We got our Article 5!!

I received word today, after calling our agency, that our Article 5 was signed late last week and should now be in Beijing, in the hands of the CCAA. Wooo hooo!! I can't believe it!

Only one more precious piece of paper to go!

The wait for Travel Approval (TA) is normally about 3 weeks. We are hoping that ours comes quick, before they close for Chinese New Year.

Fingers crossed and prayers going up!!

So Close, Yet So Far Away

I was hoping that by the end of this week I could write about an update we had received or news that more of our paperwork had been completed. At this point, it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Many of you have asked us how things are going and why we now think March will be our travel time when we had originally hoped for January. So, I will do my best to fill you all in.

We received our referral for Mia on August 6th and submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) on August 7th. The next step, our LOA (Letter of Approval) issued by the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), on average takes 60-90 days. Ours took 101. Then, we waited for our I800 approval on the US side of things. It normally takes about 2 weeks. Ours took 32 days. Next, the approval is "cabled" to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. At this point, we are waiting for our Article 5. The wait for this is normally 2 weeks, 3 at most, and we are on day 23. After Article 5, we should receive our Travel Approval (TA) in approximately 3 weeks. As you can see, we have been above average on all of our wait times. Yes, they are just averages, someone is always below and someone always above. :) At this point, we are also running into the Chinese New Year holiday. We are hoping to receive our TA before everything shuts down (approximately 2 weeks) in China. It is not likely, but we are still hopeful. At the point we receive travel approval, we will travel 2-3 weeks later. At this point, mid-March is the best guess. We have also been requested to update our fingerprints since they expire March 23rd and have to be valid up to one week post consulate appointment. The consulate appointment is when Mia receives her visa. (I think) :)

So what does all this mean? We need to pray! That is the only thing we can do. I have written out some prayer requests below. Please join us in praying for this process and for our precious Mia. Her 2nd birthday is March 27th. All of you know how much we want to be with her that day. I didn't think we would get this close to missing it.

We did send her a care package that she received last week, (picture above) but are unable to get an update and new pictures of her right now. :( We sent it the 2nd week of December - it took USPS 1 month to get it there. Urgh!

Prayer requests:

Please pray for me to have patience and peace. This process is so hard and it can easily begin to take over every aspect of life. I jump when the phone rings, check email about 8,000 times a day. Packing and to do lists are never far from my brain. My boys need me here, now. I need to let it go and be at peace that this will happen when God is ready, not on my schedule. Tears don't make someone in China work any faster. :)

Please pray for our little girl. In all of the pics we have, she looks healthy and happy. Pray for her continued health. Please also pray that she is being prepared for our coming. At 2, she won't understand, but seeing the photo albums we have sent will allow us to be familiar to her. We pray that the nannies are showing her the photos and calling us "mama and baba".

Please pray for the boys. They have been so patient. They are so excited and they are starting to ask "when" more often. I took them to the aquarium on Monday and I could have counted about 50 times when they said, "when we bring Mia, when Mia is home". It is so sweet. They are ready.

A few months ago, I was having a conversation with two moms who have been through this. They said something to me that I have to remind myself of every day. They told me to not rush this time. For Mia. There may be reasons unknown to us for this seeming "delay" in our travel. Maybe she needs a little longer to have some understanding of what is happening, maybe a special bond is forming with a nanny, maybe she has a little buddy that needs her for a little longer. And maybe, just maybe, even at her young age, a memory will be made that she will keep forever. And that is worth the wait.

God's time - not ours. Please pray for this truth to go deep within us. We need it.

One Lucky Girl

Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have yet to endure. We had to say goodbye to our sweet "Lucky Girl".

I met Lucky a little over 12 years ago, not long after meeting Keith. She was his best companion, a dog like no other. When we married, I specifically remembered thinking, "a dog, in the house, really? She's a big dog... in the house?". Growing up, our dogs were the outside type so it was a completely foreign thing to me. But she sure did win me over. It only took a few naps on the couch with her curled at my feet to change my mind. :)

Fast forward 11 years and Lucky has been a constant companion for not only Keith, but for me and the boys. I smile at the memories of her first meeting both Tucker and Tate. They have no memories of home life without her. She would often sit at my feet while I fed or rocked each baby. She made me feel safe when Keith was gone. A bark that at times grew annoyingly loud, but also had the ability to "talk" to you.

I miss her. Our home just seems a little empty right now. I know the pain will subside and we will be able to share stories of her without the tears. The busyness of life will take us to a new "normal" without her. When I think back to our time together, I never expected to love her so deeply. She was my buddy. Always here. I know the saying is "A dog is a man's best friend", but for all the time we had together, for the joy she brought to my days, I have been one lucky girl.

(You can read Keith's tribute to Lucky Girl by clicking here.)

Happy New Year!

Well, what better time to start writing your blog than the first day of the year? We have actually had the blog completed for awhile, I just didn't quite know how to get started. What do I write first? Where do I start? I am a little fearful of it actually. But, after reading Keith's post today, I decided to jump in. One of my wishes for the year is to share our journeys. So, here we go.

As many of you know, we are currently in the process to bring home our beautiful little girl, Mia, from Heshan City, China. We started the process in August 2008 and have finally, almost, made it to the end. We are waiting for our TA (travel approval) from China and expect to bring her home in March. It has been one of the most exciting, fun, scary, and rewarding God given experiences for the Jennings family. We are thrilled and just overjoyed to meet our newest member! The boys are getting really antsy and talk about her daily.

We would love for you to follow the blog along our journeys this year. To Mia. And home again. Baseball, Soccer and Summer. A trip to the beach and Mia's surgery(ies). Birthdays, Halloween and everything in between. The header of the blog states, "Seeing the familiar in unfamiliar ways" and we hope to do just that in 2010!