Article 5!!!!

One more step down, our Article 5 was picked up today so now all we like is our TA!!!  As soon as we have our TA our appointments in China will be set and we can finalize our travel plans to bring Lin Mei home.  Praying that TA comes quickly and that we can leave for China on either July 12 or 13 (if not sooner).  Getting closer :o)

LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, after 95 days in waiting, we recieved the phone call this afternoon that our LOA has finally arrived!  Thanks to all of those prayer warriors out there who have been praying us through this part of the process, but please don't stop now, we still a few more steps to go.  Right now we are being told that travel is about 3 months from LOA, so we are looking at Mid-Late July for travel at this point.  Please keep praying that the next round of approvals move swiftly and we are able to travel sooner rather than later. It feel so very good to be one GIANT step closer to bringing our sweet Lin Mei home.

72 Days Waiting...

This week has been a rather frustrating week.  We were so hoping that we would get the LOA call this week, but it was not to be.  We did get a call from our agency on Wednesday saying that CCCWA was requesting some clarifying documentation - not the call we were hoping for.  So, we flew into action and gathered the requested documentation and were able to get into FedEx yesterday afternoon to our agency - we are praying that this information will satisify their need and that our LOA will come quickly.  Please pray that our LOA comes quickly so that we are able to travel in early summer and have her home in time for testing and hopefully ready to start school on time in August.

On a positive note, we received an update on Thursday and it sounds very positive.  I had requested information regarding any special accomodations that she may need in order to learn and they stated that she has to sit beside her teacher in order to be able to hear/understand, but otherwise no special arrangements are made for her.  They stated that she communicates well, that she has good comprehensive ability and that her study abilities are better than most.  As you can see from the photos they sent she appears to be a very happy and healthy child.

Still Waiting on LOA, but we have a new picture to share!

Yes, we are still waiting on our LOA, but hopefully it will be here in the next week or two. We are currently on day 42 but we know some folks who received theirs in less than 30 days, so praying it comes soon!

We did receive an update and a new photo of Lin Mei last week, as you can see she is still smiling!  It warms my heart every time I see a new picture of her sweet face and that beautiful smile!  From the information we received it appears that she is doing well.  She will celebrate her 6th birthday on Sunday, March 4th, it saddens me to think that she will spend another birthday without her family, but it makes me joyous to know that this will be the last one she will spend without us!  Praying that God moves hearts and mountains of paperwork so that we can bring her home quickly.

LID - 1/19/2012!!!!

Another step out of the way - we learned yesterday evening that our documents were logged in with the CCCWA on Thursday, now we settle in to wait for our LOA.  In my mind this will be the longest and hardest wait, our agency says that 60 days is average, of course that means it could come quicker (I have seen folks lately receive theirs in as little as 43 days) but it also means it could go longer too.  So pray for us as we wait, I will definately have to find something to keep me busy.

On another note, we have decided to wrap up our t-shirt fundraiser by January 29th, so if you are interested (or know someone who is) please send orders to my e-mail account tbmcfarland75@yahoo.com .  I have attached the designs here again as a reminder, they are $16 each and we have sizes from child's XS to adult XXXL. Thanks to everyone who has already purchased shirts and/or who have participated in other fundraisers - God bless!

We are DTC!!!!!

I learned this afternoon that our Dossier was placed in the mail to China yesterday!  Woo Hoo, one more step down.  Now we wait for confirmation of our Log In Date (LID) and then we settle in to wait for our Letter of Approval/Acceptance (LOA) - currently it seems that this process is running between 45 - 60 days after LID and with the Chinese New Year in the mix I don't believe it will come any sooner, I just pray it stays withint that 60 day window. What wonderful news to start out the weekend!

Update, new photos and I-797...all in one week

Yesterday we received an update on Lin Mei, she appears to be doing well!  And today, our I-797 arrived - we can finally move on to the next step in the process - woo hoo!  Hopefully our documents will be in China the first week of January and we are praying for an early to mid-January LID.  My Christmas wishes have been granted - God is so very good!