Silas' Room

Another day with no travel permission, but Silas' room is shaping up!

As you can see, Josie thinks this is her room.  I don't know how happy she's going to be to give it up!

I'm still looking for the perfect navy blue curtains, and the lamp shade I bought doesn't fit the lamp base I already had, so that is going back.  I also need to get a changing table pad for the top of the dresser.  But, he could actually sleep in his room the way it is now.  That's progress!  Next project is the play room.  But all we really need there is a rug and a toy box (or maybe two if Brian keeps going to Target)!

Updated Measurements!

We got some great news from Adele at Blessed Kids today.  Our care package was delivered to the orphanage on March 20.  As a bonus, they were able to get from the orphanage Silas' updated measurements.  We did not even bother to request them because they are often difficult to get.  I guess the staff was feeling cooperative that day.  We're so grateful.  Thank you, Adele!!!

Silas is growing immensely!  As we suspected from his February pictures, he's quite the little bruiser.  He's gone from being below the growth charts at 9 months old, to smack dab in the middle of the charts for both height and weight at almost 14 months old.   I can't tell you what a relief that is to us.  It also means that he's certainly into 12-18 month sizes.  We had picked up some 9 month size outfits just in case, which we can now return and exchange for bigger stuff.  They even gave us his foot size, so we know he's in a size 4 shoe!  So funny.  We feel like we won the lottery today!!

A Glimmer of Hope

Welcome to the roller coaster ride!  After yesterday's not-so-encouraging news, we received an email from our agency this morning telling us that our TA has largely been processed.  We just await the final stage--printing and signatures.  How long could that possibly take?  No more than a few days, and then 4-5 days for mailing back to our agency.  So, maybe late next week, or early the following week.

We got a big delivery today!  Car seats and a stroller!  Great deals from Albeebaby.com.  We're slowly but surely getting decked out.   We probably should have started stocking up when we embarked on this roller coaster three years ago, but we probably would have purchased a bunch of pink little girl stuff, so it's good we waited!  :)

Still No TA. No Idea When.

There ought to be a facility where they can commit parents waiting to complete an international adoption.  I'd be their first patient.  The waiting and not knowing for sure when we are going to travel is enough to push someone already close to the edge right off the cliff.   Today our agency told us that the Chinese adoption officials (CCAA) confirmed there was no "problem" with our travel authorization, but they have not "processed" it yet.  We won't know for several days when CCAA will even be getting around to processing it, which means we're probably still two weeks from receiving it.   Torture.

We are taking comfort in the fact that it doesn't appear we are being singled out.  A survey of the various internet message boards reveals that TAs have not been issued to anyone in quite some time.  We have no idea what the hold up could be.  I hope it's something as simple as a staff member out with the flu, and not indication of something more serious, like a diplomatic crisis.

We are currently aiming to travel the week of April 19.  To do that, we will likely have to receive our TA by April 5.  We can only hope at this point...

Care Package Update

We received word today that the care package we sent did make it to China.  It only took 16 days via first class mail.  Blessed Kids is assembling the package, including the items that we sent, along with the formula and translated letter to the orphanage.  It should be delivered to Silas next week!   I'm told by other parents that the nannies will spend time showing the baby photos of his new family so the faces will be familiar to him.  The more time they spend showing him the photos, the easier the initial adjustment.  I hope someone takes the time to show Silas our photos.  There won't be a lot of time between him receiving the photos and our coming to get him.   2-3 weeks tops (we hope)!

We received our visas from the Chinese consulate today, but we are still waiting for travel permission from China's Center for Adoption Affairs.  I really just wish it would get here so I can stop refreshing my email every 3 seconds.  My "refresh" finger is exhausted!!

Young Silas James

I finally figured out how to get photos from a .pdf converted to a .jpg.  Here are some early baby pictures of Silas before his cleft lip was repaired.  Such personality he displays!  I mean, it's not every kid who can sport flowery pajama pants and still come across every bit a boy!

Immigration Approval!!!!

Well, the wait for U.S. Immigration approval turned out to be short-lived.  I got an email from the orphan officer at USCIS this morning informing me we had been approved and that we should expect confirmation in the mail within a few days.  When I got home from work today, the confirmation was already in the mailbox!!  Woo Hoo!!  According to the U.S. Government, "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan . . . "  Phew!  That's a relief.  :)

So what next?  Well, we're still waiting for travel permission from China.  I talked to the agency today, and apparently, it hasn't been as long a wait as we thought.  The agency didn't send our LOA back to China until Chinese New Year had started, so basically, it wasn't received until the end of February.  So, technically, we still have a week or two to wait for that.  But, here's the upside:  as soon as we get it, we can travel within 2 weeks!!!  Right now, we're planning on being able to leave the week of April 12!!!  Holy cow that's soon!!! We're so not ready!  If we get our TA next week or the week after, that time frame can happen.  Otherwise, it may push into the third or last week of April, but either way, MUCH sooner than we thought.  Good thing the painters are coming tomorrow to paint the nursery and play room, and the crib and dresser are being delivered on Saturday!!  (Pictures to come!)

