IT'S HERE!!!

Woo-Hoo!! Our I-171H arrived in yesterday's mail--AT LAST! Actually, despite my impatience, it took one week less this go 'round than last. Monday Jeff will have it notarized and run it to the Secretary of State's office for certification. Then he will ship it to a Chicago courier for it's run to the Chinese Consulate there, with the hope it will be back here by week's end. We are hoping CCAI will get our dossier off to China by the end of the month. It will be a close call with the holiday next week, however.

Our original hope was that since CCAI agreed to send it a month early for us we might be able to travel before Katelynn and Nikki went off to college next summer. We would love to be able for Mara to stay at home with them while we travel. However, China has slowed down referrals considerably, so we are not as hopeful as we once were. On the other hand, China has also been known to suddenly start processing in a big hurry and move ahead quite quickly. Either way it will be a relief to me to have the dossier in China and logged into their system.

Praise the Lord for this milestone.