Almost There!

It’s amazing how months of waiting can turn into a flurry of activity and suddenly you’re standing at the precipice and the only thing left to do is jump! That is where we find ourselves this morning.

After Christmas things started to pick up in the adoption process. Our I-800A sailed through as did our Visa processing. We then sent in our I-800 which we expected to take through January, if not into February, to complete. We found out last week that our 1-800 was processed by the 9th of January and was on it’s way to us. The next morning Tony received an email from the National Visa Center letter telling they had received a copy of our I-800 and we could continue our next step (something we were not expecting for another week)! On Martin Luther King Jr. Day Tony logged on and completed another form required for our kiddo’s Visa as we waited for our hard copy of our I-800 letter (since we knew it wouldn't come on a holiday, he decided to get ahead of the paperwork). The next day he sent what we had into our agency and we waited...like 10 minutes! Our team contacted us to let us know they had received a hard copy of our approval and they would gather the documents Tony had already sent, we would pay a bill and whoosh, we were done with paperwork!

Our Visas arrived super quickly! It felt like a huge day

You know that feeling you had after your last college final or after you signed your marriage license? That’s what it felt like looking at that email, “No need to do anything else! You’re done!” It’s an incredible feeling! I’m sure more for Tony than for me. He said to me last night he literally has no idea what to do with himself now that the paperwork is done.

He has worked tirelessly for almost a year to bring our child home. I am so grateful for a husband who is dedicated to this process and SO stinkin’ good at paperwork. A friend of mine commented how awesome it was our process has gone so smoothly and I had to sing the praises of Tony. Paperwork makes an adoption go ‘round and he has been spot on every document.

This is where my hard work starts. As soon as we received news we were close I started organizing clothes and shoes and started getting overwhelmed. How do you plan for a child you’ve never met? I know a birthday, a gender and very little else. How do you pack for 2 weeks in a foreign country with a child who is a practical stranger? Do I bring a size up or a size down? What size shoes? Do I need diapers or undies or pull-ups? Do I need bottles or baby food or both or neither? Do I need a stroller or a baby carrier? Should we keep JJ in a crib or will we need to move him to a toddler bed? 

JJ found the new bed and has been keeping it warm for his new brother!

Yesterday I got to ask my questions. Twenty of them. You moms out there can understand, 20 questions to get to know a child you have never met and will be bringing into a totally new environment is about 1 million questions too few! Mind you, the very first time we meet this child he will come home with us. No get-to-know-you seminar, no book of likes and dislikes. Just like in the hospital with your newborn, “here you go, you don’t know this kid, but you’ll be great.” - I hope they have really good hot beef sandwiches where we’re going, I think that’s how I got through my first 3 newborns!

So now, our agency will send off our packet to the Consulate, which should arrive by the end of this week or early next week. They will review it within two weeks and then pull what is called an Article 5. They will set up our Consulate appointment and call us with a travel date. A TRAVEL DATE! The next time we hear from our agency will likely be them telling us when we are getting on a plane!

I hope that we will be traveling in February, but Tony and I agree this is unlikely because of the Chinese New Year. It seems, finally, we have an end in sight. It’s exciting because our next step is not months away, it is weeks, maybe days away!

Last February Tony and I sat down and had what we dubbed our Dream Summit. We talked about the things we love and feel called to and what our lives would look like if we truly followed what God had put in our hearts. At the top of our list was ADOPT A CHILD. And here we are 1 year later. Our Dream Summit has completely changed our life. We have decided to say “YES” to what God has for us and we don’t regret it!

We are excited! I can honestly say I’m not even nervous, because I know God has this. He is the good parent! He loves our kiddo more than we can ever know, same as He loves us. God is so good to include us in His plans for the world. One person at a time, in love. He is restoring us all!

*If you would like to support us through prayer or help provide travel costs and other fees related to bringing home our child please visit YouCaring.com/chiaramonte! We would love for you to be a part of our support team!