31 days!!!!

On Monday afternoon, I got an email from Fed EX that our agency had mailed something to us. I don't think I have ever dialed so fast calling the agency. I talked to the match coordinator and she confirmed that it was our Letter of Acceptance (LOA). We were not sure when it might come- we know people who have gotten theirs in 20 days and people who are still waiting after 150 days. Most people get them after about 80 days-so ours came pretty quickly. Fed Ex dropped it off at 8:45 on Tuesday morning. I opened it and took it to B's office for him to sign and by 3:00 it was signed and on it's way back to the agency. They will send it to China on Thursday or Friday but we are in the home stretch!!!! Once the CCAA has the LOA back, they will send our file to the travel department to get our travel approvals. Typically, TA's come within 3-5 weeks so we are thinking we will get it early to mid April. When we can actually go to China will depend on when our agency can get us an appointment at the US Consulate. There is a big trade fair in Guangzhou (where the consulate is) which curtails alot of adoption travel the last 2 weeks of April due to the lack of hotel rooms and their high cost during the fair. The trade fair also causes a bit of a bottle neck while more people than usual try to get the same number of consulate appointments. Our agency is telling us late May to late June for travel. I am hoping they are being pessimistic. If it wasn't for the possible probelms with the consulate- I would think we could easily be there by the middle of May at the latest. We also don't know if we will be traveling solo or with a group. In a perfect world we would like to go with a group, but it will just depend on the timing. Of course, if we go solo it will be easier to get a consulate appointment (cause they could squeeze us in between big groups- like how it's easier to get a table for 2 rather than a table for 10 when you go out to dinner) As always, time will tell