Last night I received an email from our agency that they had received our LOA from Crescent Moon! Yay!!! They are sending it to us, then we will finally submit our I800 and be that much closer! If everything goes smoothly, we could be travelling as early as April to meet our new daughter!! :-D As excited as I am to be yet another step closer, I think I'm even more excited to finally be in the predictable stage. I feel as if we've been climbing a mountain and we've finally reached the peak and now we just walk along the top until we get to our destination.
To be honest, this is also the part where I know much less about the process. I always read "home study --> I-800A --> LOA --> I800 --> TA", but now that we're in it I am finding out that there's a lot more in that "I800" step. There's that, sure. That's the biggie. It's where the US says Z is eligible to be adopted. Super important! But, as I do more reading, there are a bunch of other forms for temporary visas, medical exams, etc. etc. There is a "NVC Cable" and an "Article 5". As far as I can tell, those are the governments communicating with each other to be on the same page, so I won't have to do anything other than know where we are in the process of that. Though, I could be wrong about that. I need to read through our documents a bit more carefully. I had a hard time reading through them 6 months ago when we got them because it was overwhelming and usually brought me to tears. Now that we are actually here and have our LOA, I can manage it much better.
On a more personal note, our agency also informed me that the orphanage received our care package! I was worried because my tracking number only went up to "arrived in country" and never got beyond that. I was afraid it had gotten lost in customs. But, I guess it was just a tracking number issue, not a shipping issue. I'm crazy excited to know that Z now knows about us. Our agency said that they had no way to know whether Z knew about us or not. Sometimes they told kids early and other times not. But they always tell kids when they receive a care package about who sent it and why. I, of course, wonder what she thinks about all of this or whether she even understands it. (Can anybody really understand this until it happens?)
L has still talked non-stop about travelling to get her. I can't remember the last day that she didn't mention it at least once! Yesterday, she "packed" her school backpack with an assortment of toys and danced around the room singing "We're going to Crescent Moon!". I know she's really looking forward to having a sister! We went ahead and got a bunk bed for their room and L now sleeps on top. I was worried about her adjusting, but she did great! The only thing she has missed is that I can not climb into bed and snuggle with her anymore, but I didn't do that often. The next time she's sick, I might have to brave the bunk bed myself just to snuggle with her anyways. We have Z's bed all ready for her. Our cat LOVES her bed and sleeps just below her pillow every day. I really hope Z isn't allergic to cats!! The only other thing I might buy is a giant stuffed panda from Toys R Us. They are SO soft & cuddly and only 20 Euros. If it ever goes on sale, it will go from my mental wish list into the cart! ;-)
It seems like we're going to become pretty paperwork busy again soon. I'll be sure to post at each step!
-V
