Mixing up a "1" and a "0" Adoption Update!

Our lives have been rocked and awed by God in the last 24 hours. Panic, worry, peace, and joy... we have felt it all. 

BUT first I should back up a step.  Last Tuesday (10-20) we got a wonderful from our case manager at USCIS/National Benefit Center (NBC) saying that our I-800 had been approved.  We received a hard copy at our home on Friday and were very thankful to have made it to another milestone in this adoption. 

We began pestering the National Visa Center (NVC) on Sunday night hoping to get an email that we had a "GUZ number" and then a "PDF" that our paperwork had been cabled to China. On Monday we learned that we had a GUZ number and yesterday (Tuesday 10-27) we got the great news that our paperwork had been cabled to China.  Wow!  The first stage of the process that appeared to go exactly like clockwork. 

Sadly, it wasn't exactly perfect.  About the same time we received the PDF email our caseworker at our agency called us and emailed us and informed us that all was not perfect in our adoption paperwork.  Apparently our I-800 had a mistake.  I-800's can't have mistakes.  We didn't notice it because it was such an obvious mistake that we didn't see it.  Our daughter's birth year was listed as 2102... not 2012.  Two mixed up numbers... Our hearts were crushed.  Had we noticed it several days earlier the NBC could have sent it to the NVC with little worry.  However, our documents were already sent to China. I know this sounds like such a tiny thing that we shouldn't even care, but in Intl adoption, tiny is HUGE.

Thanks to an incredible agency, before we even knew what was going on our case worker contacted the NBC and had them issue a new copy of the 800 to the NVC (electronic) and a paper copy to us and to our agency.  I then emailed the NVC informing them that an email would be coming and that they should look for it and did they need anything else.  This morning we received a vague email back and didn't really know what it meant.  Then we sent another email and this time we got the response we were looking for.  All has been fixed.  The NVC sent the updated document to China.  Thank you God! 

So where are we now?
Well, amazingly our Article 5 was able to be dropped off today and is scheduled to be picked up on December 12th.  12/12/12 will be an easy date to remember. This is great news!  If you are looking at the adoption timeline on the left sidebar you will notice that there are not many steps left after Article 5 pick up!!!! 

The next step after pick up is TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!  We are so excited to be at this point. 
 Hopefully we will be issued TA in 2012 and we will be able to travel in January of 2013!!!

Why the last 24 hours was so stressful and... great:
The last 24 hours were made extra stressful as I was battling a nasty stomach bug and head cold.  I am pretty sure hummus that sat out too long was to be blamed.  M also has a cold.  We don't have internet at home (until the 3oth) so all the checking on emails etc had to be done at church.  Feeling sicky and out of sorts and running back and forth to church (and the bathroom:) didn't make for a fun day.

The timeline also made things extra stressful.  It is critical to get TA on Christmas week or before if we want to travel at our desired time in January.  Chinese New Year is on February 10th, but everything in China gets a little crazy for weeks before it and after it.  If we don't get to travel in January we won't get to until late February or even March.  Also the airfare SKYROCKETS before/during/and after Chinese New Year.

BUT God is faithful!  I am so thankful for all the hardships of the last 24 hours because it has surely reminded us Who is in control.  We have had to relinquish control over and over again.  We have prayed as a family.  We have asked for pray from those near to us.  We have seen God show up in every single area.  We feel humbled and blessed and so filled with joy.  God surely is in the details friends! 

As we move forward we continue to covet your prayers.  We are requesting if it be God's Will that we would get our TA and CA before Christmas.  We believe it is able to happen and we trust that even if it doesn't God is faithful.  We are praying some Faith Like Potatoes prayers here friends.  Thank you for being a part of our journey.