It's the little things

I have been happily overwhelmed this week. My sweet Noah turned 6. Putting Claire's name on our Christmas ornament. Buying girl clothes. Beginning to pack for China.

We also got an update that most likely Claire's palate has been repaired. That means one less surgery!!

Still so muc to do before travel!! We will begin the wait for the travel approval on 12-21. I would love for it to come before tNew Year's!!!

More pictures of Claire

 One of my friends was looking at the foster home site and immediately let me know that she thought she found more pics of Claire when she was looking for pics of her son. And she was right.  I love that the nannies are in a lot of the pics because they have taken such wonderful care of her- and my gratefulness cannot be expressed in words. I pray that we will be able to get in touch with them after the adoption is final, and that we will be able to take Claire to visit them when she is older.

 Here is sweet claire after arriving at the foster home, sleeping with her nanny. They loved her already!!!!

 

Here she is smiling. In so many of the pics she is so happy. I think this is in Nov 2011 right before her lip repair.

 

 This one is I think January this year- she seems so content.

 This one is from this summer- August maybe. She is the cutie on the back!

Playing with a toy and standing in her crib.  Her hair is growing. Hmmmm methinks I need more hairbows (those who have seen my hairbow collection- don't laugh. A girl cannot have too many!)

In other news, I am frantically trying to get things I will need to travel. Snacks and hats and socks and gifts and hairbows ;)

So what's next?

I think most of you know that we got our LOA last Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If not- you must be under a rock because we all (including Noah) were shouting it from the rooftops!!  This means we should travel in 10ish weeks.  Why does it take so long? Well there are a few more steps of paperwork to complete.  This is what happens next!

1. Our 800 paperwork is filed with USCIS. This is the paperwork that requests immigration to approve Claire specifically for us to adopt and bring into the US. This takes about 2-3 weeks. They grant a pre-approval.
2. The pre-approval goes to the National Visa Center (NVC) who generate a paper that will allow Claire to be granted a visa into the US. This takes about a week (so total 3-4 weeks so far).
3. The paper from the NVC and Claire's actual Visa application go to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. They will grant what is called an Article 5- which states they will give her a visa when we get her there. This takes 2 weeks at the embassy and a few days for our agency to get the paperwork there. (so 5.5-6.5 weeks total).
4. The article 5 is sent to Beijing to the CCCWA (China's version of family services) and they invite us to travel. This is called the Travel Approval (TA) and takes 2-3 weeks.  ( so 7.5-8.5 weeks total)
5. Our agency then has to secure our consulate appointment (to pick up that visa for Claire so she can enter the US) and plans our travel around that. Most people leave a week to 3 weeks after TA. (so 8.5-11.5 weeks).

I would love things to move fast and we travel in 8 weeks, but 9-10 is most likely!!

The next question is what does the travel trip look like?

 We will probably fly out of the US on a Wednesday and arrive in Beijing on Friday. Our agency rep will show us around Beijing Friday and Saturday to get over the jet lag. (China is 12 hours ahead of us basically). Sunday we fly to Zhengzhou, Henan (the capital city of Claire's home province in China). Monday- they bring us Claire and we get her forever!!! Tuesday-Saturday is in Henan doing paperwork, bonding, and touring. (it takes that long because they issue her passport in province and that is how long it takes). Sunday we fly to Guangzhou which is where the US embassy is in China. Monday we have a medical appointment, and then on Wednsday or Thursday is the consulate appointment and they issue Claire's visa. Then we can leave and fly home!!!  I will post a final itinerary when we get one.

We are also working on paperwork for our visas to enter China.

I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by what we still need to get for Claire (carseat, diapers, wipes, food and bottles for China, clothes, oh my!!!), by the packing lists, and gift list for the officials, and the paperwork we must bring list.

But it will all be ok because WE ARE ALMOST TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sneak peek!!!!

Our Both Hands project went great!! We are putting together a video but for now here is one of the before/after shots of her front porch.

Our Both Hands Project!!

