GIMME A T!!!! GIMME AN A!!!!!

What does that stand for?

!!!!!!Travel Approval!!!!!!

Yes, peeps, it's true! We got our a-OK from Ch!na to come 'n get 'em!!!

When? you ask.

Not sure when we're traveling yet.

In the meantime, enjoy the trip through time...

Samuel's referral picture - our first look at him
Taken September, 2010 when he was about 11 months old

Most recent picture of Samuel taken July 6, 2011
He is 21 months old now

David's referral picture - our first look at him
Taken early September, 2010 when he was about 2 yrs 8 mos old

Most recent picture of David taken June 29, 2011
David is 3-1/2 years old now

We love you, munchkins! Mama and Baba are coming for you really really soon!

Stay tuned for more information to follow in a couple days...

Everyone, pray for August 1, 2011 Gotcha Day for the Oehlkers!


Isaiah 40:31  But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Article 5s have been Picked Up!

Woot Woot! Cross that one off our Honey-Wait list!

Our Article 5s have been picked up from the US Consulate in Guangzhou. They are flying up to Beijing right now (exciting, huh?!) and should be at the CCCWA in Beijing early next week.

YAY! (insert jump and click heels together here!)

So now we're officially waiting for our Travel Approval. We should expect that in 2-4 weeks, and then we'll travel to China! to! get! our! munchkins!

I'm crying! It's just the pregnancy hormones, don't worry!

So let's take a peeksie at our calendar. 2-4 weeks for Travel Approval puts us at July 4 to July 18 for TA...

Two week TA (7/4) puts us on a plane to China somewhere around July 13 to 15.

Four week TA (7/18) puts us on a plane to China somewhere around July 27 to 29.

So now we hear alot of silence and do alot of waiting and praying (mostly for our sanity) and nesting and preparing, but when we get TA things will really get rockin'!


1 Peter 4:19  So if you find life difficult because you're doing what God said, take
it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he's doing, and he'll keep on doing it.

Here We Go Again...

So remember back when we were putting together our dossier and we needed to have practically every bit o' paperwork notarized...

Then we needed to take it to the Secretary of State to have it certified (they say, ya this person who says he is a notary is in fact a notary)...

Then we needed to send it to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to have it authenticated (they say, ya this Secretary of State is in fact the real live Secretary of State in Colorado, USA)...

And after each step our stack o' papers became larger and larger because there were so many additional papers being stapled to each document...

And we had to have our awesome amazing friend Lisa (yay, Lisa!) and my awesome amazing Mom (yay, Mom!) spend hours and hours and hours in lines at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago...

Remember all that we went through?

We need just ONE more document to be notarized (well, actually two copies of the same document but let's not get technical). And then certified. And then authenticated.

Crikey!

We need powers of attorney to complete the adoptions separately. Notarized. Certified. Authenticated.

I have been trying hard not to let my thinking go to that place that blames. Blames our adoption agency for not telling us months ago when we happened to mention several times that we were going to travel separately to the provinces to complete the adoptions. It would have been convenient to have this last paper dropped off a couple weeks ago with our visas, since our visas were just in Chicago visiting the Chinese Consulate. But, as our 6 year old has been reminding me, I need to treat people how I want to be treated. So I should think of people kindly like I want to be thought of too. So I will not blame. It is what it is.

Our adoption agency is AMAZING and has been completely on the ball every step of the way, leading us by the hand. And it is my understanding that they will really take care of us over in China, which is the most important part and where we will be the neediest. Our friend that just returned from China with his daughter said, "You don't need to use any brain cells while you are over here (in China). They tell you exactly where to be, when to be there, and what to bring." I like the idea of not needing to rely on my brain cells while we're in China :-) 'cuz they probably won't be working very well.

So I still love love love our adoption agency, and I'm driving to the Secretary of State tomorrow morning... anyone want to ask my Mom to go to the Chinese Consulate again for me?
~chris


Do to others as you would like them to do to you.
~ Luke 6:31

We're Cabled!

