Next steps....

Ok so when can we go & get our boys?? What happens now? Why do we  Still have to wait?? These are question I'm getting asked a lot & I ask my self too :)!!

There are 4 more things that have to be approved before we can buy plane tickets And GO!

1. I800 approval.  This is an immigration to America approval for our boys. We received our immigration approval to adopt before we got matched with the boys (i800a).  Now the boys have to have theirs.  This usually take 2-3 weeks; however, because our officer was gracious, she allowed me to send in all our forms & paperwork to her after we received Isaiah's LOA before Elijah's LOA came in. So once Elijah's LOA got to us we were approved just days later. So this step is APPROVED as of 9/2!!! 

2.  The National VIsa Center then have to approve the boys for visas to the states and forwards this approval & paperwork to the embassy in Guangzhou for them to process the visa. This takes usually 1 week from approval of the i800. We should have this approved by Monday 9/9

3. Article 5 is then dropped off at the embassy in Guangzhou for them to finalize all the adoption approval & issue the visas. This is exactly 10 business days. We hope for all this to be dropped off next Tuesday (9/10) or Wednesday (9/11). It will e picked up two weeks later on 9/24 or 25).

4. Travel Approval! Once all the immigration & visas are approved it goes back to the China adoption office for them to approve us for travel.  This of course is a bit unpredictable as how long it takes. It can take anywhere from a week to 3 weeks.  The issue for us is China has an 8 day holiday from Oct 1-7. So we will official be in the TA wait during this time if they don't approve us before the holiday. If our Article 5 is picked up on 9/24 & they work the weekend before their holiday there is POTENTIAL we could have TA before the holiday!! This is what we are praying for!!!  TA before Oct 1!!!!

Once we receive our TA then we submit 5 dates we would like to have our Consulate Appointment in China.  Then we will get the boys a week before the consulate appointment. We are thinking travel will be somewhere between October 22-November 5!

So there we are. Kinda boring detailed info but I'm sure for those who like detail you'd appreciate it.  So good to be UNSTUCK & moving towards our boys again!!! The anticipation & love in growing so much in our hearts! Plus a few more nerves about the reality we are going from 4-6!!! & adding two toddlers to our family! Yes I'm nervous & yes I'm expecting it to be HARD, but WORTH IT!