A day of extreme joy and sadness

First, let me just say: We're going to China!!! I'm excited to say that we received our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China today; all we're waiting on now is our Travel Approval. Our adoption agency has told us that, assuming everything goes OK, we will travel to China to get Julia in the next four to eight weeks!! I'm hoping for the shorter end of the time frame, of course. In the meantime, we have to start finalizing our paperwork and getting our visas in order. There's going to be a LOT to do these next few weeks as we prepare to travel. Our LOA will get to us from the agency by Monday. We then sign it, get it back to our adoption agency and they will send it on to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs). By the time it gets to China it will be the end of the Chinese New Year and hopefully the Travel Approval will get processed quickly.

On a more somber note, for those of you who don't yet know, we've been at the hospital with Anna since last night. She's been battling a bad stomach virus and finally we needed help from the local children's hospital to stem the vomiting and keep her hydrated. I'm happy to report that she seems to be doing much better today and we should be discharged tomorrow. There are also two other "mito" families at the hospital at the same time and my thoughts are with them as well. The child of one of those families is in very serious condition and it pains me to think of this. I honestly feel that I have nothing I can realistically complain about when I know they're going through such a hard time right now. Our situation seems like nothing in comparison but times such as this always keeps my priorities in order and reminds me how much I value and love my family.

We're at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. It's such a phenomenal hospital and it's worth the long drive from our house in order to get Anna the great care she receives here. One of the great things about CHOA is that not only do they treat the kids great, they also try to pamper the parents (well, as much as is possible at a hospital). We truly value having such a great hospital fairly close to us.

Congrats to all of my online adoption friends who also received their LOA today!! We'll be travelling together soon enough.

Update: Anna is feeling much better now. She was discharged from the hospital on Friday and seems to finally be over the virus.