We are moving!

just our website!! We are making the move to a site that we used for Zoe and know we can access easily in China! Here's our new site.....

www.babyjellybeans.com

go to the "search websites" and for childs first name put: jd and last name: freeby. the password for this is qingqing.

thanks!
Liz and Steve

crazy blog

This site is wonderful but also frustrating! I can't change the timeline on the side as it just won't let me anymore. I know when I go to China that I'll need to have a differant blog so I won't worry. Apparantly blogspot doesn't work well over there so I'll probably change to journey to me. Matter of fact....I may start working on that in the next day or so and then post it on here what that info will be.

Still waiting! We got an update on him yesterday with a few more pictures and then our SW said we need to read the update and then sign if we're still interested in pursuing him. WHAT?!?!?! I was thinking...what is in this update that we need to figure out if we'll still adopt him. I opened it up and it's basically our same info. Hmmm, let me think.......YES YES YES YES YES, we want him!!!! DUH!

Next week we should get our Article 5 letter and then our TA(travel approval) comes anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks later! I'm voting for the 2 weeks (if they want my opinion!). After we get our TA...it's only about 2 weeks until we travel. I think that will be so surreal and I can't believe it is ever going to happen....i hate waiting!

Wooohooo!

NVC...part 2 I guess!

Okay....just got an email and I think our NVC was approved and we're now ready to get our article 5!!! With the new Hague rules there are a few more steps than when we adopted Zoe.

NVC- (National Visa Center) : within 1-3 business days, the NVC will "cable" (basically emailing/sending electronically) your file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. This is approval of your visa petition.

Here's a re-cap (I think this is right) of what we have left:

Article 5: If the consular officer approves the application, he'll send the convention country's Central Authority - it oversees adoptions in the country - an Article 5 Letter, stating that you're a suitable adoptive parent and that the child will be able to enter and reside permanently in the US. You cannot adopt a child without the article 5 letter. after that........

TA (travel approval): We then get approved to travel and things should really start happening fast. Once we get TA, we will probably travel in about 2 weeks (or less?!!?!?). after that......

CA (Consulate appointment): this will be about a month after TA and it's our last thing we do in China before leaving for home.

So that's it in a nutshell....things are moving along and our little sideline "to do" list is slowly dwindling and heading to the "ta done" list!

NVC and our paperwork

We got a confirmation that our paperwork has reached the NVC. Praying it's a quick process and we hear REAL soon! I can't believe how close we're getting yet it feels a million miles away still. I'm so thankful they will send our letter via email as we will get it WAY faster than mail.

Please please please please....hurrry this up!!!!

Dear Sir/Madam:
Your inquiry has been received at the NVC. The adoption petition you mentioned in your letter has recently been entered into our computer system and assigned the case number listed below.
You will be notified once this case is forwarded to the assigned US Embassy/Consulate General.
Case Number: *******;
Beneficiary's Name: ***,QING QING
Preference Category: IH3
Your Priority Date: 17Feb2011
Foreign State Chargeability: CHINA - MAINLAND CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, VISA UNIT
1 SHAMIAN STREET SOUTH
GUANGZHOU 510133
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Once this case has been forwarded to the assigned US Embassy/Consulate General, the NVC will send a copy of the approval letter via email.

Visa time!

We now can send for our Chinese Visa's to be able to travel to China!! I get so excited with each step and then it's funny cuz everyone says "so when do you travel?" or "what does that mean?". I always feel foolish saying we still are witing to travel but we need to get through each of these steps in order to be able to travel to get him!

Soo....now I send $140 per visa (there's 3 of us) and then pay a courier (don't know how much they are yet). That's the sucky part of adoption is the expense of everything.

As we get closer I'm thinking of possibly sending JD another cake or something to let him know we are coming and hopefully explain a bit more about adoption and giving him the heads up about coming to live with us. I'm so sad for him to leave behind all he knows but I do know he will be loved, well cared for and a HUGE part of our family so that is a great thing. He will have so many opportunities in America vs. China that I know we're doing what's best for him.

anyway....off to fill out these visa paperwork and get that going!!!

Approved!

We got our I800 approval today!! Form I-800 is our Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative. It's your approval from USCIS to adopt the child you were matched with specifically.

Meaning....that the LOA is China saying we can have JD as our son and the I800 is the United States is saying the same thing!!! Woooohooooo!

Before I get too excited.....we still have a few steps to go before traveling but I'm thrilled we are as far as we are!!!

Birthday celebrations......

It's so nice to have our LOA and know we can send JD stuff! We sent him a package which I believe I blogged about and then sent a cake through Ann at redthread. It's quite spendy to do but I wanted to reach out someone and let him know we're thinking of him. I was delighted to get pictures back from his "birthday party". Hi birthday was 2/15 and he didn't get his cake until at least a week or 2 later. With Chinese New Year and Valentines, the places that deliver cake were too swamped and we knew it would be late. It's quite the fancy looking cake! Not sure about all that yellow frosting and the fruit but the kids in the pictures seemed to enjoy it so that is all that counts!

He looked so happy handing out cake to his friends and little treats that came with it. I really want to post pictures but I'm so afraid as my agency has said it's frowned upon and I don't want any issues right now that would result in a delay or worse! I can email them though....so let me know if you'd like to see them! (I just can't post them on public sites).

The wait is hard....but will be so worth it! Right now Zoe is helping me wash his new clothes and underwear and then I'll put them in his dresser until it's time to pack.