We got 2 different "heads up" on Thursday , that our Travel Approval MAY arrive the following day. My nerves went to an all time high and needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night. Friday morning came and I was so glad that we had planned a play date and lunch with friends. When we arrived to our friend's house I received an email from our agency.Title: Travel Approvals Anticipated!. It basically went on to say that they anticipated our approval arriving later that day and they needed to know if we would e able to leave for China ASAP (around Feb.13th). Umm...let me think.....HECK YEAH!!!! I replied that we would love to leave as quickly as possible and that we would anticipate hearing from them later in the day. Well, needless to say, the rest of the day dragged. My poor friend had to listen to me obsess over and over about whether or not we would hear from them today. What if they were wrong?? What if China hadn't issued it yet?
Well, after hitting my refresh button on my email about 1,000 times that day, finally at about 4 pm, I texted my good friend, Piage, who is also adopting. "Dont think it's coming...ugggh;-(". As I was typing the text, I glanced at the top of my phone and noticed the envelope symbol...AN EMAIL!!! No way..I had JUST checked it, like 30 sec before. I immediately opened my email to find TRAVEL APPROVAL!!! in my inbox! I quickly called my sweet friend, who I had just texted , and began screaming into the phone. She screamed, cried, laughed with me...it was here and WE are going to China!!!!
The email went on to say that they had requested the first available Consulate Appointment for us, and once China responded back to confirm the appt, they would inform us so that we could book our flights. They said the Consulate Appointment would be confirmed on the following Monday. The Consulate Appointment is actually what the entire 17 day Adoption trip is centered around. It happens on your last day, and is the day that you take an oath, and little Miss becomes a US citizen the minute our first plane touches down on US soil. They are trying to confirm a CA date of Feb. 27/28 and so we would need to leave for China between Feb.13-15. They told us to begin researching flights, so that we could be able to book as soon as we hear on Monday. Tuesday we will receive our final travel itinerary and Wednesday we have our Conference call with the Founder of our agency and all of the other families that will be traveling with us. I can't wait to meet up with other families from all over the country who will embark on this journey with us . We are told your travel group becomes like your family while you are away. You do everything together...so, I'm anxious to meet these families and the new children they will be adding to their families.
SO.....what have we been doing this weekend? Getting ready!! Looking at flights,Laying out our luggage, going over THE NOTEBOOK that holds all of the info 3 sets of Grandparents need to survive in our house for so long, organizing packing supplies, washing Mia's clothes, laying out outfits and packing the suitcase of donations for her Orphanage (thank you, friends!!!) .
This week will be "Operation Get whatever else we need". Tomorrow we will have our CA date, book tickets and begin preparing our Boys for us to be away....which means lots of snuggles, TLC, prayers and kisses this next week!!
