We leave tomorrow (June 21)

To try and explain the past week would be impossible. Let me just over-view for histories sake-
It started out with last Tuesday and getting our Embassy appointment, but through some confusion, a request was made on our behalf to change it. Then that request was cancelled at our request, but we didn't hear for two days what date had been confirmed. After two days of me asking when we should be in what city, and no answer, I just started making hotel and flight arrangements on Saturday. Website for hotel in Nanchang was down all weekend. After trying six times to get Air China website to accept our credit card I finally gave up and got the tickets through Travelocity on first try. Monday morning finally got on website for first hotel in Nanchang and got a room.
Then Tuesday morning got an e-mail from local adoption agency with information for travel that had completely different dates. So many phone calls and e-mails went by to make a new plan.
So here we are last day before travel and everything seems to be set for the moment.

Travel date

We received our appointment with the consulate for July 9th at 8:30am. That means we need to be in Nanchang on June 25. Our plans are to fly on June 21st from DFW to Chicago, then to Beijing. That flight doesn't get into Beijing until 11:30pm on the 22nd (local Beijing time).
We plan to stay there until Sunday the 24th when we will catch a China Air flight to Nanchang. Most likely we will get Natalie the next day.

Travel Authorization

Our TA arrived today. Now we submit five dates that we wish to have our interview with the US consulate in Gauangzhou. We are requesting the week of July 9 - 13- which will have us departing around June 22.
So, the race is on for final preparations.

We have a name

Things are getting close. We expect to get our travel authorization early next week. All last minute preparations are moving along. We can't say when we will travel exactly, but we are shooting for the last week of June.

We have finally agreed on a name. Natalie Victoria Frank

Embassy Response and Visas!

Yesterday we got an e-mail from the Embassy in China that our paperwork had been processed. The next step is for our facilitator to take that paperwork and the letter of intent we signed back in January, to the CCCWA. The CCCWA will then send our travel authorization. When we get the TA we send five options for appointment dates to the US Embassy in China- That appointment is for us to fill out paperwork and get a US visa for Qui Miao. When we get that appointment confirmed, we will travel two weeks prior to that appointment date.

Today we recieved our visas to travel to China.

Visa Application

We sent in our applications for our China visas yesterday. Part of being able to do that was the requirement that we have some kind of travel plans. So here is what we know:
We were given two "possible" travel dates of June 17 or June 24 (of course we were strongly reminded these are not set in stone).
We will spend our first week in the Galactic Peace International Hotel in Nanchang, China. (sounds like something out of a Hollywood Sci-fi.
Our second week will be in the China Hotel in Gauangzhou, China.
I googled them both and they look nice. Of course we will post pictures to see reality.

Paperwork to China

We received notification today from the USCIS that our paperwork has been sent to China. All we are waiting for now is our authorization from China to travel.

I-800a

We received final approval of I-800a today from USCIS.

The adoption agency will now send this and other paperwork to China.

Paperwork Corrected

I made contact with the USCIS agent today and was able to correct the paperwork issue. I even received and e-mail notification that the I-800 was processed and our authorization was in the mail.

Hopefully we will get that this week and be on our way to the next step.

Paperwork Hiccup

We received notice from the USCIS of a "Request for Evidence" for our I-800 application. They are asking for a few documents we wouldn't have yet like a birth certificate as evidence of Qiu Miao's age.

Phone calls to USCIS has only landed me on voice mail, so we are waiting to hear from the adoption agency.

This is the final paperwork that starts the process for us to get travel dates.

Passports and USCIS

Today Alexander, Stephanie and I received our passports in the mail. I have some video clips of them bouncing around in celebration of their passports. I will put it together and post here soon.

In other news we also go our I-797C from the USCIS yesterday. This is nothing big except confirmation that they received the last of our paperwork in their process. After this, the adoption agency sends other paperwork to China showing our approval and then China will send us permission to travel.

New Fund Raiser!

Here is a new way to support our efforts to raise $5,500 for Qiu Miao's orphanage.
Our new store on Cafe Press has shirts, hats, coffee mugs, water bottles, and much more.
These items feature our personal design and our favorite slogan:
God made us, but adoption made us a family

You can get to them by clicking the CafePress link on the right, or simply click HERE!
No codes to remember, just make sure our store name is on the top - "Franks to China 2012"

Final Paperwork to USCIS

Our final paperwork (on our end at least) is on it's was to USCIS.
Our next step will be wating for our notification that we are ready to travel.
Mean while, we are still working on fund raising.
Thank you to everyone who has helped so far.
I am in the fianl stages of setting up another T-shirt company. It may be up today or tomorrow. They sell T-shirts, hats, bags, coffee mugs, water bottles, and much more. Plus, they will feature our personal designs.

