Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!  2012 is the year of the dragon and it officially kicked off in China on Monday, January 23.  The dragon is the only creature in the Chinese zodiac that is imaginary (others include the rat, tiger, rabbit, etc.).  In Chinese culture, the dragon represents power and courage.  The animal associated with your birth year is said to reveal a lot about your personality, but it is my hope that there is symbolism in the year of the dragon being the year we welcome our Chinese daughter into our family.  It is my prayer that the power and courage associated with the mythical dragon would be embodied in our daughter as she makes the huge transition to her own family, a new home, a new country, a new language, new foods, new smells...

Each day we are one step closer to having her in our arms and, while this is a day that we have longed for and anticipated for almost a year, I have to remind myself that we have the foresight to know that what we have for her...unconditional love, a forever family complete with a mommy, daddy and two sisters...is what is best for her.  But she has only ever known life in the orphanage, surrounded by her nannies, friends, familiar foods, familiar smells, a familiar language.  For Emalyn, the day we take her in our arms will be one of the most difficult and scary experiences of her life.  Until she learns that she can trust us, until she feels deep in her heart the unconditional love we will lavish on her, until she feels the bond to us that we already feel to her, she will grieve her former home and fear our family.  While we anticipate with great joy finally having her in our arms, we look forward to bringing her home and starting our life as a family of four, we look forward to creating memory after memory with her and never letting her go, we also acknowledge that we will be ripping her from everything she has ever known.  Please join us in praying that God would surround her with peace and comfort that only He can give and that He would prepare her heart for this journey.  We serve an amazing God and we pray that Emalyn would know His love today and forever.

Getting Closer

We received I-800 approval on January 2 and have been logged into the system with the National Visa Center (NVC).  Within just a few days the NVC will "cable" or email our file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China.  This is approval of our visa petition for Emalyn.

Once this step is complete we will receive a letter that will then begin the generation of our Article 5 letter.  Article 5 is a letter issued by the US Consulate in China stating that Emalyn's immigrant visa and all other paperwork is in order to finalize our adoption of her.  It takes exactly two weeks for them to issue this letter, however, in our case, Chinese New Year will fall during our two weeks, so we will likely wait 2 1/2 to 3 weeks for ours.  BUT, once Article 5 is complete and delivered to the CCCWA (China's Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) we begin the wait for TRAVEL APPROVAL (TA)!  This is the long awaited final step before booking our flights to China, jumping on a plane and bringing our sweet daughter home!

TA is also the step that could potentially be expedited in our case.  My doctor has requested that I be back home by March 3 or not travel, so please pray that, if it is God's will for me to travel to bring Emalyn home, He would move these mountains that stand in our way.  In order for there to even be a chance that I can travel, TA has to be expedited, so please pray that the person who receives the petition to expedite is sympathetic to our situation and sees pregnancy as a valid reason to grant TA quickly.

God is all over this and I know that He is soverign, so I have no doubt that however it works out is exactly how He always intended it to be.  With that said, I still want to be the first one to hold Emalyn and I don't want to give up those two weeks with her when I've already missed her first 20 months.  So, with that said, we covet your prayers as we enter this final phase and inch closer and closer to having Emalyn home!