Travel Group

Last week, someone in our travel group (for our trip to China) started email introductions. There are 9 other families and we've been "introduced" to 7 of them. It's been nice to hear where everyone is from and what their family is like.

When we adopted Abby, I thought I was informed of the process. I did my paperwork and then waited like the agency said. They thought it would be 8 months before our referral, so I tried not to think about it and just went about my daily business. Plus, we were remodeling the room that was to be Abby's so that took up time.

When we got "the call" only 5 months after LID, I was completely shocked! I think know I remember saying, "NUH UH!!" (Daddy would be proud!) Then we traveled, and we met our group in Beijing.

This past January, I started reading adoption blogs and MY, OH MY, was I missing out on all the info out there to be gleaned from Bloggy Land. There are people who track how many days China takes to move a dossier from LID to Review Room (never knew what that was before) to Matching Room and everything in between. They track how many LIDs are matched every month and when the Travel Approvals go. Some even are able to track the DHL shipment that has their referral from China to their agency! What??? I don't know where or how they get that information. But I'm glad they pass it on.

Because the wait was so short last time, I was fine not knowing anything. Ignorance is Bliss, right? But now that I know the wait will be long, I'm glad to have others to wait and commiserate with. That's where our Travel Group comes in. We are all from the same agency and all have the same LID. So we'll all get our referrals at the same time. Some of them mentioned in their emails that they were hoping that we could help each other with the wait.

I'm glad that we're getting to know our group so early in the process. Maybe it will make the trip less stressful for us. And just maybe, we can help the first-timers with their fears of the unknown. I know it would have helped us with Abby.