We got a little travel news yesterday, but nothing major. We do not have official Travel Approval yet. Our agency got a batch of them yesterday, but ours was not among them. The agency expects ours to be in the next batch. They have no idea when they will get that batch, though. It could come today, next week, who knows?
We did find out that we will definitely not travel before October 9th. October 1-5 are holidays in China, so the offices we need to visit will be closed. So our agency has delayed travel until after those holidays. The 2nd tricky part about October is that there is a big trade festival that happens the whole month. That means that hotel rooms will be more expensive. But our agency is still allowing families to travel in October as long as they are willing to pay the extra cost. We're going even if it's more expensive. We want our girl!!! The money will all work out.
Hopefully we'll hear soon when we'll travel. We're really hoping for as soon in October as possible. The later it gets in the fall, the more we have to be prepared for a H1N1 flu situation.
For me (Sherry), this part of the waiting has been the hardest part. We're SO close. Every time the phone rings, I practically knock stuff over trying to get to it. I check my email incessantly. Jacinda is almost 20 months old and I try not to think about all the things we're missing ...walking, talking, etc. I'm trying to stay busy getting ready for the trip and getting the house ready. We're stocking the freezer with meals, although we have some friends who'll be helping us out with meals, too. The guest room is a disaster at the moment, so that's this week's project! My parents need somewhere to stay when they come to help us out.
We've also been talking with the team that will repair Jacinda's cleft lip and palate, so we think we're ready! (Her lip has already been repaired, but the team wants to redo it at some point because they think they can improve it a little.) The team asked us to call them as soon as we get home and they will get a team together to meet with us.
The last we heard from China, she has no issues with eating and drinking, so that is a good thing. Her weight and height are in about the 25th percentile (for US standards), which is not unusual for Chinese kids. Her pediatrician here, who is experienced with international adoptions and works closely with the cleft team, is confident that we can handle any issues that come up. When we travel, we will have access to his personal cell phone so that if anything medical comes up while we're in China, we can call him and he'll help us out.
So that's what we've been up to! Lots of people have been asking us when we go, and the answer right now is still ... we don't know. Hopefully soon we'll have a more definite answer to that question. And trust me, when we know, you'll all hear us screaming!!!!!!!!!!!
Aaron and Sherry
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