GOTCHA Day! 10/19

GOTCHA Day!!!

(As a friend calls it: God Ordained This Child's Happy Adoption Day)

We landed in Beijing late on Saturday 10/18. We thought we would have Sunday to relax but our driver said we would be going to get Maddie the next morning! I couldn't believe it! We didn't sleep much at all that night.

We all woke up around 5AM and enjoyed a very nice buffet breakfast. Our guide and driver showed up around 9AM and we headed to Maddie's orphanage. We were asked to wait in the waiting room while the director showed up. We were a little early. Then we were brought to the office. One of Maddie's caregivers brought her in and I know my heart skipped a beat or two or even more. I can't describe the feeling of seeing your child brought in to you after 8 months of waiting. Even with an out of date photo I knew it was her! They brought her right to me and I knelt down to hold her. She immediately grabbed for my face. She was, and still is, very intrigued by faces. Colby had my old camera and he took some photos. Mike took photos with our camera. Eventually we all held her, including Colby. All he said was, "She's too heavy".

From very early on Maddie would stare at us, right in our eyes. Her eyes looked so sad but yet so curious, She knew something was going on. That things were changing for her. She wasn't sure what to make of everything so she just took it all in. We gave her a little Minnie Mouse which she seemed to like. But mostly we just held her. We also had to sign a paper to take custody of her for the day. A 24 hour "trial" period. Then we were able to take her to the hotel.

The first day was a little bit of a blur. After we left the orphanage we went to eat at a KFC. We all thought that was funny because one of the first restaurants we ate at in Russia was a KFC. Since Gotcha Day we have had KFC quite a bit. We also went to a WalMart to buy a few snacks, PullUps, and a stroller. Our guide, Alice, was amazing and with her help, and a little help from some other customers, we had what we needed.

Overall, we had a busy, emotion-filled day. We finally saw our Maddie! We finally HAD our Maddie! We still had more paperwork to do but we HAD HER!!!

Headed to China 10/17!

Well, this post is a little late, OK a lot late, but I have good reasons. We made it to China! We are here! We are in Beijing. As I write this I have 2 sleeping little ones next to me. I can't believe it still!!!

We left for China on Friday, October, 17th. We had an early morning flight and Grandpa Tom and Grandma Laurie brought us to the airport. I was very nervous how Colby would react to the long plane ride, 15 hours, but he was a real trooper. We took a huge 777 plane that was equipped with a TV screen in front of every seat. Colby and Mike even played Battleship against each other! Our first flight took us to Hong Kong where we had about a 2 hour layover. Then we had a flight to Beijing. We had a driver pick us up and bring us to the Novotel right in the center of Beijing. It was late at night on Saturday 10/18 due to the 12 hour time difference, when we finally checked in. We thought we would have Sunday to rest but to our surprise the driver told us he was picking us up with our guide the next day at 9AM. We would have GOTCHA on Sunday 10/19 not Monday 10/20 like we thought. I was such a bundle of emotions. Neither Mike or I slept much that night. We would soon be a family of 4! I didn't think this day would ever come.

TA and CA!!! And a Surprise Baby Shower

WE DID IT!!!!!

WE HAVE TA!!!

WE HAVE CA!!!

Yes, we finally made it. All the paperwork chasing is over. We received out travel approval right before the Chinese holiday. It arrived on 10/1, just before I could have a panic attack. It came! It really came!

The next step after our travel approval was for our agency to request a Consulate appointment and have it confirmed. Our agency asked for a Consulate appointment for 10/30 with a Gotcha Day of 10/20. That's in less than 2 weeks! Oh my gosh! 

We had to wait for the Consulate to reopen yesterday to get our Consulate appointment confirmed but they approved it right away. Our agency emailed me with the confirmation yesterday and all I could do all day was walk through the halls at school singing:

"I'm a leaving on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again."

(Yes, you can sing along too!) My students thought I was crazy and the teachers were all happy for me. I wish I could say they are all excited for me, but it really is different. They are all very excited about the teacher who is pregnant and due in February, but with me, they seem interested but not overly excited. I guess it is hard to understand. Hopefully they will all be excited when I bring her by for a visit.

On the other hand, I have AMAZING friends here in town. I really think the best thing Mike and I did was move here. We have found, and Colby has found such a great group of friends. Mike is Colby's Cub Scout leader and two of my friends help him as assistants. Four of our friends (Moms to Colby's friends) tricked me into going to the Cub Scout meeting last night. They threw us a surprise baby shower. Little cupcakes and cookies and juice for the boys and presents for Maddie. I was so surprised I was crying. Mike was shocked. We've never had friends care so much for us. We received some great gifts including a hand-sewn bunny, my favorite color green, a cute dress, photo album, tea set, and so much more. LOVE true friends and we really have found some. 

So, 10 days to get packed for 4, tickets booked, work organized, and a house organized. Not sure how I will do it but we are headed out!!!

Maddie Here We Come!!!!

Watch out China, Colby's coming to town!!!

School, A Care Package, and We're Almost There......

Well, we have certainly been busy. The school year has begun and we are slowly getting back into the routine. Colby is now in Second grade! Amazing! I am still at the same school this year and it is as crazy as ever. We have begun a new assessment system so I was back early for training on our new iPads. Then I had to give the professional development. Change certainly is tricky but I think this new system will be much more helpful than the old DRA reading assessment we gave previously.

Anyway, as for our little peanut. She still waits for us in Beijing. I did order her a care package through Ann at Red Thread. It was easier to order a few things through her than send them through customs. I was able to order a stuffed panda bear, some cookies, a thumb drive so the orphanage can give us a few photos of her, and a little photo album. Hopefully she will get them soon and she can see who her mama, baba (daddy) and big brother are.

