We've been waiting for 4 weeks for news of Travel Approval from China and it finally came!  I'm not really sure why we need this extra approval. Afterall, we got our Visas and isn't that approval from China? It has something to do with the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs confirming that everything is good to go for our little girl -- but again -- shouldn't that have been part of the matching process? I don't understand it, I just know we needed it! 

Meanwhile, we are waiting on our immigration paperwork to be corrected. We did hear from the Raleigh office of USCIS that they sent it out TODAY.  Thankfully, none of that "mess" has kept our adoption agency from requesting a consulate appointment for us which is the next step in the process. Of course, we don't exactly know what the consulate will say when they look at our invalid immigration paperwork but our adoption agency is telling us they will most likely just need for us to sign a waiver that all will be in order when we are present at the appointment.  If I can at least have the approval in my hot little hands I will feel better!

As soon as CCAI receives a consulate appointment for us they will give us firm travel dates and give us the green light to purchase tickets.  Right now they are saying it's going to be Sept 3 - 18 which is just music to our ears!  Our hearts are skipping beats, I'm nesting big-time, and we're whirling around getting everything done in order for our trip to go smoothly AND for the time at home with the kids to go smoothly with their Mom Mom.  That means meals to make, lunches to prepare, schedules to coordinate, carpools to arrange, and packing to be done!  Not to mention getting the house ready for Grace with stations set up with baby toys, diapers, and wipes and being sure to have some formula on hand.  So much to do but quite frankly, we would leave today if we could! We are eager to scoop her up in our arms, tell her we love her, and begin our new life with our baby Grace!

Sharon

 

We spent a good amount of time at church today with friends of ours who just returned from China with their little bundle of joy.  Her smiles were a balm for our aching hearts.  The boys were all smiles, and as we we crammed our family of six into the small saturn (our van broke down the other day and is in the shop) there was a palpable excitement.  Sharon turned to us as we pulled out of the parking lot and said, "I want one of those."

We are currently in a bit of a holding pattern as we wait for China to approve our travel.  Following their approval we will send away for an appointment with the US consulate.  The adoption will be finalized during our trip in Grace's home province of Jiangxi, but she officially becomes a US citizen at the consulate office in the Guangdong Province.

During the short wait - yes, short! - we are busy with a load of activities to ready the boys for school.   Sharon has also been busy buying the load of medical supplies and baby supplies that we will be taking to China with us and that we will need during the first weeks or months we return.    To make room for the travel supplies, don't be surprised if EVERY picture of me for the 16 day trip is in the same outfit.  Ha!  So glad the pictures won't be "scratch and sniff."  All kidding aside, this would be a minor sacrifice for my daughter.

I was impressed today at church with the realization that we have been waiting for Grace - praying for her and her biological parents - for four years - almost two and a half years before she was even conceived.  What a wonderful, albeit dim, parallel to our savior's love for us.  He chose us before the foundation of the world, died a substitutionary death for us even before we drew our first breath, and has been praying for us for thousands of years (John 17).  As adopted children of the King of Kings, we have so much for which to be thankful.

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement - and especially for your ongoing prayers. 

(Pat)

We discovered this wonderful woman in China who will send out care packages to our daughter's orphanage and translate a letter for us.  We decided that what was most valuable to us and to Grace would be pictures of her or where she has been during these past 8 months and pictures of us for her to begin to recognize these strangers who will soon be her family. We sent Ann 8 pictures of us and she labeled all of them (Mother & Father, Family, Brother Adam etc). We were going to send these things out by ourselves but we also discovered through other people who will be traveling with us that when they did this, within a few days they received updated pictures of their little girls. Now that would be worth the cost of going through redthreadchina.com and Ann's services. We also might get updated info on her weight and length and maybe a few other details!  We decided to "go for it!".  We also thought it might help grease the wheels if we gave the Nannies some cookies. Perhaps Grace and her little friends will be able to share a special treat as well.  My mother upon seeing the package thought all of these cookies were for Grace and remarked that we're already grooming her to be a Fitzpatrick because we sure do love our treats!

Sharon

China has finished matching! Our adoption agency is just waiting to get them in to their office. Oh my goodness!  On top of this wonderful news, today I was able to rejoice with our dear friends who received their little girl last night in China. So many of our prayers were answered with a "yes" about her Gotcha Day and we're just praising and thanking God for His goodness.  I've been crying such happy tears all morning for her and for us who are at the cusp of seeing our little girl!  All of us are edgy with anticipation and we really CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!

Sharon -- Grace's Mommy!

We're waiting on news about referrals and my stomach is swarming with butterflies!  I suppose all of the butterflies that are on Grace's bedroom wall flew up here to Ocean City! 

We have heard that on the 15th, CCAA was "Preparing to Match".  Next comes word that they've matched and finally that referrals have arrived.  Often those things happen within days of each other so we are poised and ready!!

While we wait, I'll give you an update on the addendum. The last I heard from our adoption agency was that they we fit into a BLESSED LOOPHOLE! Praise the Lord!  Apparently those whose Home Studies are less than 6 months old are safe from having to do a whole completely new Home Study update.  It really is only an insurance policy just in case something is written on Grace's medical chart that gives us problems at the Consulate.  There is only a 5 - 10% chance that we'll have any problems, but if we do, our adoption agency has confirmation from USCIS that we would only need to get an amended Home Study which is then sent on to USCIS for approval.  This is just a simple addition of a few sentences to our current Home Study and minimal cost.

The only question now is whether we should get that done now or whether we should just "wait and see" until we go to China.  Our Adoption agency is testing the waters with our Home Study agency to see which route we should go.  It's been a few days but Pat feels we need to give them more time to work this out even though I'd love to call for an update and get all of our ducks in a row! 

