Article 5 and LSC!

The US Consulate in Guangzhou, China finally issued our Article 5 on September 25, 2012.  Our Article 5 lets the CCCWA know that we are approved by the US to adopt Ava.  Our agency's office in Beijing received it on September 27, 2012 and delivered our Article 5, along with our Letter Seeking confirmation (this form tells the Chinese officials that we want to adopt Ava) to the CCCWA on September 28, 2012!  Finally, all of the paperwork is complete!  We are now waiting for the CCCWA to issue our Travel Approval which will allow us to travel to China and bring Ava home!  Of course the CCCWA received our paperwork on their last day to work before they close for one week due to a national holiday.  We never seem to be able to catch a break!  They will reopen on Monday October 8 and hopefully issue our TA in 10-14 days.  Then we will finally be able to make travel arrangements!! Last week we also received our Chinese Visa's so we are ready to go!

 

We are so excited and overwhelmed!  It is truly surreal to think after all this time we will meet our baby girl!  While we are excited we are also trying to prepare ourselves for the tough times too.  Ava will most likely be pretty scared on gotcha day. She will grieve the loss of everyone and everything she knows.  We have to work hard to help her build trust in us so she knows we will always be there to take care of her.  We are looking forward to our time in China to bond with Ava and to see her country.  In the meantime we are spending all of our time together to enjoy our last few weeks as a couple.  We are spending time with friends, traveling, riding the bike, and going out to dinner.  We do not plan to leave Ava with anyone for awhile so we are living it up while we can! 

Finally an expectant mother!!  Me at Universal Studios with the family :)

 

 

We also joined a group called First Coast Families with Children from China.  All of the families in the group have either already adopted from China or are in the process of adopting.  We attended our first event last weekend at Hanna Park.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  The event took place at the beach on a beautiful evening.  It was a bit intimidating walking into a large group of people but everyone was very welcoming.  The event was to celebrate the Autumn Festival, also known as the moon festival.  We are looking forward to other events and getting to know other families.