As you’ve seen (or more appropriately haven’t seen), there hasn’t been much to update you on as of late. Our failed efforts at the Consulate has forced us to regroup, make a few changes to our dossier, and take a step back for a few weeks. Our agency has been incredibly kind and supportive to us, and our friends have bent over backwards to offer help– one dear friend even offered to courier some out-of-state documents for us!

The slight “break” from all the paperwork has been wonderful, and it’s given me a chance to begin to clean up our garden for the year and plan for my fall bulb planting. Now our little adoption hiatus has most likely come to a close, as our final document for state and Consulate processing should be coming in any day. That means I’ll be making my hopefully last trip to the Secretary of State and the Consulate early next week.

If the unexpected delay and slight backtracking has taught me anything, it’s that there will be setbacks during this adventure. To quote our fantastic coordinator, “You know first hand that adoption is not a 50 yard dash, but a marathon.” So for now we’ll take things day by day, and soon enough we’ll find ourselves in Beijing!