Tomorrow is a big day for us.  We leave to bring Isaac home!  We would greatly appreciate your prayers.  These trips are so hard.  Hard on the parents, hard on the kids who go, and hard on the kids who stay at home and wait.

Jennifer is especially having a hard time with our leaving.  Please pray for Jen and Abigail and those who will be staying at the house to care for them.

And please keep Isaac in your prayers.  So many changes are about to happen in his life.  Although most of them will be best in the long haul, leaving everything familiar is HARD.  Pray for him to have peace and to quickly feel like he is a part of the family.

In the meantime, our house is hopping with activity.  A work crew showed up this morning, and building has really begun on Isaac's ramp!  Our house will have a different look to it when we return. 

We received confirmation of Consulate appointment

And...we're going to China!  We received our first choice in Consulate appointments, and have contacted a few travel agents for quotes.  We hope to make our reservations on Friday!!!

We're still short on funds, so please keep us in your prayers.  We've yet to hear back about some of our grant applications.  It would be a REALLY good time for the responses to come in!

TA

We have Travel Approval!!!  Our timetable now entirely hinges on the Consulate appointment which is the last thing to happen at the end of the trip.  Our first three choices for this appointment are April 1, 2, or 3.  If we are able to get one of those dates, then our placement should be on March 24.  We hope to have our appointment day confirmed tomorrow so we can begin to make our reservations!

News from online friends on our same timetable had me excited today.  Others with the exact same Article 5 pick up date were receiving reports from their agencies that their Travel Approval was showing as issued in the computer system.

Well, today wasn't our day.  I just heard from our case manager and here is what she had to say: "The website shows today that your Article 5 was received at the CCCWA. We’re officially waiting on your travel notice! I’m hopeful that we’ll receive it by the end of the week, but it could be next week. I will let you know when the website shows it is issued!"

So, I'm glad to know that our A5 has been acknowledged, and hopeful that they will issue our invitation to travel very soon.

The calendar says it is now March. It is day #4 of our wait for Travel Approval.   There hasn't been much blogging going on here lately.  What are we doing? We're taking care of details - LOTS of details.  

• Gathering snacks, medications, and other necessary items for our trip
• Stocking up on the things our household may need while we are away
• Making detailed lists of the Princesses' routines for their caretakers 
• Gathering little surprises and working on a "countdown till we come home" calendar for the Princesses 
• Finishing up the Prince's bedroom 
• Running dozens of searches on the flights to see "what is out there" so we are prepared once we get the approval to travel
• Praying to hear from the grant organizations that haven't given us an answer yet

Provided our travel approval arrives sometime next week as expected, we still hope to travel to the Prince around the 20th of THIS MONTH!!!   We greatly appreciate your continued prayers for us, and especially for Isaac.  His whole world is about to be rocked.

Part of an email that we received:

Date: Feb 25, 2014 3:49 AM
Subject: Mail to Parents After Article 5 Issued ---2/25/14
To: Dear Adoptive Parent,

The Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou has finished processing your child's Article 5, and your file is ready to be returned to your adoption agency's facilitator today. 

Next, your agency will deliver the Article 5 and Letter of Seeking Confirmation to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA), which will issue the Travel Approval (TA).  The TA allows you to come to China to finalize the adoption, so once the CCCWA issues the TA, your agency can email us to request an immigrant visa appointment at the Consulate...

Fantastic news!  I began packing last week, so we are on target.  Still hoping to be on a plane on or about the first day of spring!

Travel Visas are Here!

It makes me a little nervous when our passports are out of our possession, so I was really happy when they were returned today stamped with our Chinese travel visas!