The Longgggg Wait has begun

The Long Wait for LOA (letter of approval to adopt from China) has begun. I have learned that DTC (Date to China) is actually the date our Dossier flew to China, which was 5-8-09. We're still waiting to hear that our Dossier was successfully logged in (LID). So many new terms! ;-D

So we're at day 14 in our countdown to LOA. It's hard to be enthusiastic right now since our agency says it'll be 3-6 MONTHS before we get LOA. Wow. I've seen some couples get LOA in less than 50 days, but they already had translated Dossiers sitting in China before they were matched with a child. We're doing this backwards... which is pretty typical for our family ;-D.

Our photo album for Yan flew to China 5-15-09. Please help pray it gets to him soon, and that he likes what he sees? How scarey for any little child to comprehend (or can they even?) alllll of the huge changes about to take place in their lives! And for them to have no control or say so in what's about to happen. We need to totally rely on God that this will be the best Plan for Yan, and of course for the timing of going to bring him home. :-) We're all five anxious to meet this little guy who has already captured all our hearts!

We FINALLY (we hope!) have jumped through all of the hoops, and rushed alllll of the paperwork to have a finished Dossier sitting at our agency, waiting for a final review and approval before flying off to China. Until it actually reaches China and is logged in (aka DTC), nothing can proceed in this adoption. We continue to pray for God’s Perfect Timing in all this, but it’s very hard to plow along at such a slowww rate when we’re ready to bring Yan home yesterday!



We often wonder how Yan is feeling about the speed of this adoption (and if he even fully comprehends it yet, let alone wants to be adopted by us). We get to send Yan a photo album of our family now. It turned out to be HARD to pick “just the right” photos to present ourselves as a family he might want to go live with… when our cultures are so vastly different. Even the fact that he lives in a very large factory city in the subtropics, and quite possibly has never seen the countryside, contrasts so sharply with our 10 acre farm in the mountains of southwest Montana!

The Dossier will have to go to a translation department in China, and be totally translated into Mandarin Chinese, before it can go up for review. If we are approved, we will receive a LOA (Letter of Approval), which will start more paperwork here in the US as we line up visas, final approvals, make embassy appointments in China, and make travel arrangements. I am still amazed at how many couples stick with the process! :-)