Slow boat to China

I remember my mother sometimes using that expression, and as a child I always wondered what it meant.  Now I think I know - or at least it has taken on its own meaning in our lives, for it often feels as though that is what we are on.  The next few steps are tedious and somewhat unpredictable in terms of timing, but here's what we're looking at - beginning from the filing date of our I800, which was April 20...

I800 Provisional Approval (this is the USCIS giving us approval to bring Ellie to the U.S. - the final approval will be her visa, which is issued by the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou during the 2nd week of our stay in China) - We should receive this in 15 to 20 days.

National Visa Center Letter - Notification that the NVC has sent our immigration information to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou - approximately 10-15 days after the I800 is approved.

Article 5 - Notification from the U.S. Consulate to the Chinese Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption that our immigration approval has been granted - takes about 15-20 days after the NVC letter.

Travel approval - The Chinese government's official permission for us to come to China for the adoption - usually issued about 2-3 weeks after the Article 5 is submitted to the CCCWA.

On the short end, it's about 8 weeks to travel approval.  If things move a little slower, it could be 11 or 12.  Most families travel about 2 weeks or so after their TA is issued, as it takes time to schedule an appointment at the consulate in Guangzhou and plan the rest of the itinerary around that.  (The consulate appointment occurs a day or two prior to returning to the U.S.  Ellie will travel on her Chinese passport with a U.S. visa.  Once we arrive in the U.S., she will be an American citizen.)

So we'll have to wait and see how long each step takes.  It's a bit of a roller coaster really, because it's so exciting to receive an approval and send in the next batch of paperwork, only to find yourself right back in waiting mode again.  In the meantime, I'm trying to plan our summer and gather travel tips from families who have adopted already.  I know once the time comes it will be a mad dash to get ready for our trip - and I will never feel completely ready, even though right now the wait seems so long and I wish we could get on a plane tomorrow.

Ellie may have her palate repaired sometime this month.  We won't know for sure unless we receive an update from our agency, but it was mentioned in her surgery report from last October that the palate repair would be done "in six months".  We're not sure if those plans will change now that Ellie is being adopted, but either way is fine with us.  We know the charity that is caring for her finds really good doctors to operate on their kiddos, and having her palate repaired earlier would certainly have its advantages in terms of diet and speech.  But if we end up doing it here with our own doctors who will treat Ellie for years to come, that would be great too.  And we have learned from other parents of children who were adopted through the special needs program that the initial surgery can be a very powerful bonding experience, because the child learns to receive comfort from her parents and that she can trust them to care for her.

Our hope is to have the I800 by Mother's Day (May 8).  What a great present that would be!    

Got it!

We have our I800A approval!!!  (Also inexplicably known as an I797 - don't you just love the government?)  Our agency will let us know what to do next - so now I'm waiting by the phone, which is a little more convenient than waiting by the mailbox.  :)

Our agency's official estimate is that we will travel in 11 to 15 weeks.  The word on the street, however, is that it probably will be a little sooner than that - maybe 8 to 10 weeks.  Yippee!!! 

From another blog...

Here is a link to an excellent post concerning research findings about the self-esteem of children who were adopted.  Contrary to some rather stubborn cultural perceptions of adoption in general and adoptees in particular, many studies have found that children who were adopted - including those adopted transracially - do just fine when it comes to self-esteem as compared to their non-adopted peers.  The myth of the "troubled adoptee" appears to truly be a myth.  That's not to say that children who were adopted are not at risk for certain difficulties, language and learning problems being the most common.  What it does show is that all children face potential difficulties with identity and self-esteem, and children who were adopted are not at greater risk for problems in those areas than anyone else.

Anyway, read the post if it interests you.  I like reading stuff like this because it reaffirms my faith in the resilience of the human spirit, that we are more than the sum of what has happened to us, and that love is powerful.

A trisket, a trasket...

... a liner for her basket!

I had to give a little plug for my new online friend Stacey, who owns an Etsy business called "StitchesAPlenty"  You can find her products here.  I contacted Stacey this past Saturday, the day after we chose Ellie's name, to see if we could get an Easter basket liner for her like the ones we have for the boys.  (The boys' liners were purchased from Pottery Barn Kids, but when I looked on their site I found they only had plain white ones left - two weeks before Easter.)  I think Stacey's are even prettier than PB's - at about the same price.  (The basket in this photo is just a demo - we'll  need to get a basket that's more "Easter-y".)  So visit Stacey's Etsy site if you're in need of a handmade gift.  She does great work.  It'll be nice to have a basket here for Ellie on Easter Sunday. 

We're still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our I800A approval.  I spoke on Monday with the USCIS officer who has been assigned to our application.  She had our file on her desk, and hoped to finish approving it by mid-week.  So for now I have stopped stalking the mailman, but we hopefully will have our approval notice late this week or early next.  Then we are on to the next round of immigration paperwork, and we can estimate our travel at around 12 weeks after getting the I800A.  It will be a busy summer!

They must have forgotten...

... at the USCIS that yesterday was my birthday and I was supposed to receive an I800A approval as a gift.  :)  Oh well - Uncle Sam did come through for us with a functioning government, so at least the next phase of our paperwork won't be delayed.  (For the first time in my life, I was really sweating a potential government shutdown.  So that was good news to wake up to on my birthday, and I will keep this blog free of any political rants regarding the budget situation.)

So I will be checking the mailbox frequently this week, and once we receive our I800A approval and get our I800 application off to the USCIS (which will be very quick - it's already filled out and waiting at our agency's office to be sent FedEx), we will then have about a 12-week wait to travel to China.  Maybe less.   

Her name is...

Eloise Kathleen Sanping Warren.  We will call her Ellie.

My grandmother's name was Eloise.  It also happens to be a variation of "Louise", which is the name of a wonderful saint - Louise de Marillac.  You can read more about St. Louise here...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_Marillac

Both of Ellie's grandmothers are named Kathleen, conveniently spelled the same way.  :)  Hard to pass that up.  And of course "Sanping" is a combination of her two Chinese given names, which is how Chinese folks often write their given names when they are living or working in an English-language setting.

Okay.  One step closer...