Waiting...

The hardest part of our adoption journey might be upon us.  Waiting.  We've heard nothing from China or USCIS in weeks.  Granted, our fingerprints were only captured a week ago, but come ON!!  There's a baby waiting in China for his parents!!  Okay, I admit I might be a tad over-the-top right now.  The waiting and not knowing when we are going to China is definitely getting to me.  We've been waiting almost 6 weeks for our Travel Authorization from China.  The average wait time for that is 3 weeks.  We've received no explanation for the delay--just reassurances that it will be here "soon."   When we get it, you can bet we'll be shouting it from the rooftops.

Must Be The Stress

I got a call from our China visa courier in Houston today informing me that they received our visa applications, but the amount of the check I included in the package was insufficient.  Turns out, I only paid for one applicant!  I completely forgot to multiply the fee by two for two applications!  I felt like such an idiot!  Ugh....I must be stressed.

In other news, I dreamed last night that Brian and I won the $200 million power ball.  What a bummer to wake up and realize it was only a dream.  We didn't match one number.  Sigh....  I hope the week gets better from here.  :)

Fingerprints? Check! Travel by June? Likely!

Brian and I got up early this morning and made our way down to our local immigration processing center for our now third set of biometric fingerprinting.  We have done this twice before, but this time was different.  First of all, the office has moved since we had our prints done 18 months ago.  When we arrived at our 8:00 a.m. appointment time, we were shocked to see a line of people spanning the entire front of the building, off the sidewalk and into the grass and shrubbery, waiting to get into the front door!  What on earth?  Did all these people have appointments?  Turns out, yes they did.  So we waited 25 minutes to get through the front door, then gave our appointment notices and ID to a security guard.  The guard gave us a clipboard and told us to sit down and fill out one page of personal info (which was already listed on the appointment notice).  After we completed the form, we had to return the clipboard, and go sit in another line to give the newly-completed form and appointment information (with the exact same information) to a staff member.  The staff member reviewed the forms, and gave us a number and instructed us to sit in another line to wait for our number to be called.  Finally, about 50 minutes after we first arrived, our numbers were called.  We were fingerprinted in less than five minutes and on our way.

So what happens next?  Hopefully, the FBI will be able to quickly clear our prints, and USCIS will have what they need to promptly issue our immigration approval.  While we are waiting for that, we are still waiting for China to issue our travel authorization.  We expected that last week, but it hasn't arrived yet.  Based on reports from the adoption message boards, it seems like China has taken a 3-week or so hiatus from issuing TAs.  Here's hoping they flood the agencies with them this week!

Despite the fact that we continue to wait for approvals, our agency told us this week that we should go ahead and get our tourist visa from the Chinese consulate.  The visa is good for 3 months.  So, they are confident we will be to China and back within the next three months.  That's really encouraging news!!

(Not So) Speedy Delivery!!

Today, we mailed a care package to Silas in China.   In addition to the items shown above, we are sending some milk formula through a wonderful organization called Blessed Kids.  The formula and the cleft nursers we sent are for the orphanage, and the rest of the stuff (blanket, outfit, stuffed lamb, and photo book) is for Silas.  We also included a disposable camera in the hopes that the orphanage would take some pictures of Silas and his nannies and friends for his life book.  Blessed Kids translates our cover letter to the orphanage, as well as a list of 12 questions about Silas for the nannies to answer, and sends them with our personal items and the formula.  Hopefully, we'll get answers to the questions a few weeks after they get the package.

For shipping, we had to get our package to Blessed Kids address in China where they will assemble everything.  So, I went to the post office to mail the box Priority International so I would have a means of tracking the package.  Unfortuantely, the postal clerk lied to me, and told me there was no such thing as Priority International.  He said I could only send it First Class International, and in no event could I get online tracking or delivery confirmation.   I knew I had read online that Priority International was an option.  I had even gotten a price!  But the guy was adamant, and even had his co-worker back him up.  As it turned out, the guy and his cohort were totally full of it.  I later called the 1-800 number who confirmed as much.  So of course, I called his supervisor.  She was very apologetic and said she would speak to the clerk about it.  Unfortunately, it was too late to pull my package and resend it.  The truck had already left.  So, with no way to track the package, and no idea how long it will take, we're just hoping Silas gets the package before we get there--if he gets it at all!  If he doesn't, at least we thought to take a picture of what we sent!  :-)

Pictures

Thought we'd commemorate the fact that Silas is 13 months old today with some new photos.  Ok, so we don't have a ton of pictures, but the ones I posted previously have fallen off the home page, so it's time to post more.  This blog is about our baby, after all!