So Now What?

That is a great question! The adoption process includes a lot of hurry up and wait. We are back in a waiting phase. We received official approvals from China allowing us to adopt both Colin and Cora which is HUGE! Back in the winter we were approved through USCIS to bring two children into the US following their adoption in China. This paperwork is to allow family members who are immigrants to enter the US and become US citizens. That approval did not specify which children. Now that we have specific children and approval from China we must submit additional paperwork for approval to USCIS. This application moves through several steps in multiple states before eventually landing on a desk at the US Embassy in China (Guangzhou). Once the US Embassy says we are good to go more paperwork is given back the Chinese adoption authority to prove we have all of our ducks in a row and that the US will allow us to bring our newly adopted children back to the US. Once the adoption authority issues an additional approval (called TA - Travel Approval) we will be able to book our flights! That is a super short summary of a very complicated process that has been nearly a year in the making.

When we adopted Ayla and Isaac their files and approvals were piggybacked meaning everything moved together on one track. China has since changed the way they process adopting two children at once. We submitted our dossier to China in Feb which allowed us to be matched with Colin. We received Cora's referral just days later but had to submit a second dossier to China! Our agency was allowed to use a copy of our original dossier BUT they needed one new piece of paperwork. One piece doesn't sound so bad, right?! BOO! This piece of paper must be generated, approved by the agency, signed, notarized, certified and authenticated and sent to the Chinese Embassy BEFORE being translated and mailed to China. In KY you often have to use the Chinese Embassy in DC since that is our jurisdiction for items notarized in KY but that also means your document must make an additional stop at the Sec of State in DC. The DC process can take up to three weeks once you including mailing times. That wasn't going to cut it for us. We decided to take a little trip to Indianapolis so we could use the Chinese Embassy in Chicago making the whole process MUCH faster. That allowed us to send Cora's dossier to China 2-3 weeks faster. It was a crazy day that included a trip to a bail-bond place but we made it happen for our girl.

We were able to send care packages to both littles in June. We did receive confirmation that they both received them! The agency advises that you limit the items to a fit in a shoe box so we sent small toys, snacks, photos and a little outfit. We know that Colin is living with a Chinese foster family who loves him deeply since fall 2016. He has been living with two foster brothers that are around his age and they all seem to be so happy. We are so thankful for the love they are showing him. I am hopeful we will get to spend some time with them while we are in China. Cora is living in a small foster home in Beijing. It appears she is living with a small group of similar ages children. She also is very loved and is thriving! It really gives me a little peace to know that they are safe, happy and loved. I still want to scoop them up tomorrow but they are getting hugs and kisses today.

It looks like we have another thumb sucker!!

There are just no words for that sweet smile!

Duncan #3 AND #4!!

The last two months have been crazy! I will write another post later about the twists and turns that came our way but now for the good stuff!!

Introducing Colin Jacob!!

Isn't he just precious?!

Introducing Cora Grace!!

Isn't she just precious too?!


Just a little about them.....

We received Colin's referral 5/31 and Cora's referral 6/5. We have since received approval from China to adopt them both! We were blindsided by Cora's referral but that is a story for another day. They both are from Henan province (same as Ayla and Isaac). Colin is 21 months and Cora is 18 months. We hope to travel in 9-11 weeks but there are many steps left to complete that could impact our travel date. We were able to travel a little quicker for Ayla and Isaac but we will run into a holiday this time that could push things back a week or two.

We are SO excited but it's starting to set in how much work we have to do!