Waiting on immigration... and a bit of hope, too.

We do not have much to update right now, except that we are waiting... and waiting...and waiting on immigration approval.   According to others' past experiences, this should have happened a week or so after our biometrics/ fingerprints-- even if we had our fingerprinting done early (which we did).  We called immigration and were told that they are allowed to take up to 90 days, so we might have to wait an additional 60 days-- maybe more.  We're hoping that doesn't happen. 





I want to make it clear that this is not just an annoyance that we wish things would move faster.  In adoption, timing is everything, and we have documents that are soon to expire if immigration doesn't come through.  If that happens, we have to pay an extra $90 to have a portion of our dossier (we have everything done except immigration approval) sent to the Chinese Consulate and then send our immigration approval as soon as that arrives.  We're sure this has happened to others before, but there's a bit of a worry for us that documents may not find each other.  After all, the entire dossier was supposed to go over there together as a group.  We have until July 11 for immigration to come through and make the move so that we can send all of it at once.  If that doesn't happen, we will just continue to trust that everything will come together as it is supposed to.  In the meantime, we're keeping busy by filling out adoption grants-- not exactly a fun step, but very necessary so that nothing else has to be delayed.

Despite this unexpected delay, we know that God's timing is everything, and we are still very hopeful and very excited that things are moving along, and we saw a beautiful sign of hopefulness tonight on our soon-to-bloom Rose of Sharon-- a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly.  It was hanging on to the plant for dear life for fear of being blown away with the gusty wind outside.  Here is a picture of it for you to see--

 

 



Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue along our journey.  We hope to have some good news to deliver to you soon!