Finding Ad

Since 1999, the orphanages in China have been required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. They are called "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. Originally these were text-only ads, but most provinces now include photographs in their ads. These photographs are usually the earliest available pictures of the children, some from as young as a few weeks old.

 

Until recently this was the youngest photo we had of Audra...

her referral photo...in which we estimate she is approximately 3-4 years old. 

 

 

And this is Audra's "finding ad"... 

 

She is number 0117

(which indicates that hers is the 117th picture ad in the year 2008)

Her ad was published in the "Yangcheng Evening News" on

February 6, 2008...four months after being found.

So we estimate that she is approximately 3-4 months old in this picture.

 

PRICELESS beyond imagination!!

The LAST wait!

We are finally in the home stretch...we have entered the last wait of what has seemed, at times, to be an endless paperchase.  Our Article 5 paperwork has been delivered to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) where all of our paperwork will go through one last process that will result in a "red-inked seal of approval" on our paperwork, and....our Travel Approval being issued.  Once we receive travel approval our agency can then make our appointment at the US Consulate in China for Audra's visa interview.  Our exact travel dates are dependent upon this visa appointment.  When that appointment date has been made we are then free to travel to China at any time!  (I'd be willing to hop on the very next plane over there!)

It seems the average wait for travel approval is somewhere between 10-14 days.  However, we have been told by our agency that their in-country representative has a very good working relationship with the CCCWA and she is often able to get quicker TA's for her families.  Oh, please...let this be true! 

Hangzhou

Tim and Dawn's daughter, Charlotte, is waiting at the Hangzhou City Children's Welfare Institute in Zhejiang Province (which is on the Eastern coast of China)





This is the front of her orphanage.  She is so very lucky to be at one of the nicest orphanages, on lots of land with many trees, beautiful sculptures and a GREAT playground!


This is a model of the entire grounds of the orphanage...















Travel Plans

Yesterday we had a "Travel Meeting" at our agency.  We, and our agency, are feeling pretty confident that we will have our Travel Approval in time to leave for China on April 4th.  And although this is in no way definite, here is an outline of our tentative travel itinerary, to give you an idea of what our trip will look like:

Friday, April 5th             
Arrive in Beijing

Saturday, April 6th         
Sightseeing in Beijing (Great Wall, Summer Palace, Olympic Stadium)

Sunday, April 7th             
Sightseeing at the Forbidden City, then fly to Guangzhou (Tim & Dawn fly to Zhejiang)

Monday, April 8th            
Forever Family Day!!!  Meet Audra around noon (Tim & Dawn meet Charlotte in the morning)

Tuesday, April 9th          
 Adoption finalized

Wednesday, April 10th 
 ? visit the orphanage

Thursday, April 11th     
Audra's medical exam and visa photo

Friday, April 12th             
Sightseeing at Yuntai Park (Tim, Dawn & Charlotte arrive in Guangzhou in the evening!)

Saturday, April 13th  
Pick up Audra's visa medical report package, evening dinner cruise on the Pearl River

Sunday, April 14th
Sightseeing at the Zoo, group dinner with our guide

Monday, April 15th
Pick up Audra's passport, otherwise a free day

Tuesday, April 16th
Visa interview at the US Consulate (hopefully....or maybe Wed. 4-17-13)

Wednesday, April 17th
Sightseeing at the Temple of Six Banyan Trees (and have the girls blessed), then pick up the girls' Visas in the afternoon

Thursday, April 18th
Train or van ride to Hong Kong

Friday, April 19th or Saturday, April 20th
Leave for HOME!!

Charlotte Update!!!

Finally....after what seemed like a very long time, Tim and Dawn received an update on their daughter, Charlotte.

At 5 years old she is currently 41 inches tall and weighs 39 pounds.

 

They recently sent a "Party" care package to Charlotte at her orphanage and here are the much anticipated pictures of her party...

 

 

 

 

Article 5 surprise!!

Today we received some very surprising news about the status of our Article 5 paperwork.  We had been thinking all along that this paperwork would be dropped of at the US Consulate in China this week, along with Tim and Dawn's paperwork.  Well, today I found out that our paperwork had already been dropped off and in fact will be picked up this Friday...as in, 2 days from today!  This process takes a standard 2 weeks and I thought all along that we were just starting our 2 week wait when in reality we are almost DONE our 2 week wait!  That was the fastest 2 week wait ever...since I didn't even know we were "waiting".  So what really happened during these last two weeks...

~a courier in China hand delivered Audra's visa paperwork to the US Consulate in China (this happened on 2-22-13)
~the Consulate reviewed the visa application to make sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa and then signed off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed
~once this is all done the Consulate issues our Article 5 letter which the courier picks up and sends overnight to Beijing for our travel approval to be issued

p.s.  Tim and Dawn's Article 5 paperwork was delivered to the US Consulate this past Monday, 3-4-13.  It is scheduled for pick up    3-18-13.  So they are just 10 days behind us. 

a good week

We made some good progress this past week.  Day to day it still seems like things are moving slowly...but then I think about the likelihood that in just 4 weeks we will be days away from leaving for China and I am amazed that we are almost at the end of this journey.  Then a whole new journey begins!

Monday:  We received our visas from the courier.  Freshly stamped with approval for us to enter China one time before 2-14-14.  This was such a relief!  Having our passports out of our hands was a bit scary I must say...I really don't like when things are out of my control!

Tuesday:  We found out that an online China research company we had contacted last month has found Audra's "Finding Ad".  What a huge blessing this is to us...and will be to Audra when she is older.  This will likely be the youngest picture taken of Audra that we will ever have.  She will probably be just a couple weeks or months old in the picture.  (More to come on this later)

Wednesday:  We had our visit with the Travel Medicine Specialist.   "Don't drink the water...no ice...no salad...use caution at buffets...only eat fruit that you have to peel...use lots of deet bug spray..."  We each got the Typhoid fever vaccine, Hepatitis A vaccine and Polio booster.  We were also given prescriptions for Cipro...just.in.case!

Thursday:  a quiet day of waiting and wondering

Friday:  Tim and Dawn received their approval letter from the National Visa Center (we received ours last week).  We can now move forward with the process of obtaining the girls' US visas.  The visa paperwork will be dropped off at the US Consulate in China (hopefully in the next 36 hours) then we have a two week wait until it is ready for pick up.  The only step after that is to get Travel Approval from the China Adoption Authority.  We should be getting on a plane heading to China in 4.5 weeks!!!