One more day

Tomorrow, July 30th, Sabrina and I will leave for China.  We will arrive in Zhengzhou on Wednesday and take a bus to Jiaozou.  We will spend 5 days there and then return to Zhengzhou.  Rebekah Xialan will become part of our family  on August 6th.  We will fly to Guangzhou on the 10th.  We will flyout of Hong Kong on the 16th, arriving around 5:30 at PBIA.

 Rebekah's 8th birthday with her friends at Eagles' Wings.  I wonder what kind of birthday she will want next year?

Rebekah and Abbey, her very special friend who lives in Australia.

we received our TA on July 20th.

Waiting for TA

Our article 5 was picked up on July 12th. We should receive our TA (travel approval) in about 2 weeks. Then we need a CA (consulate appointment). The CA is the last thing you do in China before coming home. Usually it is about 1 month from your TA. So, I am hoping to have TA by July 27th and confirmed travel plans by Aug. 1st. I am hoping to be home before the end of Aug. Hoping to be in China around Aug. 10th.

                                  L   O   A
                                        as of June 1st, 2012
We are happy to report that we have approval from China to adopt Fu Xialan, soon to be known as Rebekah Xialan Smith.  We have a few more steps to take before we can travel.  We anticipate traveling mid August.  Since that is the time that school begins, we are tenatively planning for just Sabrina and mom to travel, leaving dad with the 3 older kids to start school.  We have a lot to do this summer.  We will be finishing up Matthew's room the first week of summer vacation by putting in the new flooring and then setting up his room.  Then we will begin work on the bedroom that Sabrina and Rebekah will share.  I think we will start with shopping for bedding and curtains first and then decide what colors to paint the walls.  Since we have some blue and green left from the boys' rooms, we may go with those colors and maybe some yellow.  After painting we will put in new floors and then set up their room.  If we have time, we will paint Allison's room and do her floors.  It will be a busy summer! 

LID

We found out our log in date was March 1st!  So now we start counting down the wait for LOA (letter of acceptance) from China.  This part of the wait can vary greatly.  The average wait is around 60 days.  Some get theirs sooner, some have waited over 100 days.  We are praying to get ours sooner! 

Update

Our dossier was sent to China on February 24th so we are officially DTC!  We are waiting for our LID (log in date) and then we begin the wait for LOA (letter of acceptance).  Although I am still praying for travel before August, I am trying to accept the possibility that it won't happen until August or even September (ugh, please not that).  From reading my adoption yahoo groups and RQ (a chat site for adoption), I can see that we are not the only teachers who would like to travel during summer vacation.  I hope that many of us do get to.  I know that once I have Xialan in my arms, all the waiting will fade from my memory and not matter.  Until then, please join me in praying that things move along quickly and that we might travel sooner, not later. 
Yesterday and today have been 2 of the best days!   I received about 18 new photos and a short video of our daughter.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those who sent me photos.  SB and LS both visited Xialan and the other kids at Eagles' Wings while working with Bring Me Hope.  This group sends groups of volunteers to spend time with orphans in China to bring Hope and Love to their lives.  I am so grateful to them for bringing a smile to my daughter's face on several occasions.  Visit their website to learn more about their work.  Bringmehope.org

Making progress

Our homestudy was approved and in our agency's hand on November 30th.  Our I800a was received on Dec. 1st.  We were approved on January 19th.  Our dossier is being authenticated at the Chinese consulate in Texas.  Our dossier should be on its way to China by the end of next week. 
We are still hoping for travel during the summer and praying that we can be home by the time school starts August 14th. 
In the meantime, I have set up a fundraiser with Adoptionbug.  They have wonderful t-shirts.  I have the woman's T in the Faith Hope Love design and love it.  It is so soft and comfortable.  If you want to purchase a shirt, make sure you do so through our link or from their website through our listing under adoption fundraisers.  Thanks for your support!

12 seconds of love

I've added a video clip in the right sidebar.  12 seconds...that's all, but it says so much.  I can't wait to hold her and tell her how I love her.