Ooh Child

I know I have posted this before but the love I feel for a little girl I have never held, never seen in person, never laughed with, or read to continues to tug at my heart.  As each day passes I realize she is a day older and a day I have missed.  It seems so ridiculous the paper work is done, she is ours, and we can not go get her.

Today on the radio I heard one of my favorite songs:  Ooh Child (Five Stairsteps) and so many emotions rushed over me. 

Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll put it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter
 
We pray for our TA to arrive as soon as possible and hope that God will give us patience.  To most of you a few weeks may not seem like much as we have been in this process for 11 months.  But to us she is already part of our family and we know she should be here getting to know her new family and hopefully absorbing the love we have for her.
 
Please pray for our Travel Approval to come as soon as possible.  We also pray for additional funds to cover some of our travel costs.  God is good and I know he will continue to guide us and provide for us.

Will this wait ever end?

I just received an email from Holt saying they just sent our approval letter to China.  They expect our travel date in about 8-10 weeks.  Then most families are in China 4-6 weeks after TA.  WHAT!  I thought it is 8-10 weeks from LOA. (We are already at week 5)  At this rate we may never get there.  Would you all please say some prayers for a speedy TA (travel approval).  Our hope for the last few months has been to travel towards the end of May or first of June.  Also the air fair goes up in the summer.  I know everything is right on time with God, but, I would love to just once be on the shorter side of the wait.

How costly will this mistake be?

Thursday we got our I800 approval only to find out they misspelled Iris' name.  Funny because on the preliminary notice they have it spelled correctly.  Of course I had to have Joel call them because the wait time said 20 minutes or longer and I had to get back to Ansley's school for the Field trip and Easter party.  Anyway, Joel was able to get ahold of them.  They tried to say that we should have checked our preliminary paper for errors.  (Really, no kidding) Joel told them it was spelled correctly on the prelim.  After hours worth of checking they finally admitted it was their mistake.  They would get it corrected that day and mail it tomorrow.  Joel asked if he could come out to pick it up (they are only in Lee's Summit) they said they were a locked building and he would have to mail it.  So we wait, and wait.  You would think I would be getting good at this.  I find that every day that I wait gets a little harder then the last.  Come on people Iris is 2 she can't be a terrorist and if we were criminals would we really be jumping through all these hoops?  COME ON POST MAN.

Iris' first photo ever taken

I am so happy I could cry!  I finally have an actual baby picture of Iris.  This is from her finding add.  It is the first picture ever taken of her that we know about.  Now I won't have to tell her I only have pictures of you from age 2 and older.  I have her BABY picture.  Now if only I could find her 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year.  She will have all the same pictures as the rest of my kids.  Who knows maybe they will have these pictues in her baby book.  A  mom can hope.
Joel's first response to the baby picture was "she looks so tiny, angry, and beautiful".  I think she looks like Elliot's baby picture.   I can't wait to get the translated info.

                                                                    Iris at 2 months

                                                                     Elliot at 2 days

                                                                  Ansley at 2 days

So What comes next?

I know many of you are wondering what  comes next and when we can go get Iris.  So here in a nut shell is what all we still have to do:

We fill out an I-800 and an I-864, attach our I-800A, LSC, and Hague verification and send them to the USCIS.   (DONE)
We fill out a DS-230 and send copies of our LOI, LSC, and I-797C to Holt. (DONE)
We also apply for our Visas with the Chinese Consulate.  (STARTED)
After our papers spend four days in a "Lock-Box" with the USCIS, they will process them and send them to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Holt sends our DS-230 to the American Consulate in Guangzhou where it will meet with the I-800 & I-864 approvals. Once all of this is in place, the Consulate issues an "Article 5" that then is picked up and delivered to the CCAA in Beijing. The CCAA processes the paperwork and issues TA (Travel Approval). After that, we schedule appointments with the American Consulate in Guangzhou, and we are ready to book our tickets.

All of this will happen in the next 8-12 weeks. . . . . It really is that simple!

So really for now, we just do more of the same, WAIT!

Today's post is brought to you by the letters L, O and A!!!!

At exactly 1313 (1:13 in the afternnon) I received a phone call from Holt saying they have our LOA and are sending it Fedex. We should have it tomorrow. The LOA is a letter from China saying we can offically adopt Iris. I think I may stalk the Fedex office. I hope that is not against the law.   After 81 days wait you get a little crazy about these things.

Here are some pictures of Iris and her friends playing outside in their new clothes.  Aren't they just the cutes little things.  I could take them all home. 

Let Them Eat Cake

While the wait for our LOA (letter of Acceptance) is killing me, 70 days and counting. I do have more pictures to share. We sent Iris a cake for the Chinese New Year. It looks like it was good, very good if you go by Iris.
While I love getting new pictures, I would really like to just go get her.