It's Getting So Close Now

We have far more steps behind us in this adoption process now than ahead of us. 

Today we received our I800 approval letter from the USCIS. 

It took 3 weeks from the day it was mailed off until we received approval, which is faster than average. 

The I800 is the form we filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to have a foreign national classified as an immediate relative - in other words to have Davis recognized as our son. 

We had already filled out a DS-230 (or application for his visa) and sent that to Lifeline,  

so we don't have to do anything else with paperwork. 

It's just four more steps until we can go get him. 

1) NVC Cable Letter - USCIS will sent our file to the National Visa Center (NVC) to be cabled to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. We should receive a letter in the mail from the NVC stating that our file has been forwarded in about 10 days. We have to email a copy of this letter to Lifeline.

2) Article 5 approval - Lifeline will forward the NVC Cable letter to their staff in China and Davis' visa application will be delivered to the US Consulate. They will verify all of our approvals and issue an Article 5 approval - has to do with the language of the Hague Convention governing adoptions.

3) Travel Approval Issued - The US Consulate will forward our Article 5 to the CCCWA that governs Chinese adoptions and they will begin processing our travel approval (TA).  This is the letter of invitation from the CCCWA that allows us to travel to China and complete the adoption.

4. Consulate Appointment Set - Then we will be able to submit a few dates for consideration for our US Consulate Appointment (CA) in Guangzhou to swear the oath of citizenship on Davis' behalf and have his visa issued for travel to the US. This date will determine when our Forever Family Day will be (when we receive Davis) and when we will travel over to China. None of the travel agents who specialize in international adoption will speak to you about flight arrangements until you have been issued your CA date.

This timeline puts us in line to travel in early to mid-May for China. 

Thankfully the Travel Approval is good for about 60 days 

as we are not planning to leave until mid-June, 

once the boys are out of school and we have attended Annual Conference in Lakeland. 

It's getting so close now!!!!!!!!

This is the sweet face we are moving towards.