On Monday, December 5, we said YES to our sweet girl's file. We had to sign a Letter of Intent and provide China with a Care Plan (thank goodness for Lifeline's template!) that would be sent to them in order for them to approve us to adopt. I printed everything and brought it home for Zeke to sign, and we sent it to Lifeline first thing Tuesday morning. We were told to expect pre-approval, or PA, within a few days. On Wednesday, right after telling my sweet kiddos at school that things had kind of settled down and so I would NOT be jumping to answer the phone anymore, my phone rang with that sweet Lifeline number showing! I answered and, to my surprise, we had received pre-approval OVERNIGHT! The key part of receiving PA was that we could share our sweet girl with everyone, so you know what that meant: FACEBOOK POST! It was so much fun to finally be able to post her picture and share our excitement.
Our next step was to wait for our Letter of Approval, or LOA. It was tied to our PA, so no additional paperwork was needed at this point. We were told it should be a couple of weeks before we received that and 4-5 months before we could travel to get her, so we settled in to wait again. However, on Thursday, December 8, one day after receiving PA, that sweet Lifeline number popped up on my phone again! I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and started writing what our social worker said. The first words were, "Well, I'm calling about Sophie--we kind of have a cool situation." My notes actually say "Sophie--cool situation." Haha. At this point, I'm wondering what in the world God is up to this time. She then said that China really likes to fix their own heart issues. I'm pretty sure that's when my heart stopped. I was thinking how in the world could we travel to China for her surgery and how long would it take for her to recover and will we have to go back to adopt her or could that be considered our adoption trip and are Chinese doctors good at fixing hearts and blah blah blah blah blah. So, typically the type of surgery that she needs should be done within the first year of life, but because of how sick she had been early on, she had not yet had surgery. Since she had just turned one and by all accounts was doing well and still getting stronger, the orphanage wanted to begin making plans for her surgery. But then they found out that she had a family coming for her. That's us! She said that China is very respectful of the family and wanted to make sure that we had the chance to make those kinds of decisions for her and be with her when she did have surgery. So...they offered to EXPEDITE her paperwork so that we could travel sooner and bring her home for surgery here! I'm pretty sure that was when my heart stopped again! Of course my first question was about a specific timeline, and she said that all she could tell us was that it would be "shorter." Yikes! My emotions were all over the place. Of course I was super excited to go get my baby, because obviously the sooner the better, but again, planner girl was trying to press the reset button! All of my plans--for travel, work, childcare, funding--and expectations of how I *thought* this might happen were going down the drain...quickly...in the best way. Again--TRUST.
In order to expedite her paperwork, we had lots of paperwork to do in a short amount of time. China was actually the country who offered to expedite, but the United States had to agree, so we needed a letter from the doctors at UAB to confirm that it was medically necessary to move things along faster. Their letter made me cry--it is scary to hear her condition detailed, but awesome to hear that a team of amazing doctors is "on standby waiting for her arrival." Once we received that, we could submit her immigration paperwork although we didn't yet have the LOA--the medical letter would take its place until it arrived. Our I800 was mailed on Tuesday, December 13. We received our LOA on Friday, December 16--the coolest Chinese document that we have received (even with the extra "signature" Camp added to it when he was looking for drawing paper!)--and it was sent to USCIS to meet our I800 application.
The typical timeframe for the I800 paperwork is 4 weeks, and we were so hoping that USCIS would grant the expedite and it would be faster! However, the holidays have impacted us and we are still waiting for this approval. Just this week we got a receipt in the mail that shows it was received on December 14, and I'm stalking my mail lady every day for another envelope from them! There are still two more big steps before we can travel--Article 5, which typically takes 2-3 weeks but can be expedited, and Travel Approval, which usually takes 1-2 weeks but can be expedited.
The next big hiccup in our process is Chinese New Year. This year, Chinese New Year is January 28. Everything in China (government offices, etc.) will close for a week during this time, so the last "Gotcha Day" in January will be January 16. We were really hoping for this day, but without our I800 approval, we will probably be looking at traveling at the beginning of February instead. While any delay is hard, if there is one thing that we have learned during this process, it is that God is in control and He is more concerned about the details than I could ever be. He has a reason and a purpose in allowing things to happen in this timeframe. I may not see it now, but I can trust Him--even when it is hard not to jump on the next plane bound for China and just make my own way!
We are trying to use our time wisely--to love on our babies that we have here, to get our house ready, and to do fundraisers which not only help us financially but help make us feel like we are doing something. But I will say it's kind of like the end of a pregnancy, when people tell you to enjoy that last little bit of sleeping/eating/sitting/etc because soon things will be different. Yes, we know that we should be doing all of that right now and not wishing this time to pass faster, but part of our heart is in China and we can't rest well until she is here. So we continue to pray for the hands that touch our paperwork and our mail and our endless USPS overnight envelopes--that they will feel urgency and be blessed in their work as they process our documents EXTRA FAST. Because there's an empty spot in our hearts and in our house and in our arms, and the only thing that can fill it now is THIS sweet face:
We are so crazy grateful for your prayers and your support. We couldn't do this without all of you, and we can't wait to share her with you and for her to feel how very much she is already loved.
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