I800 Approval here!

Our written copy of the I800 Provisional Approval is here!  Best guess is for our travel approval to be issued in five to six weeks!

Moving forward!

At last we heard from our USCIS agent that our I800 was approved!   Our fingerprints were due to expire in February, and the way our renewal was approached cost us time. But it is what it is, and we are happy to be moving forward again now.

This picture shows how I have spent the last few days.  These six stacks are the applications for our Visas to get in to China.  I've done these forms before, and yes the forms themselves seemed easier this time.  But getting Chinese Visas for FORMER citizens of China involves a LOT of paper work!  It weighed in at just over two pounds when I dropped it all off at Fed Ex today.

While the Chinese embassy works on our Visa paperwork, our adoption paperwork is moving on to the National Visa Center where the papers for Pat's citizenship are entering their final phase on this side of the world.  Travel approval should come in a matter of weeks now.

I don't work well under pressure, so I've begun to sort out what we have and making a list of what we still need for our trip.  This is all starting to feel a lot more REAL now!

It isn't 100%, but we are proceeding as if the kids will be able to go.  There are still many details that need to fall into place in order for this to happen.  We'd appreciate your prayers as we plan for this huge trip with our little crowd! 

Thank you, Jake!

This guy... he has worked cheerfully and tirelessly to get the Cincinnati Dragon team going and we will always be grateful for it. But.... even more. Ethan and Isaac were the first to arrive at practice this week. When Jake drove up Isaac's eyes got really BIG and he asked, "He can DRIVE?" Yes, my dear boy. The chair does not limit you as much as you've been led to believe. Thanks for being an inspiration on the court and off, Jake!

We have another grant!  I was really excited today to receive a letter from Show Hope saying that they have awarded us an adoption assistance grant.  It is so exciting to see these pieces of the financial puzzle come into place as we near the final steps.  We are very thankful!

Happy News!

The first step in making it even a possibility for our kids to go with us to bring Pat home, happened today.  We have a full set!

Grant Opportunity!

We got this news a couple of days ago:

 " Congratulations on being chosen as a 5/5/5 family for the month of January!  We are excited to be working with you and for you!!!  Donations will be collected from January 6th through February 5th.  All the money will be collected by Reece's Rainbow, and will be tax-deductible.  On February 5th, the money will be divided equally and distributed into the 5 FSP's. This grant opportunity is a little different than a typical grant, in that we won't know the total each family is going to get until the end of the month. "

This is something fairly new that Reece's Rainbow is doing - featuring five families each month who are close to travel.  Even more exciting for me is that one of the boys (Lance) that I advocated for on my blog HERE  and  HERE has a family and they are also one one of the five families who will receive a portion of this grant!

You may meet this month's five families on the RR 5/5/5 blog HERE  or read more about the grant  HERE   Just a little from many goes a long way!  If you'd like to contribute to the grant that will be divided between the the five families you may do so on the links above or in the 5/5/5 box in the right hand border of this page.  Thank you for your care for the orphans and for helping their families to get them home.

Meatballs and Confusion

I've been holed up in my room for a few days due to a knee injury. Ethan has been keeping the house running (sort of.) I have been able to help with overseeing baths and bedtime since that happens upstairs where I am. Ethan is a wonderful guy with many great qualities, but being a housewife isn't his strength.

Yesterday I advised him to put a bag of frozen meatballs in the crockpot and dump in a couple of jars of spaghetti sauce. Add in some buns and that would give him an easy supper of meatball subs. Well at bedtime Abigial (who doesn't have a lot of verbal skills) was going on and on in sign language "telling" on Baba for something. I finally figured out the fingers looping through the air was the sign for spaghetti, and she was tattling that he gave them meatballs and NO spaghetti! ROFL!

Apparently we've never given her a meatball sub, like ever, and she thought he messed it up pretty big time. I fessed up that *I* was the one responsible for the "odd" dinner. Kids.

Valentines and Chinese New Year gifts at our auction!

We are hosting an auction on Facebook to help with our family's traveling expenses. All items are brand new, never worn or used. It is a great time to pick up a Valentine gift or something special for your Chinese New Year celebration. Bidding will go until Saturday, January 31. Paid for items will be shipped promptly the following week to allow plenty of time to arrive for those two holidays. All funds will be used for traveling expenses for our family to bring Pat home.

Bidding rules:

1. Starting bid is specified in the description of each item, please bid in whole dollar amounts. You will place your bid by making a comment on the photo.

2. If item is to be mailed postage is additional. I will estimate it as close to actual postage as my little scale will allow.

3. If we are not "friends" on Facebook, please include your email in your bid post or send it via private message so I can notify you of winning bids and any shipping fees if applicable.

4. Unless you are local and I will see you soon, please pay promptly via Paypal after you've received your ending total. Payments should be sent via Paypal through our Reece's Rainbow tax deductible account.  The link is found in the right side border of this page.

5. Let me know immediately after you've paid, and include your mailing address.  Reece's Rainbow doesn't automatically notify me and never includes any addresses.
What will you find?  This and more:  Chinese silks, parasols, jade, pearls, fans, scarves, jewelry (including scripture and adoption themed) hair clips, and  kids art kits.

Where do you find us?  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.334478953419873.1073741828.334160650118370&type=1

Here is picture sampling of some of our items.  We hope you will visit us and help to spread the word.  Thank you!

Thanks for looking!




 

3 Big IFs

Friends, will you pray for us in the coming days? As this adoption speeds towards the finish line we have to plan the travel part. Who goes, who stays, all that agonizing stuff. The big dream (or perhaps little nightmare?) is to be able to take all four of the kids with us. They ALL spent time with Pat over the summer and are all begging to go and bring him home. If ever it made sense for all the kids to go, I think this is it. I have been doing some serious researching over the past several weeks, and it seems it could be possible through a series of IFs.

1. IF we are successful in getting passports for the three recently home from China. You may recall that USCIS misspelled Isaac's name on his Certificate of Citizenship. So, he doesn't actually have a hard copy of this proof, and originals are required. We applied for passports last week and are waiting to see if his passport can be approved with only a copy of the misspelled certificate and the explanation.

2. IF we break from the norm and rent an apartment away from the usual places adoptive parents stay. We have found a four bedroom apartment that would actually cost just a little over HALF of what we paid for the two bedroom we had while adopting Isaac. Taxis don't stop for people with wheelchairs so that adds a whole other complication to the process, but not one that can't be overcome. It is only a five minute walk to the health building and less than a ten minute walk to the US Consulate. Two biggies taken care of right there.

3. IF we can book our flights with a large enough window of time we can ALL travel for what it cost for just the three of us the other times. This will involve the gutsy (or stupid!) booking of flights before we get our official travel dates – correctly estimating far enough out – or hoping for a super speedy process that gives enough time to book but still get there and back before the trade fair in mid April when lodging costs double.

So, there you have it. Our three big IFs. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for wisdom, clarity of thought, and for the IFs to work out if this is how we should proceed. Thanks!