This is what an LOA looks like! This tiny red seal is what the entire adoption hinges. We have it after only 59 days! We were not at the top of the waiting list for LOA's with our agency or in the adoption world in general. It sure is bitter-sweet. I have friends that have been waiting longer and are still waiting. However, they are so sweet and assured me that I was not to let them steal our joy. My heart still hurts for them though. It seems as though there is little fairness in adoptions, foreign or domestic.
Thankfully, Mariah's Chinese name and orphanage were spelled correctly. Our names were listed and spelled correctly as well. Now we can send this bit of paperwork on to US immigration and wait for our TA--Travel Approval now. We are told to expect to travel 10-12 weeks from now. My heart's desire is to travel and be back in the U.S. for Rebecca's tenth birthday on June 28th. So, please pray this for us. It is not impossible, but it is also not likely. She would love this as a birthday present as well.
The phone call for our LOA came last Wednesday and Lifeline overnighted our LOA to us for Thursday. We were and are on cloud nine! As I was getting ready to back out of the garage to take Kyle to Morgantown for his ENT appointment, the FedEx truck pulled up! I jumped out of the van and ran up to the truck. I think I scared the poor woman! Stalking is something we do in the adoption journey. We stalk our mail carriers, our UPS delivery drivers and FedEx drivers. I have stalked timelines for other adoptive families, Facebook groups for adoption and anything else adoption related.
The weekend was beautiful! We had gorgeous weather and company for Easter. We had friends over for our Easter dinner on Friday evening and Jeremy's brother also made the 4 hour drive to WV to spend the weekend spoiling our family. The only thing missing was Mariah!
I got to work. Up until 3 am Friday/Saturday, we were filling out our I800 application for U.S. immigration. Our goal was to send that out Saturday. Well.....that didn't happen. Of all things, we could not find the address of Mariah's orphanage! We actually found three addresses and had no idea which was correct. We cannot risk send paperwork that is incorrect, so we had to wait to get clarification. Only to find out that we can leave that blank! We had to print a copy of Mariah's medical report (14 pages) and each had to sign every page. We had to copy the picture pages of our passports, send a signed copy of our original Letter of Intent (letter we wrote asking permission to seek adoption of Mariah back in December), and the DS 230 form for Mariah's visa/alien registration in the U.S. We also had another immigration form I864W that was a fairly simple one page paper. These all got put together to be sent to Lifeline by FedEx overnight.....today. Tomorrow LL should get that sent to USCIS!
At the same time we are working on our Chinese visas. Those are not too difficult. They do consist of 4 pages for each application. We are using a courier in Chicago to do that for us. The U.S. Consulates require the visa applications to be hand carried.
The picture to the right is a picture of what our school days are like. Rebecca decided this particular day (Wednesday) was a good day to be a pirate! She spent almost the entire day dressed like this. I honestly think it is adorable. One day she will lose that innocence. I'll soak it all up while it is here.
We are always up for a little excitement here! It is not always easy walking this road that the Lord has put us on. He calls us to be faithful. We have miserably failed so many times. We continue to be blessed as we watch the Lord work. We are starting to get a grip on how our adoption has affected others. Yesterday at church I was talking to a sweet friend and she began to cry as I was sharing a little about Mariah. The same thing happened last week with a different friend. I had no idea how her life would affect the emotions of so many outside of our own family. This is a child we have never met. A child that is not just a little girl in China. She is our daughter! I could cry at the drop of a hat, but to see others do the same means so much to us. I am beginning to understand how deeply we are all loved. I don't mean my family, I mean everyone.
I have been touched this past weekend also by a sweet friend, Karen. She and her husband are adopting a little girl who is about 9 days younger than Mariah and they are sitting beside each other in the pictures of Mariah's cake. Karen and her husband have waited many years to have children and they are so close. She is waiting for her LOA any day! I pray that we can travel together. Karen has never met me but she is so sweet in our emails and asking about our children. We consider our girls sisters! God has been good!!
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he it is that does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6
YAY!!!!!! :)
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