On Wednesday I was talking with our agency about some new paperwork we were filling out for travel and visas. At the time of our referral they told us that it would take between 1-4 months for our LOA to come. LOA is the letter of acceptance from China stating that they have accepted our request and see us fit to adopt Fu Zhi Da. I asked our agency what kind of wait they were seeing lately for LOA. She said people in our situation that get a referral quickly tend to wait 60 - 90 days since our Dossier needed to be translated and then reviewed before we would receive our LOA. We were 42 days into our wait so at least we were that much closer I thought. I of course looked at the calendar when I got off the phone with hopes of seeing our LOA at the end of October so some time in November.
On Thursday I got an e-mail from our agency with a little information about little Fu. After we had gotten his referral we were able to ask a couple questions. One that wasn't answered until Thursday was about his personality and development. This is what we found out about our sweet boy .... He can play flexibly, he has good imitation ability. His personality is a little quiet. Hmmm what will it be like to have a quiet little boy. The little boy we have now is far from quiet. We just can't wait to get our hands on him and see his little personality. I was secretly hoping for some new pictures but we will take any information we can get!
On Friday I was on a little shopping get away with my mom for a couple days. I had pulled out my phone and saw a text from Eric that read. Holt (that is our agency) called and .......... Yes that is all my husband wrote. I tried not to get my hopes up because they could call about a number of things but I dialed Eric's number as fast as I could. We were in a Macy's departments store way on the basement level so my phone was cutting out and I couldn't hear Eric. I quickly found the escalator and ran up it to get to a place where I had reception. I dialed Eric's number again to hear .... we received our LOA . I couldn't believe it. We were at Day 44. I had prepared myself from not seeing that piece of paperwork come through until the end of October or November after taking with our agency on Wednesday! I'm sure I was beaming and in disbelief the rest of the day. Shopping turned into thinking about what things could I get that would be light and good to pack. I started looking at all the little boys clothes knowing our little man with be in our arms sooner than later. If there is one time I could pick to be on the short end of the paperwork chase this would definitely be it!!
I couldn't be more excited to pass on the news that we have received our
LOA
It is like something has flipped inside of me now. I think there is this sense of cautious dreaming you feel after referral. You dream about the day you step on the plane for China. You wonder what it will feel like to hold your little one in your arms and yet it seems so far away. This weekend it seems as though our LOA has changed that dream into a reality that could be right around the corner. LOA seems to be the potential big wait and the rest of the steps are more like 1-4 week waits instead of 1-4 months. Now that we have LOA it feels like travel could be right around the corner. I just can't believe that their is a potential to get our Travel Approval in about 2 months. I know time will fly with the holidays so it is time to start thinking about our packing lists, nesting and praying for the next steps to go as smooth and fast. We just can't wait to get to China to see our little man.
We are so excited to take a big step forward towards having our little boy home! Continue to pray with us as paperwork is processed and that God would protect and let those that care for him love on our little man until he is in our arms.
