I guess because we had been through this before, it came as more of a suprise. With Emma, we kept up with dossier news and referrals through the very active E-Mail list, A-Parents-China (APC). Through it, we had an idea when we could expect our referral and, as that time drew near, our anxiety increased exponetionally. We jumped anytime the phone rang - every call was potentially, "the call". With Camilla, we kept up with APC, but we pretty much went about our lives. Based on the APC activity, we were expecting a call in the October/November time frame. When "the call" did come, it took us by suprise, even though it was in October as expected. Carolyn was at home and answered the phone. It came on October 12, 1999 around 4pm. After getting the information from Holt, Carolyn called me at work. I answered the phone and all she said was (something like):, "You better come home right now!". Her voice was trembling, so my immediate reaction, was that something not good had happened. Then she said, "I just talked to Holt". That's when the jitters hit me and my anxiety level sky-rocketed. She gave me the bits of info Holt had passed on then I hung up the phone, bolted from my desk and shouted to my co-workers as I flew out the door, "They called about Camilla, gotta go!".
We were now in full-scale immediate mode and things began to happen fast. Because if Y2K, I assume, the US Consulate in Guangzhou was to close on December 22nd, so Holt told us that they were doing all they could to get us in the last group of 1999. They succeded and we got our travel notification on November 1st with a Hong Kong arrival date of 12/12/1999. The next few weeks flew by fast and there was lots to do!