{"id":183,"date":"2015-05-19T17:31:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T22:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/?p=183"},"modified":"2015-05-19T17:31:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T22:31:50","slug":"the-wait-is-getting-closer-to-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/19\/the-wait-is-getting-closer-to-over\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wait Is (Getting Closer To) Over."},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been a lot of \u201cstuff\u201d going on around here lately, and I\u2019m just now getting a minute to take a breath and get it all straight in my head.\u00a0 Adoption is a lot of hurry up and wait, and we\u2019ve finally hit the HURRY part.<\/p>\n

First up, we had a exciting step forward when we received our LOA, which stands for Letter of Acceptance.\u00a0 This is a government document that states that we agree to accept Jia as our daughter.\u00a0 This is the final step you go through before your files are officially matched together and the deal is sealed, so to speak.\u00a0 In our hearts, Jia has been our daughter for months now, but now it\u2019s one step closer to being official in the eyes of the government, so hooray!\u00a0 We received our \u201csoft\u201d LOA on May 7th<\/sup>, which means that our agency was notified that we were approved and the CCCWA (government agency over adoption) was shipping our LOA.\u00a0 Our agency received it on May 11th<\/sup>, and sent it to us, and we received it on a few days later.\u00a0 Then we signed it and sent it back.<\/p>\n

Once that process is initiated, we get to apply to US Customs and Immigration using form I800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative.\u00a0 So that means that once that\u2019s approved, Jia will be considered our daughter and a part of our family, just like Eden is.<\/p>\n

Once our I800 is approved, it is sent to the National Visa Center, then it will be sent electronically to US Consulate in China, and they will produce an Article 5 letter, which will be delivered to the CCCWA by our agency reps in China.\u00a0 That letter lets the CCCWA know that our immigration file is ready so they\u2019ll issue our Invitation to Travel (TA or Travel Approval).\u00a0 After that, we set a Consulate Date, which is when we meet with the US Consulate and complete our in China paperwork.\u00a0 Once that\u2019s set, we can make travel arrangements.\u00a0 \u00a0Most families travel within 10-21 days after TA.<\/p>\n

So, it seems like all the stuff should take a while, right?\u00a0 Not really!\u00a0 Most families travel 9-12 weeks after LOA, which puts us travelling in July.\u00a0 Now, there is still a LOT that could happen between now and then that could change that time line but assuming everything goes as planned, we\u2019re headed to China in about a month and a half.\u00a0 WOW-ZA.<\/p>\n

To say that we\u2019re feeling the crunch\u2026 would be a massive understatement.\u00a0 Jia\u2019s room isn\u2019t ready, all of our funds aren\u2019t in place, we have about a zillion things on our \u201cwant to do before Jia comes\u201d list, Eden\u2019s wrapping up the school year so I want to do all the end of school things, my job is in flux and it\u2019s been a recipe for wanting to hide under the covers and come out in July when we\u2019re ready to get on a plane.\u00a0 There has been some stress eating and some crying and some desperate emails to friends (thank you Anna!).\u00a0 It is nice to paint a rosy picture of the adoption process, but honestly friends, sometimes it feels overwhelming in a way I have never been overwhelmed before.\u00a0 You would not waste your prayers on us as we move into this final chapter, and we could certainly use them.<\/p>\n

But, on a happier note, as part of LOA, we also received an update on our littlest girl!\u00a0 We learned that her favorite color is purple, she loves sea weed snacks (we\u2019ve tried them ourselves and I think we\u2019ll save them for her!), she is putting together two-three word sentences, and we also got some updated pictures, a few I\u2019ve included here.\u00a0 We are so excited to see all these things in person!<\/p>\n

\"DSCN2629\"<\/a>\"DSCN2744\"<\/a>\"DSCN2979\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We also finally decided on her official name, which will be Jiaqi Madilyn Pollard.\u00a0 You pronounce Jiaqi, GE-AH-CHEE, which is kind of like hibachi if that helps.\u00a0 We will still call her Jia though.<\/p>\n

A few things you could be specifically praying for or sending us good vibes on:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jia\u2019s transition from her foster family to us will be really hard. There is no way through but through and we are already grieving that for her. Please pray for her attachment to us and for her grief as she misses the only family she knows right now.<\/li>\n
  2. Eden is really excited to be a big sister, but it is really sinking in that having a sibling means sharing your parents, and we\u2019re starting to see some hard stuff from that. This will be a transition for everyone and that\u2019s totally normal and good, even, but please just pray for her tender heart and for our girls to develop a sister bond that will last.<\/li>\n
  3. And finally, as we walk through transitioning two girls through some HUGE changes and adjustments, Josh and I would so appreciate your prayers for patience, our positive attitudes and that we would know how to handle things the right way. We really make an effort to be a united Team Pollard and stress sometimes makes that a little more challenging, so we\u2019d certainly appreciate any extra support.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, that\u2019s the latest!\u00a0 As always, thank you for your support and love for us.\u00a0 I wish I could do a better job of telling you just how much your support means to us, but please know that we are humbled constantly by your kindness.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There has been a lot of \u201cstuff\u201d going on around here lately, and I\u2019m just now getting a minute to take a breath and get it all straight in my head.\u00a0 Adoption is a lot of hurry up and wait, and we\u2019ve finally hit the HURRY part. First up, we had a exciting step forward Continue reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatwalltogreatlakes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}