It is March! We are really hoping to travel in April, so to be just one month away is super exciting to us! I thought I would give a quick update as to what's going on with our paperwork.
We received notification on February 13 that our second round of immigration paperwork was approved. This approval was titled "Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative." Love that! It was specific for us and for Li Xiao Fei so we are matched now in the eyes of Homeland Security.
Next that approval went to the National Visa Center, they put it with some other forms and then cabled it to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, where Calli's visa will be issued when we finalize her adoption there!
Once it got to the consulate, then our Article 5 drop-off happened. (I'm still not sure where it was dropped off and where it is picked up - this step is confusing to me). The Article 5 is an official document from the US Embassy that lets the CCCWA (the child welfare agency in China that oversees all adoptions) know that Calli's paperwork for her visa is good to go. Our scheduled pick-up date for that is next Tuesday, March 12. Once we get that, then we will wait for the CCCWA to give us our travel approval!
Travel approvals are taking anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks to come. We are certainly praying for the shortest amount of time! Once we get our travel appointment, we'll request a consulate appointment date, get confirmation of that, and then book our flights! We'll hopefully fly out just a week or two after we get our consulate appointment.
So in summary: (you're welcome) :)
Article 5 pick up (next Tuesday)
Travel Approval and Consulate Appointment (hopefully just 2-3 weeks)
Travel! (1-2 weeks after that)
We are still hoping to leave that first week of April, but we'll see! Not sure about avoiding the trade fair at this point, but we know God has that all in his hands.
And the biggest thing we're still waiting on: an update on Calli!!! Our agency has requested it but so far we haven't seen it. We are just so wanting to see new pictures and get her measurements. The last pictures we have of her are from mid-December. Praying that update comes this week!
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