August has been a busy time of enjoying the later part of summer getting in some Camping, which was the first for both kids. Then we took a trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with my Dad and Nancy. That was a wonderful adventure where we were able to relax, enjoy nature and its wonder. The kids thought that the hiking was fun and looking for wild life was even more fun. There was a LOT of driving, but driving for them was a lot different than in our day. Where we had windows and the taunting of each other to entertain us as kids in the back seat, our kids had movies (mostly Chinese educational) and Nintento DS/Leapster games to fill some of the expansive times! As I watched them and debated in my head which way is better, judging by both the parents view and by the child's view, all I could really concluded is that I hope that it will be enough for the 15+ hours to travel to China!!! Looking out the window for that amount of time to the vast blueness of the sky without a change of scenery for potty breaks and meal detours would result in a VERY bad travel experience I think!
Well while we were in Yellowstone, which has limited (at best) cellular coverage, we received our Homeland Security BioMetric Invitations. Cathy next door was watching our mail for them. Although they were not expected for a few weeks I have a gut feeling that they would arrive while we were gone. Sure enough on Wednesday while driving I hear a distant bleep from my phone. I picked it up and there was a text. Trying to catch the opportunity to use my phone of that little window I checked it and Cathy had let us know they were there. I called her to see if she would open them. On very official paper there they were. The Invitations were what we were waiting for to start the China side of the process. I called CCAI immediately. By Thursday, China was sent our Letter of Intent to adopt Dang Hao Long. A flood of excitement hit me. China knows and now we will be at the mercy of China to find paperwork, review it, find Jordan's paperwork and go from there. Next step, the Pre-Approval Letter from China, which could take a few days to a few weeks.
Well Alex started his new school on Monday, August 17th. First Grade suits him!! The new school shows so much promise for Alex and although it is difficult for me to watch the stumbling and trial and errors needed to achieve perfection for new processes and procedures, Alex has been coming home happy and chatty. Chatty is a new state that I am getting use to in Alex and I am enjoying it immensely. What ever they are doing to evaluate the children and bring out their learning styles it is having a positive affect on Alex! Amongst all the activity that comes along with getting use to the new routines of a new school year and recovering from a long trip I check my email and sure enough... we are Pre-Approved!! This time we fell into the few days!
What does Pre-Approval mean? Well this is what was given to us... "A pre-approval is essentially the CCAA’s acknowledgement or confirmation that your Letter of Intent has been received, along with the basic family information and photos you provided, and it represents the CCAA’s agreement to shift your file to the Waiting Child Program process.
The next thing that we will expect to see from the CCAA is your acceptance letter (often called an “LOA”), which is part of the CCAA’s Match Room process to formally match your dossier together with your child’s information."
Once we have CCAA's LOA then we will post a picture of Jordan to share with everyone. We will be that much closer and waiting for our Travel Notices issued from China inviting us to come to their country to pick up Jordan! That will be a momentous day in itself!! In the meantime I am going to focus on getting Alex settled into his new school and preparing for our upcoming trip to China. I will keep everyone posted on our next anticipation... the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which could be in a few days to weeks...
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