What a day!!

Holy Cow!!  We are going to China!  It still seems surreal!  It has been quite a day!  I know some of you reading this won't care about the fine details but I want to remember it all so bear with me. :)

Today was day 9 of our TA wait.  As usual with these waits I was fine until the day it might possibly come and then it's all down hill from there.  I absolutely wasn't expecting it until Monday at the earliest.  Monday was my daddy's birthday and I thought it would be awesome if it came on his birthday.  It didn't.  But I just knew it was coming on Tuesday.  China had the week off the first week of October.  They issued a ton of TA's the week before in record time in an effort to clear their desk we all thought.  It made sense to me that coming back to a clear desk meant the new things on your desk would get done quick and mine should be on the top of the pile!  So I just knew it was coming on Tuesday.  It didn't.

The good news, so to speak, was nobody's was coming.  One of the good (and sometimes bad) thing about being so plugged in to others on this journey through social media is that you kind of get a feel for how things are looking time wise.  Things were definitely moving this week.  Just no TA's as of Tuesday night.  It's ok though it's coming Wednesday.

It didn't.  By the time I took Jenny to church Wednesday night I was done. Done.  I figured it was going to be next week and our timeline would move back a week.  Not the end of the world at all but for the way November looks for our family and Shane's work we really wanted to leave sooner.  I barely held it together through church and came on home.  I went to print a paper for Will and realized we were out of ink.  I hopped in the car and ran to Office Depot.  On the way home I had a good ugly cry and then felt so much better.  I don't know about y'all but I do some serious praying, crying and worshipping in the car!

I was glad to be busy this morning.  I had to work a short shift at the middle school and then was meeting with our children's minister to discuss VBS planning.  Before I let the house I pulled out Jesus Calling an looked at the day's devotion.  The first line said, "Anxiety is a result of envisioning the future without me."  Thank you Lord for the reminder to stay calm and know that I know you are in control!

I kept my phone close just in case.  After we met we went out for lunch and had a nice time visiting.  She brought me back to the church and I got in my car to leave.  I checked my phone one more time before pulling out and there it was!!!  An email from Karla, the China director and the subject line said TAs are here!!  I screamed and skimmed the email and called Shane!  Holy cow!!!  I had to pull over in the Dollar General parking lot and put him on speaker phone and read the email out loud.  We needed to send an email letting her know when we would like our consulate appointment to be.  We already knew that so I hung up and sent three quick emails from the Dollar General parking lot.  One to Karla requesting a CA for the week of 11/11, one to my social worker asking her to send a copy of the TA to the visa courier and one the visa courier to be looking for it.

And then I went to Old Navy.  Felt kind of weird but Jenny and I needed Jeans for the trip!

I heard back from Anna that she sent the TA to the courier and I got to see the actual TA.  It says plain as day, we agree to place this child with your family, come get her please.

We actually had dinner all together tonight after a strange week of Shane being out of town and Will having practice, etc.  After that we went out for ice cream to celebrate which has become tradition.

About 8:00 I got an email from Karla that I needed to resend something to her.  I did and asked if she had gotten the email I had sent earlier.  She had and had sent our request to the consulate.  It usually takes about 2 days to hear back.  I figured Monday we would hear.  I also re emailed the courier about my visa.  She confirmed we had enough time to get my Visa for the dates we had requested and if I sent my religious waiver (!) tonight she could drop the application at the consulate in the morning.  That meant Shane had to go to the office because we had him keep it there so he could scan and email it as soon as possible, we just didn't expect to need to do it at 10:00 at night!  He did it and came on back home.  I heard the computer bing with a new email and assumed it was the copy of the email Shane had sent.  I went to make sure and there was a new email from Karla!!

You have a confirmed consulate appointment for 11/12.  be in China by Sunday November 3!!!!!!!

And just like that the list is checked off.  The waiting is done.  It's time to go.

We will book flights tomorrow.  We will hopefully leave the afternoon of Nov1.  And on
November 4, 2013 there will be one less orphan!

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever! Amen! Ephesians 3:20-21