Cabled!

I called the National Visa Center this morning, and they told me that we were cabled yesterday,  July 6th.  This means they sent our information to the American Consulate in Guangzhou.  They also said that our letter had been sent out to us, and we should be getting an email copy of it shortly.  I don't know what "shortly" means to them, but I really hope it is today.  If it gets to me today, that means I can immediately forward it to my agency, who will then email it to their contact in China, who can hopefully take it all to the consulate tomorrow.  This will be our application for Article 5, and this can only be delivered on Mondays and Thursdays.  If it gets delivered tomorrow,  there is the potential for us to get TA much sooner, possibly in time to leave with an earlier group. Right now, our estimated travel dates are beginning Oct. 7th.  However, if everything goes through in the same timetable I am seeing for others, the latest would be September. It's amazing how a one day delay can make you travel a whole month later, but I have studied these charts and calendars, and it can happen that way.  The article 5 takes 2 weeks.  In fact, it cannot be picked up before 2 weeks.  If we can get it there by this Thursday, which is tonight our time in China, that would mean our article 5 would be ready on July 22nd. Once that is picked up and taken to the Chinese adoption officials,  we will be waiting for travel approval.

We also are applying for our Chinese visas, and getting everything ready to pack.  I want to be ready if things move on the fasttrack to travel by the end of August. However, if it doesn't work out that way, I am confident that we will go no later than September to bring home our little girl!

I hope I'm not boring you too much with all the little details, but I think it's important to share each step, so that other adoptive parents will have a guide to follow. Reading the blogs of others has helped me so much through this entire process.

In the meantime, I'm working on Raeanna's bedroom. I'll try to post pictures when I finish it.