LOA & I800

We received our hard copy of LOA on Tuesday, we signed, dated and sent it back to our agency and yesterday they sent our I800 paperwork to USCIS, this approval takes about 3 weeks maybe less but if it is less it won't matter because our agency will be closed from Christmas- January 4th.  I got really excited when I read one sentence in an email from our case worker, here is part of it  "As we enter the last two steps of the process, I want to make sure………….."  I can hardly believe we finally made it this far!

Time frame for travel:
1800 approval- 3 weeks
Article 5 approval- 2-3 weeks
Travel Approval- 3 days- 2 weeks (recently on the shorter end)
Another 2-3 weeks til we get on a plane

Somewhere between 8- 11 weeks we will be meeting our son! Not sure yet how Chinese New Year will effect our travel but we may be delayed a week for that.

The picture above is the very first picture I saw of Gong Xin, before his adoption paperwork was prepared and before I knew he was our son. This was when he first arrived at Bethel from his orphanage, he was 18 months old.

Below is a link to the second video we received. Make sure your volume is turned on so you can hear the adorable giggles.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cj617eteurnko7f/Gordon%204-9-15.flv?dl=0

                     

Introducing…..

As you all know, we received our LOA this week. This is our approval from China to adopt our little guy.  I cried when I saw that email. Thankfully our adoption process has gone smoothly so far without any major delays. Let's hope it stays that way.

 Introducing…Our little guy…Gabriel Gong Xin Sloan! This is one of the first pictures we saw when we were reviewing his file. He's grown so much since then! At the bottom of this post is the first video we received.

I'm going to try to contain my excitement and not show you guys all the pictures and videos we have at once and space them out over the time we have left until travel ;)

Click on the link below to see the first video we saw of Gong Xin.  Gordon (the name on the video) was his advocacy name. This was from early in 2015.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dovoryft5s8he9c/Gordon%20video.mp4?dl=0

Thanks for reading and please continue to pray for us as we finish the last steps of the process.

Waiting…..

We're celebrating Abby's birthday today and she really was hoping we would get our LOA on her birthday but we didn't.  Trusting in God's perfect timing and trying to be patient, but waiting for your child is hard! Abby is so excited about this adoption, the boys don't say too much about it but Abby reads the blog every week and actually knows what step we are on and what we're waiting for or working on. She loves going through Gabe's clothes and putting together outfits. She's adorable! Anyway, she's the reason i'm writing this blog post right now because she keeps checking the blog and asking why I haven't done it yet. It's been 11 days!! I really do try to do a weekly blog post but sometimes, like right now, there just isn't an adoption update. We're just waiting….

We are getting ready to send Gabriel a Christmas package. It's bittersweet because we wish he was here to celebrate with us this year, but we're excited to send him a gift. We're filling a stocking with goodies and this time we will be adding some extra goodies for the nannies that take such good care of our little guy. Hopefully we will get some pictures of him with his gifts.

Check out the details below for our Christmas fundraiser coming up soon. We would love to see you there. It will be lots of fun! Ugly Christmas sweater contest and all! Kids are welcome.

You Caring link

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

Gathering things for a toddler

It's been a while since we've had a toddler in the house and I've been slowly gathering things for him while we wait. Gabriel will be just turning 3 when we travel so I'm hoping all the 3T size clothes I've been buying will fit him. The 2T clothes we sent him during the summer fit him just fine so I think we should be good. Im really hoping to get updated measurements soon, especially foot size because I have no clue what size shoes to buy. Little guy also has a few toys, books, sippy cups, snack cups, a backpack, and bedding.  I thought I'd never find toddler bedding I liked and then I finally found this set….now he just needs a bed.  Mike is planning on making one himself, he's quite handy!

We will be sharing our room with Gabriel for a while, his bed will be right next to ours and he may even sleep in our bed if he needs to.  We'll do whatever it takes to make him feel safe and secure.

Nothing new to report in the adoption process, still waiting for LOA. We are on day 16 and are hoping it will come in couple more weeks.

*Our next fundraiser will be a Dinner and silent auction on  Saturday, December 19th @ 6:30 pm. It will be at The Anchor Fellowship- 629 3rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37210
Free Admission! Free Dinner! There will be music, comedy, baked goods, an ugly Christmas sweater contest and more! Everyone is welcome.

*We still need items for the silent auction. Let us know if you'd like to donate something.

