I-800 Provisional approval

Our I-800 Provisional approval is here! We got it in the mail today but it is dated Nov 18th.  This is another very big step in our process and brings us even closer to our son!
Our next steps are as follows:
USCIS will issue a Provisional Approval for the I-800 (done Nov 18th) and will forward it to the NVC (National Visa Center).  (THIS PART IS DONE FOR US ALREADY Nov 18th)


The NVC will send a notification in the mail that the I-800 Provisional approval has been forwarded to the US Consulate-Guangzhou- this takes about a week after approval


The Adoption Unit will issue an "Article 5" letter , this process requires 2 weeks. The Article 5 verifies that our adoption case meets all of the Hague requirements.


CCAA will issue a Travel Appointment (TA) and mail it to our agency- about 2-3 weeks after Article 5


We are down to the last few steps before we get the great TA that allows us to head on out of here and go get LUKE!!!!!!!


We are sooo excited, God is surely moving in our lives at the moment!


Cant wait to bring him home!

What is going on in our lives

Alot has been going on since my last post.  We are still waiting for our I-800 provisional approval and as I seem to be noticing a pattern here I will share the pattern with you... Hurrryyyy Hurry get those papers out FAST, overnight them and then.. sit and WAIIIITTTTT!  I seem to find the long lines in the food store and our adoption seems to follow that pattern too.  Some others in the adoption process have surpassed me that were in the same place with me awhile back, but then again there are 2 of us for sure on the exact same track and both of our children are in Jinan, in the same orphanage so obviously our Lord has plans for the two of us to travel together so he is keeping our timelines together.  I certainly thought we would be there by now when we started this process in February, yet here we are with still about 2 months or so left until we travel.     


I have been crazy busy. We have our Just Love Coffee fundraiser going but so far it seems that not too many people we know happen to love coffee, how that is possible I don't even know.  I have applied for every single grant possible out there and so far nothing, but I have not counted out a grant yet, we still have time.  Very soon (actually I am hoping it is tomorrow) I should be starting our new fundraiser.  A dear Sister in Christ has offered 100% of the profits from a Premier Design Jewelery catalog sale (that is 50% of each piece sold) and all of the profits are going towards bringing our Precious Luke home to his family.  We pray daily for our newest son and his brothers and sister pray faithfully for him too, we know he is covered in prayer and just cannot wait until the day we get to wrap our arms around him and see his sweet face. 


Thanksgiving is coming soon and we have much to be grateful for.  I am excited to be spending the Holiday with my family and cannot wait for a blessed day of family and fun and great food. My oldest son, Aaron will be home in a few days from College and we are all so excited he will be here and that we will get to spend some time together as a family again.   My son, Tommy has his last football game this weekend and then Tuesday night wrestling season is starting up.  Tommy is hoping Luke will get here before wrestling is over so he can get to see what wrestling is all about and get the opportunity to meet some of the amazing kids he wrestles with.  I am not quite sure what Luke will think of wrestling but sports are a big part of our lives so he is going to get the chance to see many different kinds of sports and we are hoping he will one day join a team if he so desires.


 I cant believe the Christmas season is almost upon us. I do realize that these last few months of waiting to get Luke might just zip by with all the busy plans of the Holidays upon us.At least that is my hope. The waiting is starting to wear on me so I am hoping that the holidays might just make time go by quicker.  


I will update as soon as our I-800 provisional approval arrives. We are anxiously waiting that day. My poor husband, I page him many times a day from work and I only say one word, "Mail"?"  The dear man is ever so patient with me, but I am sure he is tired of seeing that 25 times a day and I am sure he is wishing our mail came earlier each day so I wont not be able to send that same message so many times in one day.  


What the rest of our journey looks like:

We are currently waiting to receive a Provisional Approval (praying that is any day now).... About a week after that, the National Visa Center will confirm they have cabled our case to the U.S. Consulate in China. After   two  more weeks  an Article 5 should be issued by the U.S. Consulate. An Article 5 Letter states that we are suitable adoptive parents and that our child will be allowed to enter and reside permanently in the United States.

