Bumps in the road

I kind of thought, being we were on the LAST step of this adoption process, that we were past worrying about any "bumps in the road".  I was wrong.  We got some information yesterday that could potentially change our schedule dramatically.

As you all know, we are currently waiting on our Travel Approval (TA).  We were hoping for it possibly this week , and we were pretty sure if it did not come this week we would get it next week.  Then we would book our flights, pack our bags and GO!!!  Well, I found out early yesterday morning that the CCCWA was experiencing glitches in their new computer system and those glitches are prohibiting them from issuing any ....you guessed it... TAs.   We do not know if the glitches have been worked out, and we do not know if TAs are being issued again.  On top of that, about an hour later, I also found out that the US Consulate in Guangzhou will be closing to move to a new location on June 15th.  They will suspend all operations from June 15-June 24 (all adoptive families must go through the consulate at the end of their adoption trip to  finalize their adoptions).  What this means is that if we can't get our Consulate Appointment (CA) by July 11, then we will have to wait to travel to China until sometime after July 24th.

As soon as I found this out, I called our agency to find out what all of this means for us. I was kind of hoping some of what I was hearing were "rumors".  This is what our agency responded with:

"Yes, you heard correctly about the Consulate closing.  We are hopeful that your TA will arrive with enough time to request your appointment and get your family to China before this closure but we are unsure at this time.  If your Travel Approval comes before June 17^th then we should be able to request an appointment before the Consulate closure.  As you may know the CCCWA is updating to a new system so they are still working out the kinks with issuing Travel Approvals."

So, the bottom line is this:  WE NEED OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK to have a chance of getting to China in June or July.  Normally, this wouldn't worry me, but there is the computer glitch thing, and ON TOP OF THAT (yes, there is more), there is another national holiday next week in China and all government offices will close on MONDAY, TUESDAY, and WEDNESDAY.  That does not leave us much time.

I remain hopeful that it will come, but I am also trying to prepare myself for the fact that I could spend the majority of my summer without my girl.  This is devastating for me.  But what is even more devastating is that she would have to spend the 3rd summer of her life in a hot orphanage due to computer glitches and office relocations. Sadly, Vivian is the one that will suffer the most if we are delayed.

I will keep everyone updated.  Praying that my next update is an update with our TA.

"When you say YES to adoption, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will."

--Jen Hatmaker