Crawling Along

We're still waiting on the paper receipt of the I-800 approval but in the meantime I have emailed the National Visa Center two times (already) this week to request our GUZ#.  Its confusing but basically we are trying to obtain the number that is generated when our file has been cabled from the NVC to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China.  (That is the approval of our visa petition)  So far it hasn't arrived yet.  Veteran's Day has slowed us down.

I'll be honest I am feeling frustrated.  I am trying to be patient.  But this step can mean the difference between traveling in January or having to wait until after Chinese New Year (not leaving until February).  And although I LOVE checking in with other adoptive parents in this same stage of the process, I don't love the feeling that we are "racing".  The only race Luke and I are in is the race to get to Noah and bring him home with us.

Please pray that we meet Noah for the first time when God sees fit and not in our own selfish timing.

Peekabo

Look at this precious face!  What a great surprise to get a new picture of Noah tonight.

I-800 Approval!

I called to check on the status of our I-800 application and was able to speak with the immigration officer assigned to our case.  She approved our application this morning and the misspelling was corrected!
Unfortunately, the paper receipt will probably not go out in the mail today she told me.  Regardless-this is great news.  Everything else between now and getting on an airplane headed to China is in country clearances.

JSC Foundation Grant

We were notified this afternoon that we have been chosen to receive a grant from the JSC Foundation.  What a huge blessing!  They are a private organization that provides for Christian families that are stepping out in faith and adopting.  We will not be disclosing the amount out of respect for the organization.

After two small bumps in the road this is truly so encouraging.  If you are interested in learning more about the JSC Foundation and the amazing things their adoption ministry does check out http://www.jscfoundation.org/

Another Bump?

On Monday we received the paper receipt for our I-800 application and there was another mistake-this time a typo.  I panicked (of course), called the adoption agency and wanted to cry out "not again!".  

You see, we haven't even caught up from the last mistake.  This time it was USCIS.  Someone misspelled Noah's Chinese name but not on the actual application just on the receipt.  Hopefully this is not a big deal.  In an adoption everything must match up-names, dates and files.  It seems this won't affect the actual I-800 and the immigration officer that will eventually approve our application will correct the misspelling.  Please pray with us that there are no more mistakes that could make Noah wait for us any longer!

A Picture and Two Blessings

We are so grateful for the new picture of Noah (and especially that he is being held and making eye contact).  We have also been blessed in the past few days with two generous donations towards his adoption expenses.  Thank you really isn't even close to enough.  It feels very encouraging to have friends and family that are living out the gospel.

1 Timothy 6:18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

I-800 text

On Thursday night (Halloween) we got a text from USCIS that our case was received and that we have a new receipt number.  This means our I-800 application was received at the Texas lockbox.  I emailed our immigration officer late Sunday night and was surprised she replied first thing Monday morning; our application has not made its way from the lockbox to the building-yet.  I really think once the I-800 gets to her she will approve it quickly and hopefully we will get right back on track to our original adoption timeline for Noah and can say with confidence that we will travel to China in January.

An I-800 is the first step towards finalizing the immigration process if you are adopting a child that lives within a Hague country and you have already been approved for adoption with a valid form I-800A.  The next (and final) two steps occur in China.  If you're confused, don't worry I am too.  I try to read ahead and research what comes next but it's a little fuzzy...