Official Progress

We received our USCIS approval today! So the Government didn't take that long after all...

What that means: if nothing else, we have the confidence of the US government that we can raise 3 children!

On another subject, I learned from a Chinese speaking co-worker today who to say her name (Qiu Miao) and spell is phonetically... Chu Maow. The Chu is almost like the word chew, but with a hard C and the Maow is almost like a cat's meow but loose the e and replace with a hard A sound. But NOT saying
May-ow. I find it difficult to take the ehh sound off the A.

Qiu Miao information

I have had a few requests to post a picture. I was told by our adoption agency that China prefers the children's pictures not be posted on web sites, etc. In the interest of honoring China's adoption policies, we won't be posting any pictures of her until we are in-country. However, if you are interested in seeing her picture, send an e-mail and we'll be happy to send one that we have.

A few other facts:
She was born May 2, 2011, she is healthy and she is being cared for in a foster home. We have two different papers with two different provinces, those are Jiangxi and Guangdong. I suspect one is where she may be staying and the other may be the orphanage location since they are neighboring.
The last measurements we have are from last September and she was 25 inches and weighed 15 1/2 pounds.

Another way to Donate

I wanted to remind everyone of another way you can help us reach our goal to donate $5,500 and support Qiu Miao's orphanage.
If you want to make the most of your donation go directly into helping the babies and children at the orphanage; you can give a tax deductable donation directly through our adoption agency Hope International.
The direct link to their donation page is:
HOPE INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS
(They are also listed in our Other Important Links in the right margin.)

Once on their donation page you will see three options:
You can donate on-line with a credit card,
You can donate with a credit card by calling Dawn, or
You can mail a check.

If you donate on-line- select "Other" as the category. Then in the Special Instructions line, add our name (Frank family).
For check donations, write our name in the check note.

The bennefit to you is that this is a tax deductable donation (Hope International is a 501C non-profit agency) - The bennefit for us it that more cash goes directly for our cause.

Fundraising Starts Today!

I PROMISED SOON AND HERE IT IS- YOU CAN BUY ADOPTION T-SHIRTS FROM WILD OLIVE TEE’S AND SUPPORT OUR ADOPTION EFFORTS.
By clicking the link in the right margin (It's the big Wild Olive banner) you can purchase t-shirts directly from Wild Olive. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU USE OUR FAMILY CODE FOR US TO GET CREDIT!!
OUR FAMILY CODE IS: FRANK229
Instructions from Wild Olive:
During the checkout process, there will be a coupon code option under the shopping cart. They will click on that box and it will open the coupon code field up in the left hand corner. That is where the code is applied.  It would not hurt if they mentioned the family code, or your last name(the family name), in the comment section when placing their order (though not a necessity!) Please let them know this code will NOT provide a discount on the Adoption fundraiser Tees. The code will be used solely to help us track your sales for your Fundraising efforts. 

We want everyone to know we are not asking for money for us! We are committed to a $5,500 donation to Qiu Miao’s orphanage (we haven’t decided on an American name for her yet). However, if by some miracle of God we are granted, or raise more than our commitment, we will give all the money to the orphanage to help the children we will be leaving behind.

Up to $10 per t-shirt purchased will support our effort!

Please… if you have any problems or questions while trying to purchase a t-shirt, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

February Wrap-up

Last week we got our finger prints done for the USCIS Visa Application. Both Yvonne and I have now completed the required pre-adoption training.
I think we have all paperwork completed... At least as I have reviewed it with Dawn via e-mail, it seems we are done.
Next on the list is passports for me (renew) and the kids. We have the photos, and I have the applications completed, it is just a matter of all of us getting time together (When the acceptance facility is open) to apply in person. They don't make it easy getting the kids passports. Both parents have to appear together, in person with the kids!

Next, or I should say continuing efforts, are to work on raising funds to make this happen. Yvonne has been researching and completing adoption grants and adoption loan applications for the past month.

COMING SOON- ADOPTION T-SHIRTS WILL SOON BE FOR SALE ON OUR BLOG!
We have been fortunate enough to have linked up with Wild Olive Tee's. This web site provides a method for families to raise funds for their adoption through the purchase of Christian/adoption themed t-shirts. They do all the set up and take care of all the details, leaving the family to work on the many other aspects of the adoption. We will get up to $10 for each t-shirt that is purchased... So please check back and buy a t-shirt!

USCIS First Step

We got our notification in the mail today that the USCIS received our application and scheduled us to have our finger prints done on Feb 24.

New Home Study

Today we had our visit with Dawn to update our home study. We also covered all of the documents we will need to update and started our new I800 process (USCIS immigration application).