We are grateful that God keeps parting the waters for us. We know, however, as Christians, that God doesn't promise to make everything just to our liking but to walk us through all of our hard times and grant us peace.   We keep walking and trusting -- that's our part -  AND praising Him for all He does in whatever fashion He chooses and know that our Father lovingly cares for His children.  How comforting to know that not only are we safe in His hands, but Grace is too!

We hope to get some more news about referrals today and we'll keep you posted!  Oh how exciting this is!!!!

Sharon

There seems to be a delay (possibly due to the Swine Flu Pandemic) in China releasing the next set of matches/referrals.  But the delay is also making it look more likely that they may be covering more days which means we really really really have a shot at getting our referral soon!!  It could be this week, or the next or the next! 

Can you even imagine our excitement! We are checking an online site for info every day and hoping and praying that we will see our Grace's face soon!   After waiting for so very long it's hard to throw our whole hearts into the pot of expectation but if it's not in the next few weeks, it will  SURELY be in the following month. 

Praying. . . hoping. . . holding our breaths . . . and praising God for allowing us to have GRACE for adoption!! 

Sharon

Swine Flu is apparently holding up referrals because China has stopped sending out referrals or Travel Approvals.  If they continue to match during this time - which is what they did during the SARS epidemic - we might be pleasantly surprised with a referral in June.  If they have totally stopped matching, we are proverbally dead in the water until the situation gets resolved and who knows how long that could take.  So we wait and continue to prepare for our little girl to come home.

On the good news front, all of our paperwork is updated and we are good to go!  We received something called our I171H yesterday which is our governernment's stamp of approval on our adoption.  This was a big relief to us because it was nearly denied!

Here's what happened:  Our former I171H was set to expire on May 5 and we knew we had to submit a new 1600 form before that date (remember that big hullaballo a few months ago of the I600 vs the I800?).  So we sent it in with a week to spare and the day before taking off on a short roadtrip (that would have taken us past the May 5 deadline) we received all of our paperwork back!  They said we hadn't included enough money to cover new fingerprinting and could not process it without that or verification that we were grandfathered in to the old I600 system.  Had this arrived the day following we would not have been able to resubmit and would have been in violation of "abandoning" our petition. This would have meant re-submitting under the I800 which would have meant re-doing our HomeStudy (which we had just done) and gathering way more documentation.  I nearly went into a panic . . .but for God! He had our backs and allowed it to arrive in time to make the necessary corrections.

By the way -- we did send in the extra $160 for fingerprinting even though we had already been fingerprinted in January and didn't need to go through that expense again. But this is the government and they kind of have us over a barrel so we forked over the money anyway. What can you do? 

So here we wait -- it's like we are circling in the air above China waiting to land to receive our referral and the pilot keeps saying, "We are sorry for the unknown delay.  Please stay seated and make yourselves as comfortable as possible. As soon as we have approval to land, we'll let you know." 

As soon as we know that we're out of the holding pattern -- we'll let you know :-)  Thanks for your prayers and your support! 

Sharon

Victory!! Hope abounds! We are so excited to report that the US government acted on behalf of the thousands of petition signatures, emails and phone calls and ruled in our favor! Those of us who are poised to re-do our paperwork will be grandfathered in. This means that we do not have to do the new type of paperwork (I800) that would have extended our wait by 6 months and possibly denied us our little girl.

Thank you for acting on our behalf to sign that petition and thank you to those of you who prayed and asked God to grant us a YES! He did answer with a YES and we now can stand at the portal to 2009 with hope that our daughter is just around the bend.

Blessings TO YOU all today for your love and concern for us and blessings FROM GOD TO US as a family who are striving to humbly walk in His way.

Sharon

This is an IMPORTANT update and we need your help with something happening in Washington. We need you to sign an online petition (below) to get the wheels moving on an issue that is poised to affect our adoption greatly. It's so important that I'm going to post it here on our old blog site because I don't want to lose anyone in sending you to our new site!

If we are not referred our daughter by March (which is likely) we will need to update our paperwork a third time. We have been expecting this. However, what we have not understood until now, is that new Hague treaty compliance laws have gone into effect and there is a debate with Homeland Security over which form we (and those like us) should use: the one we started with (I600) and so be grandfathered in? Or a new one (I800) that complies with the new laws? If we are required to do the I600, other than having to pay another $800, it will not slow us down. If, however, we are asked to complete the I800, there is an additional 6 months to wait due to slower processing of these particular forms. This means that we may have to actually turn down our referral!

We would get to the front of the line after 3 years only to have to turn down the referral we have waited for. Then what? Wait and hope that China allows us to wait for this little one whose picture is now in our hands and in our hearts? Will China give us another referral? When? It is all not clear to anyone in the adoption program nor in Homeland Security at this time what will happen. Pat and I are in the first batch of people that this affects and with the economy taking precedence at the moment, unless some muscle of voices is put behind these efforts, it may not get resolved in time for us.

God is in control of this and I know that if this is what we have to go through, then no matter how painful 2009 will be for us, we will still be able to say 'God is Good'. He is sovereign and in control of every aspect of our lives and we will trust his loving hand.

However, we all can act and we all can do something while this issue is 'hot on the table' in Washington. At the very least, we can all add our names to a petition. They want to have at least 10,000 names by Oct 18 and they have about 8000 at this writing.

At the very minimum, please sign your name at:  http://www.gopetition.com/online/22112.html

If you want to do something further, you could also visit here for a few other easy ways to help us and others:  http://jcics.org/5WaystoHelp.htm

Thanks for your help. Pray for this situation and pray for us to have the strength and grace to cross this new hurdle.

Sharon