We're Going to China!!!

In case it is not obvious, we got our Travel Approval today! Since my class was canceled I was at work and the power went out for about 2 hours so Doug and I went to lunch together and got the call then on his cell phone. Our agency is trying to get us a September 9 CA (the last appointment before you return to the US) which means we would leave around August 28th and meet Jin Pei on September 1st. We will know for sure within 3 days.

And if you are a Lions fan, yes, this means that Doug will be missing the first home football game. I'm not bending on our leave date, nope, not even by 2 days, but feel free to offer your condolences to him while you congratulate him on his TA. Promises that you will email the score every quarter will also help. :)

The countdown continues...

It has been 8 months since we first saw Jin Pei's picture.

Within 2 months, and hopefully much sooner than that, she will be in our arms!

Come on TA!

Signed, Sealed, and Soon Delivered

Well, our LOA has joined up with the other LOA's of the "Fab 5" as our agency called us today in an email (maybe we didn't whine as much as I felt like at least I did if they still use a decent adjective to describe us!) and is headed to China as I type. You know I will be tracking that package all weekend!

On Thursday morning I noticed that the LOA package to us was going to be delivered Friday (today) instead of Thursday (DHL doesn't make it to our rural county every day), which would have made signing and returning it to our agency in Texas by Friday (today) before noon a bit tough. I so did not want to be the one to hold up getting LOA's to China since they all needed to go together! Thankfully the DHL people at our local (1 hour away) facility were more than willing to hold the package so the kids and I went and got it. I think the lady there actually enjoyed hearing the story of what was in the package and was entertained and not annoyed by my four kids who had been trapped in the car for an hour. My kids were able to burn off some energy in the mostly empty warehouse while she retrieved the envelope. I told her we would see her in a few weeks for our TA! We then signed the LOA and Fedexed it back to our agency, where it was signed for at 9:01am this morning.

The LOA was dated/stamped July 4th, which is the same day we got the agency email saying it would come "soon" and which I am guessing was the same day our agency's contact in China looked into the delay for us since July 4th happens in China before here. Maybe it was a coincidence but I am really glad our agency checked out the situation for us because to me there is enough evidence to assume that they woke the LOA issuer up! :)

So now I have started to think about packing and getting paperwork in order. And of course, I have done a little shopping.

Thank you everybody for your support during the wait and for the cheers when our LOA arrived. It means the world to us!

We Got It!

105 days after our Dossier landed in China, 98 long days after it was logged in, and 1 month and 5 days after I made this graphic expecting it any day, our LOA has arrived in Texas and is being overnighted to us. The call came at 4:00 as I left the movie theater with my kids. Yeah!!!!

Now we have an average 2-4 week wait for Travel Approval ~ for us that means more likely a 6 week wait with our luck but for today, that doesn't matter ~ today we are celebrating!

The most hopeful sign to date...

At last a family with an April LID received their LOA. They were logged in on 4/9. Maybe this is a sign that things are about to get moving. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we will have good news before I have to find an image for 100 days (Friday). Just the thought is painful!

News and Rumors for day 97...

Okay, first let me say, Dad, you were right - I couldn't stay away from blogging here for too long, even if there is not the great news I hoped for.

We did actually get an update last Friday. I thought it was very kind for our agency to email us, even though it was a holiday, when they had some type of news.

"Evidently, due to the Earthquake, the bank CCAA uses was unable to process the cashing of the check we sent with your dossiers. The check has been cashed and the problem resolved. They have reviewed your dossiers and moved them to the department for LOA's to be processed for you. They told our contact that you will receive LOA "soon"."

I am going to take that as the truth though it definitely leads to more questions. It is what it is. We cannot travel the first 3 weeks of August anyway (we haven't heard that travel is not allowed during the Olympics or anything - we as a family have some big events that makes traveling during those weeks impossible) so at this point the delay isn't affecting our plans to get to China and it was nice to hear that we have been reviewed and all is okay.

There are rumors today that several families with 4/10 LIDs have been told their LOA's are "on the way" - that sounds better than "soon" ~ hopefully they are one in the same!

Kate

Day 91... WHINE WARNING!!!

I was doing fine, really, with the wait. Sure, a shorter one would have been wonderful but I had always told myself the Olympics would delay travel so September it would be... not because I had hard facts that it really would but because I would rather have been pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

This afternoon I hit the wall. We are so above average with this wait (every other step seems to have taken longer for us as well compared to most others) and there seems no end in sight at this point. The process that was so predicatable two years ago (Brynn's adoption was so easy!) no longer exists. Many people are switching to Special Needs adoptions now and that has slowed the process for those of us who started out matched with a waiting child (don't get me wrong... I am so happy that more children are finding families... I'm just sad it is not my turn). LOAs came today for some of those people but not for us on the traditional path and that upset me but when I found out some of those people were with my agency, it broke my heart . I had been holding out hope for tomorrow and I have a hard time believing my agency will get packages back-to-back.

Then, I found out today, that a family who I have been corresponding with who was DTC the same week we were and was logged in two days before us received their LOA and their TA both in June and will be back home with their baby by the end of July! Again, I am happy for them but sad for us.

Our official information about Jin Pei is now 1 year old. My agency told me several weeks ago they would ask for an update but we have heard nothing. Then my agency send my DTC group an email on Monday saying they were going to ask about our LOAs but I am not holding my breath.

I had a big Moose Tracks sundae for dinner and even that didn't help. Sigh. I want off this roller coaster.

No more posts (on this blog) until I have good news... this funk makes blogging no fun for me and I can't imagine fun for anyone reading.