MAJOR PROGRESS!

For those of you who missed my Facebook post yesterday I will share here.I received an email yesterday (which also by the way was my husband's birthday!) from our agency!  The email stated that our dossier had been reviewed and that our LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) also called LOA (Letter of Approval) had been issued by China and is on the way to the USA!  This means that China has officially approved our family to adopt Ally Kate!  Once again God's perfect timing - to learn of this news on Billy's birthday!  Billy Daddy is going to have to start getting the bunkbeds ready!  He is looking at plans to build some!

For those not familiar with international adoption proceedings I will describe the next steps.  The official LSC will arrive at our agency.  We sign it and a copy along with the proper form is forwarded to USCIS.  There are two steps with USCIS.  The first is permission to bring an orphan into the country.  Then once you are officially matched by China to your child then you ask to bring the specific child into the country.  We will do this latter step now. Once USCIS approval is received this is forwarded to China.  At that point China will issue TA/Travel Approval.   An appointment is made with the US Consulate and plans to travel are made.   Chinese New Year is 1/29/14 and travel around that time is very expensive.  We will work our plans around that date to travel during the most economical time frame.

As most of you know this adoption is a huge leap of faith for us financially.  If you feel led to help us we have the following on-line fundraisers going on now.  You order directly through these links and items will be shipped directly to you.  Great time to get some Christmas shopping done!  Humbling to ask others to help us but it is about this little girl having a home and a forever family.  We have had to put our pride aside.  And everyone has to shop somewhere right?

1) Usborne Books - https://w3493.myubam.com/25448 (ongoing)

2) Trades of Hope - http://www.mytradesofhope.com/parties/1433 (ongoing)

3) Thirty-One - http://www.mythirtyone.com/35081 (ongoing)

4) Scentsy -  https://melissamichele.scentsy.us/Scentsy/Home?partyId=206098212 (ending 11/30)

5) Young Living Essential Oils plus other organic products - https://www.youngliving.org/ajd464 (ongoing)

6) Wildtree Organic Food Products - http://www.mywildtree.com/shop/catalog.aspx?eventId=E96653&from=DIRECTLINK (ending 11/26)

7) Just Love Coffee - https://justlovecoffee.com/toguangzhouwego (ongoing)

8) Pasta Fundraiser - http://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/adoption-fundraiser (ongoing)

9) Tastefully Simple - Food Products to lessen your time in the kitchen - https://www.tastefullysimple.com/secure/pomm/SpecialInvitation.aspx?pxid=3574383&key=9170776c-352c-4cd2-aad3-cae5a796a761 (ending end of November) 

10) Tupperware - http://order.tupperware.com/pls/htprod_www/!twx$eparty_ctl.p_guest_welcome?pv_eparty=d66b60404384b1d6a7fff1436849b222 (ending 11/30)

Wow! Did not realize there were so many! Coming in December - Lilla Rose Hair Jewelry Part Deux! Paprazzi Jewelry! Ava Anderson! Custom Designed Adoption T-Shirt Fundraiser! 

We also have an Amazon Affiliate link. We receive at least 4% of any order placed on Amazon through the link.  http://www.amazon.com/?&tag=aredthrandthr-20&linkCode=wsw&

If you do not need any of the above and would still like to help us we have two tax deductible donation accounts:

1) Project Hopeful - https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=B7E6A0CFFC21463

2) Reece's Rainbow - http://reecesrainbow.org/63380/sponsorcampbell-2

3) Paypal - ajajd464@bellsouth.net 

Thank you all for your support and prayers!  If anyone reading this needs help fundraising please let me know and I am happy to help you.  

VITAMIX GIVEAWAY!!

I have many friends who LOVE their Vitamixes and/or would love one that I decided to allow one of them to have the chance to be blessed!  For a $10 donation you will receive 1 entry,  2 for $15, and 3 for $20!  Drawing will be held on Sunday, 11/24/13 at 9pm Central.

