I800 Approval!

Whoot!  We now have I800 approval!  That is the official word from the US immigration that we can bring Jaden specifically into the US.  And just in time, I was about to have to get crazy.  :)  The under/over on approval time is 8-16 days.  We missed that one by several days but we had a delay due to Thanksgiving.  Our officer would have had it on Thursday had it not been a holiday and then she was out for a vacation day on Friday also.  Hmm.  Hard to be mad about someone wanting a little extra time with her family when that is really what I'm working toward also.  I was (not?) patient in the wait.  Is it a problem when your officer recognizes your voice over the phone?

Tim is pretty excited that China says Jaden is ours and now the US says it is ok to bring him home!  Both countries are on board, now just to get it done!

Our next step is having his approval cabled over to the US Embassy in China.  Then, exactly 2 weeks later, BAAS will pick it up in China and deliver to the Chinese children's authority for travel permission for us.  The over/under on this is December 28-February 10.  The worrisome thing with this is that Chinese New Year starts 2/9/2013 and everything shuts down.  If we already have Jaden, that works ok, just a longer stay in China.  If we don't have him yet that puts a 10 day delay in Gotcha Day!  Please hurry paperwork, no delays allowed!
 
It is a little hard to face the upcoming holidays knowing that my little boy is sitting in an orphanage again this year with no family there to love on him.  We had really hoped to be there before Christmas but is doesn't look possible at this point.  God's timing is perfect, there is a something good that can come from this.  Even though I can't see it right now, I know that to be truth.  :)  Meanwhile, we continue to work to get ready for him.  I've started collecting squares for his "100 Wishes" quilt and hope people will start sending them my way so I can start stitching them together.  I hope to have him home before the quilt is done but friends and family--start sending squares please!  :)

(I just realized how many exclamation points I've used in this post.  Can you tell we're a little excited?!)