The Ride Continues

We had our travel meeting tonight with our agency.  While there was quite a bit of info passed onto us and more things added to our already lengthy lists, nothing was a big surprise.  That gave me a boost of confidence.  

We are feeling very taken care of by our agency.  They have been promised by China Center of Adoption Affairs that we will have our travel approval issued by September 7.  The travel agency has seats on hold for a flight leaving September 9.  Unfortunately they have to release them for periods of time until we actually purchase them and we run the risk of them being taken.  Another potential problem is not being able to secure a consulate appointment to finalize her adoption and have her visa issued.  We can not secure a consulate appointment until after we receive travel approval.  This means we may not know for certain if we are traveling until September 8 (my conclusion).  Could this be any more intense?  I don't think so.  Its a good thing I don't get motion sickness! 

Down and Up

I'm going to try and explain this detailed, confusing process as simply as I can.  Last Friday (August 6) our I-800 approval was cabled to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  To submit our paperwork for the Article 5, our agency's representative in China needs a letter from the government division that sent the cable.  This letter generally comes in about week after the cable via postal mail.  The paperwork for the Article 5 can only be submitted on Thursday.  If we did not make this past Thursday's drop off there would be no way we could travel in September.  AMAZINGLY the cable confirmation was emailed to me on Monday and then forwarded to the China rep on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning in China).  Equally amazing is that we missed the Thursday drop by just 45 minutes.  Couriers are involved and the physical paperwork does travel quite a distance so it is understandable but still incredibly disappointing.  We were now waiting until the very end of November to travel.  Its a bigger picture than we can see and we have no other option than to trust.  It is a place of peace but all to easy to wander away from. 

We made our list of pros for traveling later - Most likely have the immunization "catch up" waived due to a law change, more opportunities for introducing ourselves to Anna and putting more transitions in place, travel with two other wonderful and local couples, get projects finished...  And then on Friday Matt got a call.  The China rep felt terrible about us missing the Thursday drop and wants to try and expedite our case.  It is a long shot but she is willing to try if we want her to.  We will know on September 7th if she is successful in doing so.  If she is successful we would leave on September 10th.  (Yes, two entire days from travel approval until travel.)  Do we want her to try?  Yes.  Go for it. 

The countdown is on and my list is made.  If anyone has any verses to keep us at that place of peace we would greatly appreciate them.  You can post them in the comments below. 

Up and Down

On Monday we received our I-800 approval!!!  With receiving this the China Coordinator at Welcome House told us to expect to travel in October.  More good news!!!  Today though she informed me that after corresponding with their China rep, we have to travel by September 10 or wait until after November 26.  This is due to so many events happening in Guangzhou (where we finalize her adoption) that securing a hotel there will be next to impossible in October and November.  If we WOULD be able to secure a hotel we should expect to pay a ridiculous amount.  Travel by September 10 is equally next to impossible on account of having to wait for the NVC letter stating that our I-800 was cabled, the Article 5 and travel approval.  

I could use a glimpse of the big picture because all I can see right now is additional hurdles in attachment and more time needed in speech therapy because of this wait.  My biggest fear is that she was returned to the orphanage to when we submitted our Letter of Intent to adopt her.  It seems to be common for the Social Welfare Institutes to request that the foster families do so when they know a child is going to be adopted.  With looking at waiting until November to get her, this fear has sucked the breath out of me too many times today and made tears flow.  I trust in His plan and His timing.  I know that He redeems and restores.  Its just that a glimpse, just a bit of reassurance, would do so much right now. 

Fun Stuff

Yes, another visual change to the blog.  Sorry to those of you who momentarily think you are on the wrong site. 

We are still waiting for I-800 approval (US Citizenship & Immigration).  I'm expecting we will receive it by the end of next week or very beginning of August.  Besides being one step closer to pick up Anna, after we receive I-800 approval we can send her a care package.  Timothy, Elias, Natalie and I went shopping this week and they picked out items for Anna that they thought she would like.  Interesting that what they picked completely goes with their personalities: Timothy found the softest blanket EVER, Elias a toy that lights up and plays music and Natalie a "friend" to hug and love. 

Ever hug the UPS guy?

I almost did today because he brought our...

LETTER OF APPROVAL!!!

Thankfully Matt was home to encourage me to get a grip. We will be filling out forms this weekend, rushing them back to Welcome House on Monday and then waiting for I-800 approval, the second and final step of Anna's immigration approval.

Tana

So We Wait

Today it has been 60 days since we submitted our Letter of Intent to Adopt and we still have not received a Letter of Approval (LOA) from China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). Who's counting? Me, our agency and an online forum that other obsessing pre-adoptive parents are a part of. Not Matt. "When we get it, we get it. Its out of our hands." And he's off planting more sweet corn or something for the deer. While I wish he would share in some of my stress over this, its probably very good he doesn't.
Why are we counting? We can't move forward with her adoption until we receive the LOA. Our agency expected to receive this letter by the end of May. They know where our dossier is at in the process for us to receive the LOA so we do feel very taken care of. CCAA doesn't give estimates on "how much longer" so by our own estimates we are expecting our travel will be bumped back to October/November. That is assuming we receive the LOA in July or August.
So we wait. It is a relief to know that she is not waiting for us in the same way we are waiting for her. The extra time also gives us an opportunity to learn some more Mandarin and possibly Cantonese (because we don't know which she is familiar with), put together a photo book to send to her that introduces us to her and read, read, read about what to expect.

Tana

Introducing...

Anna Yuan Landis!!!

She is now 19 months old (18 months in this picture) and we are hoping and praying to bring her home before she turns 2 (October 2nd). Yuan (pronounced youON) was the name given to her by those in the orphanage. It means "a beauty." We couldn't agree with them more. We chose the name Anna as well for its meaning: Gracious and merciful. It is our deep desire and prayer that she will live life filled with a gracious spirit as well as be merciful to all (us included) who have made drastic decisions and changes on her behalf, without her consent. She is in the city of Yulin which is in the province of Guangxi. Yulin is in southern China, between Hong Kong and the Vietnam border. As far as we know she is currently in foster care and has been so since almost 9 months of age. She is said to be active, fairly extroverted, energetic, restless and fond of imitating, listening to music, playing with toys, reading picture books and playing games. She has "a ready smile", gets along with others well and enjoys being outdoors. She is also noted as being a deep sleeper :). We were thrilled to see that she experienced some difficulty transitioning from the orphanage to foster care but after 10 days attached to the foster mother. Thrilled because it hints to us that she had bonded to those in the orphanage. We expect to have our own significant difficulties with this but we are optimistic that she knows what it is to be loved.

These are two of the 5 pictures we received with her referral. In the picture to the left we anticipate her to be about 12 months. In the picture below we anticipate her to be about 7 months.

You can click on any of these pictures to make them larger. Thanks for sharing in our joy and anticipation!!!