Almost there!

The last set of referrals from China covered through January 4! This is very exciting for us because it means we are almost there. In fact, we are the very next group of referrals for our agency...meaning the next time our agency receives referrals, one of them will be ours!!!!

Realistically, we are still looking at a referral in May with travel in June. I know I have been speculating for over 2 years about when we will travel, but I can FINALLY say with almost absolute certainty that we will travel no later than June. Our paperwork expires (for the 3rd time!) in July and I have talked with our agency several times about this. Our coordinator has told us to wait on renewing it as she is almost certain we will be home from China by July.

I am finally allowing myself to believe that the end is near. I have always known that we will someday have our daughter, but I have tried to guard my heart with the realities of the long wait. Now I'm so excited I'm about to bust. Matt is equally anxious to bring her home. For the last year or so we would only occasionally talk about the baby with Alex & Tara (even though we thought about her constantly), but it seems like now we talk about her all the time...when we will get her, what she will look like, smell like, sound like. Where will she sleep, play, eat? Will she walk, crawl, take a bottle? And the BIG question...what will we name her??????

We are currently trying to work through the details of when to travel to Oklahoma. We know we have to bring the baby directly back to the U.S. from China, so we have decided to fly to Oklahoma first and then do a round trip from there to China. After a few weeks in Oklahoma with the baby we will fly back to Italy. That's LOTS of flying and LOTS of money, but something we have to do. As it stands right now, Alex & Tara will NOT go to China with us. This has been one of the most difficult decisions to make throughout this process, and I'm not sure it is a done deal. There are definitely pros and cons about taking them and we waver back and forth on which is best decision for all of us. We may not make the final decision until the very last minute.

Stay tuned.....