The Issues and Where We Stand Now

We received confirmed appointments for leaving today. They currently have us scheduled for our exit interview on November 20, our swearing in ceremony on November 21, and departure on November 22 or so. This puts us traveling on the day before Thanksgiving. We are so disappointed in how late the appointments are scheduled. We and the other couple who is already here are contacting various members of congress to ask for help in changing these appointments yet again. The other family's senator is Norm Coleman of Minnesota who is a big supporter of adoption and holds a reception each year for adoptive families. Ours is Representative John Boehner, who is the Majority Leader of the House. We are praying that they will be able to make some exceptions and allowances to get us in sooner.

Here are the big issues:
1. We receive Elijah ZuBin on November 7. We will sign gardianship papers at this point and he is in our custody from then on.
2. We have a Civil Affairs office visit on November 8 with the Chinese government. This works towards making the adoption final and getting his passport.
3. It takes 5 business days to get the passport. We should receive it on November 15.
4. November 16 is full at the US Consulate, so we cannot get an appointment on that day at this time.
5. The swearing in ceremony happens the next day at 4 pm. They apparently do not do these on Fridays.

We are asking them to make several exceptions for us. The government is not good at making exceptions. Our problems right now are not with the Chinese bureaucracy, although that is where they started. Initially, the way we understand it, the Guangdong province got a new director for adoptions. He changed part of the process making it take longer. Then he decided there were too many appointments each day and things needed to slow down. That moved our original appointment from the 30th to the 31st. This did not allow time to get the passport before the visa could be issued. Veterans' Day on the 10th made this impossible, thus cancelling all of our appointments before we left. This is why all this has been so complicated.

God is an on time God and is in control. We work very hard to remind ourselves of this many, many times daily.