Red Thread To China 2007

Ever since we received our LSC and sent it back it has been a mad house around here. Trying to get everything done that we have been procrastinating on since the house was finished. We have had to realize that some things just aren't going to get done before we bring our beautiful son home from China. My last day at work is next Friday. I am training someone to do the accounting while I am gone. This has proved to be an exhausting week for me, and I am glad it is coming to an end. And I only have one more to go. The week before we go will be dedicated to packing and making sure Marcus has everything he needs while we are gone. I have enlisted everyone to check in on him. My MIL lives on the same property so it's not like he will be alone but I worry.

We have all our flights and intra China travel all taken care of. I have looked online at the hotels we will be staying at and they are very nice. I know we will have so much fun while we are there and it will be that much more special because we will be able to share it with our son.

My niece Haleigh made this cake for me tonight. She said it was for bringing Levi home. How cute, they are really getting excited for thier cousin to come home. I just had to add this to the blog.

When I got home yesterday there was a little slip of paper in my mailbox that the post office tried to deliver a package and that it could be picked up. THe problem being we live in a very small rural town and the post office closes at 4pm. It was well after that so I had to wait until today to pick it up. I couldn't wait until we got home so I made my husband open it right in the parking lot. Inside was the cutest baby quilt, made out of John Deere material. It will match his room so well. It is such an awesome gift and if my cybershower buddy checks out my blog I want to thank you so much. This is something that Levi will be able to cuddle up with and then pass it along to his children later on. And the books are awesome too, he will love the tractor too. Thank you so much!!!

Only 19 days until we leave to bring you home Levi!

Well we have hit another bump in the road. We sent in the paperwork for our visa's on the 5th, they went out to the consulate on the 8th, but then the hurricane hit. They seem to be stuck in Houston and Houston has no power. I am worried that since this disaster hit we won't get them back in time to travel. Our agency said they are working on it so I guess I won't panic just yet. We have so much to do and so little time. Especially since Jerry has been called in for hurricane duty and has been gone since last Friday. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Well thank God we got everything done in time and our agency was able to secure our appointment at the american consulate in Guangzhou, so we leave on the 9th for China. And we get Levi on the 13th!!!! I can't believe it really is happening. We leave in about 3 weeks. Our intinerary is:

Oct. 9th leave for China
10th arrive in China
11-12 beijing tours
13th Gotcha day (we get Levi)
14th-20th shopping, visit orphanage, bond with our new son
21st Our adoption is final!!!! My Dad's birthday- I just wish he had lived long
enough to know my son.
22nd Back to Beijing
23rd leave for home

I may have left out something. My mind is in overdrive, there is still so much to do.

I will post more later as everything develops.

Well here is the update.... We finally received our re-newed I171H and I immediately e-mailed a copy to our agency so they could request our CA. Boy was I surprised to get a message back that it had already been requested because USCIS was nice enough to honor our request to e-mail a copy to the agency. Maybe we will know by tomorrow, wouldn't that be great? I can hardly contain myself. It is such a relief to have that piece of paper in my hands and know that we will be traveling soon to bring Levi home. It won't be long now. We are doing the happy dance here in Paradise, Texas. Of course I had to go tell the good news to my MIL. She is very excited. We will be very busy from now on I'm sure.

Levi's Mommy & Daddy

Just a short update on the USCIS situation. We still have not heard anything from the USCIS office about our updated I171H. They said it was going back to the Orphan's officer's desk last Tuesday. And it has been another week now with no word. Today I decided to call our agency and ask if there was any word on TA's since I have been seeing that a few people with the same LOA as us have gotten thiers already and are getting thier consulate appointments. Well, I was shocked to discover that we do indeed have our TA, either yesterday or today. But since we don't have our re-newed I171H they can't request our consulate appointment yet. So now what????? I called our social worker (she is the greatest by the way) and she is going to see what she can do to speed it along so that we may travel the first part of October!!!! Can you believe it.... that's next month. I am very worried that we won't get it in time and that it will delay our travel. I have been so stressed out lately that it is taking it's toll on me. My hair is starting to fall out more than usual, and I won't be able to relax until we get this taken care of. And that piece of paper is in my hands. I would like to ask everyone to keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Sandi

Well today we sent off for our Visa's. One more step closer to bringing Levi home. Now if we can just get our re-newed I171H maybe I can relax just a little. We found out this week that it has been sitting on someone's desk since early August because they thought we needed to have our 2 older children fingerprinted again. But they moved out in July 2007 and are living on thier own. When we moved to our new house they didn't want to leave the town where we lived so they found houses there. We only live about 30 minutes from there so we can visit regularly. So I e-mailed them and told them to check the homestudy where it stated this and now it has been refered back to the Orphan's officer. Who knows how long it will take now to review? I hope not too long as nothing else has changed. We did ask them to expidite our case, and I hope they will do this since we plan to travel next month. Maybe we will get it next week, I am trying really hard not to go crazy about it, but it is so hard!!!!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!
Sandi

Isn't this one of the neatest flowers? We found this when we were down in Fredricksburg last month. I have never seen anything like this before so I had to buy it. It opens up in the morning and closes up a bit at night. Our yard is finally coming together. I can't wait for Levi to be running through the grass, playing in the sprinkler, playing with his puppy, and swinging in his new swing. I am so ready for him to be home.

Sandi