China- Here We Come!!!

We have dates!!!! More information to follow. Our estimated departure is Aug 27th. And, since the whole swine flu thing has died down, Jen gets to come with us!! Woo Hoo!! More later...

More information

So, we FINALLY received our TA. Phew! What a relief. Yes- I know. I've been complaining about the "TA thing-a-ma-gig" for weeks now. And, it finally arrived... Monday. Nearly a month late, just in case you were counting.

FINALLY....

As it turns out, our TA wasn't eaten by aliens. Huh. Go figure!
More information to follow!!

Communication Complication

I think my agency is screening my calls. In fact, I'm nearly 99% confident that they are screening my calls. Sadly, I'd probably do the same thing if I were them. Why? I have become a wee bit of a stalker. I call them quite frequently. Sometimes I send emails. And, when they don't respond to my emails in a timely manner, I call them again. Here's the thing... if they'd just ANSWER my question, I wouldn't have to keep bugging them.

Me: So, when is Mr. Zhou calling CCAA?
Them: We don't have your TA. We will call you as soon as we get it.

Me: What did CCAA say about my TA
Them: We don't have it yet. We will call you as soon as we get it.

Me: Ok- so, are we still planning on travel at the end of August?
Them: Well, when we get your TA, we'll call you and discuss the next travel group timeline.

You get the idea. NEVER did I ask... "Hey agency... do you have my TA?" Come on people. I'm not that stupid. I KNOW that you don't have my TA. I also know that you don't know WHEN it's going to arrive. And, I am 100% confident that you WILL call me the second that it arrives! Sigh.

Am I being unreasonable?

Do you think this will help?

The wait continues....

Well, our 2-4 weeks wait for our TA has evolved into a 54 day wait. Hmmm.. now, arithmetic was never my strongest subject. But, I'm pretty sure that we are way off track.

Time for a distraction

It's time for a distraction. You know- anything to get my mind off the fact that I am NOT going to China tomorrow. So, here are TWO distractions for the week. TWO things that I would have otherwise missed if I was in route ...

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released tomorrow. Don't judge. I'm a huge HP fan! And, my disclaimer? Seth loves it too. He's been counting down the days until the movie premiere. On Friday night, Dan, Seth and I are going out to dinner and movie. It'll be great!!

2. My 20-year class reunion is this weekend. Actually, so is Dan's. Different schools. Same reunion date. Weird. Anyway- I'm very much looking forward to the event. Now, I just need to find something to wear.... :-)

Uncovering the mystery of the TA and travel..

I've received a number of questions regarding the mysterious 'process' of TAs. So, I am going to try to explain.

The magical TA (travel approval) is issued by CCAA to prospective adoptive parents. It's essentially an invitation to come to China for the adoption. Once the CCAA receives the signed LOA (letter of agreement) from us, they begin the process of collecting all the appropriate legal paperwork... our dossier, the baby's dossier, stuff from the orphanage, adoption paperwork, etc. Once everything is 'ready', they issue the TA.

(Side note: Our LOA was returned to China at the end of May. Typically, the time from LOA to TA is 2-4 weeks. With that timeline in mind, our agency anticipated our TA at the end of June and tentatively scheduled our travel for July 15th. )

The TA is important for many reasons... the most important component is the TA code. This code, as I understand it, allows our agency to schedule our 'government' appointments (ie/ with the orphanage for the adoption and with the US embassy for her Visa). Once our appointments are established, we can schedule our flights and apply for our Chinese Visas. This TA code is valid for 90 days. So, CCAA doesn't tell us specially WHEN to come to China ; they just give us a 90 day window to come and get her.

It's really a vicious cycle of events. I was completely stressed out this week! We were supposed to leave in a week, and we didn't even have plane tickets or our Visas. I couldn't apply for our Visas because we didn't have travel dates. And, we didn't have travel dates because we didn't have an embassy appointment. And, my agency can't get embassy appointments WITHOUT THE TA! Arghhhh! Did you follow all that? No wonder I am losing my mind over here.

Ok- so what went wrong? Who knows! And, frankly, we'll never know. Our Chinese liaison/facilitator, Mr. Zhou, called CCAA last week to inquiry about the status of our TAs. He was told that they were being processed. Still? Apparently.

Tune in tomorrow for our second installment of "Uncovering the mystery of the TA and travel"

We're going to China.. just not next week

No TA. No travel.

There's not "blame" to assign to anyone. It's just the way things roll with international adoption. We've often had more questions than answers. I could write an entire blog on what I think may have delayed our TA. The reality? We'll never know for sure, and it's hardly relevant. Sigh. I guess I will start "unpacking".

Until next time...

Sigh...

It's not looking good. Our TA hasn't arrived. Our agency has resigned to the fact that our travel group, scheduled for July 15th, will likely be cancelled. Our next travel date? Aug 27th. A six-week delay. Six weeks should feel like a 'blink of the eye' compared to the 3.5 years we waited thus far. Instead, it feels like eternity. I'm not 'unpacking' yet. There's still tomorrow....

Things to pass the time....

I COULD be...

packing

organizing

preparing

filing

cleaning

reading

and countless other things.

Instead, I am obsessing. We are at T minus 13 days, and we STILL don't have our travel approval. Frustrated, worried, and anxious can only begin to describe how I am feeling. Dan must be feeling it too because the first thing he said tonight was "Did you talk to Kim (agency rep) today?"

Not "Hi honey, how was your day?"

Nope.

Just an inquiry regarding our long-lost TA. Sigh. And, it's completely out of our control.