DTC and LID!

Last Monday, January 16, our dossier was returned authenticated from the Chinese Consulate and the US State Department. Because our placing agency is SO awesome, our social worker had it uploaded into the CCCWA (China's Department that handles adoptions) website, and the hard copy FedEx-ed to Beijing the same day. At that point we were considered to be "DTC" or "Dossier/Documents to China."

The next step was a short one (praise the good Lord, because the step we are on now will be the longest waiting yet). As of yesterday, our dossier was logged into China's system (confirmed they received it and are starting the process of translating, reviewing, matching and issuing their final approval to adopt Caroline specifically). Our official Log-In Date (LID) is January 22. We now have to wait for China to send us our Letter of Acceptance- those are running anywhere from 40-100 days. Lets pray together for it to be closer to the 40 day window :)

Now we wait! Although we are glad we got logged in so quickly, we're also a little antsy since Chinese New Year is next week, and all of China (literally) is shut down from this Saturday, January 27-February the 4th. There will be NO movement on anything, so we're just hoping they don't get too backed up during this time.

In the meantime, we plan on starting to transition the big boys back into one room over the next couple of months, so we can also start working on transitioning Keegan's room into Caroline's room. I've entered full blown nesting stage, and I find myself wanting to organize like crazy. I'm organizing the linen closets, utility closets, storage room, etc. PS it's so much more fun nesting while adopting since you can move, and you feel just so much better overall than when you're pregnant.

So anyway, that's where we are.

We are also waiting on an update on Caroline, and hoping for some updated information and photos on our girl (we weren't allowed to request an update until our dossier was logged in). We were able to send 10 questions for the CCCWA to forward to her foster mom, and our fingers are crossed that nothing is lost in translation, and we are able to learn more about our sweet girl in preparation for bringing her home.

Thank you so much for joining us and for praying for us. We have seen our God do really big things in this adoption through your prayers and support, and we are confident that through His goodness, we will continue to see Him show up and do even more big things.

 

Psalm 68:5 "A Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling."

Our Baby Girl As a Baby and Where Do We Go From Here?

Hi, all!

Truth: this process is so much more enjoyable when we are not worrying about how we are going to come up with the remaining funding. Thank you so much again for your generosity towards our family. I've spent my spare time researching travel, and starting to participate in Facebook groups for China Adoptive Parents, and have even found a group that is for parents of children adopted from Caroline's specific SWI (China refers to the orphanages as Social Welfare Institutes).

Now, Caroline is actually in foster care, and has been since she was 7 months old, so she no longer lives in the SWI, but everything is routed through it, so the other parents in these groups have been such a tremendous gift to us- a total wealth of knowledge!

I started out by asking some general questions about her SWI's process for providing updates and how they respond. The thread took a turn, and I was directed to a volunteer with an amazing charity who had been on a trip in October of 2015 to Hangzhou (the capital city of the province that Caroline lives in), who thought that she may have met Caroline when visiting the nearby foster center that she would attend for daily therapy and school.

She requested some extra information from me, and told me she needed to verify some information with her contacts in China. I didn't want to pry- I didn't follow up at all (this is SO not me. I am the follow up Queen), and assumed that the photos she suspected were Caroline Grace were not.

Kris and I were over the moon when we received an email from this precious woman ten days later, not only confirming that the photos were of our daughter, but providing a small update from her physical therapist in regards to her current condition.... "SMART" :) Talk about a tear-filled moment. We started this process knowing that there were SO MANY UNKNOWNS in her medical file. Her condition could vary tremendously. Per her therapist in country, "This girl is smart" and is on track developmentally.

WHAT?!

Now, let me step back and say, I take that as an amazing update, however, I am also aware that adoption is painful- this little girl has experienced tremendous loss in her little life, and will face even more loss in the near future. I'm 100% expecting her to grieve HARD. Why wouldn't she? Any child who experiences what she will experience has the right to grieve. So we're just anticipating that. We're also anticipating that perhaps, other medical/developmental things may come up in the future, but it's such a joy to know that right now, she's doing well... We didn't even REQUEST this update, it literally just popped into our email inbox, along with FIFTEEN BABY PICTURES OF OUR GIRL!

Friends, this is such a huge deal to me. Something in my soul LOVES roots so much. I love to know who I am, where I came from, and to feel rooted. I want that for Caroline more than anything- but that's just not the nature of International adoption. But God has gone and done it again, and despite what the nature of the process is, has provided her a bit more history.

In addition to the baby pictures, this amazing volunteer sent me tons of pictures of her foster center, her friends, the neighborhood she lives in, etc. I've started a scrap book, and it's such a feeling of euphoria to flip through these photos and feel a bit closer to our Caroline. As corn-ball-y as it sounds, I just kept hearing Luke 2:19- "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart," as these emails from a stranger started pouring into my inbox. I wish that this woman knew the enormity of the gift she has given our family by providing our daughter with history and context in the midst of so much unknown.

AH! How I wish I could have been there to squish those precious little eleven month old cheeks!!!!!! I have more pictures of her smiling that I wish I could share publically, but there are other people in them- and for confidentiality purposes I cannot share yet. BUT SERIOUS, GUYS. THOSE CHEEKS.

Lastly- I've had some people reach out to find out what comes next in this process, so I wanted to give a quick break down:

1. Currently all of the documents for our dossier are being authenticated by the US State Department and the Chinese Consulate. Lord willing, they will be complete this Friday, or next Monday, and our agency has advised that as soon as they receive them back from the courier, they will send everything off to China the same day!

2. In adoption "lingo" that is "DTC" or Dossier to China. It will be uploaded document by document electronically in the CCCWA's system, and will also be FedEx-ed to China.

3. The dossier has to be "logged in" by China. This takes anywhere from 7-10 days. Once it's logged in you are considered to have a "LID" or "Log-in Date."

4. Now we will wait for our Letter of Acceptance from China, which can take anywhere from 40-100 days. It's currently averaging approximately 60 days from LID to LOA.

5. Once we receive our LOA, we will have to file one more immigration application to adopt Caroline specifically. Supposedly this takes approximately 2-3 weeks. Next we have to file for Visa's. This can take another few weeks. Once we receive all of this we will send everything back to China.

Next we have to have our Article 5 dropped off at the US Consulate in China. I don't even know what that is, actually, but I know we have to do it :)

Then, we wait for TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!

Once we obtain travel approval, we will schedule our appointment at the consulate in China, and schedule our trip around it. "Gotcha Day" will be approximately two weeks BEFORE the consulate appointment.

My wrists are tingling and I'm getting all excited just typing it.

Thanks for sticking with me for the world's longest post. Will you continue to pray for our family through this process? We are specifically praying that God would prepare Caroline to come home- that He would guard her heart and protect her spirit, and continue to heal her body. Would you also pray that our family would be prepared for another family member?

These are such exciting times, and it's overwhelming and such an honor to have you journeying with us.