It's Picture Time!

The LOA wait is over! On Thursday the 7th we received our Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC or LOA) from China. This was such exciting news, because officially (paperwork and all) China has approved Phil and I to adopt Micah!!! The letter is just for us to confirm that we still want to. Well, that letter was signed and sent back to our agency within 30 minutes of receiving it.:) 

Because China has now approved us to adopt Micah, I can FINALLY publicly show everyone how stinkin’ adorable he is!!!

I can hardly stand it! I just can't wait to hold this little guy in my arms!

I know what you are thinking. So what happens next and how long will it take? As I understand it, these are the remaining steps:

I-800: 3-4 weeks
On Thursday afternoon, our case worker received our signed LSC and sent this along with our previously completed I-800 application, to the U.S. immigration office (USCIS). Two to three weeks after they receive our application, it will be approved and forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC), who will in-turn send the approval to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. 

Article 5: 10 days
When we receive the letter from the NVC stating this has taken place, we will complete Micah’s online “Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application” and send the confirmation form to our agency. At that point the agency will send our NVC letter and visa application confirmation form to the US Consulate. After they review these documents (taking approx.10 days) they will issue our Article 5 Letter and agency letter seeking confirmation.

Final Travel Notice: 2-4 weeks
When the Article 5 and agency LSC documents are ready, a representative from our agency will pick them up and express mail them to the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) in Beijing. Then the CCCWA will issue our Final Notice of Traveling to China for Adoption!!

Travel To China: 2-3 weeks later
After we get our travel notice it will finally be time to buy plane tickets and receive our travel itinerary.

This all means that we will, barring any unforeseen delays, travel in October TO GO GET OUR SON!!! I don’t think I can express how excited I am! 

This also means that we only have 9-12 weeks to raise $9,500 more for travel costs! (Eeek!)

Fundraising: 
Our Thirty-One Fundraiser that ENDS TOMORROW. So if you are planning to purchase an item please get those orders in ASAP! See the Facebook event for details or check out https://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx
Thank you Amanda Pruitt for generously offering to help us bring Micah home!

We have applied for several more grants and are waiting for those to be processed. We are also still planning a live auction event though we have hit some bumps in the road while attempting to find a venue. We may have to scale it down a bit, but it will happen!

Micah’s family sponsorship grant with Reece’s Rainbow will remain open for donations until we travel. These donations are tax deductible.
http://reecesrainbow.org/76440/sponsorbrangers

If you feel lead to help fund our adoption we will be forever grateful! 

Prayer Requests:
Please be praying that our adoption continues to move smoothly. Also pray that our fundraisers are a success, and that God continues to work in those around us to make a way to overcome the financial barriers associated with our adoption!