dossier to china

So that's the deal. We are DTC BABY!!!

Woo to the Hoo. It happened on Tuesday {3.27} and boy did it ever feel good. I mean it. What a relief.

I came home Monday from school to hear the phone ringing as soon as we opened the kitchen door. Kennedy, who is nearly always the first one in the house, comes running to the phone because the caller ID displayed those magic words that every member of the family knows means that the call must be answered.

World Association for Children and Parents Seattle

Kennedy flies into the garage with the phone and I answer it only to find that our home study agency either forgot to send one document to WACAP or it was lost in the mail and never got there. I had requested it in mid February. They said that they would have it out to WACAP asap. And then I forgot about it. Totally flew outta my mind the minute I read their email saying they would take care of it.

So as of Monday afternoon, our pretty dossier, complete with notary signatures, county verifications, great state seals and The People's Republic of China Embassy seals on each. and. every. document...was sitting there waiting to go.

Except it needed one more document.

I wanted to cry. But I held it together and just called the home study agency. They scanned it and emailed it to WACAP and they are mailing the hard copy just in case. But it was determined that the scanned copy of this document would suffice for the dossier. Here's hoping. It's just the placing agency/home study agency agreement. Not something huge like an employment letter or medical exam record.

So on Tuesday afternoon, I just had to know. I mean, I knew she would let me know once it went. But by  3:00 or so, I was dying. I emailed our coordinator and this was her reply...

Hi Kam! 

 You are fine. I am still working on assembling/making copies/registering your dossier online/preparing the package. I just want to wait until everything is done before notifying you, but it’s definitely going out today! I will let you know when it’s been dropped off to the post office. 

 Another good news I have for you is that the orphanage (magically) responded to the questions we sent! Our director is translating it now. I guess the orphanage all in a sudden is in a good mood?

Oh, my goodness. An update. I couldn't believe it. We had been asking for two months for an update. Friends and family had been praying for one. An official one...with measurements and medical questions answered. Wow. I was so darn excited. I will share the tidbits of info we got from them in a separate post soon.

Two minutes later, another email came...

I forgot to mention I will also include the special doctor’s letter with your dossier, plus a letter from our director, in Chinese, requesting the case be expedited. We hope China will read and honor our request, but unfortunately we cannot guarantee it.

My immediate thoughts were, "Lord, you are so good." That very morning, I had been contemplating whether or not to remind Yu Ping that we had a pediatric cardiologist's letter requesting that our process be expedited. I knew that she knew it was there. But we used one of the originals to accompany our I-800A and the other we were hoping to include in our dossier. I just wasn't sure if she would remember that but I didn't want to nag her either. The little prince has a few defects that need attending to with his heart, the sooner the better, but it isn't as severe as Seth's. A big part of me just wanted to leave it completely in God's hands. Which is obviously where it is anyway. But you understand what I'm saying. And now, I didn't even have to worry about it. She remembered and they were willing to go a step further, without us even asking, and send a letter themselves asking for an expedite. Thank you, Jesus.

I emailed her back...

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry Yu Ping. I'm such a dork. I know you are busy working. I will just feel so good to be DTC. After all we have been through, and knowing that so many of those documents were drawn up/created for our son Seth who died...I just want so badly for them to go to China! I know it's so dumb. 

 Holy cats! We got an update!?! I'm amazed! Thanks so very much! Can't wait to read it all!!! Do you know, were there any new pictures? Just curious... Thanks, Yu Ping! You're the best! And oh, just got your second email. That is SO NICE of you guys to send the cardiologist's letter. We can't ask for more from you all...we just love you for helping us. We know it's in God's hands! If it is expedited, it is. If not, we are prepared for however long it may take. 

 You're awesome! 

Kam

A few hours later, I had one last email from her.

Hi Kam,  

Totally understand! Your dossier is on its way to China – I dropped it off to the post office and watched it got scanned and put into their big bin. It can take the CCCWA 3-5 weeks to tell us your LID, I will let you know as soon as I have news. The orphanage’s response is attached. I hope they help addressed some of your concerns.

Well, now. Isn't that just what I wanted to hear!?!

DTC! Whew. 

The LID {Log In Date} she spoke of is likely to take every bit of the 3-5 weeks. Many people I have been watching lately are falling right into that timeline. I have no reason to believe ours will be any different. It will be translated by an outside organization in China and then given to the powers that be there so that it can be logged in to their system. Once the LID is given, we can better see a little realistically how long until the next step, LOA, happens. Those run anywhere from 60-100+ days. If our case is expedited, it would come sooner. But we are not expecting it to be. Just setting our hearts to wait the longest timeline given and then we can be happy if it comes sooner. Still praying for it to be expedited. However, if I expect it will be, then it makes the wait unbearable. 

If you'd like to join us in praying for God's will to be done with our dossier, we would love that! For now, I'm just trying to stay busy and not obsess! Lots of cleaning, reading, blogging and spring breaking to have happen. Oh, and the birth of my first niece soon. My goodness. I cannot wait to love on that child. Sweet baby Claire will make her arrival in the next two weeks and I will be in the delivery room to capture it. Oh, happy day. So much to look forward to!