trigger fillApprovers on Loan_Application__c (before insert, before update) {
    list<Loan_Application__c> theLoanApps = new list<Loan_Application__c>();
    //Append all batched Loan Applications to a Loan App list (Bulkifying the trigger)
    for (Loan_Application__c aLoanApp:trigger.new){
        theLoanApps.add(aLoanApp);
    }
    //Populate the fields in each loan app contained within the list
    for (Integer i=0; i<theLoanApps.size(); i++){
        //Utilize Dynamic Apex to dynamically create the query that returns the XML document to be parsed
        list<Document> docResult = [SELECT Body FROM Document WHERE Name LIKE :'LoanApp'+theLoanApps[i].ID_Number__c];
        //Convert the body (of type Blob) of the document resulting from the SOQL query to a string
        String xml = docResult[0].Body.toString();
        //Create a Dom.Document from the xml string
        Dom.Document doc = new Dom.Document();
        doc.load(xml);
        //Define root element
        Dom.XMLNode loanApp = doc.getRootElement();
        //Populate list of approvers while simultaneously removing this information from the document
        list<String> approvers = new list<String>();
        while (loanApp.getChildElement('Approver',null) != null) {
            approvers.add(loanApp.getChildElement('Approver',null).getText());
            loanApp.removeChild(loanApp.getChildElement('Approver',null));
        }
        //Repeat the while loop logic above for the other fields using if statements
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('OrderDate',null) != null) {
            String orderDate = loanApp.getChildElement('OrderDate',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Date__c = orderDate;
        }
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('Name',null) != null) {
            String name = loanApp.getChildElement('Name',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Name__c = name;
        }
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('Address',null) != null) {
            String address = loanApp.getChildElement('Address',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Address__c = address;
        }
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('Score',null) != null) {
            String score = loanApp.getChildElement('Score',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Credit_Score__c = score;
        }
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('History',null) != null) {
            String history = loanApp.getChildElement('History',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Credit_History__c = history;
        }
        if (loanApp.getChildElement('Notes',null) != null) {
            String notes = loanApp.getChildElement('Notes',null).getText();
            theLoanApps[i].Notes__c = notes;
        }
        //Iterate through approvers list, updating the corresponding fields of the loan application
        //Depending on the approvers list size, some of the loan app's custom approver fields may be left blank
        if (approvers.size()>=1) {
            theLoanApps[i].Approver1__c=[SELECT Id FROM User WHERE Name = :approvers[0]][0].Id;
            if (approvers.size()>=2) {
                theLoanApps[i].Approver2__c=[SELECT Id FROM User WHERE Name = :approvers[1]][0].Id;
                if (approvers.size()>=3) {
                    theLoanApps[i].Approver3__c=[SELECT Id FROM User WHERE Name = :approvers[2]][0].Id;
                    if (approvers.size()==4) {
                        theLoanApps[i].Approver4__c=[SELECT Id FROM User WHERE Name = :approvers[3]][0].Id;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

trigger Approval_Process on Loan_Application__c (after insert, after update) {
    //Bulkify the trigger
    for (Loan_Application__c loanapp : Trigger.new){
    //Override Scenario
    if (loanapp.Name__c=='Johnny Good'){
        Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest req = new Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest();
        req.setObjectId(loanapp.Id);
        //Submit the approval request for processing
        Approval.ProcessResult result = Approval.process(req);
    }
    //Single Approver
    else if (loanapp.Approver1__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver2__r.Id==null && loanapp.Approver3__r.Id==null && loanapp.Approver4__r.Id==null){
        Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest req = new Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest();
        req.setObjectId(loanapp.Id);
        //Submit the approval request for processing
        Approval.ProcessResult result = Approval.process(req);
    }
    //Double Approver
    else if (loanapp.Approver1__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver2__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver3__r.Id==null && loanapp.Approver4__r.Id==null){
        Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest req = new Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest();
        req.setObjectId(loanapp.Id);
        //Submit the approval request for processing
        Approval.ProcessResult result = Approval.process(req);
    }
    //Triple Approver
    else if (loanapp.Approver1__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver2__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver3__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver4__r.Id==null){
        Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest req = new Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest();
        req.setObjectId(loanapp.Id);
        //Submit the approval request for processing
        Approval.ProcessResult result = Approval.process(req);
    }
    //Quadruple Approver
    else if (loanapp.Approver1__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver2__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver3__r.Id!=null && loanapp.Approver4__r.Id!=null){
        Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest req = new Approval.ProcessSubmitRequest();
        req.setObjectId(loanapp.Id);
        //Submit the approval request for processing
        Approval.ProcessResult result = Approval.process(req);
    }
    }
}

Note: I received a warning about non HTML friendly text being removed, both triggers save; but the second does not work at run time (no errors though) so if you notice a typo I think it's b/c the forum removed it....