Nearing the Finish Line....

The adoption is still moving along. At times it seems that things happen fast, which creates alot of excitement, then we come up against an obstacle and things slow down to a crawl. That cycle seems to be repeated over and over again throughout this adoption.

In my last post, you will recall that we received our LOA (Letter of Approval) from China and had to file more paperwork in order to proceed eventually to Travel. We filed the I-800 with USCIS (Immigration) on 10/5/09. This form is our petition to classify Madelyn as an immediate relative upon arrival into the United States. The approval process is a bit quicker that its counterpart I-800A which we had to file very early on. After 18 days from the date USCIS received the I-800 we received approval!!!! It came via email notification on 10/22/09 from the Case Worker at USCIS that has been very helpful.

Now there remains only 2 hurdles to overcome before we can travel - Travel Approval and Travel Dates. Our I-800 approval will now be sent to China, along with our signed LOA and within a few weeks we expect our Travel Approval. We are still unsure of when we will actually travel but are holding out hope that it will be before the Christmas holidays.

It would be so difficult for our family to celebrate Christmas without her. I know that we will most likely not have her for Thanksgiving and have resigned myself to that fact. The hardest was not having her for her birthday. She turned 2 last Sunday - October 18th. We recognized her birthday last Sunday and were surrounded by family and friends, however we are withholding the big celebration until she gets home.

I am calling on all of you to continue to pray for the efficiency and speed in the Chinese Government Officials that will be reviewing our documents and granting us an approval to Travel. Please also remember to pray for Madelyn as she prepares for this huge transition into our family. This is the biggest part of my prayer list. Getting to her fast is of utmost importance to US, but when I step back and think about someone besides myself - I have to think about her and how she will feel, what she will think and her how little world will be turned upside down. Even though I know that our family will love her and give her the best life we can, my heart and mind cannot dismiss the loss that Madelyn will feel. Please say a special prayer that God continues to prepare her.

On a lighter note, the homefront preparations continue. A couple of weekends ago we made a special trip to Lafayette to shop for Madelyn. Our close friends, the Clavelle's arranged a major baby shopping trip for Lizzy and I. We purchased clothes, bibs, socks, a car seat, stroller and many other important items. I can't name all of the items and we had to guess on sizes, but I can tell you it was a successful shopping trip. We have a few more last minute items to purchase before our trip but the bulk of it has been purchased.

I will keep you posted in the coming weeks as to our progress. Thanks to everyone for your support and continued prayers.