Waiting on "T.A."

"T.A." -- that stands for "Travel Approval" in the Chinese adoption world! I realized that not everyone who visits my blog is familiar with the process... (believe me, it can be confusing even for those who have been LIVING it for two years!) A number of people have been asking when I will be going to China to get Madeleine, and I realized that I didn't have anything on here about that. Typically, you get to go to China about 6-8 weeks after you get your Referral. There are a few things that must happen, however, that we can't control, before you can make final plans for your trip. Right now, I (along with the 7 other families in my adoption agency's group who will be traveling with me) - are waiting on "T.A." from China. After we got our Referrals, we sent our "Letters of Acceptance" (LOA) back to China, about a week after Referral. It then takes China about 3-4 weeks to get back to us with "T.A." -- which is the range of dates we have been approved to come to China to get our babies. As soon as our agency gets that notification from China, they fax copies of our "T.A.'s" to the U.S. Consulate in China, requesting our "Consulate Appointments" (or "C.A."). The U.S. Consulate usually get back to the adoption agency in just 2 or 3 days with our confirmed dates/times for our C.A. The Consulate Appointment is the last item of "business" (well, that and also the "swearing-in ceremony") you must take care of before you can leave China with your baby. You must have a confirmed C.A. before you can book your flight/hotel reservations. The minute we know our date/time for C.A., our agency begins to help us with booking flights and making final travel arrangements. This takes about 2-3 weeks - and then finally you are in the air on your way to your baby! :) Bottom line: we are estimating that we'll get "T.A." in the next week or two (hopefully no later than the 1st week in November) -- then we'll book flights and hotels and eat some Turkey in there somewhere over the next 2-3 weeks - and then hope to be China-bound the week after Thanksgiving! We will be in China for 14-16 days and hopefully will be home in mid-December. I will post my exact travel dates and itinerary as soon as I know it. So stay tuned... (if I haven't lost you already!) - and I will have travel dates soon, I hope!