Approvals.... Cabled and Waiting

  It has been a BUSY few weeks in our adoption world - and the busi-ness has made everything feel so real and our excitement is growing! After we received LOA on March 21st, we sent our paperwork off to US Customs & Immigration (USCIS)for the US side of approvals. The paperwork goes to a lockbox and is then forwarded to a processing center for approval. Our paperwork was delivered to the lockbox on Monday, March 25th and received at the processing center on April 3rd. I called on Friday, April 5th and we were told it had been approved - YAY! The next step is when the processing center sends the approval to the US National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire (our paperwork should accumulate frequent flyer miles!). We received our approval from USCIS in the mail on Tuesdy this week... Time to start emailing the NVC! I was given the tracking number of our paperwork being sent to NVC - so I knew it was delivered this Wednesday so I sent an inquiry to see where it was in the processing. That afternoon I received an email back that it ad been entered in the system! Ok... Making progress! Once the paperwork is entered in the system it takes about 24 hours until it is "Cabled" to China. I was really praying we would get the email we had requested that we were cabled before 5:00 on Thursday so we could move to the next step on Friday in China! Once the paperwork has been cabled by the NVC, you can request a PDF copy if the approval rather than waiting a week for the copy in the mail. The staff working in China needs that document to drop our documents at the US Consulate in China - they only allow drop off on Tuesday - Friday. Since China is 12 hours ahead of us, I knew we were cutting it close! At 4:10 the email arrived - thank you Lord! We are now finished on the US side of approvals. It takes 10 business days for our processing at the US Consulate in China. On April 26th our Article 5 will be ready for pick up! After that... We wait for one. more. approval.....  TRAVEL APPROVAL! Approximately 2-4 weeks after Article 5 pick up we will receive an invitation from China to come pick up our daughter! The average wait has been closer to two weeks, so we would definitely appreciate your prayers for a speedy TA. We are hoping and praying to leave for China the end of MAY! It may sound a long way off... We're down to weeks! All these months of waiting and praying and in as little as 7-8 weeks we could be holding Makenna - she will be FOREVER our daughter!

We still are waiting for pictures from Makenna's care package delivery, but we were blessed with new pictures the orphanage sent our agency. We love her smile and the sparkle in her eyes! Soon sweet girl, we will be there soon!