It's been a LONG time since our last post, but there wasn't a whole lot to report. We spent our summer waiting for China to translate and review our dossier, and then approve us to adopt Gia. The whole process took 60 days, which is a little shorter than most, and our Letter of Approval (or I've seen some call it the Letter of Acceptance, I guess we'll find out when we see it?) is now on it's way to us! LOA for short from now on. ;)
Looking back, this summer now seems so short (and it was, the big kids only had 10 weeks off from school!), but it was fun! Abbie did paddleboarding camp through the Y, Ryan did a nature exploration camp through Oatland Island, all three kids did Vacation Bible School, we took a week-long trip to North Carolina to see Dad and Mary, and Nick completed paramedic school! The big kids have already been back to school for a couple weeks now, and Eli and I start back at the preschool next week!
So what's next for the Hoffmanns? A LOT. We still have several steps before bringing Gia home, but they'll go by fast (more on that later!), and we're REALLY hoping to bring her home at the end of October, but that would be if everything goes perfectly. Why are we hoping for the end of October? Obviously, the sooner the better, but also, the Army is moving us to Fort Drum, New York this fall! Nick's report date is November 10, they already moved it back once from a September report date, and we're hoping they would move it back again if we're not home with Gia by then...but it would be nice to not have to stress about all that! Worst case scenario: Nick would have to move up to New York ahead of the rest of the family, which is survivable! ;)
As far as the adoption process, the next step is to get our LOA, check the yes box (obviously!), and then send it to US Citizenship and Immigration with our I800 application. We already sent an I800A application to them in the spring, when they approved us to adopt from a Hague convention country, NOW we need approval to adopt our specific sweetheart, and bring her home as a US citizen! After that is a lot of crazy steps leading up to our travel that even makes my head spin (and I'm one of those weirdos that likes filling out forms!), so more about that later.
To summarize, in the next three months, we'll be taking a two-week trip to China, bringing a new baby into our family, and packing up our home and moving over 1,000 miles away to upstate New York....just not sure on specific dates for ANY of that! Hang on, Hoffmanns! And hang on Gia, we're coming soon!!! :)
