Adoption is Official!

I am thankful to report that our courageous young man took that leap of faith today and told the judge, "I want to be adopted."  So happy to officially welcome Isaac into our family today!

Introducing Isaac!

Introducing our Prince!  Isaac is such a charming young man, and we are blessed to have him as part of our family.  Can't wait for you all to meet him!

We're here! We meet Isaac today!

Our travel schedule combined with spotty internet has made it difficult to blog.  If you're a friend on Facebook you've gotten slightly better reports, but I figured out this morning that those following our journey ONLY through our blog must think our plane crashed :)

For those in our travel group who have yet to travel, I have a post in the works about the trip itself, but for now know that we are here and well and super excited.  We meet Isaac at 3pm today, Monday, China time which converted into our time at home is 3AM EST.  Stay tuned, and keep praying!

 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.