Officially In the Third Trimester of Our "Paper Pregnancy"!

After 52  very long days of waiting, we were FINALLY able to here the three little words that we so longed to hear..."CHINA SAID YES!" In other words, our Letter of Approval (LOA) had been issued. I was so anxious to get this news that I had seriously started hearing phantom sounds that my phone makes when I get a new e-mail. Why? Because the LOA is the official kick-off to the third and final trimester in this paper pregnancy. With the LOA now in hand, we are ready to jump through the next set of hoops needed to bring Cheyenne home.

• Now that China has formally approved, it is time to go BACK to the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services) for their final approval. If you recall from previous posts, we already dealt with the USCIS, including being fingerprinted, in order to get their approval to adopt a foreign-born child. Even though we were already matched with Cheyenne, the USCIS' provisional approval is not linked to any particular child. Instead, they review your home study and issue a set of criteria in which you are approved to adopt. In our case, we had our home study specifically written to encompass any/all criteria we would need to bring Cheyenne home. Now, we must send a copy of the LOA to them so that they can issue their final approval for a specific child who matches criteria they previously outlined in the provisional approval. This step typically only takes about two weeks. However, since Christmas, the majority have been taking around three, and in some cases, up to 5 weeks for approval.
• While we are waiting for the USCIS to issue their approval, we have also sent away our Passports and have applied for our China Visas. Visas are required to travel to China. Those have a quick turn around and should be approved this week - provided they don't reject my serial killer looking photo! (I wish I was kidding)
• Once the USCIS issues their approval, they will notify the National Visa Center that they have approved. This will allow us to complete yet another-blessed-form! This form is the online application to begin her Visa paperwork. Her Visa will be finalized while we are in China, but they will not allow us to travel until the beginning steps are complete.
• After Part 1 of her Visa is approved, all the final pieces come together to form what's called the "Article 5", which is a packet of completed forms that our agency's China rep will facilitate between the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China and the China Center for Children's Welfare Administration (CCCWA) office in Beijing. This process takes 10 business days. Once this has been done, China will then issue us what's called our "Travel Approval". This is their official invitation to come get our daughter!

At this point, we are expecting to travel around April 1st, but that may change.

One thing that has made receiving our LOA even more special was the fact that my girlfriends threw me an amazing adoption shower. Let me tell you, this little girl is S-P-O-I-L-E-D! We got so much wonderful stuff for Little Miss Cheyenne. Everything from clothes, to bath stuff, to games/activity books...it was so much fun and I can't wait to see how pretty Chey will look in her new clothes and to play with her and her new toys.

China said yes!!!!