LOA!!!!

Thursday afternoon I received the best e-mail of my life- our LOA arrived at our agency, 68 days after we received pre-approval  to adopt Ben!  Our agency told us to expect 90-120 days, but (unfortunately for my psyche last week) I realized via a Facebook group I joined and the popular China adoption "Rumor Queen" website that lately these have been coming in much faster. After weeks of obsessing other people's "stats", I realized last week that there was a chance ours may come that week.  All week I checked my e-mail hourly (even though my phone beeps when I have an e-mail..) and checked the Facebook group about every 20 minutes to see who had received theirs.

By Wednesday I was a mess.  Instead of thinking, "well, ours should be here soon.."  I kept thinking, "There is something wrong with our paperwork. No, our paperwork is lost. We will wait for 120 days.  No, we made a mistake.  No, THEY made a mistake. Maybe someone else is adopting Ben. This is never going to happen."  Everyday began and ended with a backache, headache, neck ache.  I couldn't sleep but was exhausted all day.  I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Then Thursday, at about 2:00p.m., an e-mail with the subject line:"Your LOA is HERE!!!!!"  I broke down into crazy sobs, and now, well, I feel like a million dollars! We are going to Ch*na in about 2 months, most likely in December! Knock on wood, we will home before Christmas!  I feel like someone has opened all the windows in my life and fresh air is filling my house.

So our hard copy LOA, actually called a "Letter Seeking Confirmation" arrived by FedEx yesterday, which we signed, confirming that yes, we would like to adopt Min Yong, and FedExed back to our agency with several other papers, including our I-800 application which they will hopefully FedEx to USCIS Monday.

SO, what's left in the next 2+ months?

1) The US Center for Immigration Services has to approve our I-800, or "Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative." This is immigration's approval to consider Ben our son.  He will be a U.S. citizen on entering U.S. soil. 

2) The approval is sent to the National Visa Center, who cables the approval to the consulate in Ch*na.

3) Our Article 5 letter is generated at the consulate, picked up by our agency's courier, and delivered to the government agency in Ch*na who handles all Ch*na adoptions.

4) Ch*na issues us Travel Approval.

5) We request a consulate appointment.  The appointment will take place at the end of our trip, so that date will determine when we travel.

In the meantime we may start making out some packing lists!

Three months ago

Three months ago today our dossier was mailed off to China.  So much has happened since then, we have so much to celebrate! I joined a Facebook group for individuals in the similar stages of adoption as us, and yesterday Moms and moms-to-be were discussing moon cakes.  The Chinese Mid Autumn Festival is coming up on September 30, and moon cakes are the treat de jour of this holiday.  I realized Tom and I had not been to Chinatown since we celebrated DTC, and we had never had any Chinese baked goods, so today we took a quick ride there:

I found this bakery, Chio Quon Bakery on Yelp, it appeared to be the go-to place for moon cakes and other Chinese treats:

What the website does not say is that every bakery item was between 80-90 cents. Heaven! We ended up getting a BBQ pork bun, a bean paste bun, a custard bun, a sesame ball, rice cake (for Tom, not my thing) and of course, two moon cakes, a lotus seed paste moon cake and a bean paste moon cake:

 The box- their cakes look awesome and we are definitely going back for one.

 Here are the cute little moon cakes.  They were very dense and sticky and reminded me of the Filipino desserts I have had.

The verdict? The lotus paste was delicious.  The bean paste? Well, by that time I had eaten a bean paste bun, so it didn't really do it for me, but we will going back for the lotus paste moon cakes for sure!!

We'll be going to the Moon Festival in Chinatown in the next 2 weeks and hopefully next year we'll go again, with Ben!

Happy Early Birthday Ben!

Last weekend we went to my brother and sister in law's house to celebrate my sister in law Ashley's birthday.  Ashley's daughter Reagan is 2 months younger than Ben, so we are counting on them being good friends.

My family surprised us by also having a birthday cake for Ben!  

Then after we all showered Ashley with our gifts for her, they surprised Tom and I with a birthday "shoebox" to send to Ben. Each person or family had added a toy to the shoe box for Ben's birthday.  My family has been our biggest cheerleaders and they are just THE BEST. The biggest hope I have for my kids is to end up with a family like mine (and my biggest challenge is going to be building that family!)

Admittedly,  can't bring myself to send the shoebox. I am keeping it home for Ben to play with here, his 1st birthday gift. 

Ironically enough, I had brought 2 signs for Ben's birthday "shoe box" I planned to send, one that says Min Yong Happy Birthday! and the other that says Min Yong We Love You!  I did get great pictures of Ben's cousins holding them, 

Tomorrow is day 52 of our LOA wait, I hoping with all my heart that it comes in the next 3 weeks, and maybe, maybe we can travel by Christmas.