LOA Day!

Our LOA was overnighted to us and arrived Monday!! We signed it, added our I800 application, some other paperwork, more copies of our passport and Randy took it right back to be overnighted back to our agency. They received it Tuesday morning and then they overnighted it straight to USCIS (Homeland Security). We should hear from them in about 2 weeks that they got it, and then get our approval from them shortly after. Exciting day!

To celebrate getting our LOA, Randy and I decided we should go out for Chinese food. This was our first time to eat Chinese food as a family! We had heard of a great place in Angleton but had never been there, so we decided to try that Monday night. It was delicious - we'll definitely be back! Michelle went with us, so we all took some pictures. :)

 

 

 And here is our official Letter of Acceptance from China! So, so exciting to be here!!

Letter of Acceptance!!!

We got a very exciting call Friday morning - our Letter of Acceptance from China arrived at our agency's office in Birmingham!! This is a huge, huge step and one we have been waiting for since we submitted our Letter of Intent to adopt Li Xiaofei, or as we are calling her around here lately, Baby Calli Fei Fei. :) Here are a few questions we have been asked lately and some answers.

What does the LOA mean?
It means that as far as the Chinese government is concerned, Li Xiaofei is no longer an orphan (!), but a part of the Dane family.  She will officially become our little girl 24 hours after she is placed in our arms, but this is as close as we will get before going over to China. 

So what happens now?
Before we sent our dossier to China, there was a step in there where we filled out a form called the I800a and sent it to USCIS (Homeland Security). We then got the approval back from them to bring an orphan from China home to our family. The next step now that we have the Letter of Acceptance is to send that letter along with another form, the I800, back to USCIS. They will take the original approval and then match it up with this LOA approval from China and match Li Xiaofei to our family. This allows her to be a part of our family and to be a US citizen upon her arrival home.

Another thing that happens now is that our agency requests a final update on Calli!! They will request new pictures as well as updated measurements so we can make sure we know what size clothes to bring for her. We are super excited about this step! We have only had the initial referral pictures and then the pictures we got in mid-December, so we are super, super pumped about new pictures to look at a million times a day!
When do we go get her? 
Our agency estimates that from getting your LOA to travel is about 10-12 weeks. Most of the adoptive parents who are in China now went from LOA to travel in about 2 months.  But, with Chinese New Year coming in a week and a half, that probably won't be the case for us. That puts us traveling around early April, probably.  We hope to get in and out and miss the trade fair in Guangzhou, which starts April 15.  Prices for everything, including hotels, nearly double during that time. That might not be possible, but that is our hope (and something you can be praying with us about!).

When will we have exact dates?To me, this is still the weirdest thing. Believe it or not, we will not know EXACTLY when we are going until about a week before we hop on a plane.  We will start to get a rough idea, but will not know exactly until we get a call that we have travel approval.  Then they will give us some rough dates and request a consulate appointment.  Then we will get a date, rush through some travel arrangements and be on our way.  Our agency arranges everything within China and we generally travel with a group, but getting there and back is on our own.

How can you be praying?
- As I mentioned, please pray about the timing of our trip. We would love to leave early April so we are in and out of Guangzhou before the trade fair and before prices for everything go up. We are trusting God for his timing on this!
- Pray for our sweet Calli Fei Fei. We are praying that God goes before us and prepares her heart to become part of our family. She turns 17 months old on Thursday the 31st, and will not have any idea as to what is happening to her. People always say that orphans are so lucky to get out of the orphanage and be part of a family and yes, she is absolutely very blessed, but she is also going to lose everything she knows, the language, the food, the smell, her crib, the only people she knows.  Pray that even now her caregivers can somehow prepare her for the changes coming her way and that she will be ready for us when we come.
- Pray for our family and for the girls as we prepare for this big adjustment to a family of 5. We are praying about Calli's attachment and for the girls as they welcome a new sister to our family. They pray for Calli every day and are so excited for her to come but this will be a big adjustment for everyone!

We're so thankful to be able to share our excitement with our friends and family. Thanks for following along and for celebrating and praying with us!! I wish this post had some new pictures with it, but hopefully we will have some soon!!