As of yesterday, June 1, our information was cabled from the USCIS National Visa Center to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.

~ ~ ~ ~ DOING THE HAPPY DANCE ~ ~ ~ ~

Now our agency rep can drop off the rest of our paperwork at the US Consulate. Could they possibly drop it off on Friday??? If not, the agency rep will have to wait until Tuesday...

Whenever the paperwork is dropped off, the next step is exactly two weeks later... our Article 5 will be ready for pickup!


1 Chronicles 16:23-24  Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.
         Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Provisional Approval

I was stalking Bill the Mailman today. I checked the mailbox and saw his mail truck down around the curve. We were the next mailbox! Come on, Bill! Then I thought he would think I was stalking him, so I went inside and waited until I heard the truck go by. It took a really loooooooooooong time. He must have been talking to one of our wonderful neighbors or something. Blah blah blah ~ quit talking and hurry up, Bill! What's taking ya! Or maybe I was feeling extra impatient or something... go figure. Anyway, he finally drove by and left a present for us. Our Provisional Approval. Yay!

I spoke to our USCIS officer last Friday and she said she would get to our I800 application first thing on Monday morning. Today we received our Provisional Approval for our I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative. And, indeed, our officer DID get to our application on Monday, because our approval date was Monday, May 23, 2011.

Woo Hoo!!!!!! On to the next step... email the NVC (National Visa Center) tomorrow...

We'll just keep on smiling... keeping our eyes on the prizes at the finish line...


Proverbs 15:13  A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.

The Rest of the Process

This next part of the process is confusing to me. I will do my best to explain it, and then maybe I'll understand it too!

We received our LOAs, which are the letters from China that say they reviewed our dossier and are OK with us adopting the kids. We signed the LOAs which tells China we still want to adopt them. So China is OK with us even after they know everything about us, and yes we still want to adopt the munchkins. The LOAs were sent back to the CCAA (now known as the CCCWA) which is the Chinese government adoption agency.

We then sent our I800 forms right over to USCIS. These are the forms that request visas for the boys. When the boys travel with us back to America, they will travel on Chinese passports so they need US visas to be let into our country. Just like we need visas to travel to China on our US passports.

(insert 2-1/2 weeks here to wait for I800PA)

Once we receive our I800 Provisional Approval from USCIS, we can request our visas from the Chinese consulate.

(insert a few days to a week here to wait to be cabled)

Then our I800 Provisional Approval goes to the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC then electronically sends our I800 PAs off to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. This is called "being cabled". After the US Consulate receives the cable, the information is reviewed and our Article 5 is issued.

(insert 2 weeks here to wait for Article 5)

The Article 5 is the US version of the LOA, and it says the US government is OK with us adopting the boys too. That way China knows that the adoption of their orphans will be honored in the US and the munchkins can become US citizens. Our CCAI Guangzhou representative picks up the Article 5 and overnights it up to Beijing. Then our CCAI Beijing representative hand delivers it to the CCCWA.

(don't blink ~ the Article 5 travels fast)

After the CCCWA receives our Article 5.... whew! are you still with me?... then we wait for our Travel Approval to be issued. I am capitalizing Travel Approval because it is the final really cool and totally awesome step. I anticipate this is when we will be the most stressed-out too. Lots of prayers for peace during this wait... The TA says that China has everything they need for us to travel to China and for the boys to return to the U.S. with us.

(insert 2 to 4 weeks here to wait for Travel Approval and to grow an ulcer and gray hairs)

Once we get our TA, then the scramble begins... CCAI requests our consulate appointment. We should hear about the U.S. Consulate appointment within a couple days, then our entire trip is built around that Consulate appointment.

We should travel one to two weeks or so after we receive our TA.

So this is why I know not even God can help us to travel in June, and He will have a tough time getting us there in July but we're praying...

