Cabled!

We received an email today letting us know that our file was sent from the National Visa Center to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.  The letter was dated yesterday, and the files are sent electronically ("cabled") - so this email means that our agency's staff in Guangzhou can now hand-deliver our remaining paperwork to the consulate and the consulate will issue our Article 5 in two weeks.  (The Article 5 letter is the consulate's official documentation that our immigration paperwork has been approved for the adoption and that Ellie is eligible to receive a visa to come to the U.S.)  The Article 5 letter will be picked up by our agency staff, overnighted to Beijing, then delivered to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption Affairs.  Our travel approval will (hopefully) be issued 2 - 3 weeks later.

We should have our own travel visas soon, and we're starting to think about the best way to book our flights.  Ideally we would use our Delta Skymiles - at least for an upgrade on the way there, when we'll be flying child-free and might actually get some rest - but we may not have enough advance notice to be able to do that.  The Asian airlines generally have a better reputation for service, accomodations, etc. - Korean Air in particular is well-liked by people who've used them to travel to China.  Korean Air and Delta do "partner" on certain routes, so we'll have to see if we can take advantage of that.  We won't purchase a ticket for Ellie on the return flight, since we won't have a car seat with us anyway - so the priority will be trying to reserve the "bulkhead" seats at the front of the coach cabin, which are coveted by families traveling with small children because there is a lot more space and no risk of incurring the wrath of the travelers seated in front of you due to your child's restless feet bumping the seatbacks.  :)  (People who've never traveled with young children don't realize how hard it can be to keep those little feet away from the seat in front of them.  Especially when you're using a car seat (which we have always done when traveling with a toddler, because it is safer and, in spite of the hassle of lugging it on the plane, in my experience it generally makes things much more sane once you're settled) - those little feet are mere inches from the seat back, and once a child figures out how much fun it is to kick that seat, you literally have to hold their feet down to keep them from doing it.  Which often produces the equally-annoying screams of protest.  For the record, though, we have gotten a lot more compliments when flying with our children than we have dirty looks, although I have found - mostly from observing how people react to other people's children, even before I had kids myself - that some passengers are determined to be annoyed as soon as they see a young child sitting near them on the plane.  And, of course, there are those parents who do little or nothing to try and prevent their children from being a nuisance to those around them.  It's a tricky situation, because you don't want to ruin someone else's flight - but if your child is crying inconsolably or writhing uncontrollably there's often not a whole lot you can do at 35,000 feet with the seat belt light illuminated and the flight attendants blocking the aisle with the beverage cart.  Except, maybe, you can buy drinks for everyone seated around you - and two for yourself.  :) )

It's going to be interesting...