No-go for May

It is semi-confirmed that the cut-off is 4.21.06...families are receiving their calls this morning and no one past the 21st has said they are in.  Last night I looked on our agency's website and appears we are the only family remaining at our agency from 4.22.06 thru May 5th.  Maybe we will get lucky like others have, where China has a few remaining files and we get picked up.  Every few months, a few people get a surprise referral this way.  We are keeping our fingers crossed, but not holding our breath.

For now we will continue to tackle/purchase items on our agency's packing list so we aren't scrambling at the last minute.  Emma's crib has become a storage facility of items that will eventually go into the suitcases.  We opened up our agency's travel guide a couple weeks ago and realized how much there is to do at the end of the process and panic creeped in.  When we finally get "the call", we will have 6-8 weeks to file all the final paperwork, apply for Visa's etc. but the time is going to fly quickly so any item we can check off now is going to be helpful in the long run. 

One of the craziest things we have to do at the end is order "new" money.  We have to carry over $9,000 in cash, but none of the bills can have ink marks, dogears or folds because China will reject it.  When you order "new" money, the banks don't always respect your request and families have literally been washing and ironing money to make it clean/crisp.

We probably won't post again until we near June unless something earth-shattering happens, so "Ciao" for now!

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