Journey to Harris Five: June 2017

Just a quick update because things are happening! We received our I-800 immigration approval last Friday, so I emailed the National Visa Center and they were able to send me the case numbers I needed to complete Ellie's immigrant Visa application. I was able to complete this on Monday because it wasn't ready in their system until then. So then I emailed once a day, everyday until they sent a PDF copy of the letter they sent to the US consulate in Guangzhou. It was nerve wracking just waiting for this one email for days. We finally got it today! So this means Article 5 drop off will be tomorrow! They only do drop offs on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, so we're SO thankful it doesn't have to wait until next week! The nice and terrible part about Article 5 is that it always takes 10 business days. So we don't have to wait not knowing when it will come, but we won't be pleasantly surprised with it being done early either.

What is an Article 5?

"Article 5: A courier will pick up the Article 5 (final approval that every duck is in a row and quacking) from the US Embassy and deliver it to CCCWA. The Article 5 lets CCCWA know that you are approved by the US government to adopt that specific child/ren and have appropriately jumped through every hoop and paid every fee our two governments could think of. After this step CCCWA issues TA." - Waiting Child Info

See the part at the end where it says CCCWA issues TA? That roughly translates to: China says "Come get Ellie!" We're so close!! Travel Approval (TA) takes anywhere from a couple days to two weeks, so we are literally only about FIVE weeks away from boarding the plane to bring our girl HOME!

Time to start getting her room ready!

Ellie's doll. I love that it has a limb difference like Ellie. I ordered it on Etsy from justplainbeckyw. She makes fully customizable dolls and is very easy to work with!

Happy Birthday to Ellie! Ellie's first birthday was this past week, and we have been celebrating! When we were in Greensboro Memorial Day weekend we had dinner with my family and they decided to have a little party to celebrate Ellie turning one. Our other festivities for the week included going to the zoo and having another cake on her birthday. We were able to send Ellie a "birthday party" in China! It looks like she had a great party! Ellie's birthday held mixed feelings for me. I was sad that it was her birthday and we weren't with her, but I am SO thankful that we were matched before her birthday, so it was celebrated, and also that while this is her first birthday, it is also the LAST birthday she will celebrate as an orphan.

Earlier last month we were able to send Ellie a care package through a third party. We sent her a small toy and also an album of pictures of our family that I labeled in English and then it was translated into Chinese so her nannies can start to show her our pictures and prepare her for us. We are getting together another care package to send her in the next week or so. We are sending a small toy, caramels for her nannies, puffs to share with her friends, a disposable camera, and a USB flash drive. I have learned that a lot people sent USB drives in a care package and got them back with many pictures of their child from newborn on. We may not get anything back on it, but it's certainly worth a shot!!

Tom and I have our visas to be able to visit China! We have submitted our application to Immigration to bring our specific child home and also our home study update from moving. We have a little bit of training to finish up while we wait. We should get our immigration approval in the next few weeks and then we will get confirmation from the National Visa Center for Ellie's immigrant visa. Then our Article 5 will be dropped off in China (basically proof that we have all our ducks in a row to bring Ellie home as a US citizen) and then will come travel approval! Once we have travel approval, we will schedule our consulate appointment in China, book flights, and go! We will likely travel 2-3 weeks after travel approval, so we're getting very close!! I have been working on our packing list, which is a little overwhelming to wrap my brain around, but also SO exciting that we are to that point. I remember long long ago during our first home study process looking at packing lists and thinking it would be forever before we were really getting ready to go, and here we are! I'm also working on something special for the boys while we are gone, so that is taking some planning and organization.

We are working hard on preparing Graham for the big changes coming up. He still is struggling to adjust to our move. Please pray for him. It seems that on the whole he is doing better. While it's two steps forward, one step back, the trend is in the right direction. Charlie is starting to crawl! He is mostly army crawling, but gets himself up on his knees some too. He is also eating real food for the most part and loves it!

We appreciate your prayers for our process, that the rest goes quickly and smoothly! Please join us in praying for Ellie too, as she will soon experience so much change and confusion once we meet her. She has always lived in the orphanage, so while having a family is infinitely better, the orphanage is all she knows and she will lose it without understanding why. I imagine it will be a scary time for her. Pray that her heart is being prepared for this big transition!

The Birthday Girl

Bowl of fruit and birthday cake to share with her friends

I asked the contact, Helen, in China about this. She says it's a Chinese tradition and she called it the "Drawing Lots" ceremony. She said each item represents something and whichever one the child chooses first will say something about their future.

In case, you can't load the video, she chose a flute, which they say means she will be a musician!