As always, thank you for following our journey. Prayers are appreciated!

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

LID!!!

Logged In Dossier! Last Thursday we got the email, our dossier is officially logged in. This step usually takes 5-7 business days after DTC but ours took 16 days! All the waiting is a bummer. Now we are waiting for LOA-letter of acceptance. This can take two months or more but currently they are being issued a lot quicker. I've seen some that were less than a month! We are hoping and praying ours comes quickly too. We need to go get our baby!  Also, we will be able to share his photos and videos when we get that official approval.

We're still working on the paperwork needed now that Jake is 18. Luckily this step won't cause any delays, it's just something that has to be done.

*We are in need of donations for our silent auction*

Thank you for all the love and support.

You Caring fundraising page

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337 

Calling All Prayer Warriors!

I try to keep this blog light, I try not to get too personal or emotional, Mostly because I'm a private person (Mike too). The fact that I have a blog at all is surprising and out of my comfort zone, outside of my bubble where everything happening in life is contained. Everything looks great from outside the bubble and I don't like to let anyone in. Today i'm stepping out of my bubble to ask for prayer.  Matthew 18:20 says: "for where two or three gather in My name, there I am with them."  This entire year, especially since we started the adoption process, has been rough. Really rough! I am fully aware that there is a battle going on here, a battle for the life of our future son. Let me be clear though, there is NOTHING that will keep us from bringing Gabriel home. I know that God is fighting for us in this battle but it is really hard to not feel defeated when nothing seems to be going our way. Stress is taking a toll on us and we covet your prayers. We WILL press on, we have to. Please join us in praying for things to start looking up, for us to see a glimmer of hope in this difficult season we are walking through.

Jake turned 18 last week! (Happy Birthday!) Now that he is an adult we have some extra stuff to do for the adoption. He will need to be fingerprinted twice, meet with our social worker to answer some questions in person, and we have to file extra paperwork. Its costing an extra $535. It's an expense we were not expecting.

Lastly, I want to mention that November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I realize not everyone is called to adopt but we are all called care for orphans. There are many ways do do this, including sponsorship, advocating, supporting a family, and praying. I sponsor a little boy and it is truly a blessing. The monthly donation helps take care of his everyday needs and I receive photos and updates regularly. A few months ago I donated an extra $50 to my sponsor child and his class for "something special" and they were able to take a field trip to a supermarket, go to McDonalds, get ice cream, and do a painting project! How awesome is that?  If you're interested in sponsorship I can give you some info on foster homes that need sponsors.

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month I would like to try a small fundraiser that could potentially turn into something big! The power of a dollar.  Everyone can probably afford to donate one dollar, so Im requesting for everyone that reads this blog to donate one dollar to our You Caring Fundraising page (link below) and share the post. Let's see how much money we can raise in the month of November with one dollar donations!

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

Acronyms!

Yesterday our dossier arrived in Beijing! We are now waiting on LID- which means (logged in dossier). Often when people are starting an adoption they refer to as being "paper pregnant", because there is so much paperwork to do before you get to your baby! The paper work is referred to as "the paper chase".
There are many acronyms that go along with China adoption and it can be very confusing. Mike doesn't even know what i'm talking about a lot of the time.
As promised, here is a list:

CCCWA- Chinese Center for Children's Welfare Services
SWI or CWI- Social welfare Institute or Children's Welfare Institute = orphanage
USCIS- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Homeland Security)
LOI- letter of intent. Letter to China asking to adopt a specific child
PA- pre-approval- child has been put on hold for you
HS- home study
DTC- dossier to China
LID- logged in dossier-CCCWA received your dossier and issues a Log In Date.
LOA- letter of action LSC- letter seeking confirmation- you are officially approved and matched with your child.
I800A- application to Homeland Security asking to be approved to adopt a non-specific child
I800- application to Homeland Security asking to adopt a specific child (I am currently working on this)
NVC- National Visa Center
Article 5- Lets the CCCWA know that you are approved by the US Government to adopt that specific child.
TA- travel approval
CA- Consulate appointment- you will ask for your Chils'd US Visa and swear an oath.

These are some of the acronyms that I may have used before on the blog or will be using in the near future.

I hope this helps you all understand the process a little better.  Hopefully the next blog post will say LID!!!

We are still looking for donations for our silent auction/dinner fundraiser.  If you think you might be able to help with this please let us know.
https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337