We are DTC!

Yeah!! Can you hear my big sigh of relief where you are? Today our Dossier heads To China. That means our paperwork will be logged in (takes around 2 weeks though we may not find out the exact date until long after that) and we wait some more... between 3 and 5 months for our Letter of Acceptance (LOA), which should be followed by a 2-4 week wait for our Travel Approval (TA), which will be followed by our trip to China about 2 weeks later.

What DTC means for us is that there is nothing we can do right now to speed up the process or even move the process along so I can relax a bit. I'm thinking a nap!! But first, I think an ice-cream celebration is in order!

Kate

Waiting to start the big wait...

Our agency received our last piece of paperwork a week ago today but only sends dossiers to China 2x's a month so we have been told that our dossier "should" go to China on the 26th. I know in the grand scheme of things this 9 days of nothing happening won't matter once our daughter is in our arms, but right now, since we have been on the slow end of everything not 100% in our control this entire adoption so far, I'm bummed. I don't think I will really relax until I know our dossier is on its way overseas and I am ready to relax a bit! I think traveling before the Olympics at this point isn't going to happen and that is disappointing but we gave it our finest effort! Sigh.

Here is another 1st birthday picture we received after JinPei received her cake. It is way blurry but I love it because she looks happy and for me it is the clearest as far as seeing how little she is! I think that head of hair makes her look older than she is in most of the pictures...

I am hoping to share good news Wednesday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that from there our documents get logged in quickly so we can officially start our 3-5 month wait for our LOA (letter of acceptance).

Kate

More pictures of JinPei!

Guess the cake wasn't such a bad idea after all!

Yum!

I'll get some myself, thanks!

I'm saving the icing on my sleeve for later!

In the last picture, the panda bear on the table came with the birthday cake "package" but the other bear is the one we sent in our own care package last month. And the two people on the right, even though the picture is blurry, well I can see one is holding the toy we sent and the other is looking at the photo album. Now we know she got the package we send through USPS you know I'll be sending another one or two or more the same way.

What an awesome day!

Kate

Welcome to the family kiddo UPDATE!!!!

Well, it turns out that she won't be putting "missed my first birthday" on my fault list but she may put "sent me a first birthday cake."

We are so thrilled to have updated pictures and ones on the day she turned 1!

Welcome to the family kiddo!

Nyah,
You might as well know from the get-go that you are not going to have a perfect mommy... far from it. I'm sure you were going to figure that out soon enough from your siblings so I might as well just put it out there now.

I noticed earlier this week that in the two emails I sent to the company who is arranging your birthday cake that I had typed two different birthdates. The first time I was accurate and in the 2nd email, well, I made a typo and not wanting to 'cause a fuss, I figured I would just let it go. I'm thinking that they used the second date since I haven't heard anything.

So, years from now, when your first birthday pictures (I hope we get some) have 3/17/08 printed on them, well, you can just add it to the list of things your mom has done wrong in your life! :)

Maybe you can just consider it stretching out the celebration!!? :)

Love,
Mommy

Marking the time in an adoption...

When you are pregnant, the countdown to baby time can be counted in doctors appointments.

In this adoption, it is all about tracking packages... FedEx and DHL to be exact. On Monday I had 5 packages being tracked online and I am down to 3, with one on the delivery truck so it will be crossed off the list momentarily. I get so excited when I see a change online but my fingers are tired from constantly hitting refresh.

Kate

Nyah Kate Jinpei turns 1!

Happy birthday Nyah! I imagine you are sleeping right now... or at least you should be (it is the 13th in China... 12 hours ahead of here). Sometime today you should be receiving a package and, hopefully, a beautiful birthday cake. We look forward to celebrating your future birthdays with you instead of from a distance!

Hugs and Kisses,

Dad, Mom, Caleb, Price, Evan & Brynn