Happy New Year! This is a special year for us. 2011 is the year we bring sweet little Chanz home! I am getting excited now, knowing that we will see him in mere months. Months! My mom and I are talking about what to pack and what to wear, when. We talked about the hotels and the websites blocked in China (Blogspot :( and hotmail, to name a few). It's real, it's happening. What is happening is a dream come true, literally! I dreamed of this day for years and I still can't bang it into my head that it is a reality.

This year was a rollercoaster of emotion. We have been consumed, every single month, with paperwork and waiting and dreaming and preparing. There were unexpected expenses and breakdowns along the way. (For real.. Tim's truck broke down in Houston after our visit to the Chinese Consulate!).I very recently re-connected with the Chinese family that inspired the specific adoption from China in the first place. Unfortunately it was because Joseph was dying, and he passed away a week before Christmas, the day after my birthday. Judy had offered to be Chanz's Chinese grandmother, which made my heart burst, of course. I called her tonight just to check in and she said they had all been going all over the house, gathering up her grandchildren's toys that were no longer being used so Chanz can have them. I was telling her that her grandchildren are all so very sweet. And hyper. She laughed and said, "Now we'll have another one" referring to Chanz. How blessed we are!

Looking forward to this new year as first time parents!! And an amazing journey to CHina!

Article 5

"As of 12/27/2010, your Article 5 was delivered to the CCAA. It can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 8 weeks to receive your Travel Approval from the CCAA!!! "

That was today's email update :)

VISA

The only news I have right now is that our VISAs will be delivered to us Friday.

TIMELINE

...so far...

Found Chanz: 03/03/2010
Found out Chanz was still available: 03/09/2010
Dossier sent to China: 09/03/2010
LID (log in date): 09/07/2010
LSC (letter seeking confirmation):10/22/2010

We are waiting on our TA (travel approval) and really expect it to be February!! It's a very exciting time for us. What an AMAZING journey that I never expected to ever happen! I have a wonderful husband..

Fundraising

The bracelets we were selling as a fundraiser were a huge success! So far we have raised a little over $500, which isn't bad considering the time frame. I have a friend who is convinced her daughter can sell them for more money at school. I have a bag of 40 bracelets to give her tomorrow. I'm praying God will bless this little girl and we'll get lots of helpful donations!

We are still seeking assistance. If we had more time we could do it ourselves, but we have a little boy waiting on us! Now! I can't wait to scoop him up and give him his first mommy kiss! siiigh

Final Countdown

We received our NVC approval letter today (National Visa Center)! I already had all the other paperwork ready that needed to be sent to the agency once we got our letter, so it is already sitting in the post office ready to be over-nighted! Our last shred of paperwork will be mailed off to China on Friday. China will then send Article 5 to our agency which states that everything is in order and we are approved to adopt our child. This letter will come about 2 weeks after they receive the above paperwork. After that, they will issue our Travel Approval, which takes about 2-3 weeks to be sent to Great Wall China Adoption. We travel 2-3 weeks after that. As you can see, things are wrapping up quickly.

We still have so much money to come up with and I don't know where it is coming from. We'll cross those bridges when we get there!