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As I explained previously, Emily's immigration approval was forwarded to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire last week. The NVC produced and cabled our adoption letter to the US Embassy in China yesterday (almost one week later). This triggers our next wait, which should be between 2-3 weeks. Home stretch, y'all. We expect our Lifeline China team will be able to pick up our Article 5 letter (Emily's approved visa) around March 4th. Once our Article 5 letter is available, it will be couriered to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption), where they will issue us Travel Approval (TA) about 2 weeks later. At that point, it's go time! Considering where we are in the process and looking at the time frames, we are expecting to travel the last week of March. I can't believe I'm able to say that now! (Disclaimer: If you are already thoroughly bored or confused by our process, do not read this paragraph.) We can not book our flights until we ...

My precious friends showered me with love today. I am truly overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness, energy, time, and creativity that went in to organizing this very special day. I am one blessed lady. Thank you, sweet Holly, for opening your home in order that you and my other lovelies could shower this mama with goodness. Now we are officially ready for Mei Mei's arrival! There were so many great pictures taken of this special day. Here are a few...   Big sister and "Nana" My friend Carla made this amazing cake!       A bracelet with the names of my 5 special people. Love. Some of my girls who came today Anna Grace loves her Mei Mei already!   Love me some Tujagues!    

We have been notified that Emily has officially been approved for citizenship in the U.S. This approval confirms Emily's status of American citizen the second she hits American soil. I try to imagine the moment our airplane touches down on U.S. soil, after leaving China with our daughter. I'm thinking there will be plenty of tears and high fives. I've already purchased her a new red, white, and blue dress for that day... Oh what a joyous day that will be! Now that we have I800 approval, our file has been sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire. In approximately one week, the NVC will create and cable a letter to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China (while they are doing this, we will be busy filling out more paperwork, DS260 form, which is necessary in the process of obtaining Emily's visa). Here, our Article 5 (Emily's approved visa to leave China) will be produced and sent to the CCCWA. Once they receive this, they will i...

We are so excited to have these new pictures of Emily! Think I may freak her out if I bite her cheeks the first time we meet?  She's looking at the photo album we sent her of our family!  Born to be a Tiger!!! Her mama and dada sent her this warm jacket and lovie.

Joy. Pure joy. That's what I'm experiencing today. Satisfaction pumping through my veins. Satisfaction that only the love and faithfulness of Christ can accomplish. 66 days after our pre-approval... 66 long days of wondering, waiting, praying, agonizing... after receiving a red flag from the Chinese government and supplying more information to answer further questions... 66 days of relying on The Lord to get us here... our letter of approval (LOA) arrived via FedEx... TODAY. From here, Seamus and I will sign this very important document and send it back to Lifeline tomorrow, who will turn around and overnight it to U.S. Immigration, along with an application (I800) requesting that Emily be approved for citizenship in the United States. We should receive that approval in about 2-3 weeks. Once Immigration grants approval, they send everything to the National Visa Center who turns around and cables the approval to the Visa Center in China. There are many small steps between now a...

We just got word from our social worker that China has officially approved us to adopt Emily! They have issued our LOA (letter of approval). The "what-ifs" have ended. The spaz out session has begun! In the adoption world, we call this "soft LOA". China will now print and mail our LOA hard copy to Lifeline. Once Lifeline receives it, they will overnight it to us. Upon receiving our hard copy LOA, our official LOA wait will be over! I will repost as soon as we receive our hard copy. At that time, I'll also explain what happens next. This is fantastic news for us and for Emily Hope! We're coming, Mei Mei... hold on a little bit longer! Woohoo!!!

Today marks day 54 of our LOA wait. It's hard to remember what all this means so here's a brief refresher. 54 days ago we received "pre-approval" from the Chinese government to adopt Emily Hope. We have been waiting, for 54 days, to receive an official letter of approval (LOA). (Insert hiccup here.) Last week we received a call from our Lifeline social worker alerting us that China has requested additional information from us before they can continue reviewing our dossier (our very large file). We have gathered the requested information and forwarded it to them. Now what? We wait. Again. We have been encouraged not to panic. It's not common to be asked for additional information but apparently it's not completely unheard of. We do expect to be approved for the adoption. It's just an added delay. Sigh. As frustrating as this can be, we are hopeful to hear some very exciting news soon! I have so many adoptive friends through Facebook who are praying for us a...