Today was an awesome mail day! First we received our travel packet from our agency. I’m shocked and impressed by how much information this packet contains.

Reading through it, I started feeling overwhelmed at how many decisions have to be made before we travel. I had to remind myself – one step at a time! One step at a time!

Then we received our Zulily order, which contained two pairs of shorts for our daughter. It was really hard to find shorts that were modest!

I was so amused at how our order came in two packages and they were two different shades of blue. One was delivered by OnTrack and the other by USPS. Efficiency? Not really!

We bought both of these tops at Macy’s yesterday, both on clearance. I’m a bit worried they will be too big for our girly, but at least they are light material and will work well with the Taiwan heat.

We bought this cute purple suitcase a couple years ago when we made some really short trips. Hopefully she likes it because it’s now hers!

Though to be honest, I’m wondering if we will even need a separate suitcase for our daughter. Her clothes are so small they seem like they will fit in our suitcase!

But, the airline gives us two free checked bags each and we’re only taking one suitcase for the both of us and one for her. She’ll probably like having something of her own to travel with. We also ordered her a backpack as a carry on. It won’t ship for another two weeks though. I can’t wait until it gets here!

Is it the end of July yet?

One more tiny step complete. Our AIT letter arrived today.

This letter gives notification that our daughter is “likely to qualify as an orphan for the purpose of eligibility for immigration benefits as an adopted child of US citizens.” What’s odd to me is that they don’t make the final determination until after our adoption is finalized in Taiwan.

If for some reason they determine our girl is not eligible to immigrate, it will be too late. By that point, she will already be legally recognized as our daughter by the country of Taiwan. *insert sarcastic voice here* Oh no. We will have to move to another country. Whatever will be do?” */sarcastic voice*

My husband and I have tossed around the idea of someday moving to another country for a couple of years, just to experience a part of the world. Yes, it would be a shock if we were forced to move rather than making the decision ourselves. But after the initial panic response, we’d be excited for the opportunity. Of course, this is highly unlikely to happen. I’m pretty sure that everyone involved in our adoption is certain that our daughter meets the definition of an orphan and thus will be granted permission to immigrate to the United States.

I am slightly disappointed that we have not been able to finalize travel dates yet. We need to confirm our AIT appointment (where our daughter gets her visa to come to the US) so that we can confirm the day we meet her so that we can buy a plane ticket. But the agency in Taiwan has not yet confirmed this date and our coordinator is now on vacation until Wednesday. Hopefully we will have plane tickets in hand by the end of the week.

Then I can start the countdown for how many more days until we meet our daughter!!

There once was a little girl in Taiwan…

who wanted a family.

And a family in America…

who wanted a daughter.

After lots of paperwork…

and lots of tears…

the little girl and the family learned

that they will soon be united.

We have travel approval!!!

We will meet this beautiful child at the beginning of August. Family Date soon to be confirmed.