LOA sent to China today

Today we are about 2.5 hours from home, picking up Eiley and Mia from camp. It's a nice distraction from my constant anxiety about the TA (Travel Approval). I want to make it magically come SOON. It was sent to China today, so I'm really, really hoping for TA on or before 8/15/08 and travel on or before 9/4/08. There are lots of rumors flying through the China adoption Yahoo groups about what effect the Olympics will have on the adoption process. Some families are still getting consulate appointments in mid-August, so it seems that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) is expecting to be fully functional.

Several of the families who received their LOAs on 7/11/08 reported that they received TAs today. This is great news, because we are in the very next group! TAs and LOAs tend to happen in 2 week cycles, so keep your fingers crossed.

Once we get the TA, our agency will book an American Consulate appointment. This appointment occurs near the end of our 2-week China trip and makes Jon Wiley an American citizen. Luckily, this appointment is one of the few things that can be booked online. Then we will know our exact departure date, and better yet, our "Gotcha" day!!! We will express-mail our passports with visa requests to the Houston-area grandparents so they can hand-deliver them to the Chinese Consulate in Houston. We did the same thing for Devyn 3 years ago. Chinese consulates will not accept Visa requests by mail; they all must be hand-delivered.

I also learned today from my online-adoptive-mom-friends that our file number for the American Consulate in Guangzhou (aka GUZ#) might be contained on a specific letter from the American Visa office. Tomorrow, I will go home and tear through the files to see if we have it. That would be a relief.

I have a feeling that we will be celebrating Jon-Jon's 2nd birthday in the White Swan hotel in China. How great for us, and how confusing for him. We have all been practicing singing "Happy Birthday" in Mandarin.