The Jade Dragon Flies Over the Great Wall for Wontons!

On August 2nd, our dossier was officially logged-in to the system in China. I waited a whopping 26 DAYS (oh so patiently, remember?) before calling them to see what was up. On August 28th, under the guise of asking a legitimate question... which actually was a legitimate question; just unrelated. After getting a legitimate answer to my legitimate question, I started to wrap up the phone conversation with the super slick "So... um... got any news for me? Wink wink! Nudge nudge! Haha!"  The sweet and ever patient rep in the Waiting Child department laughed and told me she'd grab my file to see if anything was up. She put me on hold. I was on hold for quite a while (though at this point, I honestly didn't notice because I was using the pause in conversation to explain to the LGM why we don't put food in our hair). However, she eventually came back on the phone and said, "Can I just tell you that I love my job?" I immediately shouted, "I LOVE YOUR JOB TOO!... wait... please tell me I have a reason to love your job! Will you be telling me something that will make me love your job?" 

Indeed there was reason to love her job. She explained that the reason I was on hold for so long - other than having time to explain to my boys why they don't need to give themselves yogurt facials either - was because she couldn't find my file. She said she'd been walking all over the office looking for it before she realized we were in the MATCH pile, and our file was sitting there in line, waiting for us to be phoned just a few hours later!

So, we immediately reviewed the file and began filling out the appropriate paperwork, including our Letter of  Intent (LOI) to adopt this child. It was submitted to China on the 31st. 

We received notification today that we have been Pre-Approved by the powers that be, and I can now share with you the news that we have been matched with this little cutie:

Stats:

Boy

20 months old

Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate (lip obviously repaired)

From the same province as Asher (Henan), but different city (Zhengzhou)

Clearly well fed! ;)

You're probably wondering about a name. Well, we're almost there. We're 99% settled on one. I'll let you know when we get there. Other fun fact: he shares a birthday with Josh. 

The girls are excited and think he's cute. Whenever the boys see a picture of him they tell me "That's my China baby! I like to play with that China baby!" Josh and I are excited and I'm relieved to know who this kid is! 

So now we wait some more for China to give us the official approval. Pre-approval is really just an acknowledgement that they have reviewed some very general information about us and they'll begin to track our paperwork with his. The official document we're looking for now is known as LOA (letter of approval) or LSC (letter seeking confirmation). This document can take up to 3 - 4 months, but we're holding out hope that it will come waaaaay more quickly than that. Once we have LOA, we can go back to US Immigration and get approval for this specific child, then take that document back to China and have a few little steps happen in the middle before we get Travel Approval... and then the Consulate Appointment... and then actual travel dates. 

We are still hoping and praying to leave for China before the end of the year. We are fully aware that this may be delusional and that it could be well into next year before we get to go... but hey, it doesn't hurt to pray, right? 

So, we are excited to be able to share his smooshy little face with you all, and we appreciate all your prayers and support as we continue the mind numbing process of waiting. In the meantime, I have to get working on a care package to send to him. Time to make another handprint shirt! And you? Well, if you haven't done so already, take a moment and wander on over to check out the fundraiser my sister has going for us! We've had a lot of good feedback on it, and she's busy as a little bee over there, tying hair ties and headbands and shipping them out. Every dollar helps bring us closer to that sweet little guy up there! 

And keep praying. We pray for expedience in the process, but that above all, God's will and timing will be done. We pray that he will continue to be cared for in the place where he is currently. And we pray for peace in this Momma's heart as the wait just got harder on a completely different level, now that there's a face to look at! 

** If you're wondering about the strange post title, it was my "secret code" for announcing that we had a match before I could give specifics. I realized after this post originally published that it probably didn't make sense to 99% of readers...