Patience... One last approval...

"Dear Adoptive Parent,

The Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou has finished processing your child's Article 5, and your file is returned to your adoption agency's facilitator. 

....

We look forward to meeting you and your new family member when you come to the Consulate for your visa appointment!

Sincerely yours,

 Adoptions Team

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou"

_______________________________________________

This is it, y'all. We have one more approval before we can schedule our consulate appointment which will determine when we leave for China.

Today, March 17, 2015 our article 5 was issued and picked up from the US Consulate in Guangzhou and is headed to the Chinese Center of Children's Welfare and Adoption in Beijing. Our final wait in this process is for Travel Approval.  Travel Approval generally takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to receive. If we can receive our TA relatively quickly, we will be able to meet Ava on April 13. The longer our wait, the longer Ava waits.

We first signed our contract with our first agency on March 6, 2014. What a blessing it is to complete this adoption in just over a year when so many wait for much longer.

A wise friend of mine once said (coughJenniferHawkinscough), "Never pray for patience. I prayed for patience and God gave me Jax (her precocious 3 year old)." "Too late," I told her.... and then I got handed the task of bringing home a beautiful little girl half a world away. My patience has been tested continuously, my hairs are turning grey, and I'm pretty sure my pre pregnancy jeans will never fit again.

So, whatever you do, do NOT pray for patience. Because you will find yourself looking at a complicated and testing situation that just may make your life insanely better. ;)

Lessons learned

Like most things in life and about life, adoption is a journey and not a destination. I've learned a lot through our adoption process... we have learned about parenting a child who comes from a "hard place" and parenting a child of a different ethnicity. We have learned about orphan care, types of adoptions, and a tiny bit about the vast expanse of Chinese history.

The things I didn't really expect to learn are, however, the most important.

I have learned to surround myself with supportive and caring people. We need a strong foundation to be a strong family.

I have learned what it feels like to be the racial minority and what a comfort it is to "blend in". We will make every effort to spend time with a diverse group of friends for Ava so that she does not always stand out.

I have learned that I must be strong, out spoken, and compassionate. Ava is different. She was born with a giant congenital melanocytic nevus. She is Asian. She will encounter teasing at some point, but she will never face it alone. Her family must be her rock. We will not tolerate teasing, bullying, or racism. We will protect her, build her up, and make her strong for a cruel intolerant world.

This morning on the way to a haircut, my favorite radio show began ragging on China. "There is not one good thing in China. Why would anyone want to go there?," they said.

In a way they are right. There is not ONE good thing in China. There are BILLIONS of good things in China. Currently, Ava is my favorite thing in China. If it weren't for Ava, I would not know much about China. I would not have fallen in love with so many orphans who desperately need families and medical care. If it weren't Ava, I would not know that most of the children are abandoned because their families cannot afford their medical care. Imagine that.... feeling like your only option to save your child is to leave your child? I love that China allows Americans to adopt their precious children. America is not always so kind in return.

So remember that when you are complaining that your TV or your cell phone was *gasp* Made in China, that my Ava was also made in China. You don't have to like their political system. You don't have to like their food or their languages. But you can love their people.  They need jobs just like the rest of us. They need to support their families, buy food, and pay for medical care. Only, they survive on much a less a day than we do.

I have learned that I cannot care what some of you think. I cannot listen to the naysayers. There will always be someone who criticizes adoption. "I could never love a child who isn't mine." I cannot listen to those who ask, "Ugh, why adopt from CHINA?" I will pity those who sneer at adopting a child with special needs. "People need to stop bringing rejects from other countries into America." I will guard my heart from those who stare at Ava's nevus.

I will never stop learning and growing and doing what I feel is right for my family.

Wok and Roll

We made a little more progress this week. On Tuesday, we received our visas to enter China. Our visas are good for ten years, with a maximum stay of 90 days per trip. I'm sure we can squeeze in one more adoption and a couple of heritage trips in that time frame. ;)

Also, this week, our Article 5 was dropped off at the consulate in Guangzhou and will be picked up March 17. Once this step is complete, we will be rolling right along to Travel Approval and scheduling our appointment at the consulate.

I am still hopeful that we will travel around April 9, but it is possible that we will get pushed back a week. It all depends how quickly our approvals come through and how fast we can get an appointment at the consulate.

To stay busy, I have been practicing my chopstick skills (I can pick up chunky items) and my (sort of) authentic Chinese cooking. Tonight, I will attempt shrimp fried rice in my brand new wok.