The Million-Dollar Question and a Prayer Request

Everywhere I go lately, I seem to get the million-dollar question, "So, where's Brooks? When are you traveling? I thought you all would be in China by now."

So, I thought I'd take a minute and address that.

Here's the short answer: we're in our last and final period of waiting.

Womp. Womp. Yep, I know. Me, too.

And the kicker? The China government offices are completely closed ALL THIS WEEK due to National Day which means exactly ZERO progress can happen before next week. 

MAJOR WOMP. WOMP. 

So, here's the longer answer: After we got our LOA at the end of August, we applied for Brooks's immigration approval. About three weeks later, we got it and went on to complete a form for the Department of Homeland Security called the DS-260. This form and the accompanying letter issued by immigration is then sent over to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, that basically says we have completed all the necessary paperwork and forms to immigrate Brooks legally into the country upon his arrival to the U.S. Once the Consulate has reviewed his information, they will issue us an Article 5 which tells China to grant us Travel Approval (TA). This Article 5 typically takes about two weeks, but as I referenced above, there is a holiday happening in China right now (of course there is) that is causing our Article 5 to take an extra week and delaying our TA. (That's what we're waiting on now.) 

Are your eyes glazed over yet? Adoption is so glamorous, y'all. 

So, here's my prayer request: We need China to get their booty in gear and move this along, so we can get to our baby boy in November! If we can't get our TA by about the 20th (roughly) of this month, we will have to wait until early December to go get Brooks. I know this doesn't seem that terrible considering we've been waiting for him for nearly two years, BUT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS, y'all, and this mama is DONE with the waiting.

God sets the lonely in families, and I know He planned the timing of ALL OF THIS many, many years ago, but I'm just ready to hold my baby, and I'm not ashamed to say that out loud. I've missed more than a year of this life already, and I don't want to miss any more. If we have to wait until December, so be it, but I'm not ready to give up hope that we will have him in our arms next month.

Thanks, y'all. We are SO CLOSE to getting this baby HOME where he belongs.