News from Guangzhou!

Our agency's staff in Guangzhou sent notice yesterday that they've picked up our "Article 5" letter from the U.S. Consulate and sent it off to Beijing.  This means that the U.S. government has approved our adoption of Ellie and determined that she is eligible for a visa as an adopted child and soon-to-be U.S. citizen, and that all of the necessary paperwork is at the consulate awaiting our arrival.  While we're in Guangzhou (the second week of our China trip), Ellie will have a medical exam at the consulate, then we will have another appointment there a few days later so that we can take the oath for Ellie's citizenship.  So we're not completely done with the U.S. side of things, but the Article 5 letter lets the Chinese government know that we have everything in place to bring Ellie home, other than Ellie herself.  :) 

So now our agency is officially waiting for a document known as Travel Approval, which comes from the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption.  This usually takes 2-4 weeks, although recently I've seen people getting them as quickly as 10 days.  We will go ahead and assume, however, that we will not be on that lucky end of the travel approval spectrum, and maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

Another bit of good news is that we will likely travel with a group, as there are currently several other families with our agency who are adopting from Henan province and also awaiting travel approval.  Group travel is less expensive, and being around other families will be a lot more fun than being by ourselves.  If we do end up with a group, we will leave on a Wednesday if we opt to tour Beijing, or a Friday if we opt not to.  We're leaning toward not touring Beijing, because as much as we would love to see the sites while we're in China, we want our time away from the boys to be as short as possible.  Someday we will return to China as a family and learn more about Ellie's birthplace - but for now, our priorities are to get Ellie, complete the adoption, and get back home as quickly as possible.  We'll still have about a week in her province and a week in Guangzhou, most of which we'll spend waiting for various paperwork to be completed, so there will be lots of down time to experience a little of the Chinese culture.  Whether we tour Beijing or not, we will receive Ellie on the same day the rest of the group meets their children - so for us, the extra days in Beijing are not all that important.  We'll meet the group in Beijing on a Saturday, then fly to Zhengzhou (probably the next day) and likely meet Ellie on a Monday or Tuesday.  And then she'll be ours.