Average temperatures in Guangzhou, China in July and August... 90's to 100's and 80%-plus humidity. Yuck! Bring it on!!!!!


Matthew 7:24  Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

LOAs!!!

The LOAs are here!

The LOAs are here!

Yippeeeeeeee!!!! (insert jump and click heels together here)

Many many thanks to our friends and family who are praying for us and the boys.

So as soon as we get our USCIS paperwork sent off in the next day or so, we are 11-15 weeks from traveling according to our adoption agency.

Holy cow! Pinch me, is this real?!?!?

So let me check my calendar. This means our plane to China lifts off sometime between July 20ish and August 17ish. So I know that I heard my voice SAYING we'll travel in July or August, but it feels so real now. You mean they won't just be pictures on our wall anymore? They will be like actual real people here in our house? wow

I can't think straight to share what the next steps are. Not that I would be able to explain this part anyway ~ the next steps are confusing to me so I'll take 'em one at a time. Our favorite FedEx man will show up tomorrow with our LOAs, and we'll sign them and drive them back down to our adoption agency on Wednesday with a few other forms and a few more checks. More on the next part of the process on another bloggy day...


2 Corinthians 4:7  We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are
like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

Yes!, Angels, and Day 34...

So we went to Easter service at our church on Saturday. It seemed sorta strange, you know not going to church on actual Easter day, but we wanted to beat the Sunday-Easter-and-Christmas-only crowds. It was the same service, and it was beautiful. We love our pastor's sermons.

And we got a seat. Bonus!

Anyhoo ~ At the beginning of the sermon, Pastor Rick was talking about a conversation he had with a non-believer (let's call him NB). Rick was talking to NB about God sending his one and only Son to save us, how Jesus died, was buried, and rose again... The NB said something like, "Do you really believe that?" So the sermon went on and it was beautiful (did I say that already?), and near the end of the sermon the whole church was so quiet, Pastor Rick repeated the question, "Do you really believe that?" Pastor Rick paused, and our kid said loudly and with conviction, "YES!"

It was AWESOME!

You all should have been there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So in previous posts I think I mentioned our Datong angels... The amazing generous American people who lived in the city where David lives, who volunteered at his orphanage every Sunday, and they KNOW him. They have shared pictures and videos of David with us. Who gets all that info & stuff? PTL!

You know what?????

I am going to Washington D.C. later this week for my sister's birthday (happy 40th sista!)... and I get to meet them on THURSDAY! I am so EXCITED!

I mean, excited like I am about to POP!

I hope I don't get too nervous and sound like a ding-a-ling when I meet them  :-D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And as you all know, in this paperwork-party we call our adoption journey, we are waiting for our LOAs from China. The timing of this step is 30-60 days from the last bit o' paperwork.

We are on day 34...

I am betting they will get here, oh, when I am in Washington D.C. later this week. 'Cause God has a sense of humor like that.

Yoo hoo! Where are you, little LOAs???



Proverbs 22:6  Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older,
                           they will not leave it.

We have our LID!

We are officially logged in at the CCAA!!! Woo hoo!!! That means they said, "Ya, we got your stuff."

Now we wait again...

We wait for 30-60 days until we receive our next step, our LOA, which is sent to us from China. This is our Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter. Way back when in November and December, we received our PAs, or pre-approvals. This really meant that we were matched with our two munchkins and noone else could grab 'em up. The LOA is the official-official Chinese blessing. Now that China has our signed, sealed, and delivered dossier they can look at us (really, they have lots of pictures of us), read allllllll about us, and look at the kids and then they officially say, "Yes, you crazy Americans can adopt these munchkins." We receive the LOA letter from China and sign it, and that says, "Yes, us crazy Americans really really really still want to adopt these two munchkins." Then we send it back to China... round and round and round the world we go!

Then we go bring the boys home!

I

am

just

kidding!!!

LOL

I crack myself up!

There are only about a dozen more steps before that happens :-)  But we're getting there!

