And life took over.
November to February is probably the busiest time of the year for our family. Holidays, school breaks, both of my husband’s businesses running at 150%, and me working full time in addition to trying to keep up home and hearth…it seemed like there wasn’t a spare moment for anything dossier related for the next 3 months after getting pre-approved. And I was frustrated! I mean, from the moment we decided “Go!”, I put together the mini-dossier of pre-approval documents in 2 days! And it was a TON of information to gather. What happened? After all, this is what I did for a living for nearly 10 years - I helped other families with their dossier preparation. And as each question came from our excited friends and family, I felt worse. The holidays flew by and 2011 became 2012. News soon followed that two dear friends of mine, who had adopted from China in the past two years, had each found a beautiful waiting child and their dossiers were almost ready to go to China. I was thrilled for them and for their new children who were coming into wonderful, loving families, but part of me felt like I had let my son down. These gals found their children after me! They hustled through their paperchase and were done faster than I had ever seen! And, I'll admit it, I was a little jealous...
But God spoke to my heart. He said that their story was not our story, that His timing is perfect and He was never late.
'For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.' - Habakkuk 2:3
He said to trust Him and believe that I would be heading to China at the exact moment that I was supposed to be there.
'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' - Jeremiah 29:11
We plugged on and our dossier finally went to China in the beginning of August, and we started the alphabet soup that is adoption from China. First there was...
Dossier to China
followed by...
Log-in Date
The coveted Letter of Approval!!
China had accepted our dossier and was referring Wang Wei to be adopted into our family! We were thrilled! The next
The NVC (National Visa Center)
...which meant the US government was telling the Chinese government that we were good to go with Wei's immigration. Then, 2 weeks later, we finally had...
On December 29, we received news that our TA (travel approval) had come through. The last piece, our CA or Consulate Appointment, had to be scheduled. And last night, at 10:24, that final piece arrived!!
Today, I spent the last day of 2012 planning my trip to bring Wei home. We're no longer all going to China - unexpected financial issues over the last year and the cost of airline tickets made it clear to us that our needs must outweigh our wants. My husband will remain home with our daughters while I travel to the frozen tundra of Harbin, where it is currently -14°F at 11am with a high of -7°F for the day. Brrrrrrrrr!! It's going to be quite a different trip than I thought it would be when we expected to travel in the summer, but Wei and I will have the opportunity to see the incredible Harbin Ice and Snow Festival if we decide to face the freeze!
When the plans were all made and the reservations booked, I thought back to that time nearly ten years ago when I first heard a calling in my heart of an unknown little boy who would someday be my son, now OUR son. God who is faithful brought that promise to fruition - in His time, His PERFECT time.
That time will be on January 21, 2013, when Wang Wei will become Robert John Wei Greenberg. No longer an orphan, a part of our family...FOREVER.
