looks like it'll be February, folks

Overall it's good news: I received an e-mail from our agency's China facilitator stating "Just want to you let you know that your application has been approved by CCAA and was forwarded to the matching office on Friday 12-12". Which means our LOA (letter of acceptance, also known as "letter seeking confirmation from the adopters") should be here within the next couple of weeks. Woo hoo!!

However, doing the math, it takes 3-4 weeks to receive travel authorization (TA) after receiving the LOA. Which means we can expect our TA around the 3rd week of January. From then, it will be 2-3 weeks until we actually leave for China. So, unless we get LOA this week and TA exactly 3 weeks later, there is really no way for us to travel in January. Plus the last week of January is Chinese New Year, and things are pretty much shut down. We could, however, do our "pre-trip" that week (time on our own before the adoption, to get used to the time change and see the sights of Shanghai!). Wouldn't that be fun, being in Shanghai for Chinese New Year?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's more likely that February 9 is the day we will meet Ella. But that's just a guess! If we get our LOA this week it could be February 2, in which case we'd pre-trip during CNY.

Even though we'd originally been hoping for December and now we're looking at February, I'm actually not disappointed. I'm happy that we are officially approved, and I'm excited that we finally have a somewhat predictable time frame with which to work. (Plus it means I can accommodate the dozen or so patients waiting for surgical appointments with me, since I will still be here in January!)