While we were there we got our I-800 approval letter. From this point we wait for a a letter from the NVC or National Visa Center. This letter states that they have received our immigration information at the US Consulate in Guangzhou. At this point our agency e-mails thot is letter to the Guangzhou staff and they will deliver our documents to the US Consulate. In the adoption world this is called Article 5 drop off, this process takes two weeks. Our Article 5 was dropped off on Thurs. August 23rd and picked up by the Guangzhou staff on Thurs. Sept. 6th. The Article 5 is a preliminary approval of our immigration file by the US Consulate and is required by the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) in order to issue our travel approval.. Once picked up this is mailed to Beijing and delivered to CCAA. We then wait for official TA or Travel Approval. They say travel approval can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!
It took only 11 days!!!! We got travel approval on Mon. September 17th. What a great way to celebrate Kasey's birthday. Yes that is Kasey's 16th birthday and YES she has her LICENSE!!
When they called to tell us we had our travel approval they asked if we could leave on Oct. 4th. WHAT!! For just a quick minute I thought hmmm well maybe. My heart wanted to say yes but my head (and Dave) said no. Dave is in the middle of a big job and then has some outside work to do October is a nice month to work outside. We have decided to go on Nov. 1 and return on the 15th.
We have our plane tickets!!!! Our GOTCHA DAY is Nov. 5th. We will fly into Hong Kong stay for two nights. We will then take a train to Guangzhou. I am excited to be able to see some of the countryside. The only thing bad I have heard about riding the train is the squatty potty is really disgusting. No coffee for me that morning!!
Along with all the adoption happenings and Kasey turning 16 and driving we have Kim who has started college. She is attending Olivet Nazarene University. She is majoring in Elementary Education. So far she is really enjoying college life. We miss her around here but also know she is in a good place
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| Kim and her roommate Natalie |
Max is doing pretty well. School is pretty tough so far this year. When he gets home the last thing he wants to do is school work. I usually give him a little bread then we do his homework and his computer work. He is doing Rosetta Stone. He can get pretty frustrated on the speaking parts he has to repeat what they say and he does not have all of his blends down. Like he tells me he wants to nuggle (snuggle) it's so cute I don't want to correct him. The computer tells him he is wrong and he knows he is right. He then may have to repeat the section. I think we will see a lot of progress this year but it's gonna be tough, on him and me.
