What a Difference a Year Makes

As the children and I  wind down our school year, anticipating our long awaited summer break, I cannot help but reflect on where we were this time last year. Last May, we had not found Daniel yet. We did not even have China on the radar. This time last year I was still talking to multiple agencies, watching various waiting children lists, and praying for the Lord to reveal our child to us. We were cautious to commit, as our hearts were still hurting over the loss of our Archie with the Russian ban on adoptions, but we knew the rough road behind us was not happenstance and our God had a plan for our family. Archie is forever in my heart. He paved the way for us to open our home to another child. Please pray a Russian family sees him as theirs. I still think of him as our son, but he needs the love of a family that can adopt him.

 
What a difference a year makes! We are closing in on the final steps before we travel for Daniel. Right now we are awaiting the preliminary visa approval for Daniel. The paperwork bundle for that step is called the Article 5. Today our agency team walked our bundle into the US consulate in China. It takes exactly two weeks to process. So two weeks from today, the team will pick up our Article 5 and overnight it to Beijing to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoptions). We then wait for our TA (travel approval). Based on the timelines of others who recently traveled the time frame from Article 5 to TA is approximately 2-3 weeks. This puts us traveling in June! I cannot wait to wrap my arms around this sweet boy and call him ours!

Please continue to pray for Daniel's preparation to join our family. He has many huge changes in his future. His entire world is about to be rocked.  I love him already and pray he will love us soon too.