China is now entering the year of the horse. Since horses are better than snakes, I'm going to take it as a good sign. ;-) We will celebrate tonight by eating Chinese food complete with as many noodles as we can get our hands on. (The kids LOVE noodles!) I don't know if we are going to decorate or make paper lanterns again. The kids enjoyed that when we did it last year, but it wasn't quite as exciting for them as I thought it might have been. We will watch the New Year's episode of NiHao Kai-Lan though! :-)
Our Article 5 didn't get picked up yesterday. No real surprise there. When they say 2 weeks, they mean to the day. Hopefully it will be ready when they open back up on Wednesday. I really don't think it will make much difference though. Either way the Central Authority in Beijing is closed until the 10th, so they wouldn't have gotten it until then anyways. The silver lining there is that we signed up for a new credit card that will give us a ton of free airline miles so we can get a free plane ticket, but it takes 6-8 weeks for the miles to be applied. Well, we didn't really sign up in time so this deal is cutting it a little close for comfort. The extra 10 days for the Chinese new year help buy us a little time in earning that free ticket. It's still going to be really close if we manage to earn the miles in time, but at least we have a chance. (Unfortunately we can only use the miles for Dirk, otherwise the miles would give us access to a great family vacation or something equally beneficial)
We have nearly decided on a name. It's down to 2 names right now that are both really similar. I go back and forth with which one I like better, but it's Dirk's decision so I'm trying to be patient. We don't actually have to have it picked out until we have our visa appointment from what I understand so that helps. Last time we had to have a passport application filled out and notarized before we ever left Germany so we don't have that pressure on us this time. I will still wait until we bring her home to announce her name just in case it does change again once we meet her. :-)
Friday, January 31, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Visas
I just received our passports back with our new visas in place! This is the part where it feels a little more real. Sort of like feeling the baby kick when you're pregnant. You've talked about what's coming and you've prepared as much as you can, but it's a little closer to home when you have these visas in hand. Our next step is to buy plane tickets! Yikes!!! (I almost put "last step", but who am I kidding. Getting to China is really only part of the process. There's tons of in-country stuff and then more reports, visits, etc. once we're home. Does it ever really end?)
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Taking a break!
Care package has been sent! It should take 2-3 weeks to get there, but that's ok. As long as she gets it before we get there, it's all good.
I received my letter from the NVC with my codes so I could fill out the next forms online. It took the better part of a day for the website to let me do anything, but you can bet that as soon as it did, I was all over that! It turns out we didn't need to know her American name just yet, so that was good. We still haven't decided on one yet. We have a list that ebs & grows, but we're getting there. It's a little harder because her Chinese name doesn't lend itself well to any American names the way LuZao's did. And we had the PERFECT name for LuZao (Lucy Rae), so we've got a high bar to reach. Fortunately, we have more time to settle on the right name for Yang.
As far as the process goes, we are officially done with US immigration and everything else will be handled in China. The courier in China will take our confirmation from the form I filled out today to the embassy. They will then issue our "Article 5". This takes 2 weeks. We're hoping they can get ours done just a little early because it's already Friday in China and 2 weeks from today is the Chinese New Year, so everybody has the week off. Well, the embassy might return on the following Wednesday depending on which calendar is correct, but there will still be a rush of people that our courier won't want to contend with. Once that is picked up, he delivers it to the CCCWA in Beijing. They turn around and issue our TA (Travel Approval). That can take 1-3 weeks depending on their speed, but since it will be right after a holiday, they should be moving quickly. Once we get that, we will be good to go! Our passports are supposed to be picked up today and they will be mailed back to us, so we will have plenty of time to get those before we need them. Everything is coming together smoothly this time around! I don't know how much of that is because we have done it before and how much is us being stateside, but I'm enjoying the relative ease of it all! Now if we could just agree on a name.... ;-)
I received my letter from the NVC with my codes so I could fill out the next forms online. It took the better part of a day for the website to let me do anything, but you can bet that as soon as it did, I was all over that! It turns out we didn't need to know her American name just yet, so that was good. We still haven't decided on one yet. We have a list that ebs & grows, but we're getting there. It's a little harder because her Chinese name doesn't lend itself well to any American names the way LuZao's did. And we had the PERFECT name for LuZao (Lucy Rae), so we've got a high bar to reach. Fortunately, we have more time to settle on the right name for Yang.
