The Fanning Four

You know the kind of news that you hear that leaves speechless? You are so shocked and saddened you can hardly take a breath. We've gotten that news twice in the past three days. Dear friends moving away and another friend who is now fighting strong against cancer. I haven't really had time to process because we're on a mini vacation/trip to a wedding. That means little time to myself to sit and think. But I do know I'm sad. I also know the One who is in control. That's all I've got tonight.

We were cabled on Tuesday. No, that doesn't mean we got our own reality show. It means that the National Visa Center received our preapproval from Us customs and Immigrations for Caleb to become our child and they have uploaded it into the embassy's system in China. We will complete the process in China. Don't worry if it doesn't make a lo of sense- I don't totally understand either. Buy it's good news- I know that! So today out agency sent all our remaining paperwork to China. It will then be delivered to the to somebody important(I forget who and I'm on my phone typing this). It will be a two week wait and then we'll receive word that everything is good to go! After that China will issue out travel approval-usually within three weeks. After that we can go! They just have to make all the arrangements which can take a little time. So, basically it's getting very close!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter- we sure did!!

St. John in the Virgin Islands. This is where I'd like to be right now. Without a computer. Just me and my family and little else. Simplicity. The waiting of this last part of the adoption is getting to me. I need someone to ship me and my family off to St. John, pack my China bags for me, arrange Bethy's childcare while we're gone, put some frozen meals in my fridge, clean my house, and call me when it's time to board the plan for China. In the meantime, I'll be hunting for sea turtles and brightly colored fish, armed with my mask, snorkel, and fins.

So, even though we knew our I800 preapproval was given a few days ago, we were still waiting for the letter to arrive in the mail. I thought it would come Friday but no. So I was SURE it would come today. I had just asked Tom if he had heard the mailman yet. He said he hadn't been listening. Some people in the Fanning household aren't mailman stalkers- guess there has to be one normal person right? But then I heard the truck! WOOOHOOO! I ran to the mailbox, flung the door open, and it wasn't there. I vomited a little in my mouth. Ok, I didn't. But my stomach did start to ache. I began to imagine the letter washed up on some remote island with a crazy bearded man, and a volleyball named Wilson. Lost forever..... It was then, in the middle of figuring out how to track down our letter that I saw the mailman walking back towards me. Maybe he was going to ask me to stop stalking me. But no, what's that I see? Is it a bill? Is it an ad? No, it's THE LETTER!!!!! ...

I'm pretty sure my mailman thinks I'm stalking him. I know that he comes about 3:30 every afternoon. So, all week, I have stood at our front door, looking out, waiting and hoping that he has good news. As soon as he drives away from my mailbox, I practically run out to check. Monday-nothing. Tuesday-nothing. Wednesday-nothing. Thursday- nothing. So, I did what any obsessive adoptive parent would do. I emailed the US Customs and Immigrations office. In my email I said, "Please stop making me a crazy person and just approve Caleb's I800 already would ya?!?!?". Ok, I didn't say that. I said something way more polite. My sweet Immigration officer emailed me back within an hour. "Congratulations", she said. "You're I800 was approved on 4/19 and should arrive in the mail soon." The I800 is an approval that says that Caleb can become a US citizen. So we have three steps left- 1. Our last bit of paperwork being sent to China- "cable...