As Promised

I'm back online once again as promised. I think compiling an international adoption dossier should qualify you for an honorary Masters Degree in... something.

Truly a labor of love that has taken working nearly full-time over the last 6 months to prepare.

We are DTC! Our Dossier arrived in China on Friday at 3:30pm. Problem is, their computer system shut down at the end of day on Thursday while a new system is being integrated. I go back and forth between FREAKING OUT because we missed the deadline, worrying that we won't meet the requirements of the new system, and praying that our paperwork doesn't get stuck under a big pile never to be seen again ... and having overwhelming RELIEF that it is completely out of my hands, putting my faith in God that HE will take care of our dossier, and trusting that HIS timing will be perfect.

Now we wait. We wait for our LID (Log In Date - meaning our dossier has been logged into China's system) and then for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance - giving us permission from the Chinese government to adopt Mayzee). This can take anywhere from 37-120 days after we are logged in. Of course we hope it will come quickly!

From there, we work with U.S. Immigrations again, this time to gain permission specifically to adopt Mayzee, and then after a few other Hague requirements are met, we receive TA- travel approval, Visas, an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in China and then travel to bring her home! We estimate traveling in... September? October? November? Maybe December? There is no knowing how the system shutdown will affect us, or what other snags we will encounter along the way, but we are getting CLOSER!

Closer, People! We are getting CLOSER! This calls for a celebration!