We are still waiting for our TA (travel approval). I received an e-mail last Thursday saying China needed a signed copy of our LOI (letter of intent) before they will issue our TA. Our letter of intent was written way back in January. I was able to find it quickly I signed it and had to go to Daves job site and had him sign in. Most of the time Dave is working right outside in his shop but of course when I really need something quick it's on a day he isn't around. It really was no big deal, he wasn't to far away. I sent it out to arrive the next day. The agency got it and sent it on to China by Friday afternoon. This is a new procedure and it just so happens we are the first group that has to follow this. This affected 14 families from our agency who all plan to travel in Dec. The agency thinks we should still receive our TA in time to travel in Dec. but could not guarantee since this has never happened before. On the positive side, the later we receive TA the less time Max will have to spend back at the orphanage. They send him to the orphanage once we receive TA.
Max had a birthday on Oct. 10th yes 10/10/10. I used a service in China who will send your child birthday gifts and a cake. You go to the website and pick out things. I was also able to write a letter and send more pictures. We had gotten bunk beds for his room so I sent a picture of that to him. I did hear from the service and the things were delivered to him. She said he lives far from the orphanage so they gave the foster family the money for the cake and they got a cake and had a party for him at home. So Max definitely knows about us. Please pray his foster family is preparing him for all that will happen in the next couple months. Also prayers for the foster family. I know this will be hard on them also. My heart aches for them all. I know that this is the right thing for Max when we look at the big picture but it will definitely be hard for him. I hope my next post will be we got TA and plane tickets.
