The dishes rattle with the forced breeze as I leap across the room and pounce on my phone with speed that would make a superhero jealous. I’d like to say as graceful as a panther, but let’s be real. Eyes wide and breath held, I punch the password in with the finesse of a caveman. This could be it! This could be….
Junk mail.
Try though we might to seem calm on the outside, trust me when I say the adoptive mom is anything but. The combination of emotions, to-do lists, and paperwork swirl inside us daily like a tornado. We have survived to day 51 of our wait for LOA – meaning all our paperwork is in China getting translated and processed. Once complete we will get a very official looking paper asking if we accept the children. Like that’s even in question!
Since we live in the digital age, I have the benefit of connecting with a lot of other China adoptive families online. We share information and collaborate on spreadsheets (yes, we are very organized!) to give everyone a sense of timeframes and to connect with others on similar timelines. The current LOA wait is around 42-45 days, but we were looking at least an additional week or two. As life would have it our LOA wait encompasses both the Mid-Autumn Festival, which closed down the offices on September 15th and 16th, but also the current celebration of China’s National Holiday has closed the offices for an entire week in October. At this point I don’t see us traveling before Christmas, but we will very probably be going right after the New Year. Wonders of wonders, today we found out that our file has gone from Translation, shot past Review, and is now Matched! This means we should see LOA in the next week!!
A lot of people have asked about Ella and if she’s adjusting to the idea of siblings. Just as if we were adding children biologically, going from only child to one of three will be an adjustment no matter what we do. I think she will adjust quickest to Charlotte. She knows her, has her picture, and is always asking about “sister Charlotte”. There will be the usual sibling rivalry over toys and such, but I think they will find comfort with each other as we all navigate the changes our family will go through.
Jack, I’m sorry to say, has not been accepted as quickly by Ella. We have videos of Charlotte and have known her face since February – for Ella she is as real as Mommy and Daddy. She recognizes Jack from his pictures, but that’s about where it ends. I’m hoping for some video of him soon as I think that will really help him be REAL to her. Today I introduced her to the idea that baby Jack would be sleeping in the crib. The look on her face was priceless!
We will hopefully have more of an update for you soon (COME ON LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!). And that update will include pictures! Until then, here’s a little teaser….