Let's see... 30 days would put us at about April 22...


James 1:27  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Our Dossier Was Delivered!

It didn't crash in the FedEx truck and get towed to the junkyard.

It didn't get dropped in a mud puddle by the delivery guy.

... or the CCAI rep in China.

It didn't blow away in the wind.

It didn't get coffee spilled on it.

...or if it did, we didn't hear about it and it's good enough.

It didn't get swept away in a tsunami wave.

It didn't crash in the airplane and burn up.

Our dossier was just safely and uneventfully delivered halfway around the world to the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) office.

Why do I ever bother worrying? What a waste of time. High five to God again!


1 Peter 5:7  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

We're Doing the DTC HAPPY DANCE!!!

We can say we are officially DTC ~ Dossier To China ~ as of today!!! Yippeee!!!

(insert jump and click heels together here)

I am feeling quite selfish for wanting our dossier to fly right over the tsunami and into China. Forgive me, Lord, I just want to bring these munchkins home...

So now we pray for all the people in Japan and all others being affected by this horrible earthquake-tsunami. The devastation on the news clips is breaking my heart. I am praying for some good to come out of this mess.


Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

We're in Translation!

All the pieces of our dossier are now officially at CCAI :-D

It will be translated this week :-D

Rumors are that CCAI sends dossiers to China on Fridays :-D

We expect our dossier to fly over the ocean this weekend :-D

Yay, God!  :-D


Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen;
       it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

And the next 2 acronyms we are searching for...

are...

DTC and LID!!!

On Monday morning our oh, so elusive, recently PRC Great Sealed I-797 will arrive at our adoption agency. WOOO HOOOOOO!!! (God, please bless FedEx) And thank you, Lisa! It is important to mention here that our loving Chicago friend Lisa (my sister's college roommate) unexpectedly spent hours and hours and HOURS waiting in lines at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago last Thursday and Friday. We feel terrible and extremely grateful at the same time. Lisa ~ we owe you BIG TIME! And yes, Auntie Lisa, we will send you lots and lots of pictures ;-D  We love you!!!

CCAI will receive the last of our dossier paperwork on Monday. Finally. And if I was a gambling person, I would place my bets on our dossier being sent to China by Friday.

That's the DTC part... Dossier To China ~~~ doesn't that sound magical!

And then we'll be waiting for the LID part... Log In Date ~~~ the beautiful day that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) says, ya, we got your stuff.

More acronyms to follow...


Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
      for my hope is in him.
 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
      my fortress where I will not be shaken.
Psalm 62:5-6

It's in the mail...

I spoke to our USCIS officer last Wednesday, and she said our I797 would be in the mail later that day. I actually started crying on the phone with her. How embarrassing.

So now every afternoon I run to the mailbox and Bill the mailman thinks I have a crush on him again ;-)  Just wait until I ask him if I can take his picture for our life books...

As soon as we see that beautiful piece of paper, I will call my sister's good friend Lisa (who also conveniently lives in Chicago) so she can get ready to run our I797 to the Consulate for EXPEDITED service!

We're praying that our I797 is in our mailBOX on Monday. Then we start the next AND FINAL (insert woo-hoo and fist-pump here) round of dossier-overnight-shipping-stravaganza! We know the routine ~ I797 is notarized, I797 is driven to Secretary of State in Denver to be certified, I797 is overnight'ed to Chicago, I797 is ran (run, Lisa, run!) over to the Chinese Consulate, I797 is overnighted back to CCAI... then all the papers and pictures and certificates and seals that make up our dossier are ready to go.

And then it's time for a happy dance! Yay, God!

Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will
rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Classes

So in order to adopt, you are required to take classes. Here is our list of required classes:

1. The Adoption Process
2. Basic Infant/Toddler Care
3. Attachment
4. Parenting Through your Child's Developmental Stages
5. Grief & Loss Issues & Talking to your Child About Adoption
6. Being a Multicultural Family
7. Assisting the Development of your Newly Adopted Child
8. Chinese Culture

Did your eyes glaze over as you read the list?

