Bring on 2009!

Well, things are finally moving along. We found out that our file is expected to arrive at the US embassy tomorrow, which means that acknowledgement should come next week or the week after. We have a phone "travel meeting" set up for next week and our baby's entire Vietnamese file should arrive via FedEx tomorrow, which will give us the report of how she was found, some earlier photos, etc. The head of our agency reported that one possible scenario is for us to travel around Feb. 6 with our G&R ("Giving and Receiving" Ceremony, aka Vietnamese adoption after which we take her with us) on Feb. 9 or 10. If it weren't for Tet, we'd have her by the end of January. After all this time, I cannot believe that we may be within a month or so of holding our daughter in our arms. She will be 9 months old, a whole person, and we have a lot of catch-up to do. Despite the months of preparation we've had, we have a long to-do list of things like getting final papers notarized, shop and pack, talk to our doctor, prepare for my leave of absence,pay bills ahead, etc., etc., etc. We are treasuring our blissfully quiet home and "grown-up" slow meals in the dining room, because their days are numbered!