The next step is for the Article 5 to be delivered to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), who sends out our Travel Approval (TA). This takes about two or three weeks. (We are praying for 2) Next, we will have a Consulate Appointment (CA) about two or three weeks after our TA is issued.  We will travel about 10 days before this appointment. We will spend two weeks in China.   As you can see we are not long from travel now and the excitement sure is building!!!!!!!!

What we have been up to.

Anxiously awaiting the approval of our I-800 so that we can move on to the next step and hurry up and bring Luke home!  We received our LOA on October 26th and mailed out overnight our I-800 on the same day, we checked our tracking number and know that it was received on the 27th so here is praying we wont have much longer of a wait!   We are beyond excited and just cant wait for the day when Luke finally gets  to come here! We have started a fundraiser selling Just Love Coffee. Sales are  a tad slow to start but, we just started it so lets see what happens. I have been filling out grant applications like a crazy woman and 3 are leaving Monday and hopefully 2 more will be out of here a few days after that. WOW the work involved in the grant applications is insane. Totally worth it if we get one, but WOW insane!  Like there isn't enough paperwork involved in an international adoption with China hahah.  I have a link on my page for our coffee fundraiser.  Justlovecoffee.com/TheWorrellFamily    Check it out and purchase some amazing coffee. I also have a link for Christmas Frenzy. An adoptive mother devoted her blog to allow many of us adopting and having fundraisers to put them all in one place. Great way to get some Christmas shopping done and help a family to bring their child home forever!  I surely cannot wait until I have my son in my arms and my children have their new brother home with them! We are truly blessed! My daughter who is 4 prays the most amazing prayers for her brother "Dear God, I pray that you keep Luke safe, I pray that he comes home really soon and that he fits in well with our family  and that I can sign with him when he comes home, because sign language is hard and I am still learning, I pray that he comes to know Jesus, so that He can save him. Please bring him home to us fast. Amen"
From the mouth of a child straight to Gods ears and heart!

Announcing our Fundraiser

Announcing a Fundraiser to help bring our son, Luke Xinhai home from China! We are selling Fair Trade Coffee from Just Love Coffee. If you would like to purchase some of these amazing and incredible quality coffee products please use the link from my fundraising store and a portion of each purchase will go directly towards bringing Luke home! Please send this link to as many people as you would like! The coffee is not very expensive and makes a great gift for the holiday!!!!! Thank you for helping us bring home our beautiful son! Use this link to help support our adoption.                 http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheWorrellFamily

Preparing

Preparing for a fundraiser soon! Just in time for some Holiday shopping and it is not expensive either! Hmmm peaked your interest?? Stay tuned I will update you soon! Working on bringing home Luke soon!
Stay tuned for more information......

LOA LOA LOA! YAHHOOOOOO

Today is the day! Finally our LOA came! 48 days of waiting and it is finally here!

We are so excited and cant believe it is finally here! Tears of Joy and relief and happiness are flying! I cant believe we are finally seeing some progress! Next step is provisional approval of our I-800 and we will mail that out as soon as Madison gets the LOA to me and we sign it, we have to make copies and then send one in with our I-800.  I have all of the next forms done (they have been for weeks) so as soon as it gets here we are signing it, copying it with our signatures and it is outta here! Praying everything moves quickly and smoothly from this point on!

God is SOOOO watching over my boy!

How crazy is this.. I google my son's Chinese name just for the heck of it and guess what? I find out that he was at a Christian camp this summer!!!!!!!!  There is a group of Christians that travel to China every year called "Bring me Hope" and they had the honor of showing the love of the Lord to my son! I am so amazed and blessed! The Lord our God is already preparing Luke's heart so that Luke will one day be a strong Man of God! I am so humbled and blessed that my son was able to be a part of this group and be shown the love of the Lord our God that I was brought to tears when I saw this picture! Thank you so much to the amazing people of Bring me Hope who have touched my sons life in a way that is truly amazing! Every parent that is in the process of adopting prays that their child is safe and that the Lord is watching over them while they are not with their momma and daddy and I had the Lord send me a picture today and say

 "Hey Tracy, dont worry! for I have been watching over this little boy since before he was even born, he is mine and I am taking care of him!"