LOA/LSC!!!!!!

Wow God!!!!!!!  Each day I would ask Him what His plan was for our adoption and if we would hear soon and sometimes I asked him if we were still surely in the process as it all seemed so silent.  Well, on October 31st we received our Letter Of Acceptance or Letter Seeking Confirmation.  Thanks be to God!!!!!   I know He heard every prayer and surely we will see one day that his timing was perfect. We had been waiting 92 days for the beautiful voice of our case worker on the other end of the phone.  Since I am still living in the early 90's when it comes to technology she was calling us on our land line without caller ID so I had to endure through seemingly 100's of political calls while waiting for "THE CALL." I was actually putting M down for his nap when the call came in.  I didn't hear it, but listened to a message that simply told me to call our agency.  Honestly, while I deeply hoped that the LOA was the news my heart was beating so rapidly thinking that maybe YQ was ill or something was wrong with our documents.  My fears were gone instantly when we learned of the good news. 

After crying for a minute with our case worker and trying to listen to "next steps" while jumping up and down I called Brandon.  He quickly printed off a copy of the LOA and brought it home.  We both signed it and scanned it and sent it right back to our agency.  Within minutes or getting the news our LOA along with our 800 application were in the mail on the way to the USCIS lockbox.  How thrilling!   So thankful that our agency does this as it shaves a day or two off of our wait... and every day counts.

So, what is next?  Well, to be honest... it is all a little confusing for me right now.  I will tell you what I have been told, but for other adoptive families reading this don't take my word for the accuracy of the following steps :)

1. Get 800 approval from the USCIS
2. 800 approval sent to National VISA Center (NVC)
3. NVC issues a letter
4. NVC letter Cabled to China
5. Article 5 drop off
6. Article 5 pick up
7. Travel approval
8. Schedule a consulate appointment
9. GO TO CHINA!!!!

Sadly, even within these nine steps are many other smaller steps.  The good news is that steps 1-6 are typically completed in about 6 weeks.  Step 7 is very unpredictable with a range of time from 1-4 weeks. Step 8 takes only a few days to schedule.  Many families travel just a week or two after scheduling their consulate appointment. 

So, what does this actually mean, right?  Well, we are hoping to travel in early January!!!!

In other exciting news, we requested a update on YQ just last week and we already got a response.  Not only did we get a small response to some of our questions, we also got 3 new photos!  This is such a huge answer to prayer and we were prepared to wait a long time or to not get any at all. 

I am sorry to say that we are again not sharing any photos of our daughter until she is in our arms, but if you see us you can stop us and ask to see the new photos!  

Here is a little news about our daughter at 81/2 months:
She weighs 15 pounds
She is 26 inches long.
Her head circumference is 16.14inches.

She is also apparently only sleeping 9 hours a night... yikes.  Please join us in praying for a super sleeper.  

In case you were wondering how this compares to big brother... at 9 months:
M weighed 11 pounds.
M was 23'6" inches
M's head circ was 16.7

God loves adoption!!!!