God's Hand

On Saturday, I was blessed to be able to attend the 2010 Beyond Borders International Adoption Conference!  It was another way God showed me how He had planned ahead for me and provided what I needed before I knew I needed it.  I had signed up for the conference many months ago because it was advertised that it was being held in San Antonio.  In years past it has been in Minnesota, or Seattle etc…  However I had no idea when I signed up to attend that I would already be matched with a child at the time of the conference and thus the information would be exactly what I needed at such a perfect time.

I got to meet almost all of the Great Wall Staff and ask questions on the spot vs. write e-mails to 6 different staff members and wait for them to reply.  I got the opportunity to hear Dr. Jane Aronson who is passionate, experienced and honest, speak on the issues of internationally adopted children.  I got to attend a session on traveling to go get your baby which was extremely detailed.  I got to meet someone who lives in San Antonio and adopted a cleft palate baby from China.  He shared his e-mail with me so I can ask more questions.  I got to attend a session on attachment and bonding, much needed insight and education for me.  I got to hear from 2 lawyers.  One explained the laws and trends of international adoption in general and inspired me greatly.  Another explained the legal process I will go through in Texas when I get home with the baby (birth certificate, social security card acquisition etc…).  Lastly I got to see and hear speak (through an interpreter) the director himself of the China Center of Adoption Affairs.  A delegation of 24 Chinese officials came to this conference to show their goodwill and willingness to work with us as well as to see the progress of children who have already been adopted internationally and are living here in the US.  Many families came to this part of the conference and brought their Chinese daughters and the officials were like mad tourists, every one of them snapping multiple photos.  They were very obviously so happy.

As I said above, such amazing timing and provision.  What I thought was going to be merely interesting and convenient, turned out to be explosively helpful and exquisitely timed.  That’s so like God!  Glory!  

Like the "unplanned remodel" our house is undergoing (flooding from a roof leak), God set things in motion to help us prepare and to benefit our family and this baby when we had no idea we needed it.  Proverbs 16:9 “In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps." says it perfectly!  Even in the very recent and tragic loss of our dog, Lady, God’s timing is evident. God freed me up from Lady, who I always said was my 4th child, to make way for the real thing it seems.  I miss her terribly, but I see God's hand in it!   

I am looking forward to seeing just how God will bring all this together!


wl

The Process

If you Google Social Welfare Institute of Maonan District of Maoming City you'll come up with where our little girl is.

In addition to the other sites, you can click on the link that takes you to Half the Sky.  That is the program that is so beneficial there in her orphanage.  You can click through to some of their old newsletters to read more about adoption etc… 

Best we can tell, the process ahead is as follows:

LOI (Letter of Intent) – Submitted Sept. 21, 2009

I submitted my LOI to my agency, Great Wall, via email.  I also submitted passport photos, a family photo, a parent info sheet, and a referral agreement signed by Shawn and I, and payment.  My agency will have my submissions translated and send them to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) via the online system (which is new and faster!!)

PA (Pre-Approval) – 2-4 weeks later

They will need to review my LOI and other submissions first and pull my dossier (dossier was sent in 2006).  Once they have reviewed and approved the information in my dossier they will issue a Pre-Approval.  The Pre-Approval is typically issued within 2-4 weeks after the LOI is submitted (9/21/10 for us) and is uploaded into the CCAA online system.  My agency will download this document and e-mail it to me as soon as they receive it.

LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation or Letter of Acceptance) – 2-4 weeks later

The letter seeking confirmation is the CCAA's formal referral of this child to our family.  They will issue the LSC after my dossier has been reviewed and approved, and they have officially paired her with us.  The LSC will arrive directly at Great Wall headquarters in Austin.  They will contact us as soon as possible to notify us of its arrival and will overnight it to us to sign. We will return it ASAP.

We will then be free to send a care package and post her information and photo if we wish.

TA (Travel Approval) – 2-4 weeks after LSC

My agency will send the signed LSC back to China.  After the CCAA receives it they will begin working with our child's provincial Civil Affairs office to gain permission for us to travel.  Great Wall should receive our travel approval in 2-4 weeks.  We can expect to travel approximately 4-8 weeks after our signed LSC is returned to the CCAA. Family info and travel documents will be filled out and sent to Great Wall.

Travel – 4-8 weeks after LSC

Once the TA is issued the Travel Advisor will work with the China staff to book all of our adoption appointments and travel arrangements. Great Wall will book all of our intra China flights and hotels.  Per our signed contract the travel arrangements are a package deal.  We are not able to book these on our own.  We will be required to book our own international flights, however the Travel Advisor MUST review our itinerary before we finalize our flights. Usually they add a little sight seeing at the beginning (Bejing) then to the child's province, then to Guangzhou where the American Consulate is.  The famous White Swan Hotel is where many families stay during this process.  However, I've heard that a new Marriott has been built close by.

Upon coming home from China we will have visits with our pediatrician and with the cleft palate team who will assess her.  It is possible she would have surgery within 2 months of being home, though the complete process is at least 4 surgeries over the course of years, like 5 or 10 years. 


wl

A Referral!

Tonight we went out for Chinese food.  Wendy's fortune cookie said, "You will soon emerge victorious from the maze you've been traveling in."  On the back side it had the chinese word for 'daughter'.

Within an hour of getting home, our adoption agency, Great Wall, called and said they had locked the file of a little girl for us!  PTL!!!!  She is about 16 months old and beautiful!

We are sending her file to our adoption doctor for evaluation.  We are praying for wisdom and favor for us, and health, peace and joy for her.


We have been officially 'logged in' since November 13, 2006, but our journey began a couple of years before that.  Many, many times we felt we were wandering in a maze.  We hope and pray that our family is about to emerge VICTORIOUS!


sl




p.s. We also played the lottery numbers on the fortune (5, 19, 25, 28, 37, 46).  We have never played the lottery before, but we just wanted to see how far God wanted to take this thing.  We didn't win, but we are rich!!!!