Monday, February 23, 2009

******We Received our Confirmed CA!!*****

The US Consulate in Guangzhou has confirmed our consulate appointment (CA) today! We now have our exact travel dates, and will be arriving in Beijing no later than 12 March to meet up with our CCAI representatives and our travel group (travel group #1463)! Based on the information we received, we will be taking our oath at the US Consulate on Lilly's 3rd brithday, March 25th! God is so good!

More details will be filled in as we get information from CCAI and as we make our plane reservations. Stay tuned! So far, our trip will look something like this:
  • 10 or 11 March: Depart US (depending on if we want an extra day for touring Beijing)
  • 12 March: Meet up with CCAI rep and travel group in Beijing
  • 13-14 March: Tours of Beijing with travel group, acclimating to time zone, getting more and more excited and allowing the excitement within our travel group to reach a dizzying height!
  • 15 March: fly from Beijing to Zhengzhou city, the provincial capital of Henan Province, Lilly's home province. Spend a restless night in anticipation of what will happen the next day...
  • 16 March (my guess!): "GOTCHA'" DAY! MEET LILLIAN JOY! Shed happy tears of joy, begin to get to know our new little angel.
  • 16-??? March: time in Zhengzhou to get to know Lilly and take care of adoption related paperwork and appointments...probably 4-5 days?
  • ???? March: fly from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou as a family of 5 (with all the other families in our group!).
  • 24 March: Consulate Appointment
  • 25 March: take oath at US Consulate (THIS IS ALSO LILLY's 3rd BIRTHDAY!)
  • 26 March: free to leave and return home!
  • 27 March: return home, exhausted and thrilled, to begin our life as a family of 5. Just in time for spring break the following week so we can all be home together the first week. Praise God for His perfect timing!!
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2 comments:

Donna said...

Amy!! The LAST "A" you needed! That's so great, I know you're busy running around doing everything and anything to get ready (dizzy yet?)...let me know if there is anything I can help you with, I can't wait to follow along (you're going to blog from China, right???)
Donna

February 24, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Kris said...

Lilly's room looks beautiful. What fun to get some presents for her from your friends! Just think two week from today you will be on a plane to China! Looking forward to meeting you and your family on the 12th!
kristine

February 25, 2009 at 3:01 PM

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Why Adoption? Why China?

I'm sure that many of you, when you learned that Tom and I were pursuing adoption of a little girl from China, wondered "why?!" We may have taken some of you by surprise, and we thought it might be nice to share some of our thinking about this journey we are undertaking.

Adoption is something that, even from the earliest years of our marriage, we talked about as "maybe someday." The idea of adoption is appealing to us for many reasons. As Christians, we are adopted by God as his children through faith in Jesus. Adoption allows us to provide a child with the needed love, warmth, and financial resources we have been blessed with as a family. Finally, adoption allows us to add to our family at a time when our biological children are old enough to be more self-sufficient, and we are in a position financially to be able to welcome a child into our family in this way. What we hope to gain is an additional family member to love and learn from, and an opportunity to share the joy and love of our family.

We recognize that an adoption will bring unique parenting challenges to our family--especially since we are considering a child with special needs--and it is likely to put unique stresses on our family in a variety of ways. We are grateful for Tom's medical knowledge and for the great medical coverage we get through Tom's Air Force career, and we look forward to providing a forever family for a child whose medical needs might make it more difficult for another family to take on.

Finally, why China? My love for China, the Chinese language, and the Chinese people made China the natural choice. It was never really even a consideration whether to go with a domestic adoption or international; China was simply the natural choice that we immediately pursued, especially since there are so many children in China that need a forever family.

Chinese Word of the Day

The Time in China

When Love Takes You In

Our Adoption Timeline

  • Travel Dates--11-26 March
  • Swearing In Ceremony at Consulate--25 March (Lilly's 3rd Birthday!)
  • Consulate Appointment (CA)--24 March
  • Travel Approval (TA)--19 February 2009
  • Received Letter of Approval (LOA)--22 January 2009
  • Received Pre-Approval (PA)--25 November
  • Submitted Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt An Xiao Xue, soon to be named Lillian Joy Xiao Xue, 1 November (logged in at CCAA 21 November)
  • Referral Call from CCAI asking us to consider An Xiao Xue's profile--31 October
  • Dossier Log-in-Date (LID) 3 July 2008
  • Dossier to China (DTC)--June 27 2008
  • Dossier Submitted to CCAI--June 2008
  • Fingerprinted at USCIS Jacksonville--April 2008
  • Application Approval ("We're Pregnant!") January 2008
  • Submitted Adoption Application and 3 References--December 2007
  • Requested Application from Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) --November 2007
  • Decided to Investigate Agencies--October 2007