It's here!

Yay!

We received our I800A approval in the mail (which is actually called the I797) last Monday, the 24th.  This is permission from the US to adopt a child.  I was so excited....until I realized that our address was wrong.  Boo.   Everything of course has to be precisely right, so that meant a phone call to the US Immigration Services to tell them we needed our approval reissued.  Fortunately, we were able to send them an overnight FedEx label by email and our officer put it in the mail the next day.  We had it in our hands on Wednesday and quickly sent to Harrisburg and got it back Friday certified!  Yay!  We made copies and sent it right back in the mail to our courier who will take it into the New York Chinese Consulate on Monday for authentication.  The approval notice will then get directly sent to our agency who has all of our our other documents that will make up our dossier.  Our agency sends dossiers to China on Fridays, so we will be DTC (Dossier to China) very soon!  One more step crossed off!  Whoohoo!

And then there were six.....

Yes, you read that right!  Our family of five is becoming a family of six! 

We are heading back to China this fall or winter, God willing! Our new daughter will be Emily's big sister (she is 2 years older than Emily) and is from a province a little further north from where Emily was from. We are unable to post her picture or give details yet because we are still awaiting our official approval, but we can tell you she is adorable! We even have video this time and can't wait to share it with you.

We have our homestudy complete and have all of our paperwork notarized, certified at the State Department, and authenticated at the Chinese consulate in New York.  We just received our I800A approval verbally on 3/19 and are awaiting our notice of approval in the mail.  The I800A is our approval from the US Immigration Services to adopt a child.  We will need to send that piece of paper to our State Dept. and then to the Chinese Consulate as well.  It will then go directly to our agency and combine with the rest of our documents which make up our life history otherwise known as our dossier!  We had to again compile all of our financial info, gather police clearances, physical reports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and essentially start from scratch.  We get asked if the process is easier this time....well, nope!  But it's all worth it, and it did feel easier this time, although no less time consuming!  We are so excited and Emily can't wait for her big sister to join our family. 

It's been quite awhile since we have updated our blog.  Life is just busy!  Emily is such a joy.  She has such a sweet spirit and we are truly blessed to be her family. 

 

Emily loves her Daddy!!!

  

Emily loves her family to be together and doesn't like it when one of her brothers is away for too long! 

 

 

She had a wonderful Christmas and Chinese New year....

We attended a Chinese New Year party with other adoptive families and got to see some online friends that we had "met" throughout our paperwork process to get Emily.  What a great time!  Emily loved the dragon parade and was excited when it was her turn to be the leader. The night ended with a beautiful firework display. 

 

We had a wonderful time in Florida with my parents and grandfather, "Poppy."  We are so grateful for the time spent with our family.  The weather was beautiful and Emily loved her "vacation house!" and going to Disney World.

Emily's first trip to Disney World....

 

Our princess had fun meeting all the REAL princesses!   I think the boys had fun too......

 

This is what a very fun day at Disney World looks like...

 

 

So, keep watching for updates.  We are hoping within 2-3 weeks to have all of our documents to China and to soon be officially matched.  We will be shouting from the rooftops the day that occurs!  Thanks for following along!