Ninepence: the story of our journey to our daughters: Disappointing news about our travel approval

Monday, July 11, 2011

Disappointing news about our travel approval

We were expecting to receive our travel approval somewhere between June 9-23rd. As the 23rd approached we were getting anxious. And then the 23rd came and went. I tried to control myself and not write and bug my agency about it but that lasted two days. They said that they weren't worried since it was only a couple of days outside of the window but that they would contact their liaison at the CCAA. Soon after they said the liaison said the paperwork had all arrived but she would check to be sure it was in order. Our agency suggested we hold tight as there didn't seem to be any problems. When we didn't hear anything back about problems with the paperwork we assumed that it would come any day.

Fast forward another 2 weeks. We have now been waiting a total of 8 weeks for our TA! Last Wednesday I contacted our agency again and again they said they'd contact their liaison. On Friday I made the image shown here of the DHL trucks and Eliza as my screensaver, trying to will the TA to arrive. I posted the fortune cookie image also shown here, on my Facebook page, trying to will the TA to come. Then I received a call from our agency. They had reached the liaison and it turns out that the procedure that our agency followed for sending paperwork for finalizing the match, had been changed by the CCAA but they'd never been notified. So the CCAA had all the correct paperwork but since it didn't arrive as their new process dictated, they simply sat on it.

What does this mean? It means that we should be in China RIGHT NOW but instead are delayed by another 5 weeks (if not more). I couldn't help crying as the agency delivered this latest news. Five more weeks! Five more weeks for that baby to sit in an institution. Five more weeks of development and growth and milestones we will miss seeing. Five more weeks of an empty crib in the nursery. I realize that in the scheme of things five weeks is not the end of the world but it is devastating none-the-less. We are so close!

Hang on baby girl, we'll be there as soon as we can.

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The story of Ninepence

When I was a very young girl I saw a movie called, "The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness". It was a movie that I never forgot, loosely based on the life of Gladys Aylward, a missionary living in China during the 1930's.

During her time in China, she came upon a woman begging by the side of the road. With her was a 5 year old girl, covered with sores and very malnourished. She determined that the woman was not the mother of the child, but that she had kidnapped her in order to aid in her begging. So she bought the girl for ninepence, and hence called her "Ninepence". A year later, Ninepence showed up with an abandoned boy in tow, saying, "I will eat less so he can have something." Thus Gladys adopted a second orphan, "Less". (In the movie the child is a baby and Gladys calls her, Sixpence).

When the Japanese invaded China, Gladys took 100 orphans into the mountains to escape. They walked for 12 days before arriving at the Yellow River, with no way to cross. "Why don't we cross?" the children asked. "There are no boats." They said, "God can do anything. Ask Him to get us across.". They all knelt and prayed. Then they sang. Their singing was heard by a Chinese officer and patrol who found them a boat and got them across the river safely.

Gladys continued her mission to help the people and orphans of China, until her death in 1970.