 It is coming up in 1.5 weeks!!  We are focusing on Ms. Betty's kitchen- as you can see below it needs some loving.  We have been sanding and painting new cabinet doors, and we plan to paint the walls and possibly replace the countertops!  On the outside, we will be painting her wheelchair ramp.  Here are a few of the before pictures- I can't wait to see the afters. If you want to support this project and help and orphan and a widow- here is the link to our project page. http://bothhandsfoundation.org/scott-and-kathy-gilreath  Every donation is greatly appreciated!!!!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Oh the waiting!!! It is hard at times, and at times I feel very at peace. I was trying to think of a good analogy to describe the waiting process to those who have not adopted, and I think I came up with a good one!!

Imagine that you decide to go eat at your favorite restaurant. After careful planning and consideration, you choose the exact place where you want to eat. But wait!! First there is a credit application (application to the adoption agency) to make sure you qualify to eat at Cafe Adoption! Good news- this application only takes a week or two to process!! Yay you passed!!! You get in the car and start to drive over. The drive is like collecting all the paperwork for the dossier. You hit some bumps and red lights, and finally have all the paperwork you need to check in! You arrive to the Cafe Adoption, and walk to the hostess stand. How long of a wait, you inquire. It depends on eleventy billion factors, the hostess tells you. First I will put your name on the list, and review your paperwork to make sure it is in order. When I call your name to seat you at your table, you know you are halfway there (dossier to china or DTC!). You give the gal your name and find a seat. You look around. Oh My. This place is crowded!!! You occasionally hear a name called and see someone yell excitedly and go to their table. Oh wait! Your name is called! You run to the hostess stand, and she tells you that one of your papers has to be re-done (in our case Scott's health form). You want to curse. You actually drive to your friend's house and cry and rant on her shoulder for a while. Then you jump through 45 hoops to get it done as fast as possible. Finally all is ready and the hostess calls your name and takes you to a table!!!! (wahoo!!! Log in Date or LID baby!!!)

You look around the Cafe Adoption, and see other people in various stages of their meal. Some are eating dessert and coffee. Some have only water, and look like they have been seated forever! You start chatting with those nearby, and get to know where they are in the process. You even find a few people on a similar timeline, either slightly ahead or slightly behind you!

Then it happens! Your waiter brings you an appetizer. This is what you have been waiting for! You have been matched with the plate that you specified way back when you filled out the application. (Letter of Intent filed, and Pre-approval for your child is granted!) And this is when it gets fun. The next wait for Letter of Approval (LOA) is crazy. Right now it is running 60-120 days (I am on day 62, but who is counting???). Oh look- the people next to you have gotten their mesal! You congratulate them and ask how long they waited. 137 days??!!!??? You hope you don't wait that long. Another family gets their meal- they only waited 25 days. That timeframe is much more like it! And then the waiter comes by and teases you. He whispers that the chef is working on your dinner now (or that your dossier is out of translation). He tells several people around you the same thing. You are excited to have this progress news, but are upset that your good friend, who was seated the same time as you, and got their appetizer the same time as you, did not hear the waiter whisper yet. That family there was seated way after you, and they are already on dessert!!!!! No fair!! There seems to be no real line, and things happen in spurts.

Finally your meal arrives (LOA!!!!!!!) You know that dessert is pretty much coming in 10ish weeks. First there is more paperwork, then you must be invited to have dessert (travel approval or TA), then finally dessert arrives. You have to sign the final bill (no one complains about the final paperwork in China though, I promise!!) Then you leave to begin your new life.

The LOA wait is crazy, and it really happens that those on the same time-line can get ahead or fall behind.

The Chinese government is on holiday this week (Happy Mid-autumn Moon Festival everyone!!), and there have been rumors that they cleared their desks on Saturday before the holiday. We found out that we were out of translation on Friday. For our LOA to be on the way from China that means our dossier would have had to be reviewed in one day. Not likely. It would take a miracle. It would take a miracle to get our LOA by October 15^th which is probably the latest date for us to get it to be able to get our Claire before or at her birthday. Keep praying!!!

An update on Claire

We found out that Claire is in foster care in a big city, and has been since a month after she was found. This is wonderful news because foster care tends to be better, and that is how she was probably able to have her lip fixed already. The best part is that I found pictures of her from last year on their blog!!!!!!!!!!  So here some are!

 Here is the youngest pic we have

 This is soon after her lip surgery

 Happy, laughing Claire

 Look at that sweet chunk!!  She looks like a good eater

Making silly faces!