As far as the process goes, we are officially done with US immigration and everything else will be handled in China. The courier in China will take our confirmation from the form I filled out today to the embassy. They will then issue our "Article 5". This takes 2 weeks. We're hoping they can get ours done just a little early because it's already Friday in China and 2 weeks from today is the Chinese New Year, so everybody has the week off. Well, the embassy might return on the following Wednesday depending on which calendar is correct, but there will still be a rush of people that our courier won't want to contend with. Once that is picked up, he delivers it to the CCCWA in Beijing. They turn around and issue our TA (Travel Approval). That can take 1-3 weeks depending on their speed, but since it will be right after a holiday, they should be moving quickly. Once we get that, we will be good to go! Our passports are supposed to be picked up today and they will be mailed back to us, so we will have plenty of time to get those before we need them. Everything is coming together smoothly this time around! I don't know how much of that is because we have done it before and how much is us being stateside, but I'm enjoying the relative ease of it all! Now if we could just agree on a name.... ;-)
Monday, January 13, 2014
Not much longer now!
We have a care package all ready to send as soon as we get the address. This part of the process is probably my favorite (aside from actually meeting her, that is). It's our only time to reach out and connect with her before we officially meet her. I took a lot of hints from the last time we did this. No giant build-a-bear with voice recorder this time. That made the box huge (and expensive!) and we never saw it again. I'm not sure if LuZao ever got to see it either, so it really wasn't worth it. This time I will stick with a small stuffed animal that can be toted around, but won't be a huge deal if it gets "lost". I am still sending a blanket, a shirt, and a jacket. I am also including 2 disposable cameras again. The last time we only got 1 back, but those pictures are still invaluable to me. I am hoping this time we have at least the same fortune. I am also sending some musical toys such as a rattle and a small tambourine since she loves music. The kids helped me make a book of colors & textures that we're hoping she will enjoy. Of course, I had to make her a hat! I made a little ladybug hat that turned out super cute! Lastly, I also included family pictures, letters for her and for her caregivers, and a small gift of lotion & chapstick. I really hope they enjoy it!
I have also sent an email that should save us about a week or so of waiting! The response should give me the information I need to submit our visa application to Guangzhou. Our agency guessed that we could have our TA (Travel Approval) in about 6 weeks even with the Chinese New Year causing a delay! It looks like we'll likely be travelling in March after all!!
I have also sent an email that should save us about a week or so of waiting! The response should give me the information I need to submit our visa application to Guangzhou. Our agency guessed that we could have our TA (Travel Approval) in about 6 weeks even with the Chinese New Year causing a delay! It looks like we'll likely be travelling in March after all!!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Visas & I-800
I forgot to update that our passports are currently in Chicago awaiting their shiny new Chinese visas! Well, they aren't really shiny, but they should be. ;-) Those will be picked up next week and mailed back to us. I'm so grateful for a trustworthy courier so we don't have to drive to Chicago twice to complete that process!! After this trip, Dirk's passport will be FULL!! Lucky we aren't planning on doing any international travel anytime soon.
Today I received our I-800 provisional approval in the mail. This is the form that says that our new daughter is eligible to be adopted via the Hague convention. Yay!! I had no doubt that it would be approved (are they ever really denied??) but it was a matter of time. We can't proceed until this step has been done. The next thing is to fill out an electronic form that will be submitted directly to the embassy in Guangzhou that will help them process her visa. The trickiest bit about that is that we need to know her American name and Dirk hasn't figured that out yet. (Not for lack of me reminding him....) So, for now I wait. But not for long!
Today I received our I-800 provisional approval in the mail. This is the form that says that our new daughter is eligible to be adopted via the Hague convention. Yay!! I had no doubt that it would be approved (are they ever really denied??) but it was a matter of time. We can't proceed until this step has been done. The next thing is to fill out an electronic form that will be submitted directly to the embassy in Guangzhou that will help them process her visa. The trickiest bit about that is that we need to know her American name and Dirk hasn't figured that out yet. (Not for lack of me reminding him....) So, for now I wait. But not for long!
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