CABLE!

The other day I got a text message from a fellow adoptive parent who is on almost the exact timeline we are. It just so happens they are adopting a little boy just a little bit (like weeks) older than Ethan from the same orphanage / city. Anyway, the text said that they had gotten an email from the NVC saying that their petition to adopt had been forwarded to the appropriate embassy / consulate. She told me that she'd gotten that email at 5:00 A.M. Well, this morning, my eyes popped open before the sun was up. I lay there for about two minutes, annoyed that I was awake. Then I rolled over to check the time. It was 5:01 and I had to laugh. My adoption-addled brain had apparently awoken me to check my email, and check I did. Nothing. I lay awake, checking my email every 10 minutes or so, until about 5:45 when I lost hope. I was positive that we would not be getting our email saying that we had been cabled, that our petition to adopt had been forwarded to the appropriate visa-issuing post. I gave up and went back to sleep. When I finally rolled out of bed at 8:30 (let me point out here that Aiden slept until 9:00 again! woot woot!), the first thing I did was check my phone for emails. Sure enough, at 5:57 we got the email. Hahaha! I guess there's something to the old adage, "A watched pot never boils."

Now for the $10 million question. When will we be traveling? We still really don't know. We have to get our Article 5, then we will finally be waiting on our TA, Travel Approval. A reasonable estimate seems to be two months or so to our CA, Consulate Appointment, but I'm waiting to hear from our agency so we can get a better grasp on possible departure dates. With our luck we will go right about the time school starts. Good grief! Realistically, we could leave around August 15. First day of in-service? August 16. God has a sense of humor...!!! :/ I will post more when we know more.

I800 Provisional Approval

This is going to be a short post, but....We got our I800 provisional approval today. PTL! As I was sitting out at my wonderful friend's house (thanks again Ann) trying to forget the distressing news from Aiden's Dr. appt yesterday,



I got the email that said,

"Hi Diane,

I just approved your I-800. You should receive your approval notice in 7-10 days. Have a great day!"

Ah yeah. That should help my day!! I screamed. Jenny Rae and Ann joined in the excitment, I emailed Emily, called Troy (sadly, in that order), and then I returned to my usual practical self. I tried to start figuring out possible travel dates and contemplating what would work for our family. On the return trip from Baltic to Soo Foo, I called Steve, our agency's travel guru, and really didn't learn all that much. It's still a pretty broad spectrum. I get the impression, though, that mid-August is a VERY real possibility. That's amazing as the sooner we can get Ethan the better, obviously, and we could travel with another family going to the same province getting a little one just two months older than Ethan. Conversely, that would mean missing out on much-needed in-service money and setting the tone for our classes. We are in emotional turmoil about our options. I will not, however, get my undies in a bunch until we have an idea about our earliest possible travel date. ;) No matter how we look at it, though, we are getting VERY close to going to get our sweet baby. Ethan Fletcher, we are getting ever so close....

We Said YES!

At 12:14 PM, our FedEx guy FINALLY arrived.







He was baring a singularly beautiful item of paperwork. It was our LOA saying China had approved us to adopt Chang Bo Yong and asking us if we accepted the referral.



WE SAID YES!!!!

(Troy came in from building the boys' playset to sign)



By 1:30, all of the nearly one million pages (slight exaggeration for effect) of our paperwork was on its way to the USCIS for I800 approval, and our LOA was checked and signed and headed back to Holt.


These poor FedEx / delivery guys ;)

It was a GREAT day which continued with the building of (and playing on) the playset. (Thanks Uncle John and Cousin Jen for all the help!!)



Hahahaha!

We finished the evening with a toast to the day's events using the same glasses we used at our wedding...and at our toast to the start of our adoption journey for Aiden.





What a momentous day. We're one huge step closer, Ethan!

LOA...Yay!!!!

That's right! We got our LOA today. We were out back attempting (emphasis on the word attempting) to build Aiden and Ethan's :) new play set when my phone rang at 3:27. I glanced down at it, and the caller ID read Holt, OR. It is amazing how many thoughts can race through your head in a split second. With eyes wide, I whispered to Troy, "It's Holt, OREGON!" Hope warred with dread. So, what has gone so dreadfully wrong that they're calling instead of emailing? Was it good news? How could it be? We just got out of translation a week ago today, and I was told it should take about 4 weeks for our paperwork to work its way through "in-process." Then again, crazier things have happened in the adoption world. Did we have our LOA? All of these thoughts and emotions ripped through me at lightning speed, in the 10 steps it took me to walk into the basement.

