Have You Heard Anything Yet?

This seems to be the question of the day, so here's the latest scoop. We received an email from our agency on Friday regarding the changes that the CCAA has instituted for Waiting Children. Instead of waiting for TA (Travel Approval) we are now expecting to receive a LOA (Letter of Acceptance) document that we have to sign and return, confirming our desire to continue the adoption of Oakley. Initial rumors were that it could delay the process anywhere from two to eight weeks -- which seems like a lifetime at this point.

But we've been really encouraged by the number of LOAs received to date by families. One family had a LID of 11/14/06 and just received their LOA last week, which is great news! Also, most families are receiving TA within a few weeks of returning the LOA. It seems like the CCAA is trying to streamline the process and it will soon be a mirror image of the traditional adoption process in China. The good news is that once we receive our LOA we'll have a better idea of when we might expect to travel and we can get our affairs in order.

Our agency is hosting a conference call on February 12 to communicate all of the changes and procedures, so I should know more then.

The other GREAT NEWS we received last week is that Oakley's friend, Caeleigh, will be coming home soon!! Her parents just received their LOA last week so they are expecting TA anytime. They are 51 days ahead of us in terms of DTC, so while nothing is definite, that at least gives us a time frame to consider.

Please pray that God is preparing these little girls' hearts for their new families. May they be immediately comforted by our love and devotion and may God keep them safe and watch over them. Pray for a speedy LOA for us and a speedy TA for Caeleigh's parents. And while you're at it, we'd love for you to offer prayers for us in consideration of a Shaohannah's Hope grant for which we recently applied. This could go a long way in helping us meet our funding requirements!