We got our LOA!!!!!

We got our Letter of Acceptance on Thursday!!!!  That means, China has official approved us to adopt her.  We still need to file some paperwork with US Immigration that will approve Ava to immigrate to the US. But getting this LOA is a huge step.  We got the phone call as we were on our way to Minneapolis, we didn't get back until yesterday, so I couldn't post until now.  Hoping to travel by sometime in April, but only time will tell.  We are so excited about this, but now that it's coming down to the wire, we've got A LOT to do including....

Collin will be having leg straightening surgery on 3/1.  We knew he needed the surgery, but didn't quite plan on it happening so soon.  I called on 2/18 to schedule surgery.  They said they had just received a cancellation for 3/1 otherwise, we'd have to wait until 7/14.... So, for many reasons we decide to go for the 3/1 opening.  Please keep Collin in your thoughts and prayers, I will post about his progress here too.

We took the trip up to Minneapolis to talk to an Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Perra, about Brian's back.  He's had problems with spinal stenosis for the last several years.  We went expecting to hear that Brian needed surgery too, but thankfully, the doc thinks we can hold off for now, he suggests another epidural injection to help with the pain and numbness he is experiencing currently. Please keep Brian in your thoughts and prayers too.


There are 2 bedrooms to finish too.  We added a bedroom in the basement for Collin.  All that needs is carpeting and then Collin can move into his "man cave"... although, Collin will be healing from his surgery for the next 3 - 4 months, so getting downstairs may be a bit challenging.  Time will tell.  If Collin can't get downstairs, we've decided that Shannon will just take his room until he can get down there.  Plus, we have to do Ava's room (Collin's old room).  We have all that we need for her room, just need to paint it and set everything up.

And then there's all the prep for the trip to China too....................wow, good thing I thrive on busy-ness and chaos!  Ha-ha!

Here's another sweet picture of Ava! We've been told she's rather girly and loves pretty things. I can't wait to find the perfect 1st dress for her to wear once she becomes ours. I began the search for just such dress last week. No such luck yet. I'm sure I'll find it.

And FINALLY a Log In Date!!

I just got the call about an hour ago, China FINALLY let our agency know that our dossier Log In Date was January 17, 2011!!!! That came just in time, because over there, they are about to start celebrating Chinese New Year and when that happens, government offices shut down for several weeks. Now we just have to wait for our LOA/Letter of Acceptance!!! Once we have that, we will be officially approved to adopt Ava!!

Our dossier is on its way to CHINA!!!!

We are so excited over here, because our dossier, which is all our important paper work that China has asked us to provide (birth and marriage certificates, health forms, employment info, etc) is on its way to China! Now, the count down to our dossier log in date begins and then we count down the days until we get our LOA or Letter of Acceptance! Yay!!!

I-800A Approved!

We just got our I-800A approval notice via email!! Now we just have to get a photocopy of it and then have it notarized, certified by the WI Sec. of State and authenticated by the China Consulate in Chicago.

I love this song and video.... enjoy, oh and grab a tissue! Oh, and I suggest, scrolling down toward the bottom of the blog to the music player. A song will start automatically but if you click on the arrow (triangle on it's side...) button, you can pause the song to listen and watch the video.

Another ICC video with a glimpse of Ava in it

I cannot believe how blessed we have been to receive so many glimpses of our little Ava since starting this journey!  This is another video that has been broadcast by International China Concern, it was created and performed by a group named "The Steels" to bring attention to the orphans in Heng Yang and Changsa China.  If you've watched some of the other videos I've posted by ICC, you may recognize this song from before.

Miss Ava appears for a few seconds starting at 2:45!  She looks sad......... :-( which breaks our hearts!

Our USCIS Application is still in the works.  The application has been there since Oct. 8th.  Our fingerprint appointments were set for Nov. 16th, but going on the advice of two wonderful people "in the know", we attempted a walk-in appointment on Oct 26th (Which just so happens to be Brian's birthday!).  To our pleasant surprise, it worked and although one of the officers there gave us a bit of an attitude, we were in, fingerprinted and on our way home within 45 minutes!  Unfortunately, a week or so later, I made my 1st call to USCIS to find out my finger prints failed.  I went back again as a walk in and unfortunately, those prints failed too.  I called USCIS again, this time, I was able to speak to our caseworker. She told me that when the fingerprint attempts fail twice, they now have a new procedure.  All I needed to do was obtain police background reports for the past 5 years.  That was pretty easy.  We overnighted the reports to her last week and so we know our officer began processing our application last week too.  I just wish this part of the process would go a BIT quicker!