Today our little girl half a world away turned 3 years old!! It's hard to believe we are adopting again but even harder to accept that we were not with her today. It was her last birthday as an orphan! We took the girls to TCBY and got yogurt as a mini-birthday celebration for AnaLei and sang Happy Birthday :). We pray we are only a month away from meeting our little angel. That is hard to believe considering our first homestudy was December 16th. For those that are not in adoption land - it usually take 9-12 months to successfully complete an adoption - Olivia's took 7 months as we knew she needed to come home. This adoption process has just been God filled! 3 months is like ridiculous - in the BEST way!
Our I-800 has been held up a bit b/c it hasn't reached our officer's desk yet. Its a little frustrating b/c we sent it early to avoid the wait but we are still waiting. We just got our LSC SUPER early so it didn't give our i800 time to get to where it had to go. It's a good problem sort of. Usually it's the opposite - you are waiting on the LSC. The good news is that we are on the US side of things during the CNY that has officially started. So, we should receive our 800 approval this week and then it moves directly to the NVC (the National Visa Center) where that can take 5-7 days and then everything goes to Guangzhou, China to get our article 5. Once that is picked up - it goes to Beijing where our Travel Approval is issued and we pray that comes the first week of March so we can leave March 12th and have a Gotcha day of March 15th - hopefully a Consulate Appointment at the US embassy March 24th and fly to Boston for an echo/ekg/MRI/heart cath - all starting March 26th. Whew! Well, that is what I've come up with so let's see what God says and what he has in store.
We do know that Children's of Boston is prepared to work with us. :) That is a huge answered prayer. We should get a phone call this week confirming we can have the MRI/heart cath during the same trip as our apt with the cardiologist and echo/ekg. That way - they can fully determine if she is operable and if so - what operation needs to take place. She will most likely need more than 1. We just pray she is operable. So, as bad as heart surgery is - we pray we get to do it!
Also, sorry for not updating on our fundraising efforts but Lifesong's reporting system has been down. I did get confirmation that we did meet our matching grant by AnaLei's birthday! Thank you so very much!!!! People have asked if we are done - we are sadly not! There are still many expense to pay so every donation still counts! So, if you feel called to give - you still can and it will still go 100% towards the adoption. They have us send receipts of only adoption related expenses and they are very thorough to go through each one. We are thankful for you giving and thankful you have decided to join us on this journey -whether it be financial giving, prayer, encouragement, or all 3!
God has been oh so good! I wish I could post everything here what God has done but i'd be typing for days :).
CANT BELIEVE I WILL BE HOLDING MY GIRL IN JUST OVER A MONTH!!!! Its surreal! Please pray that God is preparing her sweet heart to meet us and love us - and also for surgery :).
I"m already packing and want to be ready to go when we get the call. Please also pray for Danny and the girls as this will be a VERY hard separation. Olivia and I are like peas in a pod! We do not separate well and this is going to be VERY difficult on her. Elle is a little to small to understand so I think she will do fine but it's Olivia that I worry about. I also worry about me being away from those 3 :(. Last time in China - Danny was my rock and I was just sort of there :). I lost my mind for a few days wondering what had just happened to us. LOL! It's funny to look back on, but trust me - it was not funny then!
Much Love! I will update when we get our I-800 approval. We sent AnaLei a birthday package - we've asked for maybe a video of her opening it or a picture and will post if they send anything. We hope they do! Its medicine for our weary souls longing for our girl.
Julie
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