Two of the Most Beautiful Letters...

TA!!!

Yesterday morning (Friday, July 20) I woke up feeling tense, excited, nervous.... The first thing I thought of was, "We got our Article 5 last week. I know it would be fast to get our travel approval, but I just KNOW today is the day." I was out of sorts all day and felt a litte, well, off. We got Aiden to daycare, albiet late, and I eventually went over to Jenny F's to celebrate her birthday. She had gotten a 19 foot waterslide for the weekend, and who am I to turn my nose up at "children's games?" It was fun, but I kept checking my phone. My confidence at getting our approval was starting to wane. I may have texted a fellow Changchun adoptive parent a couple of times. It may have gone a little something like this.

Me: "Ach."
E: "Ummmm. What?"
Me: "No TA? It's noon. I was waiting for a call from you." "AND no update? Really? Ach!"

I was advised to partake of some liquid patience / calm. It worked. To an extent. However, as most people know, the more you try to put something OUT of your mind, the closer to the forefront it moves. Aiden came to play with the other kids (and me) around 3:30 when my mom and dad, down a night early so we could attend the Blue Angels Saturday, and Troy brought him over. It helped to distract me, but my mind kept returning to the prospect of a VERY long weekend with no TA. Around 4:00 I got a text from my fellow email / telephone stalker and mom-in-waiting.

E: "You know....I did not get my loa call until 5 pm. Just sayin"
Me: ":) How well I remember! Fingers crossed!" "PS our first TA for Aiden was around 5 actually."
E: "Well just keep busy on that slide and perhaps we will get the Call...A watched pot never boils!!"
Me: "I HAD forgotten it but thanks for brining it up :P"
E: "Happy to help!" (One does have to wonder why I want to travel with this sadist...)

At 6:00 I brought Aiden home to have pizza and spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Obviously we weren't getting our TA; I did my best to forget about it. We ate and settled in to watch TV, or at least Troy & I did. Mom, Dad and Aiden were playing. My phone dinged once and I ignored it. It dinged again. I again failed to respond. Troy was rubbing my neck, and I was loathe to interrupt that. On the third notification, Troy made some smart remark about my "popularity," so I finally got up to see who it was. One of the notifications had been a text.

It was from E: "....Check your email. I did not get a call!"

So, check my email I did. Apparently, one of those notifications had been an email. From Holt. This is what I found.

Subj: Travel Approvals Have Arrived
Fri 7/20 6:23 PM
Dear China Families:

We are happy to let you know that your travel approval has arrived. Travel approvals do not come with travel dates but we are working with our staff in China to arrange your schedule as soon as possible.

So, to make a short story long, we have been approved to travel to China to get Ethan and bring him home. We can't know until we get our Consulate Appointment -- the LAST step in this arduous process -- when that will be, but we are praying to leave in the August 15 travel group. Inconvenient in regards to school and finances? Yes. Do I care at this point? NO! It's time to go get our son!

A side note. If we make the Aug. 15 group and get Ethan on the 19th, it will be one year to the day since we started this journey. :) We filled out our application to Holt on August 19, 2011. Seems to me that would be Apropos!