I800 Approval!!!

We received our I800 approval in the mail today.  Our actual approval date is last Thursday, 6/21/2012.  It is always nice to get mail from the Department of Homeland Security.

We also found out that CAWLI got some referrals last week.  So that means there is a possibility that we will traveling with a group.  The timing would have to work out just right but it is definitely in the realm of possibility.  Traveling with a group would also mean the possibility of having a doctor traveling with us.  This would not be possible if we were traveling solo.  Love to start the week with good news.

If anyone from CAWLI that got a recent referral reads this blog please leave a comment.  Would love to know more info regarding what province you are traveling to and when you expect to travel.

Progress

Lots of progress last week.  We emailed the USCIS a couple weeks ago regarding the status of our I800 application and we were told that she was not in the office but would be back to processes our application.  Umm....not good.   We emailed again last week and were told that our application was approved and we should have it in hand this week.  Woohoo!!!

We also sent in our VISA applications into the consulate with a courier.  Should be a couple weeks until we get our passports back but no big deal as we won't be traveling that soon.  Baby steps but we are getting there.

Reality

I came home the other day and stopped in my tracks when I saw this sitting in our basement.

Apparently there was a sale at Target.  Are we really going to be dealing with diapers and stuff in a few short months....yep, we are.

Cameron's Nursery

Jen has been nesting a bit lately so that means lots of shopping to get Cameron's room ready.  We converted  Grace's old bed back to a crib so we luckily have no new furniture to buy,  We still need a couple pictures for the walls but it is mostly done.

We Got LOA!!!

We got an email from our agency yesterday that they have received our Letter of Approval.  This is the longest and most variable step in the process so it is great to have it out of the way.  We need to now sign our LOA and send it back to China.  We also need to send it into the US immigration service with our application to bring Cameron home.

So we are on track to travel some time around September as long as everything else goes smoothly.  Moving right along!!!!

Four Year Family Day Anniversary

Saturday marked 4 years since the day we became a family.  To celebrate we got together with 8 of the families from our travel group.  Always great to see these girls playing happily together.

Dance Recital

This weekend was Grace's dance recital.  She performed in two dances, tap and ballet.  Both outfits were bright pink much to her delight.  I don't think I will ever get used to the whole dance school thing and all that goes along with it but Jen and Grace seem to enjoy it.  

Sunday Snapshot

For the past 12 weeks I have been taking a photography class at our local college.  It was a bit more work than I expected but at the end of it I think I can call myself a better photographer.  Our final project for the class was an environmental portrait.  For this project we were supposed to tell something about the subject by relating them to their environment.

For this portrait we went to the Yin Yu Tang house at the Peabody Essex Museum.  I wanted to put Grace in a Chinese environment for the portrait and the Yin Yu Tang house was perfect for this project.  It is a late Qing dynasty merchant house that was originally located in Anhui China.  The house has been  removed from China and re-erected at the Peabody Essex museum.    

I took a bunch of shots for this project but this one had the most feeling to it.

Cam's Party Pics

What a great early Mother's day present for Jen!!!  We received some pics of Cameron's birthday party.  His foster mom is holding him in all of the pics and he appears to be enjoying some cake.  In the last picture he is holding the picture we sent over.  Just what we needed to get us through the next few months of waiting.

Happy 1st Birthday Cameron !!!

Tomorrow is Cameron's 1st birthday which he will have to celebrate without us.  We ordered a birthday package from Ann at Red Thread China.  It included a cake, a family picture and stuffed animal for Cameron and candies and dried fruit for the nannies.  Also a card, a translated letter and a camera so hopefully we will at least have some pictures of his first birthday.  Ann sent us the picture below of the package.

We celebrated his birthday at home today with Grace and some cupcakes.  Grace sang, Jen cried and I took pictures.  A bit of a somber day for us but we know we are getting closer to bringing our little guy home.

Video below of Grace singing Happy Birthday to Cameron.

Update on Cameron

Jen emailed our agency last week asking if it would be possible to get some information on Cameron.  Today we recieved the below pictures as well as updated information!!!   He still seems to refuse to smile, I guess making him smile will be Grace's first job as a big sister.  We think he is quite a cute little guy.

Next Steps

The big question everyone keeps asking us is "When will you travel to bring Cameron Home?"  We know the remaining steps in the process and the approximate time that each of these steps take so the best we can do is guess...