As for paperwork, all of our paperwork is at the US Embassy in China. It is waiting for an Article 5 which really gives us permission to take custody of her. The I800 that we got at the end of August gave her permission to enter the US as a legal immigrant now the Art5 lets us take custody of her. It is the last piece of paper we need to get our travel approval. All the paperwork was dropped off on Tues 9/2. It takes 10 business days to get an Art5, not counting holidays. There was a Chinese holiday on the 8th so we won't have our Art5 until this Thurs 9/18. We are praying for a quick travel approval before the Chinese government shuts down for the first week in October for another holiday. We should have it before then but it will be close. Hopefully we will get it and we can then ask for the first available Consulate Appointment (CA). Just a few more steps and we will be in Beijing holding our little peanut. We are so close but yet still waiting. It is getting harder and harder, especially knowing we can't hurry anything along and that a holiday is what is keeping us from her.

So, please continue to pray that we get our Travel Approval quickly and we get a CA in October. I don't think I can wait much longer to hold sweet Madeline Mae!

Getting Closer

We finally got it! We received our I800 approval!!! It came on Monday 8/25. I can't believe we finally moved a step closer to getting to China and to our Little Peanut!

So now what? Well, after our I800 was approved it was sent to another USCIS office to be given a GUZ number (I guess like an official government case number). I had to wait for that and it can often take about 5 working days to get. I was able to get mine on Thursday 8/28 in the afternoon. I needed that number and an invoice number to access the online Immigrant Visa application form. So, I was able to do that this morning. It is done! That was my final piece of paperwork on this side to bring our daughter here!!! I'm waiting on the official I800 approval paperwork but that's in the mail and we should have it tomorrow or Tues (another holiday on Monday, ugh!). I also need the emailed PDF form for our DS260 but that should come soon too. I will then forward that to the agency and they send it all to China and we just wait for paperwork to be dropped at the consulate in China, hoping for Thurs 9/4. Then pickup should be in 2 weeks. We'll be given a consulate appointment and travel approval. We are SO CLOSE!!! Timeframe?? Maybe 5-6 weeks. It is hard to say because of the week long holiday in China the first week of October. Still praying to travel for Mike's birthday 10/11.

But I think all the warm thoughts and prayers are helping. We moved through the GUZ number and DS260 process so quickly. Thank you all!!!

And any guesses on a name??? Need a hint????

M_________ M____ Pronovost

Another Hold Up

I must start by saying that it has been a crazy week or so around here. Finding out that our I800 paperwork was misplaced was devastating. Thankfully I am such a control freak and found the error. Our agency worked quickly to recopy the paperwork, making sure a copy of our signed application was ok, and sent it all overnight. USCIS has had it since 8/13. The agency also has worked with USCIS to get our paperwork through the"lockbox" quickly and it was already on an officer's desk by this Monday 8/18. It can take up to 2 weeks to get through to an officer. So.... great news right!!!

Well...... our paperwork was given to one officer who was away for the week. Ugh! Then it was sent to another officer right away. At first I was a little upset because that officer doesn't answer her phone. But I was able to get her email and she responded right away. She told me on Monday that she would try to get it done on Tuesday. She looked at it Tuesday and.... issued an RFE, or request for evidence. She sent me an email saying she requested the evidence but not what it was. I tried to get her back but she had already left for the day. This morning she replied very early to tell me the evidence is a letter from our agency that hadn't been signed. Ugh! Another mix up. However, she emailed the agency and they are sending the new letter to her today, overnight. Great! However, the system is being shut down for an update on Friday and she probably won't be able to work on our approval until Monday. Monday will be 4 weeks since our LOA, approval from China.

4 WEEKS!!! Others with our LOA date have their I800 approval and are well on their way through the next couple steps. They are lined up for October travel. Us? Please pray it will be October. Hopefully these 2 setbacks will be it and we can move this along. We still have a bit of a wait after this approval as we wait for our little one's Visa to be issued and a Chinese Consulate appointment to be issued. That is my worry, that the appointments will all be given and we'll have to wait for a later one. I'm still praying to travel around Mike's birthday (10/11) but it will probably be later. Just pray it isn't in November. I just can't wait any longer. Our sweet pea needs to get home. Oh, and we just might have a name for her.......

Paperwork Blunder... Not on My Part

Well, yesterday certainly was a mixed bag of emotions. I was so excited to receive the update and 2 new photos of Little Miss and then....ugh!

I am so grateful to be a part of many Facebook groups of parents adopting from China. There is a group of us who all logged in our paperwork in China in May. Having such wonderful people around who are going through the same experience has been a huge help. I have also been able to "stalk" their timelines to see how we are progressing through our paperwork. Well, through that stalking I KNEW our I800 paperwork should have been received and ready for approval early this week. I called Immigration Friday and again yesterday to see if it was received and they couldn't find it. The officer tried to locate it but it wasn't even in the system. So I called the agency. Long story short, somehow our paperwork was sent to China instead of to Immigration. 2 weeks have passed. 2 long weeks in which we should have received our approval. The agency has been great about trying to get the paperwork resubmitted, and they sent it last night. It is now at the "lockbox" waiting to be dealt with. Our officer has been notified and the file has been "tagged". Hopefully they will bump it ahead in the pile. But, 2 weeks are gone and now I don't know when we will travel. So, please pray that this doesn't set us off too bad. With the week long holiday the first week in China I can only pray we will travel mid-October.

Just goes to prove my point about why I am such a control freak. If I hadn't caught this, we'd still be waiting. UGH!!!

So, the adoption rollercoaster continues. Trying to "roll with it" but not feeling happy today.