More Progress

Our I-797C arrived in the mail on Thursday, exactly 2 weeks after mailing it in. What is an I-797C? It is an approval from the US Immigration Service (CIS) to adopt a child within the characteristics spelled out in our Home Study. We had originally been approved for a child up to 24 months of age. However, since our little guy is currently 9 years old, we had to update our Home Study and submit a revised application to CIS. Once we mailed it in, we kept our fingers crossed that it would be processed quickly, as there are a multitude of stories about how long the wait can be with CIS. Our China Case Manager had told us it should be in the 2 week range…..how right she was! We are ecstatic that things are finally moving in our adoption process. Next up? Getting our Log-In Date (LID) from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). With everyone in China back at work this week after the Chinese New Year, we are hopeful this will occur expeditiously.

We have acquired a Chinese language program from a professional acquaintance and friend, and have begun the laborious task of learning Mandarin Chinese. Both Angie and I took the first lesson yesterday, then spent the rest of the day saying words and short phrases to each other. Needless to say, we’ve got a long way to go! We really like the immersion techniques the program uses, and are strongly considering using the Chinese-to-English version as a tool to help our son learn his new language as quickly as possible upon his arrival in the States.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I will be enjoying the game at my in-laws, enemy-territory since they have Pennsylvania roots and will be cheering for Pittsburgh. I, however, am rooting for Arizona, as Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt was a player at my alma mater, Georgia Tech back in the early 80’s while I was there. Coach Whisenhunt is the only 5-year letterman in Tech history, and was a walk-on to boot! Oh yeah, he was also born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, where I spent several years while at the Medical College of Georgia as a Physical Therapy student. Go Cards!!!