I know that I said we were through with paperwork for our trip to China–you knew that we are adopting a 13 year old boy from China in a couple of weeks, didn’t you? Well, the paperwork has been a huge mountain, and Kim has climbed that mountain several times. Our adoption agency (America World–fabulous people!) sent our visa applications to the Chinese Consulate in DC, like they have for every other Chinese adoption they’ve been part of. Only the rules have changed. All Chinese adoption visas are now processed through the Consulate in NYC. Instead of a 2 page handwritten application, they’re now a 4 page computer generated pdf that will be gone over with a fine-toothed comb for mistakes. Any mistake–even down to the page not printing the footer (page 1 of 4) will result in it being rejected and returned. To top things off, we’re so close to our travel date that we have to get these visa applications expedited once Kim finishes them. She’s working on them now.
Here’s where God steps in to show off: there are 7 applications, and each one will cost $70 to expedite. If you remember your elementary math (or have a calculator nearby) that comes out to a whopping $490. That’s not a bank-breaking amount, but it certainly wasn’t an expected expense. I’ve had several people ask if they can help us with the adoption recently. Kim ran into one of those people today.
He handed her a check for $500! That, my friends, is how the Lord our God provides!
Thanks for praying. Don’t stop! We’re in the home stretch, but that’s no time to get complacent. Pray for us to get all the things done, for the financial piece (and peace!), and for Isaac’s transition into Team Sublett.
We had a pretty relaxed and stressful day. The kids are all out of school for parent-teacher conferences. That means 2 things for Team Sublett: lots of running from school to school, and lunch at the Waffle Shop. That’s become a family tradition that our kids look forward to. Levi slept over at a friend’s house last night, but checked in to say that if we were headed to the Waffle Shop, we needed to come get him! After some great (and I mean GREAT!) conferences, we headed home. Kim had to do a little refereeing and counseling with the girls (you know how sisters can be, right?) while I tried to get things going on the computer for the visa applications. It was a little tense. Kim had much more success than I did, though I finally found a work around that would let her edit and print the pdf that the Chinese Consulate wants.
Here are some pics from the weekend. The Barils were here for a visit. Charlie got to meet Elise in person, even though it’s like they’ve known each other for months–Charlie’s birth mom lived with Megan and Neil, so Charlie and Elise lived in the same house for several months. Sunday afternoon was our church Fall Fest. The girls didn’t really grow mustachios, if you were worried about that…
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1 Comment
Malea · October 11, 2011 at 5:37 pm
hey! my photo made the famous stac’s place! i feel so honored!