Travel Approval- TA

We've got it!! We've got travel approval!! However, and this is a big huge however, we will not be traveling to China in a week like everyone else that gets TA because of....

CHINESE NATIONAL DAY!

The entire country shuts down for a week the first week in October, and they can't put our trip together and arrange all of the necessary appointments soon enough to get us there and back before the country closes shop and goes to a week long party!!! I daresay the Chinese know how to celebrate.

So, Happy Birthday Dear China, take care of our girl for one more month.  I believe that a month from now, we will be in China anxious as ever to meet our baby for the first time!

Care Package

No word yet on travel approval.  It's too early to be expected, but we're close. I came across this picture of the care package we sent to our girl.  It's hard to put one together, the regulations are quite strict. It has to fit into a very small box, and it can only contain a few different things in it, etc.  We sent her balloons because every update that we've gotten said that she loved balloons. We also sent a book with big 8 X 10 photos of each of us, and our dog. She needs toys to grab and hang onto, so we had to find some that were cute and would fit. They said no clothes, but it was too cute, and totally cheap, so if it ends up as diaper rags, oh well. I hope the cameras get used, and we will get to catch up on a small portion of her life with the first people that knew and loved her.  We don't know, and may never know if she received it or not, but we hope.  Adoption is about hope in so many many ways.  Hope runs deep on both sides, hers and ours. We are close little girl!

Waiting

I have learned that there is a difference between "Your Article 5 is in." and "Your Article 5 has been issued." a 2 1/2 week difference. No worries, it's all done now, and we should be getting travel approval in the next couple of weeks. We are so ready to have this little girl home!

With my first three girls, I had c-section births. My first was a whole new experience, and I took it as it came.  With my second and third however, I knew what lay ahead as far as recovery, getting no sleep, learning to nurse, hormones, etc.  As my delivery date would draw near, I would think to myself "In 4 weeks, I'll feel good again, and things will be normal."

I'm saying that again to myself now. The logistics of leaving the other 3 in the care of family and friends whom have more than generously offered to care for my girls, drive them around, keep them safe and happy, etc etc etc is killing me.  Our trip to China is going to be long. There is no way around it, and I have anxious girls. I'm an anxious Mama. So, I say to myself "In 8 weeks, we'll all be feeling good. We'll be together, safe and happy, and we'll be living our new normal."

I have been feeling my girl so much lately.  It's not something I can explain, but as we pray for her several times a day, I feel her more and more and more. It's distinct. She has a powerful spirit. I feel it. It called to me all of the way from China, and I will be forever thankful that we listened. To think that in just a few weeks, she will be with us is so happy!!  It is so very very happy. I have loved this journey!!

Article 5

We have our Article 5, and now--- we are finished!!  We should get our travel approval in 2-4 weeks, and we'll travel about a week later!!  We're going to get our girl!! I'm so excited.  I can't believe it! We're a whole month ahead of schedule.  My to do list at home is enormous, and now that we've decided not to take the girls to China, I have to arrange for their care, my to do list is 3 girls longer!!! and my time line completely awesomely a month or so shorter! Oh well, I don't need to sleep, or eat, or clean.  August will be a marathon for sure, and hopefully shortly into September, we'll go get our baby girl, and she will be an orphan no more.

Almost There!

So much has happened!  So much paperwork that is.  I know it is cliche, but I truly can't believe how much paperwork is involved in this adoption!!  The past two weeks were very busy with family reunions, and I kept putting off the mountain of paperwork that was in my in-box. I finally got to it, and 4 hours later!!! I was ready to have everything notarized and sent off.  Oh my!  We received a couple of days ago our last (I think) document in the mail. I think I've said that a dozen times already, but I really think this is it.  I have everything on my list now as far as paperwork that we'll need to take to China, and I have everything we'll need to apply for Visas, which I will do today. It's not even August yet, could we travel sooner than October? I can't find any time lines.  I know my agency sent me one, but I can't find it!!!  I know we have to wait for our Article 5 to arrive in China, then wait for travel approval.  I think that's it.  Will those things really take longer than 8 weeks?

I have been feeling my little so much lately.  Oh how I want her home!!!! I'm going to paint her room this week, her bed is up and adorable.  It's finally feeling close, and not forever away.  2 more months is long, but totally doable.  Oh, my girl, we're coming!!

New Book

I am reading the most amazing book! It has come highly recommended on a few adoption websites, and was rated amazingly well on Amazon.  I've only just started it, but I'm aching inside for my poor little baby and the loss that she has suffered in such a short period of time.  I had no idea all that happened in a developing infant's brain.  The book is incredible.  I'm very encouraged, and I am loving all that I'm learning.  There is this little bit about what your child may feel like when they are handed over to us and ultimately adopted. I cried and cried when I read it.  Here it is:

You look around you. You are in a remote place in the middle of what seems like nowhere in particular. You have no maps or signs to tell you where you are. Suddenly you are surrounded by strangers, all of whom are overjoyed to see you. these people smile, laugh, and talk loud and fast, and they act as if you can understand them. The touch your hair, your face, and your shoulders, and they hug you repeatedly. You notice they have a peculiar odor. They dress differently from anyone you have ever met. Their language is unintelligible and sounds like gibberish. You have no clue how or why you are here. You have no idea if you will find your way back to your former life. 


You feel hands beginning to remove your clothing, and there, in public, these strangers dress you in new garments. Some people appear to be assessing you, sizing you up, looking at your hair and teeth closely and noting any moles or scars on your body. You are given strange food and invited to play unfamiliar games. You are handed a container of strange liquid and encouraged to drink. Everyone continues to laugh and smile and act as though this were a perfectly ordinary and normal situation.


It's going to be such an incredible journey.  Our little institutionalized, orphaned baby, needs her family!!! It's getting closer every day! There is much to do to prepare, and we are anxiously doing all we can.  I can't wait to get my girl home!

LOA

Our LOA arrived at our agency today and is being overnighted to us as we speak!  We now will travel to pick up our cute little baby in 10 to 14 weeks. Emphasis on the 10!  We also received an update on our cute chicken, but she forgot to attach it to the email letting me know!!  Shoot!  I asked for her to resend it, but it was after closing hours. Tomorrow then! So, tomorrow, I will get our LOA, sign it, and send it back overnight with our filled out I-800 immigration paper. There are then 2 more things we wait for, we need to get our Visas, and then we will be there!!

I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm super nervous!  Starting over with a baby is scary! It's been so far in the future, it's been romantic.  It's reality now, and no longer romantic. I'm so excited, I have a hard time sleeping at night, but I'm also way super duper nervous!! I hope she likes us.