Provisional Approval Has Arrived

We are very excited to announce that we have received our provisional approval from China for the adoption of our daughter.  This means that China has reviewed our file and said that it looks ok and they will be doing a thorough review of it in the next weeks and months.  Our final approval will be coming in the coming months.  The waiting time for the final approval varies greatly.   Sometimes it will take about 45 days but the wait could be over 100 days.  Please continue to pray that our file is processed quickly.

So, we can now tell you a little bit more about our daughter.  Her Chinese name is Zhao Jia Ni.  Chinese names have the last name first.  We have chosen the name Brooklyn Jiani for her English name.  We plan on calling her Brooke.  She is six years old and is living in a foster care home.
 

Care Package to Our Daughter

We received an unexpected message today from our caseworker telling us that the head of the Asia program for our agency will be going to China next month and is willing to take a care package for us to our daughter.  This will be our first chance to send something to her and introduce ourselves.  We have to have the package to New York by the end of next week.  So this week we will have to decide what to send.  We know for sure we will send a small photo album with pictures of us and our house to help her get acquainted with her new family.  We will also include a note to her.  We are so thankful to have friends that can help us translate the note and make labels for the pictures.  In addition, we will include a few small gifts for her.  Tomorrow night we will go shopping for the contents of the box.  This will be so much fun!  We may even get some new pictures of her if the staff get to meet her in person while they are there.

I wish we could pack ourselves up and get sent to China but they did say a small package.  I don't think we would fit that requirement.

We are still waiting on our provisional approval from China but that should be coming either this week or next week.  We can hardly wait to share more about our daughter with you at that point.  

LID and LOI - Answered Prayers

Today we heard from our social worker that our dossier is logged into China (LID) as of 10/10/11 and our letter of intent (LOI) was up uploaded on 10/14/11.  This means that our daughter’s file is locked to our family.  In the next two weeks we should have a provisional approval (PA).  Then we will wait for the final approval (LOA) which can take a while.

Once we have the provisional approval we will be able to share some more information about our daughter with all of you.  We can’t wait to tell you more about her and to share more pictures and videos.  Also, at that point, we are allowed to send her a care package.  We can include pictures of us and our home in that package so she becomes familiar with her new family.  Often, after receiving the package, the family will receive pictures of the child with their package.  We would love to see some new pictures as we are sure she has changed since the pictures we have from June.

This is a huge step in the process.  Thanks for your prayers about beating the Nov. 7 deadline.  Please continue to pray for a speedy approval process.

28 Days and Counting

Currently we are watching the calendar closely. When an agency has a file on a child for which they are seeking a match to a family, they have 90 days to make the match.  In most cases, as soon as they have identified a family, they can upload some preliminary information and lock the file until the families complete information arrives.  However, in some cases, the rules require that the complete file be submitted first and then the family can submit the preliminary information but there is still a 90 day deadline. 

We are in that last category.  Our 90 day deadline is November 7.  Our documents are in China now being translated and will be submitted as soon as they are done and then our agency can upload our preliminary approval information.  As of today, there are 28 days to complete this process.  By all accounts, that should be adequate to finish the steps needed to lock our daughter’s file but the closer it gets to November 7, the more concerned I get.  I am sure the reason this is concerning for me is that we were previously matched with another little girl and her file got moved and assigned to another agency and family.  However, our agency has been communicating with the Chinese adoption people about a possible extension if needed.  Our agency is keeping a very close eye on this situation.  Ultimately, it is in the hands of our heavenly Father. 

Please pray for:

• Speedy processing of our paperwork so we beat the November 7 deadline.
• Our daughter and the many changes that will be coming in her life.
• Us as we prepare for her arrival.
• Continued supply of the resources we need to fund the adoption.

DTC

DTC - Three small letters but they cause great rejoicing.  (DTC=Dossier To China)  Our documents are on their way to China as of October 3, 2011!  When they arrive in China they will be translated and then sent to the government agency that oversees adoption.  Once there, we are very close to getting our provisional approval which locks our daughters files for us. Then we will be waiting for the final approval which can take a long time. Pray this goes quickly and smoothly.