Approval recieved, tickets purchased!

Woah. I really started wondering if it would ever happen. I mean you just keep doing paperwork and waiting. Doing more paperwork and waiting. The process seems endless. I had read somewhere that you should start preparing even though it seems like it will never happen, and then BOOM it happens. That is so true!! I see it now! Its so hard to know how to think about having a child out there, that you have never met, and have no contact with. Its tempting to wonder if the process will really work. And here we are! We got our final travel approval on Monday and purchased tickets to China tonight! Mark, Caroline and I will travel to on Wed. Feb 9, and will most likely get Emma on Sun Feb 13. A valentines gift:)

We are very thankful!!

Waiting on our last approval!!

Emma is now 16 months old. We got this new picture after waiting 3 months since our last update! We also found that she is 14.7 pounds, 27 inches and has 6 teeth! We will wait on our travel approval and then set dates to go get her! We are excited!!

And another one!

We got our letter from the National Visa Services today, so Mark went off and UPS'd them to our agency. So now

1. We need an Article 5

2. We need China to give us our Travel Approval

3. We need a consulate date

4. We need plane tickets!!

Probably 1 1/2 months from now.

We're coming Emma!

Another step closer!

Another step closer!

We came back from our 2 week Thanskgiving extravaganza to our US Govt provisional approval to adopt Emma. We have to wait now for the National Visa Center to send us a letter and then we can send those papers to China to the consulate, who will issue us and Article 5. Then the article 5 gets submitted to China and 3-4 weeks after that we get our Travel Approval. The Travel Approval is the final China approval! From there we set dates for a consulate appointment in China and once we have that, we set our travel plans! I'm amazed that we are this close! We need to even submit our visa applications soon! Woohoo. I'm still planning on early Feb.

So here are the steps:

1. Get approval from NVC

2. Apply for Article 5(from US consulate in China)

3. Get Travel Approval from China

4. Request a consulate appointment in China

5. arrange travel dates
6. Go get her!

We're excited! They are supposed to send us updates every 3 months, which means we'll get one in Dec. Can't wait for that!

LOA

We got news today that China gave us our Letter of Acceptance!! One more step knocked out until we can go get Emma!!

Emma Grace Collins

We finally named mei mei (which means little sister in Chinese) Emma Grace Collins. We are still waiting on our Letter of Acceptance from China, the next step in the process to bring her home!

Thank you so much to those have given towards our matching grant. We are so grateful for your encouragement and financial help.

It is Monday October 25, which was the deadline for our matching grant. We are thankful to report that the $2,500 has been matched! We also wanted to let you know that Lifesong will continue to receive funds for us until the adoption is complete, so if you missed the deadline but still want to help you can do so following the directions below. We are still in need of $13,000.

Thank you so much for considering this need!

Mark and Megan

If you want to help:

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. You can preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Collins #1451 adoption” in the memo section of your check.

(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

Att: Collins #1451 adoption

PO Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

You can also give online at www.lifesongfororphans.org and put "Collins acct # #1451" on the purpose line.

Matched with Mei Mei and how you can help

After 8 months of paperwork, we have just been pre-approved to adopt this little girl! She was born a year ago this month in Guangdong, China, and has been living in an orphanage there until now. This was much faster than we expected to be matched, and are thankful for the Lord's hand in the process. She is a tiny little girl for her age, with big brown eyes and cute little dimple. She was born with a malformed right hand, but it looks from the picture like she has some use of it. We can't wait to bring her home, but it will probably take 5-7 months before we can travel to get her.

We have a significant need in trying to to raise money to cover the adoption expenses. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, etc. to be $25,000. Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has approved us for a matching grant of $2500 to help us bring our daughter home.

Would you consider giving towards this need? If so, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and October 25 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on our daughter's behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.

Thank you so much for considering this need!

Mark and Megan

If you want to help:

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. You can preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Collins #1451 adoption” in the memo section of your check.

(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

Att: Collins #1451 adoption

PO Box 40

Gridley, IL 61744

You can also give online at www.lifesongfororphans.org and put "Collins acct # #1451" on the purpose line.