Nesting.....

OKay, so the next step should have taken place on Tuesday.  According to the delivery confirmation or my paperwork in China, my paperwork should have been hand-delivered to the US Embassy in China on Tuesday, August 9th and scheduled for a Tuesday, August 23 pick-up.  I have been waiting patiently for two days to get confirmation that it actually happened but have not yet received any sort of assurance that it has been handled.  I'm getting frustrated. 

I'm holding out hope that things are going to get back on track for end-of-September travel.  There is another wonderful family in our city that has a little boy waiting for them in another province in China that is on the exact same timeline that we are.  I'm hoping that our families can travel together.  How fun would that be?!

This week we spent time getting Elliott's room ready.  Now that we are just a month and a half away (we hope) from finally going to get him, I am finally allowing myself to start 'nesting'.  Matt and I painted it, and we let the girls decide where all of the little animal characters went.  As a gift, a dear friend of ours had Elliott's Chinese characters hand-painted in gold paint on special paper by an Asian artist, and we framed it and hung it on the wall over his bed.  Matt, the uber-creative handyman, made a custom nightlight out of a globe and hung it from the ceiling near his bed.  His closet is overflowing with new clothes.  It's so exciting to see it all come together, but at the same it was so hard for me to paint over the purple paint in the girls' old nursery room.  Just six years ago, I was painting it with lilac and purple and daydreaming about children during first pregnancy.  Painting over that was like closing a door on some of the happiest years of my life so far.  But then when I stand back and see this, with so much of it gifted to us from good friends who have supported us throughout our adoption journey and continue to cheer us on, I feel so grateful and excited....

And as you can see here, the girls already stacked Elliott's puzzles and set up his train table for him....

And here's the globe light that his Daddy made for him ('cause we're traveling from one end to the other to get him and bring him HOME!)

Love this beautiful painting!  (Thank you, Candi & Casey!)

Look at all these clothes!  (Thank you Becky and Cathy!)

 I know the quilt on the bed is a little feminine, but we're keeping the room set up to be a guest room for a little while, until he's ready to move into it from the toddler bed in our bedroom (we want him close to us at first). We're planning on finding some unique treasures while we are in China to hang in his room, but this is a very good start. A very good start, indeed!

NVC letter and cable complete!

After our I-800 was approved we received a confirmation letter that our approval was cabled (aka emailed) to the US Embassy in Guangzhou.  That was the final piece of the puzzle from the USA.  Now we wait for our courrier in Guangzhou to hand-deliver our paperwork, arriving by both FedEx and email, to the US Embassy for them to pre-process our adoption and Elliott's VISA.  That takes a pretty predictable two weeks.  It gets picked up by the same courrier two weeks later, and overnighted to the CCCWA in Beijing, and it's our hope that the CCCWA will give us our final travel approval (aka TA) in one to three weeks.  Then we buy plane tickets!  Just to think that in one month from how we'll be hauling out suitcases and buying tickets is SO exciting! I'm finally allowing myself to 'nest' now, and get his room ready and start washing and folding his clothes and getting out his new toys. 

We found out just a couple of days ago that Matthew is going to start back to his teaching job about a month earlier than 'normal'.  His first day back is August 15, as he is teaching now on a year-round school caledar.  As disturbing as it was to us to lose a month of summer, he is a bit relieved that he'll have moer time with his students and his parapros to get the school year off to a good start before leaving for China and a few weeks of FMLA family bonding time.  So we've been packing a lot of fun into our last couple of weeks together in the beautiful summer sun!

I-800 in the mail today!

After 26 agonizing days of wait, it's here!  This still sets us back about a week by being so late, but that's one more hurdle that we've cleared.  What next, you ask?

When our Dept. of Homeland Security officer processed and approved our application and gave us 'provisional approval' she also sent a copy of this official form to the NVC (National Visa Center) by express mail (we hope!).  Once the NVC receives our approval letter, they will upload it into their computer system.  After that happens, they will "cable" (aka email)  our information to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China.  This is the USA's final "OKay" to accept Elliott as a United States citizen after we officially adopt him while we are in China, and it is at that Embassy that we will take our oath and adopt him.  Once this "cable" has been completed, they will notify us that it has been completed.

