One For The Books!

We have been waiting for what they call Article 5. This process usually takes two weeks with no exceptions. We had a representative from our agency drop off our paperwork at the US consulate in China on September 26. China had a holiday during the first week of October and all official offices were closed for 8 days. This delayed our Article 5 by a week. Our representative went to pick up our Article 5 and he was told that they did not have it ready yet. They needed to have the family (us) contact them directly because we were adopting two children at the same time. Just to give you a little background on what we received as directions when you get to this part of the process from our agency - it went like this: NOTICE: The US Consulate-Guangzhou advises that adoptive families should NOT call or email them to check on the status of the Article 5. Contacting the consulate may result in a significant delay or decline in issuing your paperwork. 
We asked our agency if this has ever happened before and she told us that she had never heard of it before. We also asked several other people who have adopted from China and they told us the same thing. Well I was urged by our agency to email the consulate and ask them what the delay of our paperwork is and what we can do to help. It is their Friday so we are hoping they respond with something positive. Just another bump in the road on our journey. Please continue to keep us in our prayers. We are still hoping to travel sometime in November (note to China: of this year).