New Photos

Found a couple new photos today. Looks like Grace and some of the other chidlren at the Angel House took a trip to the zoo! Lord thank you so much for loving her well for us. I do have to laugh at this picute though - I think my girl can handle her own don't you?

Received Our NVC Letter Today!

Great news - we received our NVC letter today. Basically this means our approvals have been sent to the US Consulate in China. Our adoption agency will send all our needed documents to their office in China; then they will hand deliver them to the Consulate. This is only done on Mondays and Thursdays, so at this point looks like our documents will go on Thursday, 4/29, then we wait approximatly 2 weeks for our Article 5 - our final approval before we get our travel approval...hurry hurry hurry!

Visas and Care Package

Well today we mailed off for our VISAs. We should have them back in about a week. Another box, check!

We also mailed off Grace's final care package. Thinking this will be the final package we mail to her before we hold her in our arms!

We are getting closer with each passing day and are counting down til we have our baby girl. Thinking we are about 8 weeks away!

Cabled Today...

Another check on the list! Today we found out our paperwork with Grace's visa approval has been cabled to Guangzhou, China to the American Consulate. Now we are waiting to get the letter from the NVC (National Visa Center) in writing to confirm this. Hopefully we will have that within the week.

I-800A and I-800 Provisional Approval Received!!!

Well today we got our updated immigration paperwork (I-800A) so we are good now from that stand point to travel to China. Our current paperwork is due to expire in May 2010 so this will carry us through 2011 -plenty of time!

We also received our I-800 Provisional Approval! This means the US Consulate has approved Grace to come to the United States. Our Provisional Approval was dated 4-14-10. (We had a scare here where our file was being revoked and our adoption agency will need to solicit information from the orphanage and supply it to the investigator and it could take days to weeks...after many tears, I mean like 4 hours - and finally falling on my face before God and proclaiming my promise from God for Grace and not seeing this as a problem but an opportunity for God to show his power! I tell you folks there is power in this ....less than 24 hours later, I got a call saying the investigator now says he is approving your file, he was out of his jurisdiction and had no right to revoke it! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, who does this ...who can explain this???? Only God can do this! Now I just have to learn to step into this place with him and walk in faith from the get go and not let the enemy play with me and break me down for hours before I crawl to the throne room of my GOD! I'm just saying...can anyone relate?)

I called the NVC (National Visa Center) today and they also received our file from the US Consulate in Washington. I will check back in 72 hours to verify it has been cabled to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Will keep you posted...

Getting closer...still looking like we are tracking for travel early June...keep praying folks! We want to be there as soon as possible!

Fingerprint Appointment Today

Guy and I had our fingerprints done today. This is the final step in the process to get our immigration paperwork updated. Our paperwork currently expires in mid-May so we want to make sure we renew it so that our paperwork is current when we travel to China to get Grace. One more box we can check off the list. Now we wait on the updated immigration papers which should come in the next 2-3 weeks.

We are still eagerly awaiting our I-800 Provisional Approval, our next step in the paperwork trail we have to go through before traveling to China. We anticipate an approval in the next day or two and should receive the notification within the week. The waiting is hard! Hard day for me here, just frustrated....those that know me know that I don't wait very well. I know I have waited over 3 years but now we are so close and have seen my daughter and the wait is harder!

Update on Grace Today

We got a precious new picture of Grace today. We also got some updated measurements...she is beautiful and very healthy as you can see. I have plotted her on the US growth chart for girls, 37% for height and 92% for weight...love it! I just want to squeeze her. I know they are not her mommy there ..but the are loving her well and taking care of her until I can get there and I am thankful for that!