"May I speak to Diane or Troy Sturgeon, please?"
"This is Diane."
"Diane, this is Kristen with Holt, and I have some VERY good news to share with you...."

Everything after that is a blur. I quite literally, to my dismay and chagrin, dropped to my knees and sobbed. I did at one point tell Kristen to hold on while I composed myself, but that never really happened. At least I stopped crying and was able to put together a coherent sentence or something that closely resembled one. I think. Kristen informed me that I will have my LOA in my hands TOMORROW via FedEx. (That poor FedEx guy doesn't know what he has in store for him. I will be stalking the front door all morning tomorrow.)

So, the next step? More paperwork, of course. BLECH. Nine pages for the I800 (not including the supplement 1), copies of all material we've received about Chang Bo Yong / Ethan since day 1, the I864W, a copy of our I797C/I800A Approval Notice, and...wait...our training certificate?! Guess what. We can't find our copy and the regional office where they (prayerfully) have a copy is closed. UGH! I have an email in to them and am praying that they can email / send us a pdf copy. It is going to be a LONG wait overnight. If they can't...well, that doesn't bear thinking about! In essence, then, I'm done with pretty much everything, but we're waiting for our LOA which we'll get tomorrow and our Article 16 Letter which will be enclosed with the LOA. (And, of course, the training certificate. PLEASE, God, please let the Holt Midwest Branch have it!!!)

That may all sound like a lot of mumbo jumbo, but seldomly have I seen more beautiful words. Ethan, my sweet baby boy, we're one step closer!!!!!

Spoke Too Soon

I may have "spoken" a little too soon. Finally. FINALLY, we have seen some movement. We got an email this a.m. from Kristen saying that as of yesterday we are out of translation. It is a small step, but a step nonetheless. And in the right direction at that. We probably have a very long wait ahead of us still, but it sure would be nice if the CCCW@ would see fit to make up for lost time and expedite the rest of this LOA process. Here's hoping!

Almost to the Century Club

Well, today is day 99 of our LOA wait. To put things in perspective, most people dread (and really not that many people make) being allowed into this notorious club, and we are likely going to hit it while still IN TRANSLATION! I have started to lose my ability to stay positive. To be honest, I've really only fallen apart twice, but I'm actually moving beyond the sad stage into the angry stage. This. Is. Ridiculous! No new information from the other side of the world. We just waiting. When this whole process started, I had hoped to travel this summer. That optimism seemed well-placed. We put together our dossier in record time and were logged in in the middle of February. If we had followed the norms, we could have conceivably had our Gottcha Day when our little one was 21 months old. Well, July is out as is August. Dear lord, we hope we can get to Ethan before his second birthday on 10/10/10.

Day 93

That's right. Day 93 and we're still in translation. I really have no other information. I called Holt, and they are doing what they can. They can't do much. It's really out of their hands, too. They call and email and check in, but what else can be done? I've been told that our case is being looked into on an individual basis. I appreciate that, but I get the feeling there is no real sense of urgency on the part of the CCCW@. They're plodding along. After all, they have no little one they're waiting on who is growing up away from them.

Then I got some even more disheartening insight. Even after we get out of translation, we're looking at minimum of 4 weeks -- yep, another MONTH -- before we get our LOA. After the LOA is issued, we're staring down 2 more weeks before our I800 is approved. After that? Two weeks for our NVC cable. Our Article 5? Add another 2 weeks. The wait for travel approval? You guessed it! Two - three weeks. UGH! That means the BEST we can hope for for travel will be the Aug. 31 travel group. Waaah! :'( That not only means three more months away from Ethan, but it means we probably won't be traveling with some other adoptive parents who not only are adopting a little guy almost Ethan's age from the same orphanage / province / city but who also live relatively close to us. If we learned anything last time, being in-province with other families in invaluable. The support and camaraderie are great as are the lifelong friendships you can establish. Being in the trenches together helps to forge some pretty strong bonds! ;)

Well, I guess we just continue to pray, pray, pray for some good news so we don't delay going and getting our little boy any longer than it absolutely has to be. Let's face it. There's no other way to put it. As a wise woman once said (Emily); this sucks!