                Vitamix TurboBlend Two Speed

Color: Black

Super-efficient 2 peak horsepower motor Oversize, 64-ounce container Locking lid design for easy removal Patented tamper tool for processing thick ingredients and to prevent air pockets from forming Full color recipe book with over 160 recipes This machine runs on 120 volts I will have this shipped directly to the winner!  How to Donate - You may donate via paypal - ajajd464@bellsouth.net.  You may make a tax deductible donation to our Reece's Rainbow account here - http://reecesrainbow.org/63380/sponsorcampbell-2  or to our Project Hopeful account here - http://projecthopeful.org/matched-families/campbell-family/ . If a donation is made into one of the two accounts please forward the receipt to me at ajajd464@bellsouth.net . I am not notified when a donation is made so this is the only way I will know.   Please Note - In the event there is not enough money donated to pay for the item the winner will receive an Amazon gift card in one-half of the total amount collected.  Thank you to my friend Lisa Tucker for offering this suggestion!

UPDATE ON ALLY KATE!

We had asked for an update on Ally Kate in July and just received it on Monday night.  We are so excited to have updated photos of her.  I want to go get her TODAY!! I will share photos first and then will share the written information.

If there was any doubt that she was NOT meant to be our child this statement about her should remove all doubt! "Her most favorite activities are DANCING, ......".  Yep, she is our child.  My other girls live and breathe ballet.  Interesting that Maya Grace's paperwork said, "She loves to dance.  She hears music she starts to dance".   She is a tiny little one for her age as she will be 9 yo in March.  She only weighs 37 pounds and is 45 inches tall.  In comparison Anneli is eight months younger than Ally Kate and she weighs 52 pounds and is 48 inches tall.  Anneli is slender and small related to her American counterparts.  It was also reported that  - She is going to the 3^rd Grade and she received award for high scores in Chinese and Math final tests last fall. She only knows the 26 English letters. She has just started taking English class.

At this point we are estimating travel in February! Please keep us in your prayers and sending positive thoughts our way.  We are praying that God will prepare her heart to receive us as her family.  Imagine taking your eight year old child away from everything he/she has ever known and suddenly placing them in a completely new country, different food, language, all new people, etc. She will have grief. Also praying for God's provision as this is a huge leap of faith for us financially. 
 

DTC - For Those Who Do Not Know DOSSIER TO CHINA!

We learned on 10/3 that the needed updates for our dossier were sent to China on 10/2!  This means that in 1-2 weeks we will receive a LID (log in date).  The next step will be for China to send us our LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) which gives us official approval to adopt Ally Kate.  We are praising God for each step ahead!  Guesstimating travel in February!

We continue to have on-line only fundraisers to assist us with fees.  For those who are interested I will list a few below:

1) NEW - Pasta Fundraiser  - You have to take a look at this site! They have the cutest and most unusual pasta shapes which would make a meal event especially fun! We receive 40% of all purchases! http://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/adoption-fundraiser

2) NEW - Discovery Toys - Awesome developmental toys for all ages! Perfect for holiday gifts!  http://www.discoverytoys.com/publicstore/event/16985/AM/default.aspx

3) NEW - Lilla Rose Hair Jewelry - Perfect time to purchase hair accessory items to dress up your holiday outfits and for everyday wear!  These would make great birthday gifts and stocking stuffers too! http://www.lillarose.biz/parties/2687

