Monday, March 31, 2008

WE RECEIVED OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL FROM CHINA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our tentative travel dates are 5/1-5/14. We will find out for sure in a day or two. I am not too fond of the word "tentative", and I know we will all breathe a little more easily when the dates are set in stone.

Last Monday (3/24), we went into Manhattan (to the Chinese consulate) to get our travel visas! It was an adventure! We walked more than half of the city by foot (I'm not even exaggerating here, which is scary), so you can imagine that on Tuesday, every joint ached and we were TIRED! But we were so happy that another item was checked off of our list. :)

Yesterday, we went to Babies R Us and did some shopping for our trip. We will have a virtual pharmacy on wheels. We had to get all the essentials: bottles, antibacterial wipes, grooming items, all the non-prescription meds a baby could possibly need, disposable washcloths (with built-in soap), a sippy cup, and enough Gerber snacks to feed a baby army. :) I also just ordered two baby/toddler carriers (for Emily and Abigail). That way, after the girls get tired from running around, we can carry them on either or backs or fronts....they are made by patapum (view them at www.patapum.com).

Anyway, we are happy to finally have our TA, but really wish we could have traveled in April. I know it's only one more week, but at this point we have been waiting for so long.....we just want to hold Abigail already! :)

Just keep your fingers crossed for us that all goes smoothly and that we get official travel dates that are as soon as possible.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Ok, here is the latest update on our travel plans:
The Canton Trade Fair (in Guanzhou) is the largest trade fair in the world and is held from April 15-30th. During this time, there are no adoption consulate appointments taking place in Guanzhou (our last stop in China before we can come home). As a result, unless our travel approval (notice of consulate appointment) comes in immediately, with a consulate appointment before the trade fair (which really is impossible), there is a good chance that we may have to wait an extra 7 weeks until the end of May to travel. However, our agency just said today that if our travel approval comes quickly enough, with a consulate appointment IMMEDIATELY after the trade fair ends, there is a good chance that we may be able to travel to China on April 24. Since our first week is in Beijing and then Abigail's province of Jiangxi, by the time we arrive in Guanzhou, a week after departing NY, the trade fair will have JUST ended. Of course this will only happen if everything moves like clockwork (no more delays, our travel approval coming in really quickly, etc). Please pray for us that we can travel in April. I know it sounds silly, but waiting an extra 4-7 weeks to travel is very difficult to handle, especially when it isn't due to anything in our control or anything adoption-related, but rather a trade fair. PLEASE JUST KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR US. WE CAN USE ANY AND ALL PRAYERS RIGHT NOW....and April 24 sounds pretty darned good! Thank you!

Monday, March 03, 2008

We have great news! Mike and I received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) today, meaning that we have officially been approved and invited by the Chinese government to adopt Abigail Fu Jin. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! The only glitch is that, even though normally we could expect to travel to China 4 weeks from this date (allowing us to travel by April 1st), it looks like we will have to wait til May. There is a trade fair going on in China in April, which will make travel to China during this time almost impossible. So this, along with other factors per our agency, will most likely cause us to have to wait until 2 months from now to travel (May). I was on cloud nine when I first heard about the LOA being here, then I felt kind of down in the dumps about having to wait one more month to meet our little girl, and now I'm excited again that we at least know officially that we ARE traveling.