Article 5 DONE, Waiting for Travel Approval!!

Our paperwork was delivered, Article 5 and all, on Friday. Our wait is officially on for Travel Approval!! Once we have TA, we can book our consulate appointment and buy plane tickets. Oh, how I hope and pray we can travel in November!!! I have the CUTEST Santa Claus PJs for Zeb to wear in the weeks before Christmas. Thank you for your prayers!!

Also, we are going to request to visit Zeb's orphanage. It will be a long journey and adds some expense to our trip. We feel it is crucial to attempt to visit the city where he was born. We will have so few connections to his early days, and we're hopeful that visiting Lianyungang will allow us to have something tangible to share with him when he gets older. Join with us in praying that our request to visit his orphanage will be granted.

Things are Moving!

We received an update from our agency Friday. Our paperwork is at the US Consulate and will be processed so that we can receive an Article 5. If all goes well, that document, along with the last of Zeb's paperwork, will go to the government officials in less than two weeks. Wow! Then, we will officially be waiting for Travel Approval. We are PRAYING that Travel Approval takes no more than two weeks...sooner would be GREAT! Once we have travel approval, our agency will confirm a consulate appointment for us and we will travel by back-timing our trip from the consulate appointment.

And now we wait...

Zeb's paperwork arrived in Beijing Monday. That's the day we began counting down three weeks. We are hopeful and praying that it won't even take three weeks to get our Article 5, but three weeks is really the standard timeframe and there's little variance. By the end of the three weeks, our paperwork should be in the hands of the Chinese government officials. I can't explain why, but the previous documents we needed from the Chinese government came VERY FAST. We had our pre-approval in a matter of days, and our LOA a week after that. I knew that was a blessing, but I really began to appreciate it as I saw some families wait months on their LOA. So, given that our case has moved very quickly on the China side, I'm hopeful and optimistic that once they receive our Article 5, we can get Travel Approval VERY quickly. I recently heard of a family getting TA a mere week and a half after getting Article 5. Still, our agency has advised us to expect a minimum of three weeks before receiving TA. That's three weeks AFTER the three weeks we're waiting to pass now. Ugg. Please join us in praying that these time frames will not take as long as predicted. AND...the final piece of the puzzle will be securing a consulate appointment. We can't travel until we have a consulate appointment confirmed. On the plus side, we are prepared to drop everything and go at a moment's notice, so that allows us to request the earliest possible appointment (some families can't go right away for various reasons and end up requesting CA 2-4 weeks after TA).

We simply can't wait to get Zeb home! He has some DARLING Santa PJs waiting for him, so we are BELIEVING that he will be home for Christmas!

A WAY Overdue Update!

So, since I last posted, Brad has started a new job and we have moved to a new state! Fantastic! The move and new job meant we had to do an updated home study. After much prayer and work, we got the updated home study done very quickly...in about two weeks! We also received updated I-800a approval based on our new circumstances and I-800 approval, which authorizes us to adopt the specific child we want. Amazing! All that paperwork and a lot will start its journey to Beijing tomorrow. It had to sit for a week and a day at our adoption agency due to a national holiday in China.

Also, since my last post, we got new photos of Zeb, including this one!!

You may wonder what happens next. We have to get what's called an Article 5. As I understand it, the Article 5 is the official word from the US side saying we're approved to be adoptive parents and to adopt the specific child we've identified. Sounds like it would be a quick process given that we already have those approvals. But, it actually takes three weeks. Once our Article 5 is picked up, this document along with most of our other documents goes to the China government officials who handle adoptions and we wait for Travel Approval (TA). TA has been happening rather quickly. I heard from a family last week who got TA a week and a half after their Article 5 was picked up! That's great news! Once you have TA, you schedule an appointment with the US Consulate in Ghuangzhou and backtime your trip from that appointment. We are hoping and praying we can travel in November.

For what specifically can you pray? Here's the list:

1. That our paperwork reaches Beijing Monday morning without problems.
2. That our Article 5 will be issued and picked up in less than three weeks.
3. That our Travel Approval will happen VERY QUICKLY after our Article 5 gets picked up.
4. That we can get a consulate appointment VERY QUICKLY after we get TA.
5. That God will prepare Zeb's heart to meet his new family.
6. That God will prepare Zeke and Quilla's hearts to receive their new brother.
7. That God would provide Brad and I with patience, strength and energy.