Life After Pre-Approval

Ahhhh, so how is life after Pre-Approval? Hmmm, although I'm an English teacher, there aren't words to describe it. (But you know me, I'll try)

I'm sitting here on a Sunday afternoon watching the Colts play, typing lazily, and listening to the soft sounds of Tony napping. Life, as we know it, will soon be over. It will soon be overrun by dolls, and noisy toys, and dress up clothes, cartoons, and mac and cheese...yep...it will be a whole new world. Am I sad that our existence as mere couple will cease to exist? NO WAY! Am I scared? UM, YES!

It has been totally unreal since this all has unfolded. It's funny how nearly two years ago when this all started, we knew it would end up with us becoming parents. We knew a child would eventually be introduced into our lives and molded there forever. We knew that we would need to prepare a space for our daughter, baby proof the house, and do all of those things that parents-to-be should be doing! However, we didn't want to get everything done early because looking at a finished nursery was frankly, just depressing. So we spaced events and preparations out so that we always felt that we WERE making progress toward our end goal, but that there was enough left to do that we would always feel like expectant parents.

Well, fast forward to the past month. Ring, ring...we get the call...TWINS...WHOOHOO! Then, mounds of paperwork to submit (LOI/Medical plans etc). We get a small breather where we think we'll be waiting for pre-approval for a while. Then BAM...we got pre-approval...WHOOHOO! Then we settle in for what we think will be the longest wait and start thinking about planning our life with twins. We are told by our agency that it may take 2-4 months before we get LOA (Letter of Acceptance...aka, next hoop we jump through). Although we're told this, we're hopeful that it will happen in a month or two b/c other people in our agency have had it happen. So this makes us seriously rethink the nursery and all the gear needed, house work to be done, website we want to launch, lesson plans for our real life jobs, and packing.

Well, BAM...no, WE don't get the call with LOA, but a good friend of ours does! On Friday one of the WONDERFUL ladies we're waiting alongside got her call that she received her LOA in a RECORD 14 days!!!! This is where it gets interesting. She is one week ahead of us (meaning she submitted LOI and got her PA one week ahead of ours) and she is also already through the Review Room in China, just like we are! Sooooo what I'm getting at is that we potentially COULD receive our LOA this Friday!!! What we're thinking will take 2-4 months (plenty of time to prepare mentally and physically) could happen in just a matter of WEEKS!

Blah, blah, blah, what does that mean? Ok, let me lay it out for you in list form:

1. LID (Log-in-date for China)---6/15/06
2. THE CALL----We are OVER the moon with our girls!---8/24/07
3. Submit LOI and Medical forms (Letter of Intent)---8/30/07
4. Receive PA (pre-approval)---9/14/07
5. Waiting for LOA (Letter of Acceptance)
6. Receive TA (Travel Approval)----2-4 weeks after LOA
5. TRAVEL TO GET OUR GIRLS---2-4 weeks after TA

****Items in RED are done! Items in BLUE we're waiting on!

Ok, so that was a REALLY long post to get to the point that WE BETTER GET BUSY because we COULD (emphasis on COULD) get LOA this week and travel in a MONTH!!! It has all come down to this!

We are SO SO SO excited to finally meet our girls! Leaving behind the passive life of couplehood will be bittersweet. We have many many memories we have created as a couple, but we have many memories yet to make as a family. We're looking forward to growing as a couple and learning new things about each other as we try our new roles as parents. Yes, we'll lack sleep, and yes, we'll miss certain things about the freedoms we had as a couple. But the responsibility and challenge that God has given us is so great that we are ready to start this next chapter in our lives. Ok, maybe not ready, but excited to start it!

Ok, that was a super long post, so I'll end it now. I was anticipating a very emotional post, but that will definitely be the next one when I share about how God has placed people in our lives that have been affected by our little angels. It will explain one more way God has blessed us!

You've been faithful so far...now keep praying! This time that our girls are safe and feeling loved from across the ocean, and that we get LOA THIS WEEK!!!! Also, thanks for all of the comments, you have NO idea how special that is for us!


(end of Rett's post)
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Ok, here is a continuation of the post for today. Rett found this photo of the girls on a Yahoo Groups site for their orphanage. They are about 1 year old in this photo. How cute. (yes, I love to post photos)

Rett mentioned that we will be doing a seperate website for travel...what do you think about daily sponsors for each day we are in China? How crazy of an idea is that? Let me know what you think...

Thanks for stopping by and keep the thoughts and prayers coming!

Have a great day!