The TA waiting...and waiting...and waiting..

Our Article 5 was supposed to be picked up last Thursday, October 13th. Now, we sit and wait (not so patiently) for our very last step before we get to buy some plane tickets to China. 

This process, once we decided on China and picked our agency, was a little over 9 months ago. We were matched within a week of signing our contract with our agency. It feels like I am way over-due with a pregnancy (not unusual for me!).

We have daily prayed for our little boy Asher, and his care-givers. We have watched (in a few photos) him grow from a baby into a little boy face. I imagine he is still "baby" in many ways, but it is hard to know that we missed all that part of his life.

 I was telling my children today that I believe these last 3 steps (I800, Art 5 and now TA) have been the hardest for me. I think it is because we are so close, but still don't have a definite date as to when we get to meet him and bring him home.

I felt a tinge of envy when I saw on a China forum I read, that several people with the same LOA date and even a few with an LOA 4 days later than us, are already 2 weeks ahead of us and making plans to leave in a week! I pouted a few days thinking, "That could be us!"

For reasons, unknown to us, God has allowed our adoption to be a different time frame. I am okay with it today. But I have to admit I am checking my emails 10x more than normal, hoping for a subject line of "TA!!!". I know it will eventually come. I know God has already walked this path for our family and brought us to this little boy. I was thinking, "He may be holding back a little making sure we really are ready to do this." The longer we wait, the more our hearts do attach to little Asher.

I promise to post as soon as we hear and as soon as we have travel plans. IF we get TA next Monday, which seems to be a big TA day, we could be flying out 2 weeks after that, or maybe later. Only God knows. I rest today knowing, our lives are in His hands. Because I also know I would surely mess it up!