Article 5

In the middle of the night I woke and could not go back to sleep. I checked my email and to my surprise found an email from the Consulate in Guangzhou, China about our Article 5. This is the last step before we receive Travel Approval. TA will be delayed a bit however as Jan. 31st starts Chinese New Year. Everything shuts down until Feb. 6th from my understanding. So we will hold and be patient. It is getting so close! .


We also received a recent update on our baby girl.  It stated that her health is good, she is attending preschool, potty trained but still needs diaper at night, she is active and stubborn (she will fit right in!) She eats congee, noodles, dumplings, rice and juice.






So,  I just received an email confirming the delay of our travel approval.  Our article 5 most likely will not reach the Consulate until Feb. 7th after Chinese New Year.  Boo!  Then it will be 2-4 weeks before we get travel approval.  There is still a very small chance that we could leave before the end of February - but looking slim. 






Prayers for a Fast TA.
Prayers for continued health for all.
Prayers for Travel Preparation.
Prayers for our baby girl and her foster family.




Thank you.
Love,
Traci xoxox

Update

Wow!  A very busy holiday season and winter break is over.  The boys  headed back to school today.  Not easy as we had been living up the winter break with staying up late and sleeping in.  It was rather tough to get them to sleep last night and consequently we were late to get up.  Surprisingly, they were ready to go and ready to cooperate quickly as we dressed quickly, made breakfast and packed lunches in no time at all. 


Winter break was filled with a wonderful Christmas spending time with my sisters and family.  The children enjoyed playing with gifts and spending time with their cousins.  The highlight was my sister finding my 2 year old nephew in the closet choking down a pack of gum.  Let's just say the mama said "no gum because you will swallow it" and sure enough he was in the closet having at it.  Lol.  Next highlight was the band that the Cousins formed.  Let's just say my ears hurt from 2 little kids playing electric guitar, 9 yo on piano (thank God it came with headphones) and a 2 yo on microphone.  Lol.  Good times!  Lastly we had a nice trip to the beach.  The weather was a bit chilly and overcast but non the less a nice a day with Fam followed by dinner at  The Old Keylime House.  This was a fun spot.  We had never been to this Key West style Open Air restaurant.  It took family from Indiana to drag us their.  Lol. 


One day, Brian and I took the boys to see the ICE show in Orlando.  This was amazing and very cold (9 degrees).  I do not think we were really expecting that.  They give you a long winter coat to put on but we needed gloves, hats and/or ski masks.  The ICE sculptures were amazing.  The nativity scene was my favorite. 


That about sums up Winter break.  A few days of activities and mostly home just relaxing or working.


In the meantime, we are still very much working through the adoption process.  Yesterday was another notable day of progress.  We received 800 PA which means the US government will allow our girl to immigrate to the US.  With only  2-3 small steps and then the Big TA or Travel Approval coming, excitement is growing.  Time to start packing and gathering all the items for the trip in one area or room in the house.  Plus more paperwork of course! ;)


Please, we ask for your prayers as we continue to prepare for this journey and for our daughters transition into our family.  We thank you and greatly appreciate it.


Love,
Traci xo