A Diagram to Dissect

If you've ever wanted to understand the complicated process that comes along with Chinese adoptions, go ahead and try to understand this diagram! On Tuesday, we drove an hour up to our agency to sign the hard copy of our Letter of Acceptance from China. So we just finished Step 9, sending our LOA and I-800. Before being matched, we completed the I-800A, which approved us to adopt a child within the age limits and special needs we specified. The I-800 now approves us to adopt our specific child. It'll take two weeks to get approved, and then we can move on to the next step.

Assuming all of our remaining steps go smoothly, we are looking at an Adoption Day of January 9 or January 16. Families usually receive their children on a Sunday and there is a 24-hour "harmonious period." After that, you sign papers making the child officially yours on a Monday. We NEED to hit one of these dates or we run into Chinese New Year closures, which would mean we wouldn't get our girl until February. I'm getting over the fact that we won't be there by her birthday, mostly because I've heard flight prices are double during that time period versus when it looks like we'll be traveling!

In the meanwhile, we can start researching flight and hotel options, though nothing can be booked until we have Travel Approval (TA) and a Consulate Appointment (CA). The exciting news is that I've been in touch with our in-country coordinator via an app called WeChat, and we will hopefully have some updated pictures and videos soon. We haven't quite decided when/how we'll be sharing pictures online (and her name!), as we may tie it into the ending of our puzzle fundraiser. So stay tuned!

Signing our LOA...can you tell Zack had a fever of 102 degrees here?