PROGRESS

As many of you know Maya Grace's adoption was riddled with conflicts and delays. The journey to Ally Kate has gone so smoothly and I am thanking God for every step.  We were fingerprinted by USCIS on 9/9 and our agency told us to expect a two month wait for approval.  I was in shock when I pulled our approval out of our mailbox on Friday, 9/20!  Two months was reduced to ELEVEN DAYS!  Since our agency is out of state I made the decision on Monday to do the certification of our documents myself to save more time rather than sending them to the agency.  I took them to our county courthouse yesterday for certification and drove them to the state capital today for certification by the Secretary of State.  (I will explain by those not in the adoption world.  Documents must be notarized.  They have to be certified on county level which is a paper stapled to the front of your document.  This paper documents that "yes" the notary who notarized your document is indeed a notary for the state.  You must go to the Secretary of State who says that "yes" the person on the county level was certified to give her approval. The final step is for the documents to be sent to the Chinese Consulate who says that "yes" these documents are properly certified and they add their paper to the front to "authenticate" the documents. Once all three steps are completed your documents are ready to be sent to China). I  found the local Federal Express office and sent the three documents overnight to the courier who handles documents for the Houston Consulate.  Since we only have three forms and the consulate is closed three days next week for a Chinese holiday I chose to have the documents expedited.  The courier will drop them off on Friday and pick them up on Monday.  FedEx will overnight to our agency and they will be in our agencies hands on Tuesday!  We should be DTC next week! It is so unbelievable that it is happening so quickly.

                                                     The trio holding the completed forms!

We are getting in major planning mode here for the addition to our family!  Our agency had initially estimated travel in Mid-March to Mid-April but with the USCIS approval coming six months earlier than planned we will move that up to a  February/March time frame.

We have asked for an update on Ally Kate but it has not come yet.  We are anxiously awaiting.  We are not allowed to have contact with her at this point.  Once our documents are sent to China we will receive a log-in date.  Once they along with our dossier from Maya Grace are reviewed we will receive a LSC/LOA which is the official approval from China for us to adopt her.  We currently have pending approval.  Once LOA is received we can send her a care package at that point.  We then must submit more forms to USCIS and then a few more steps before China sends travel approval.

As most know this is a huge leap of faith for us financially since we just adopted Maya Grace from China on 12/24/12.   We have been in major fundraising mode.  We are proud people and do not like asking others for help.  As I have said before it is NOT about us.  It is about this little girl who has lived eight years without a family.  We have swallowed our pride.  This is about HER.  She is the same age as my Anneli.  I can't imagine my sweet, precious Anneli living without the love and nurture of  family from birth until this stage of her life.  We can't wait to give Ally Kate the gift of a FOREVER FAMILY! Please pray for us and send your positive thoughts as we travel on this journey to her.  If anyone reading this feels inclined to help us with a donation we would be extremely grateful no matter how small.  We have two accounts set up for tax free donations - Project Hopeful - http://projecthopeful.org/matched-families/campbell-family/  and Reece's Rainbow - http://reecesrainbow.org/63380/sponsorcampbell-2 .  I also have three direct sale businesses to help earn money for our fees - Thirty-One www.mythirtyone.com/35081 , Usborne Books www.w3493myubam.com and Trades of Hope www.mytradesofhope.com/angelacampbell .

T-Shirt Fundraiser!

We are having a T-Shirt Fundraiser.  We have just a few M, many L and XL.  They are $15 shipped an $10 for anyone local.  We will combine shipping costs.  You may pay by paypal (ajajd464@bellsouth.net), check,  or by donation into our Project Hopeful or Reece's Rainbow accounts (both tax deductible)

Updates

Giveaway - Thank you so much to all who made donations to us! The winner was CHRISTINA POULSEN! She chose the Bitty Baby Twins and is giving them to her daughter who will turn 7 yo this month! Winner of the $25 Toys or Us Gift Card was Beka McCullough.   She is a very gracious and humble person.   She told me to keep the card and use it in our auction that is to come.  Each donation from the smallest to largest brought us one step closer to Ally-Kate!  We are humbled with the generosity that has been shown to us. 

Adoption Progress - We were fingerprinted by USCIS (US immigration) on 9/9.  We will now wait for their approval.  Our agency is estimating that we will travel March or April.  Ally-Kate's birthday is 3/2 so we are praying that she will have joined our family by that date.