Survivor

Our daughter in China, Anna, is a burn survivor.  I used to say burn victim, but the proper term is burn survivor.  She survived!

There are several good organizations that work with burned children if you are interested:

Akron Children's Hospital Burn Institute

Shriner's Hospital Cincinnati

Aluminum Cans for Burned Children


We don't know how or when Anna was burned.  All we know is someone, probably her family, decided to leave her in a public place where she would be found.  We don't know what happened to her family.  We don't know if she was treated in a hospital or not.  There are so many question marks.

There is a story in the bible about a mother who loved her son enough to leave him in a place where he would be found.  Moses was left in a basket in the river.  He was found and raised by Pharaoh's daughter. He later grew up to be a great man of God.  (Exodus 2:1-25)

Someone left Anna and hoped that she would be found. We are taking a leap of faith, so to speak, and we are making her a part of our family. 

How to post a comment

Some people have asked me how to post a comment.  I don't know why it's a little complicated.  You click on "no comments" under the post (or it might say "1 comment", etc.).  Then type your comment in the "Post a Comment" box.  Under that it will say "comment as".  If you have a Google account and you are signed in you will have no problem at this point just use your Google account.  If you do not have a Google account choose "name/url" from the drop down box.  Just type in your first name, leave url blank.  You can also choose "anonymous" but then I won't know it's from you! Then click "publish" and your comment will appear.

We hit a snag

Everything with our adoption paperwork has been going so smoothly, but now we have hit a snag.  Our visa application paperwork received provisional approval last week.  It was supposed to be sent to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou China for final approval (Article 5).  I just found out it was not sent last week.  It was not mailed until yesterday and it will take a few days to get there. The U.S. Consulate will be closed after July 12 (they are moving) and the paperwork takes 2 weeks to process.  And we lose one day next week due to 4th of July holiday.  The U.S. Consulate re-opens July 24. All Consulate appointments have been delayed about a month.  So it is more likely we will not travel until September. Please pray that somehow our paper work gets through in time before the closure!

*Update- I found out if it makes it there by July 5, it  should gets processed in time.  Nerve-wracking waiting for it to get there because I have no way of knowing!

Next Stop- Article 5- then TA!

Our visa application for Anna made it to the National Visa Center with no problems and now it is on its way to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou China.  Once it is approved they will issue something called an Article 5 that is sent to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption).  Then the CCCWA will issue our Travel Approval or TA, this should take about 2-4 weeks. Interesting the I-800 form we got approved from U.S.  Immigration is a petition to declare Anna an "immediate relative".  That is how she is able to get an immigration visa.

While we are waiting we have applied for 4 grants to help with our adoption and travel expenses.  It's pretty hard to get a grant because everyone is asking for one and there is only so much to hand out.  Praying we get some assistance since the travel costs alone are probably around $10,000-$12,000. We are hoping to get a matching grant for $2500- that means for every dollar donation we get they will match up to $2500.  We'll keep you posted.

Next Stop- NVC

I just found out today our I-800 application was approved by US immigration (USCIS) Hague Adoption Unit. That means our file will now go to the National Visa Center (NVC) in Hew Hampshire.  This is the arm of the State Department that gives the pre-approval for immigrant visas to the US. After we get approval from the NVC our file will go to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China for approval.  We hope that happens before July 12 because the US Consulate office in Guangzhou that handles adoptions is moving and they will be closed for 2 weeks until the end of July.  We are thankful that things are moving along though- thanks for your prayers about our paperwork!

Travel Clinic

Today we went to the international travel clinic to consult with the nurse and get our travel shots for China.  I got the Hep A shot and hubby got the Hep A+B shot.  He also got a Tetanus shot.  Our kiddo is already up-to-date with all her shots so she didn't have to get any. We also have the option to get Typhoid pills.

We are still waiting for our I-800 approval to come back from US Immigration.  Then we need US Visa approval for Anna to come to the US.  We need all of this to get approved by the beginning of July if possible because we just found out the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China is moving! They will be closed for 2 weeks at the end of July and all our paperwork needs to make it through before the end of July!