Right now we are waiting for our  Letter of Acceptance from the Chinese government..  Most websites out there say it takes 1 - 3 months to get your LOA.  Our agency told us we should get it in 1 - 2 months.  We hope they are right.  We have been waiting almost a month and this is the longest of our remaining steps in the process, so we should be almost half-way there.

After we get LOA we send our I800 form to the USCIS.  The I800 is the petition to classify an adoptee as an immediate relative.  They well send us a I800 approval in about 3 weeks.  Once we get our I800 approval the USCIS will send our approval to the National Visa Center who will then forward it along to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China.  The consulate will then send us an approval of our Visa petition.  This process should take around 3 weeks.

Once we get our NVC letter, we sign it and return it to our agency, their employees in China will drop the letter off as the US Embassy in Guangzhou.  Who will then issue our Article 5 is a pre-approval for immigrant Visa.  Our agency will then have the article 5 sent to the China Center for Adoption Affairs.  This step should tale 2- 3 weeks.

The final step in the process is Travel Approval which we should get 2 - 4 weeks after the CCAA gets our Article 5.  Once we get travel approval our agency will book our flights and hotels which should happen 4 - 6 weeks after we get Travel Approval.

Seems like a lot of steps but it should seem pretty speedy compared to our two and a half year wait to adopt Grace.  Based on the above, if everything goes as planned, we should be able to travel in early to mid fall.  We were really hoping to travel this summer so we don't have to take Grace out of school for 2+ weeks but that probably isn't going to happen. 

Keep your finger crossed for us that we don't hit any major slowdowns this time around.

Shangrao, Jiangxi China

We were pretty excited when we learned that Cameron is from Jiangxi Province.  While it would have been fun to explore another of China's provinces it will be nice to stay somewhere somewhat familiar.  We assume that when we travel we will be staying in the provincial capital of Nanchang, possibly in the same hotel where we stayed when we adopted Grace.

If you look at the below map Nanchang is in the north, just west of center.  Shangrao is about 160 miles to the east (circled in blue) and Yifeng, where Grace is from, is about 80 miles to the west (circled in pink).  Even though it is a long trip we have read stories of other adoptive parents that have traveled to the Social Welfare Institute where their children lived while in China.   If we are able to we will definitely try to visit although it is probably unlikely.  We were not able to visit Grace's SWI while we in China so since it is a shorter trip we may try to see if we can fit in a trip there.

A little bit about Shangrao according to wikipedia....Shangrao is a medium sized prefecture level city with a population of 6.5 million according to the 2010 census. 



Shangrao is also known for Mount Sanqing which is a renowned Taoist mountain known for its beautiful scenery.  Some pics below.

Introducing Cameron to Grace

We had to catch Grace's reaction to seeing her little brother's picture on camera.  Her reaction was a bit understated but still pretty cute.

Surprise!!!!!

Yes, there is a very good reason that we have not posted on the blog for a while.  We have been getting ready for our son.  His Chinese name is Rao Xi Ping.  We will call him Cameron Arthur Xi Ping.  He is 11 months old and is currently living  in Shangrao City, Jiangxi.  The same province that Grace is from!  We hope to be traveling to get him late summer or early fall.  Grace is very excited to be a big sister and to return to China.

I will post more info and details in coming days and weeks.

February Vacation

Been a little while since my last post.  We've been busy with this and that, the blog seems to have taken a back seat.  I will try to be better about posting more frequently.  This week Jen and Grace are on vacation.  They took a special mommy and daughter trip into Boston.  Jen put together a little scavenger hunt for Grace with a big surprise.  Video below.

Oh yes, We Have Christmas Costumes Too

Busy weekend.  Jen and I are just getting over colds that kept us out of work a couple days last week.  But we were feeling a bit better by Saturday so we met up with the Shahs for an afternoon at the Nutcracker.  Grace was completely impressed.  Sunday was spent decorating the tree and the house.  Grace donned the above attire for the occasion.

2011 School Pictures

We weren't planning to have Grace's school pictures done this year but we are glad we decided to at the last minute since they came out really cute.  She is looking more and more like a big girl every day.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Ummm Yeah, we watch the Wizard of Oz...alot.  Grace manages to put her own spin on the song though.

Not So Halloween

Got a little bit of snow up here so they postponed Halloween until Wednesday.  Didn't stop Gracie from putting on her Annie costume for a quick photoshoot.