11 Months

Today is October 3, 2006. Doug's and my dossier has been logged in China 11 months today! But because of the extended wait, I just had to send in my request letter to the USCIS to set up an appointment to get re-fingerprinted. And, I am starting to work on getting some new documentation for my home study update/renewal.

I am posting this video because it makes me smile, because we are celebrating another month down and because we are having to update our home study in order to get a new I-797 (I-171H) before the old one expires. Here it goes again...

Local Adopters Gathering

I want to give a big thank you to Lisa and Eammon for hosting the local adopters gathering on Saturday night! We had dinner at a Chinese Buffet Restaurant (which I am still full from by the way - ha, ha!). I swiped a couple of these pictures off Lisa's site because I forgot my camera! :) Doug and I not only got to eat and visit with our good friends, but we also got to meet some really great new people as well!

China Adoption Forecast

I checked out a pretty cool site called China Adoption Forecast - http://chinaadoptionforecast.com/.

When I put in my LID - this is when they predicted I would get my referral...

"Our prediction for LID 2005-11-03: our best guess - a weighted average of recent CCAA velocities, guessing that CCAA will perform about as well in the future as they are performing now, but might return to previous trends: 2007-02-26. "

Now this estimate will only stay true if the CCAA does not speed up or slow down from the current amount of matches they make each month. I am still hoping for a speed up though!

Solid Food Swap

Look at all my goodies! My Nov LID group had a solid food swap this month. My swap partner was Traci in TX. She sent me cups, spoons and a hot water feeding dish. I haven't really collected any solid food items yet, so boy do I need all of these things! Thanks Traci!

China Shoes

These are the cutest shoes ever!

My sister's friend Naomi went to China this past spring for four months as a student teacher. Naomi bought these shoes and gave them to my sister to give to me. My sister gave them to me on Saturday night. Naomi was so sweet to think of me and Doug! I can't wait for Briana to wear them!

Another Consignment Shopping Spree

I hit a couple of consignment sales Saturday morning with my "partners in crime"(ha, ha!) Kathy and Mick. These are just a few of the items I found! Some of these items have never even been worn! For around $40, I bought a ton of clothes and two small toys. Unbelievable!

I can totally see how consignment shopping can become addictive!

August 9th

Good news! The CCAA matched 18 days of referrals. It definitely better than the 9 days last month! They matched through August 9th. With a November 3rd LID, there are just under three months of dossiers in front of us. I am so hoping I will be in China in the spring!

More Painting

Ok - this is more tedious than I thought. I painted 18 planks (two coats) yesterday and I have a ton still to do. This will be pretty when it is done, but boy it is a ton of work!

Deer Family

Last night I looked out the window and saw a deer family in the nature area next to our home. There were two females and two fawns. Doug grabbed the camera and took pictures through the window so they are kind of dark, but I am happy we got something!

Chair Rail and Baseboard

I spent the afternoon in the basement painting the chair rail and new baseboard for Briana's room. Doug had to remove the current baseboard because we need a baseboard that the wainscot panels will fit in to. Now I need to work on painting the panels. That is going to take a while!