What this boils down to:
1 week to get NVC cable
1 week to get NVC letter
2 to 3 weeks for our "Article 5" (consulate pre-approval your Elliott's immigrant visa.)
2 to 3 weeks for travel approval from Chinese government.
We hope to travel about 2 weeks after we receive that date, if at all possible.

So in 6 to 8 weeks, we will be packed up and ready to go get Elliott!

Feeling frustrated and sad.

I'm not sure what happened to all of our good momentum.  Everything on the first half of the adoption (home study, I-800A, LOI and PA) seemed to be on the 'early' side of the expected time frames.  Now we are on the back end and slowing down.  We are now over 3 weeks of waiting for our final I-800 approval, with 2 to 2.5 weeks being the average.  I emailed our Dept. of Homeland Security officer yesterday and inquired about our status.  Her reply was that it was being processed that same day.  I don't know why we're running so late.  I know it is mere days, but it all adds up.  And it's going to add up to an October travel date now.  Our early hopes of traveling in August were squashed, and now September has slipped away.  Matthew is entering a work of art into the Grand Rapids Art Prize competition in the end of September, so he is glad that he's going to be in town to install his artwork in the venue he has committed to.  But I'm not happy.  I am trying really hard to control my attitude, and to quit overanalyzing average wait times and what other family got their approval on which date.  But anyone that knows me knows that when I feel out of control I organize.  It's part of what I do for a living, and I do it well.  I've been addicted to the China Adopt Talk website, where all of the waiting families in the paperwork process for China communicate and we all keep track of our milestones on a (wonderful and quite large) spreadsheet.  I'm getting lapped by other families weekly.  What I fear most is that we will get delayed again because of the trade show going on near the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China from October 15-November 5.  That's where we will end up traveling to after picking Elliott up in Harbin, and where we will offically adopt him as our own before heading back to the United States. During the trade show, travel costs go up 2 to 3 times and we just can't afford the extra (few thousand) bucks.  If our travel dates fall in that time frame, we will most likely get slid into a November travel time.  I would never wish time away, especially warm and sunny summer days.  But I want to see some progress.  Soon.

Next step: I-800

Our paperwork for ur I-800 is now on it's way!  This next step of our process alters our paperwork with our United States government from "we want a child from China" to "we want THIS child from China".  We expect approval in about 2 weeks (around July 20th).  In the meanwhile, we are getting paperwork together for application of Elliott's visa. 

We're coming soon, little guy! 

A Wonderful Poem

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.

One became your guiding star; the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.

The first one gave you love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name. 

One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.

One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.

The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears, 

the age old question unanswered through years.

Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?

Neither, my darling. Neither.

Just two different kinds of Love.

-Author Unknown

LOA! LOA! LOA! LOA! LOA!

We just spent the past three days camping with my parents.  We had so much fun, and I can't even remember the last time that we spent three whole days with them, in a row.  It took me a full day to learn to relax and enjoy the slower pace, but once I did, I was hooked! With swimming and tennis courts just steps away, and the peace and quiet that comes with camping (and grandparents to watch the kids!) it was really nice.  We spent three whole hours in the pool today.  I thought the girls were going to grow gills and fins.

Here are a few favorite snapshots. Of course I'm not in any, because I'm always behind the lens.  :o)

Matt and I were packing up to leave, and at 5:30 today the call came in... our LOA is here!  Hallelujah!  I did a happy dance right there in the middle of the campground.  We are just three steps away from bringing our son home, and it is looking like it will be mid-September to mid-October when we are actually setting foot in China.  From what I hear from other adoptive parents, these last few paperwork chasing routines are relatively painless and seem to go by quickly.  Now that China has chosen us to be Elliott's parents, I feel like I can post his photo.  Prepare yourself, he's ADORABLE!!!

Here are his referral photographs. This is the little face we first fell in love with.

These are the updated photos we received this spring.

So it is with a happy heart that I go to bed tonight knowing that we are one step closer to bringing our son home and completing our family of five.  Thank you for the prayers, the kind words, and the encouragement.  Please continue to cheer us on as we keep moving forward.

With love,

  the Beresfords (plus one!)