Amazingly Good News!

On Thursday, I called NBC to see if our paperwork had been released from the lockbox and sent on to them, and was told that they still did not have it. Then woke up Friday to find that not only had NBC received it, but we got our I800 Provisional Approval!!!!!

I know all these terms and such make no sense outside of the adoption community, but let me assure you, this was GREAT news! At this point, NBC (National Benefits Center) will forward our approval on to NVC (I don't even know what this one stands for) and then they will do their thing with it (probably stamp it or something). They will then forward it to the consulate in Guangzhou, who will stamp it, I guess, and then it will be forwarded to the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoptive Affairs), at which point, we can receive TA! (Ooops, yet another acronym. That one stands for Travel Approval :) Still a few more hurdles to jump, but on Thursday, upon hearing NBC didn't even have our paperwork, we thought that their was no way this would all get done in order for us to be on a plane by June 1st. Now...we're feeling very hopeful.

The hardest part for us in this, is knowing full well that God is sovereign over all this. It's hard to think that it could possibly be in God's plan for XiaoMei to *not* come home and join our family, but we trust in His perfect Word. Thank you to those who have been praying for us. We are so grateful for your friendship.