  She replied back with an additional 4 pictures!  WOW!!!!  We had also sent a list of questions and we received answers to many of them.  God is so good!

Here are some of the pictures:

 

This picture was also include in the email from Ann.  It was taken a few weeks before the "Fruit Party".  The child on Maddie's right is Wen Shin. (The little girl with all the hair.)  We found out from our friends in Canada that adopted Wen Kai the end of June, that Maddie, Wen Shin, and Wen Kai were BFFs in the orphanage.  We would love to find out more about Wen Shin, does she have a family yet, and be able to connect with them!

The count down continues yet again........

..... days till Maddison is in our arms!

 - Gina for Robin/Dave the substitute blogger while they are in China

Nursery

We thought we would share these pictures of the nursery.......

     As you walk down the hallway, you are greeted by these two peaceful critters.  Years ago, this quilt was made for me when I went to Kenya.  It truly shows what all my African friends want ... Amani which translated from Swahili is PEACE.   I thought it was a good time to pull it out and put it on display.

A special quilt made by Coy, a dear friend.

A beautiful crib for a beautiful little gal.

Aunt Carla made this cross stitch for me when I was 4 years old.  We pulled it out of the hope chest and just had to have it framed.  Sorry it is so dark, but it did not photograph well with a flash.

a treasured keepsake 

The ladybug is a symbol of Chinese adoptions. 

just a few books & toys

All we need is Maddison.

~ Robin

Count Down Continues

There are .....................

........... days till Maddison. 

~ Robin 

The Count Down Begins

We will meet Maddison in ..... 

days!!! 

I actually think others in the family have already started counting, but today is my official start date.

~ Robin

Packing...Oh the Joy!

Just thought I would let everyone know that we leave in 15 days.  The packing process is underway.  Most people know I have traveled lots and some may know I am an excellent packer.  If you have certain things that need to go with you and are having trouble getting everything to fit, just call and I can work miracles in the packing department. 

 

What most people don't know is that since I am such an expert packer, I have a tendency to over pack.  Dave is trying to limit us to 2 suitcases (one large duffel and a small suitcase), my little rolling carry-on, and a backpack.   It will work!!!!!  The whole point is to not have to carry tons of stuff all over china.  I do see the point and am trying my hardest to follow his wishes.  I decided to pack from the dinning room and it is a disaster at this moment.  I will spare you this picture.

~ Robin

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!