We are Immigration APPROVED!!!!!!

Guys, I am blown AWAY!!!  God is so good!  What was supposed to take between 60 and 90 days, only took 30!  We have official permission from US Immigration to bring a child home from China!  This is HUGE!!!!!!!

The next steps:

• I dropped our home study and the I-800A approval off at the NC Secretary of State's office today.  They will certify the Notary Publics' signatures on the documents and I will pick them back up tomorrow.
• Once I review everything one last time, dot the I's and cross the T's, and make our copies, our entire packet will be sent to our Family Coordinator at AWAA.
• They will handle getting the home study and the I-800A approval U.S. and Embassy authenticated for us, and send us our copies.
• Then we are DTC - DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!

Y'all, I am dancing right now!  This is happening!  We are so close!  What started a little over a year ago, as God was working on my heart, is so close to coming to fruition!  We are so close to meeting our son!!!!!  

Once in China, our dossier will be translated and logged into their system.  The official approval to adopt our little guy (Referral Acceptance or RA) can take anywhere between 2 and 4 months (currently running around 2.5 to 3 months), and we will travel 8 - 12 weeks after that!  So, we are looking at traveling as early as Mid November or as late as some time in February.  This is all according to the ranges I have been given.  But God!  He has blown us away at every stage in this journey.  Who am I to put Him in a box?

We have a rocking prayer warrior at our church who, since I told her about our journey in April, has been praying that we would get to him before his 3rd birthday, which is October 24.  When she told me that, I told her that it would be awesome, but that it was was pretty unrealistic.  But for the first time, as I look at all that God has already done in all of this, it seems possible!  Of course it is!  Still unlikely, and I'm not getting my hopes up, but how cool would it be if our Gotcha Day was his birthday?!?!?!?  So please continue to pray for our journey. Please continue to pray for our son.

I have had a few people ask about how the finances are working out.  And again, we are absolutely blown away by how God has provided at every stage.  We have some friends who have paid for 2 adoptions - he's a pastor, she's a homeschooling stay-at-home mom.  When our journey began, I was sharing with her about how the significant financial requirement was pretty overwhelming.  She encouraged us, and shared that for them, every time they needed money, it was there - maybe even just the day before the check had to be written.  Such has been the case for us.  Every time - no matter the dollar amount - He has provided.   As it stands, we will make a fairly substantial payment tomorrow, then another fairly substantial one at our official Referral Acceptance (in 2-4 months).  The money needed for those 2 payments is available.  Prior to travel, we will have to send in our biggest payment yet, which will pay for the visas, flights, in-country activities/food/hotels/guides/etc., and the rather hefty China program fee.  We are excited to see how God will provide for that stage.  It can be overwhelming to think about, but this has been God's story for our family from the very beginning.  We have complete faith in Him to see us through to the end of this part of the journey.

Having said that, stay tuned for information on fundraisers.  We hope to host a few "spirit nights" at local restaurants.  Everyone has to eat, right????  I'll keep you posted as those dates are secured.

Again, thank you so much for praying with us through this journey.  It has, been and I am sure will continue to be, a faith building time in our lives.  We are thrilled that God chose us for this little boy, and we can't wait to have him in our arms.