Thursday morning we got the "short" awaited RA (referral acceptance) phone call. I say "short" because it had only been 2 weeks, and the typical wait is 1-3 months for the official acceptance from China...
We had only just finished our final training course (takes place between referral phone call and RA phone call) on Monday, so our agency had sent our certificates of completion in the mail on Tuesday. The RA phone call came on Thursday. Once you get the RA phone call you can send the I-800 application in (travel countdown starts from this point), but you need the original training certificates to send with it.
Are you tracking with me??? :-)...Bottom line, we now needed these silly certificates that happened to be sent "snail mail."
We PRAYED that the certificates would be in the mail on Thursday after our RA phone call, but they weren't (there was no need for our agency to send them via faster shipping since none of us were expecting the RA phone call that fast) :-(.
I went to the Post Office first thing Friday morning to try to track our mail down since Tim and I were leaving to go on our church's marriage retreat for the weekend. It wasn't in Friday's mail either :-(.
We had a wonderful time on the marriage retreat weekend, and I fully expected the certificates to be in the mailbox when we got home, but again they weren't :-(.
On Monday morning, Tim went to the Post Office to try to get our mail again first thing (since our mail doesn't come until 4 PM), but the Postmaster would not give it to him???!!!
I then contacted the Post Office to try to track down our mailman's route, so that I could find him. I spent an hour driving around on and off the phone with the post office. I finally found our mailman!!! I almost cried!!! Unfortunately the certificates weren't in our mail :-(... I drove away so sad and frustrated...but then as I drove around the corner, our mailman cut me off in his mail car trying to stop me...He had found the package in a different bin!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!! I was so excited!!!
After making a quick copy of the certificates, I headed to UPS to overnight everything to where it needed to go...Phew!!! A huge relief!!!
I'm not sure exactly why all that had to happen, and I'm sure I will never know the full story here on earth, but nevertheless it reminded me of the lengths we will go through for the ones we love most of all!!! As my sister has always said, "our own adoption as sons and daughters of the Most High was not easy and cost a great price...this journey wont be easy either!!!"
So, here we are now, buried in piles of paperwork to read and fill out...visas to get, and travel arrangements to be made...this journey is coming full circle and she will be here before we know it!!!
In the midst of all this craziness, we never forget each and everyday why we are doing all this and the beautiful baby girl that God hand knit to be a part of our family...
Today marks our sweet Ellie's 10 month birthday!!!
"Happy Birthday "Mei Mei" (little sister)!!!"
You can see her picture a little bit in this picture...she's a cutie, and we'll post more pictures as we get them (now that China has said she is officially "ours" we can post her picture). We love her so much and can't wait to see her face to face!!! For now, we will let her know that she is loved and thought of each and everyday, and especially on her "birthdays!"
Thank you all for your sweet prayers, support and encouragement!!! We love you all!!!
This is such a cute photo! What a great story - and she will love to read this when she is older. :)
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