trace

(this picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. it is just cool and i took it while in urumqi, china. you walk into the crocodile mouth to get into the restaurant. it didn't look too terribly inviting, so i took some pictures, and then moved on. i bet it's the only crocodile or alligator in all of urumqi.)
yesterday we learned at we were the first family in our agency (maybe in adoption land at large) to be required to sign this hard-copy document. by signing it, we say that we will accept trace's referral- even though technically we did so back in october, by sending our loi. it is then sent back to china, and they will send our travel approval sometime thereafter. this is a brand spankin' new requirement from china, that in the future will be a requirement for all special needs families (it already required for non-special needs adoptions). we were just the first to be sent a document. we are special, are we not?
our new projected travel falls after the chinese new year's week off holiday. the earliest we could leave is on february 23 or 24 (mother's birthday), then we would receive him the 26th. that would be an excellent time to travel, as we would be gone over my college spring break, so i wouldn't miss quite so much of my classes. we shall see :). in the mean time, i am cramming the mandrain- if trace knows half as much mandrain as jade knows english...