Our Travel Meeting

Milestones until we fly to China – 4 stages
1. LOI – Letter of Intent: This was the letter we sent with our “YES” on Thursday, January 22, 2009. There were 9 families that sent back LOI’s on special needs children (all in different provinces).
A 2-3 week wait: typically it takes 1-2 weeks but EVERYTHING is closed the week of January 25-31 for Chinese New Year so it will take a week longer.
2. PA – Pre-Approval: received from China
A 2-3 month wait: during this time our dossier will be transferred to the Special Needs Dept.
3. LOA – Letter of Acceptance: the people who receive and send back LOA’s together will determine who will be our traveling partners. This traveling group will be together for the beginning in Beijing and the end in Guangzhou but we all spend the middle in our daughter’s province.
A 2-3 week wait: during this time we apply for our multiple entry visas and our embassy appointments are scheduled.
4. TA – Travel Assignments: giving us our appointment dates so we can purchase our airline tickets.
2-3 weeks until we fly to China
Total time is between 3.5 - 5.5 months. We are praying it will be sooner than later!

Timeline in China – 2 stages
3-4 days in Beijing: Sightsee (AWESOME!) Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall, Summer Palace, etc.
14-16 days in Guangzhou: Typically parents spend the next week in the capital of her province finalizing civil affairs paperwork, then spend the final week in Guangzhou finalizing paperwork with the U.S. Embassy. The capital of Violet’s province is Guangzhou. When that happens they require a couple extra days stay so we will most likely spend 14-16 days in Guangzhou.
The second day: we are given Violet and she is ours forever more. We meet at the Civil Affairs Office where she will be given to us by her caregiver and we will have the opportunity to ask any questions we’ve composed.
The third day: we meet back at the same place to let them know if we “are happy with our child” at that point we receive her abandonment decree and her finding ad.
Finding Ad: Since 1999, the orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage called "Finding Ads." These ads include the date and location the child was found and the orphanage in which the child was placed. Sometimes additional medical information was included, such as distinguishing birthmarks or scars, or a description of the child's clothing, as well as a color picture of the child. To see a sample go to http://www.research-china.org/findingads/guangdongads.htm
The majority of our stay is for minor paperwork, sightseeing and shopping. We will request to see SWI in Maoming City. Either way we are planning on taking the 6 hour train ride from Guangzhou to visit and take pictures of her home city and the location of where she was found.
Four days prior to departure: we go to Violet’s medical exam
Three days prior: we finalize paperwork with the U.S. Embassy
Two days prior: we go to the swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy
As soon as we touch down on American soil she becomes an American citizen.