The road map

Many of you have asked us what happens next?  When do we go get Makenna?  The unfortunate answer is that we are again waiting and we don't have a travel date yet - to be honest, we won't have an "official" travel date until about 2 weeks before we leave - hard for our very type-A personalities to handle! 

Right now we are waiting for our Letter of Acceptance - our LOA!  The LOA is the most important paper because it is our approvel from China that they have accepted our Request to adopt Makenna as our daughter - she will be ours!  The exciting part of getting that LOA is that we will be officially able to share her picture with all of you!  We will also be able to send Makenna a care package and let her know that she HAS A FAMILY!!  She will receive pictures of us, treats and a letter that we will write to her.  Hopefully we will get more pictures after she receives our care package, too.

To break down the rest of the process, here's a road map with "expected" time frames - keep in mind, these are all estimates! 

Our Preliminary Approval (PA) was received on 2/7/13

30-90 day wait

Letter of Acceptance arrives

Submit I800 Form to US Immigration & Mail Visa Application to Agency

3-5 week wait

Receive I800 approval from Immigration

1-2 week wait

US Immigration sends approval to US Consulate in Ch*na

2-3 week wait

US Consulate approves Visa (Article 5)

2-4 week wait

Ch*na issues Travel Approval (TA)

Receive Consulate Appointment (CA)

2-4 weeks wait

TRAVEL!!

The biggest wild card is our LOA - some families get this really fast and others wait for over 100 days.  There isn't a lot of rhyme or reason, but the current trend has us hoping and PRAYING for a 30 day LOA!  Since we waited three months for our referrral there is a good chance that our paperwork has been translated already.  Once we receive the LOA the time frames above are pretty standard.  Jason and I are praying that we leave at the end of May - we really want to be home by June 15th for Matthew's birthday AND we feel it would be best for us to travel while the kids are still in school.  We KNOW that the timing is out of our hands, but we are praying for God's favor and trusting that HIS timing is better than our own.

In the mean time... we have been busy and having fun getting our house ready for our little girl!  Her room is painted and waiting for the carpet and furniture.  The clothes are starting to be hung and some toys are starting to show up!  I must admit that it has been really (REALLY) fun starting to shop and buy little girl things again!  I love her room, but I am holding off to share until it is DONE!

Stay tuned for more updates...