Finally! We're Making Progress!

Part of the hard part of this whole process is the waiting.  There's massive amounts of paperwork to be done, and it needs to be done quickly, and then you wait... and wait... and wait some more!  It seems we've been waiting around for so long that I'd kind of forgotten what the paperchase is like.  I'd fallen into a comfortable lull of impatience, with nothing tangible to do for progress' sake.  However, the past week or so has definitely picked up!

So, last Thursday, which is already Friday in China (still wrapping my head around the whole space/time continuum aspect of all this), our agency sent out Letter of Intent (henceforth referred to as LOI) to the CCAA (Agency in charge of all things adoption-related in China).  Basically, this tells them that we want Didi.  I think this usually goes after the Dossier is logged in to the CCAA's system, but when have we ever gone about this in a normal way?  So, now China officially knows that we exist and that we want him.

Friday, I turned 30, which most people seem to dread.  For me, it wasn't so terrifying because it means we are finally "old enough to have a baby!"  Woohoo!  It was a little disappointing because we've been hoping all along that our Dossier would be sent over to China that day, but I knew by this point that there wasn't any way that would happen anymore.  So, at least the age requirement has been met.

Monday, we finally received our I-797, which is the USCIS (United States Child Immigration Services) telling us that we are approved to adopt a child from another country.  This doesn't mean we're all set on this side of the pond either, but it is the last document we've been waiting on for our Dossier.  So, it was very nice to finally have it in our hands.  We're in the process of having that document certified by the Secretary of State, and the it will be authenticated by the Chinese Consulate, and THEN it can be sent to our agency.  The Dossier will then finally be put together (well, it's already put together and waiting for these last few sheets of paper... so they'll just be added), sent to the Colorado office for translation, and then FINALLY on to China.  Hopefully this whole process won't take more than another week or two.  I will be so relieved once it is sent!

Today (Wednesday), we received the good news that the CCAA has pre-approved us.  Basically, that means that they received our LOI, and we're in their system, and they agree to review our Dossier and expedite the process of reviewing it because we're going with a Waiting Child.  This doesn't mean we'll be travelling any sooner than we expected.  In fact, due to the recent delays in paperwork, I'm assuming that we'll be lucky to travel by December at this point.  We were originally hoping for late October/early November.  But it does mean that we can finally send Didi a care package with pics of his family.  Still not allowed to post his specifics on the blog though.  We have to have our Letter of Acceptance from China for that... which can't happen until they have received and approved our Dossier.

...BUT it's all progress.  So, that's a relief.  In the meantime, we are still so thankful knowing that Didi is being given amazing care at the "baby spa," and are praying that he can stay there right up until we travel to bring him home.