It has taken a conscious effort to not be bitter towards people who don't have to go through all these hoops to add to their family. I wish we were that couple who always had a heart for orphans and who always knew they would eventually adopt. I wish we were that couple motivated not by their own desires, but by the needs of the orphans. We are not that couple. We have always wanted more children and that's how we got here. But in God's amazing way, He has been always present and active in our lives. After we were deep in this process, we realized He has changed our hearts a bit, shifted our thinking slightly. Now we see things more clearly and we KNOW this is so much bigger than our desire to have a larger family. So maybe He put that selfish desire in us, knowing that His plan was to give these two little boys a family. It is all about Him anyway, everything is for God's glory.

He is always giving me shots of perspective. Thank you, Lord, for continuing to open my eyes and remind me that it is not all about me.

So we continue on through our hoops. We are taking our last two classes tomorrow (see #7 and #8 above). All of the classes have been great except one ~ it was very disappointing since the topic should have been amazing. I am praying that our instructors tomorrow are prepared and enjoy teaching their topics...

And praying that our son is healthy enough to go to his friend's house so we can go to class...

And praying that dearest hubby gets home not too late... He just got called in to work...

So I am going to get some sleep and know that God will take care of everything. That's not in my job description.

And I'm OK with that...

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

The (most of the) Dossier is IN THE HOUSE!!!

My mom rocks! Thanks, Mom! We have our dossier (minus the I-797 of course) in our hands now, and Chris will drive it down to CCAI on Monday afternoon. We emailed to give our CCAI peeps a heads-up. It sounds like CCAI is planning to start the critical review process (making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed) and translation prior to receiving our I-797.

The quicker our dossier gets to China, the quicker we start the ball rolling at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), and the quicker we bring our two little munchkins home!

称赞上帝!

Ephesians 3:20  Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Fingerprints!

We received our appointment to be fingerprinted by USCIS yesterday... but our appointment date was not until February. SOOOO, we went to the USCIS office in Aurora, Colorado today to see if we could be fingerprinted early. They took us in right away. I think we were there for about 7 minutes. Praise God!

Right now this very minute, our dossier (minus one item) is in Chicago and Chris' mom is hand delivering it to the Chinese Consulate to have our documents authenticated. Isn't this exciting! As soon as we get that packet back Chris will drive it to our adoption agency for critical review and translation. We pray that they will have time to start the review before the one last document arrives.

So now we wait for our I-797, which is the LAST document we need for our dossier. This should be mailed to us from USCIS after our fingerprints are cleared. YAHOO!!! I'll try not to call Immigration every single day to check the status ;-)

After we get our I-797, we'll put Chris' mom on the case again to authenticate it at the Chicago Chinese Consulate. Then, finally, our dossier is complete and it can fly around the world to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs.

Then, guess what surprise surprise, we wait some more for the next step... it's all in His hands.

Psalm 27:14  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Backlog, Shmacklog...

I read somewhere today that USCIS has a backlog of clearances. I also heard guesstimates that things could get jammed up in their office for an extra couple weeks beyond their normal time frame. Maybe sending our dossier to China a few weeks after the Chinese New Year will make things on the China end go faster? I am going to go with that thought for a while. I know in my heart that things will work out exactly when they are supposed to, and I have this feeling like when we get the boys we'll see clearly why the timing is exactly right. In the meantime we continue to pray and know that it is all in His hands.

And we are starting to plan Joshua's new bedroom! We are moving the transportation theme into the little boys' room and we let Josh pick out a new theme. Guess what he picked? LEGOS! Yup, that's a surprise, isn't it? Since there is no Lego fabric available anywhere in the world we have to improvise. We're still working on the design, but I think we can make it work for very little money (bonus!). It helps that Josh has so many Legos to "decorate" the shelves in his room.

Psalm 40:16  But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you.
   May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!”