By 3:30 we were supposed to know

Our agency had told us they expected our TA today. They would have the package by 3:00 our time and I would receive an email 15 minutes later. If the approval didn't come, there would be no email and we could expect to wait for another week or more and our travel would be delayed by several more weeks. No pressure, right?

I managed to stay optimistic all day...right up until 3:00. When 4:00 came and still no news, I lost it. Yet another breakdown, this time on the phone with my mom when she called to see if we had heard anything.

I came downstairs to waste time on pinterest (that's what it's for, right?) and wonder what this would all mean. Would we be able to travel in February at all? Would we ever get to see our girl?

At 4:30 my phone beeped. It beeps for emails, texts and appointments, so I didn't get too exited. Then I saw the email logo. Every time I get excited over this it turns out to be an email informing me that someone liked one of my pins (like I said, wasting time on pinterest). This time it was from our agency.

Finally. After nearly 4 weeks of waiting and worrying we have our travel approval. We are actually going to China.

Of course, the next question is when. Typically we would know in a day or so. Nothing is simple for us though, so Chinese New Year is here and the consulate that schedules the travel won't be open for another week. We won't know for sure for at least a week, but it's looking like sometime February 8-10 we will be getting on a plane.