LOA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It came, it came, it came!!!!!!!!! We have our LOA, and my, what a lovely document it is! I wish I could put it up here on the blog, but I am not certain that that would be appreciated... so you will have to trust me that its a beautiful document.

The big T and I went and picked it up at the agency last night. I have to go and get my Visa picture taken and fill out some other info, then drop that stuff off and the signed letter by Friday. Hopefully I can get a care package together to send at the same time too!

It looks like I will travel either Nov 9 or 16th. Someone is trying to convince me that its more like I will go before Halloween, but I am not holding my breath. Besides, I think I will have a coronary if I have to go that fast! The next thing we need now is the TA (travel authority) and then I go! OMG... I'm going to China to get Kailtynn in like 6 weeks... O. M. G.

Packages in the air

So there appears to be packages coming to a variety of agencies - this through RQ - so could there be referrals for families mixed with LOA's and TA's? Who knows... I'm actually quite Zen about it today, by aiming for Century Club (day 100). We hit 75 today, so 25 more days to go! I think its the fever and the flu I have that are making me Zen and delirious.

Had a major run in with our sitter last night, which is weighing heavily on me today. She got quite mad at me for trying to explain that we want to go a bit easy on the big T for a while cause he is very stressed out at school. She lost it with me, saying she would resign if we had no discipline in the house and that the boys are playing us. He just needs a firm hand and to concentrate, and that by doing what we are suggesting, we will end up with no end of trouble. DH managed to bring the situation back to a normal speaking tone, and she quieted down but not before telling me that I was not speaking to her respectfully as she is my senior (I told her that I did not appreciate how she was speaking to me). I asked her to leave politely as it was late. She is supposed to come back tonight, and I am left wondering what to do. I don't like being given an ultimatum - don't do this or I will resign - and these are our kids and our family, and it really isn't her place to yell and get mad at me for asking her to follow along with us to help our child out. Trying to give myself the 24 hr cool down before I decide anything, but as I type this I am getting all angry again. Stay tuned...

Everybody needs a bit of sunshine...

No, there is nothing new... just thought it would be nice to see the sun today.

Vaccination time

Off to get vaccinated this afternoon - the final boost for Twinrix - and to get a prescription for antibiotics for us, and anything else we may need in China. Let's hope my arm isn't too sore for tomorrow's fun and games (10 kids, at the chocolate factory, learning and making their own chocolate molded animal... who's idea was it anyways?)

2 months today...

So you've all seen the ticker - 2 months today (day 63) of waiting for LOA. Sigh, and nothing in site for this week. We might get lucky next week, who really knows... chances are good though, since CCAA shuts down for a week of holidays the first week in October, so they might send something out just before they go on holidays. Let's hope so, as this week has just dragged on, and on, and on, and on for me....

Nothing...

Nothing came in for us at the agency. I finally broke down and wrote an email, and just got a response back.

So we wait I guess for another 30 days, which would be normal btw since this 60 business was Leanne's good luck - I was just hoping that we would be lucky too. Day 100 is October 27th, so that is the next milestone I will be mentally preparing myself for.

Day 60, 11 am...

and its killing me... will we get a call today or not? I woke up thinking not, since usually packages arrive at our agency on Friday's after 12 noon (I think someone told me this) and they would have called us on Friday if something had come, I'm sure. If I can make it to 1 pm today without calling the agency (its taking all my self control), and if there is no call, I think its not going to happen today. Which is all fine... just want the day to be over with so that we know one way or another.

One good omen on Friday though: got the Tilley catalogue, entitled "Let the Journey of a Thousand Miles begin" or something like that....

Its been 50 days of waiting

I can't believe its been 50 days since we sent in our LOI. From what I can see from others, late June LOI's just received their LOA's so things appear to continue to be on track for us to receive something either by late September or late October. There is however absolute silence regarding where our file is at, so we can just hope that things are moving along in this black hole that is IA.

4 weeks in!

I can't believe its been a month all ready. Every day just seemed to drag by, looking at her pics everyday, wondering when... and there you are, 4 weeks down, 30 days in. Only... how many days now? Who knows? Hoping that we will hear something either in or around Sept 20th (too fast, unless we have Leanne's guardian angel who managed to get her LOA in 61 days) or Oct 20th (probably more reasonable, at 3months in). Rumor has it too that the guy responsible for LOA's is on holidays - Happy Holidays for you (everyone needs to sharpen their saw from time to time... so I do say this with the utmost respect).

I have been watching that ticker at the top waiting to see 1 month of waiting for our LOA... and I get up this morning to find that the site is down for maintenance!!!! arrrrgggghhhhh....

We have a plan for the rooms now (not bad, only took us a month!): Jacob and Kaitlynn will double up! In the new Ikea catalogue, there are toddler beds that are blue and pink, and we thought that might be nice to have matching style beds different colors for two toddlers. We are thinking of painting the walls white with blue and pink polka dots.

This is what we are thinking for drapes (Ikea again)

Ok... this is going to be a looooonnnnnggg wait for me!

Not to take away from other's that have waited 2+ years for their referrals, I am going to talk just about my reaction to waiting for this LOA - its not a good one. When you have a couple of pictures in hands and you see that beautiful little face looking back at you... oh my, its impossible to just sit and wait!

I am literally climbing the walls. I can't concentrate on work, wondering if I should call the cleft clinic at Children's to book an appointment for December (even though Maria said we could have an appointment in a matter of a couple of weeks), wondering if I should call my speech therapist and put Kaitlynn on the waiting list (wait is 3-4 months now, but the Children's has their own speech therapist), looking at pictures of clefts to desensitize myself to what may be Kaitlynn's palate situation ( no idea how big the cleft is, just that the soft palate and the hard palate have a cleft, and perhaps a part of the gum line (alveolus)... but could something have been lost in translation? I would love a picture of her palate to get a better idea of what awaits, but its not going to happen.

Want to call the agency and find out if they have heard anything, anything at all (Karen hasn't and she doesn't expect to hear anything until our LOA arrives)... I have no idea how Karen waited over 200 days... I can't even get to 30 days (I'm only at 17 days right now)!

Man, oh, man... this is not good, not good at all.

It is lovely however to watch Julie and Elisa with their respective daughters presently in China! Leanne and Mary are on deck... just waiting for those TA's to come in. It shouldn't be called adoption, it should be called something like "The Wait" or "Managing the Wait" cause that is all we seem to do... wait.