Logged In

Great news since my last post. The US decided that we will be fit parents for Teegan and we were able to submit our dossier to China. Our log in date or LID, in adoption vernacular, is 4/12/10!!! (There will be a test on adoption acronyms later so pay attention, please.)  I was so excited to finally reach this milestone!!! The information from our agency accompanying this terrific bit of news also stated that we would travel in 4 to 6 months. Sigh. So, now we wait for our Letter of Approval (LOA) from China, which means that we have been approved to adopt. Then we have to submit some more paperwork begging the US to let Teegan immigrate. Then we have to wait some more. After we get our US forms approved, we wait to get our travel approval (TA) from China, and wait to get the date for our consulate appointment, and then we can book our travel! After that we can be teleported to Henan to adopt our child. Well, I was hoping they would invent that before this trip. Instead, after navigating scary airports and loosing our dignity by allowing airport personnel to view all the secrets normally disguised by our clothing, we can count on about 24 hours of squeezing ourselves into tiny seats made for elves, eating unfamiliar squid cuisine, watching movies that wouldn’t hold your attention if you had ANYTHING else to do, listening to a cacophony of human sounds, and praying. Praying that the plane will make it, that you won’t catch any of the diseases that your fellow passengers are hacking up, and that your new child will tolerate your presence.

When I look at this sad little face, I know that none of the rest matters. I want to see a smile on that face, here, at home.