A - is for APPROVED!

We got word from our agency that our approval letter from the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth has been received (well the electronic copy anyways)! Our home study was sent to them on April 5th so it took over 16 weeks for them to send the letter... grumble grumble and apparently according to them, that is the new standard timeline. So any new potential adoptive parents will have to go through the same long wait as we did. I can't say I was too pleased about waiting, but am lucky to have so many supportive family and friends who listened to me vent many a days.

I celebrated with a mid morning 10 pack of Tim Hortons Timbits YUM!

And tonight we get to try out my aunts brand new to her pool! Today is a GOOD DAY! Praise Jesus we have made it this far!!!!

Now our completed dossier is being notarized by the lawyer down the hall from our agency and when that is completed sometime next week our dossier will be sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to be authenticated and after that to the Chinese consulate. This whole process takes 3-4 weeks and we are praying that is IT. Next step is sending everything in a courier to China and waiting for a referral of a sweet little girl who is to join our open arms. ♥♥♥
This is our dossier which I dropped off last week in hopes of receiving the approval letter soon after.

After the above dossier is shipped to China we wait for our match which could be a short or long wait, we are depending on God to find us the perfect match!

Timeline so far:

June 13 2012 - info session at the adoption agency
October 19 2012 - get on wait list for the Waiting Children Program for China
November 13 2012 - initial consultation with our adoption practitioner
November 17-18 & 24-25 2012 - PRIDE training course
November 19/20 - adoption medicals
November 30 2012 - police checks and RCMP fingerprinting
December 13 2012 - meeting at adoption agency to get more detailed information
December 17 - make the decision to go forward with the Waiting Childrens Program
January 24 2013 - first home study interview
January 31 2013 - second home study interview
February 13 2013 - third home study interview & home safety checklist
April 5 2013 - sign final copy of home study and send to the MCYS in Toronto
July 23 2013 - dropped off 99% completed dossier to our agency
July 30 2013 - received approval letter, dossier is now complete