Cloud 9

Well, I'm trying desperately to come down from Cloud 9 and give thought to the practical aspects of what still needs to be done. Darn that practicality! It's very hard for me not to just keep staring at the sweet little face! But kids, work, ballgames, gymnastics, laundry ... and most importantly - more paperwork, calls.

The first item to get sent out is what is called a "Letter of Intent". I wasted no time in getting that out. We received the call on 9/4. The LOI was sent that night! We now wait for what's called "PA" (Pre-Approval) and "LOA" (Letter of Acceptance). Our agency thinks the LOA will take about a month. Then after that we wait for Travel Approval and scheduling of our consulate appointment before we know our travel dates.

There are other things to get done while we wait for that. First of all, our immigration paperwork needs to be updated. That request will go out tomorrow. Our fingerprints expire at the end of this month and the request to be re-fingerprinted was sent late last month before we knew we were getting "THE CALL"! I found out today that our fingerprint appointment is scheduled on 9/18. This will be the 3rd time to have this done since we started this process. I STILL do not grasp what it is about fingerprints that expire, but hey - if it helps gets me to China then count me there!

In the meantime, I'm reading the book "Toddler Adoption" to help best prepare us for adopting Miss Rebecca! I've read that the transition for a toddler can be a lot different than what we experienced when we adopted Emma.

For the prayer warriors out there, please keep Rebecca in your prayers. We pray for as smooth a transition for her as can be possible. While I am beyond excited about becoming a forever family with her, and I look forward to our future ... my heart realizes she's leaving all that she knows. And that's got to be difficult regardless of how prepared we all think we are.