Adoption Update: Part 6

After an excruciating day yesterday, I am able to sit down and tell you 

WE GOT LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(That was me shouting it out!)

For those of you who may not know, LOA stands for Letter of Approval. and it comes directly from the Chinese Government.  I don't want to focus on the negative things we have been experiencing over the past couple weeks, but I would like to briefly mention a little of our story so God can adequately be thanked for this miracle.  

We received "Soft LOA" December 1st (or sometime over the Thanksgiving holiday while our agency was closed...exact dates are not given for this step of the process...weird, I know).  Anyway, I am getting off track.  Soft LOA is basically the same approval as "Hard LOA" without the official document/paper itself.  Soft LOA shows up on the CCCWA (Chinese Adoption Branch of Government) website, and it means you have been approved, and the physical paper (Hard LOA) should be on it's way very soon.  Because we are expediting we were thinking it would show up in a week's time...MAX.  

We were wrong...and we waited checking in with our agency every single day.   Our agency had no idea where our LOA was, but they assured us it would arrive to their office any day.

A week passed...

After a full week I realized there was a small possibility we could use our soft LOA to move forward to the next step of the adoption process, so I asked our agency to send via e-amil.  This is where we started facing problems.  Our soft LOA had gone missing from the CCCWA website.  At first, we were told that it was because the website was down and it would appear again soon when the site was up and running again,  so we waited.

Another week passed...

The site was up and running again, and there was still no record of Soft LOA.  We were then told that our dossier moved so quickly through the process that we were most likely being forced to wait for LOA because the CCCWA did not have a chance to process our funds.  

Then December 15th came...

 and our worlds were rocked!  

We still had no Soft LOA or any word on Hard (paper) LOA.  We were then told by a few families that when a soft LOA goes missing it can mean that China has decided to pull the child's file and the child becomes "un-adoptable."  (I don't think this is what actually happened, but when someone says this, your mama bear comes out in full force and you want answers).  When we heard this was a possibility that other families had experienced, I panicked.  And I started trying to find answers.  

I called...

I called everyone I could possibly think to call...

E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E

(multiple times hoping for news...any news)

Meanwhile, while I heard nothing about our status of receiving our adoption approval or answers about our daughters eligibility, I did get an "update" on Lily's wellness yesterday.  We are allowed to ask 5  questions (yes, only 5) about Lily every 2-3 months (yes only every 60-90 days...IT REALLY SUCKS!)  Since we missed our travel deadline this month, we were allowed to ask a few days before the 2 month mark.  The news we received yesterday was not what we were hoping for.  

The orphanage only answered 1 of our 5 questions.  In a nut shell, they told us that Lily broke her right femur in June.  She was hospitalized for 20 days, and her break didn't heal properly .  Her right leg is now slightly shorter than her left.  Not only is she is afraid to walk, but she most likely feels constant pain in her leg.  

When I read this, I was already feeling pretty down-and-out.  Not being able to get to your hurting child is one of the worst feelings in the world.  At this point, I needed to ask everyone...and I mean everyone...to pray.  So naturally, we posted our request to facebook.  

Later that night, Clint and I begged, and I mean BEEEEGGGED God for the miracle of LOA. You see, with out this one, little piece of paper EVERYTHING in the process shuts down.  We are stuck...just waiting... knowing our child needs us more every day.

We decided to wear our Bring Lily Home Shirts as a family the next day (today).  We told Liam it was because we were asking and fully expecting God to provide a miracle.  He thought that was pretty cool! :)

We went about our day, and at about 4:30 when I had not heard from our agency, I called them.  They hadn't heard anything, but they wanted to give it just one more day before storming the gates of China.  With a heavy heart I reluctantly said okay.

Amy, one of or case workers said to me,

"Alissa, my heart is truly breaking for you.  The next time I call you, I will have good news...I pray for good news.  Look for my number on your caller ID."

I hung up the phone with a heavy heart, asking God why He wanted us to wait.

I cried...and asked Him for strength to face tomorrow, because I was running pretty low on faith-fuel.

About 30 minutes later, while I was standing in the middle of the dollar store of all places, 

my phone rang...

It was Amy's number...

This was our conversation...

****RRRIIIINNNGGG***

Me: NOOOOO WAYYYYYY!

Amy: Alissa?  Hi, this is Amy from Holt.

Me: Amy, Hi!!!

Amy: I'm sitting at my desk with your LOA in my HANDS.  We received a late shipment, I ripped it open and it was for you!  It was your LOA!  Congratulations!

Right there, in the middle of the Dollar store arts and craft section, I started screaming and jumping up and down (I'm serious...people were most definitely staring...it was like an awkward flash mob, but I was the only one involved!).  I think I actually jumped on a lady's foot (it was crazy busy there for some reason), I felt pretty bad about the foot stomping incident but she hurried to get away from the crazy lady, so I just kept jumping!

LOA...

It has arrived...

We have a few more steps before we can book travel, but we are moving again.

Mama and Daddy are coming sweet Lily girl, 

We're riding on the grace coverings of Jesus.

Hold tight.  We'll be there soon!

Thank you for praying.  It's working.
24 hours after we asked you to storm the gates of Heaven, Jesus came running!

Please keep it up!

Blessings to you all!