Weekend Ramblings

We had planned to go out to our local Chinese Restaurant to celebrate CNY but, it was cold & rainy and staying home seemed like a better plan. I'm sure next CNY will be different as
hopefully, we will have Ava home (finger's crossed).

We had our passport size picture's taken at Walmart. I only had her try twice as I thought I
am kinda picky and I wouldn't be satisfied anyway. The picture really wasn't bad. Jeff's had
to be taken twice because he looked jaundice in the first one. I'm not sure what happened with
that. Jeff is going to print off the rest of the family photo's today and we sh0uld be all set.
I keep going over the list for the dossier to make sure everything is in order. I awoke at 3:00
A.M. remembering that I also need a copy of the dossier for our records. I had already mailed
a final payment to Sherry (Over the Rainbow Dossier Service) and never mentioned she would
need to mail a set to me. I guess I'll have to cut her another check for copies & mailing. Gosh,
I'll be glad when all this paperwork is finished! I'm really not sleeping well at night with all this
on my mind.

We are still hoping for a DTC date of February 10th. It seems to me that it takes about 3
weeks after the DTC date to be logged in at the CCAA ( I learned this bit of info during my
many hours stalking other blogs) and that "should" give us a early March LID. That's a very
good thing since, the CCAA has been splitting month's. I don't want to have to wait for our little
bambino any longer than necessary. So, hopefully everything goes smoothly with our
authentication and we get that 2/10 DTC and I can start sleeping again. If I'm not sleeping
now, what's going to happen when we are waiting for our referral or TA?!

Happy Chinese New Year!

THE YEAR OF THE DOG/THE YEAR OF OUR AVA

Projected DTC

I spoke to Sherry (Over the Rainbow Dossier Service) via email today. We are still shooting
for a February 10th DTC date. If only the Chinese Consulate wasn't closing Monday & Tuesday
we would be able to be DTC a week earlier. I still have to get our photo's together this weekend. We never did get our passport size photo's taken last weekend (remember the mood was shall we say "a little stinky" this last weekend) so, that is a MUST this Saturday. I'm just
getting more and more excited each day. I know we have a looooong wait ahead but, I think it's
going to go by fast. A lot of happy families are receiving their referral's tomorrow. The CCAA
has sent out a batch for all families logged in before May 13, 2005. I can't even imagine the
excitement they are feeling. It is like the night before Christmas x 1,000,000,000.00!
The more I think about it.........It's even WAY better than that!

We Are Almost There!

Our I-171H (who the heck decided to call it that) will be traveling to Lansing on Thursday
with Sherry M. Sherry will send it to the courier on Friday so, she can hand deliver it to
the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. Because, of Chinese New Year the Consulate will be closed
Monday & Tuesday. Our form will be delivered on Wednesday when the Consulate re-opens.
I guess it will be a 4 day turn around. We could be an extra $30 a form to have a quicker turn around but, I think we need to draw the line somewhere. We have at least 11 documents
to be authenticated (30 x 11= a lot) so, I don't think I'm going to pay extra to get it there
faster. At this point we HOPE to get it to our agency by Wednesday, February 8th. They
send out dossiers on Fridays, as long as they receive by 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday. We're
going to keep are finger's crossed (and anything else the crosses)!

IT'S HERE!!!!!

It is FINALLY Here! I wish it would have been here on Saturday as it would have helped
the mood around here for the weekend. I was so disappointed when it wasn't in Saturday's
mail. I was already to pop the cork on some Asti and CELEBRATE and then at one glance of
the contents of the mailbox my mood turned! When mama's not happy, aint nobody happy.
Well, mama's REALLY happy today because we are almost officially done with the paperchase.
Our last document is officially off to our dossier preparation service. I'm not sure when we will
be DTC (Date to China) since the Chinese New Year is quickly approaching but, I'm not even going to worry about it. I can't wait to start shopping for our baby girl!

nothing yet

I REALLY didn't expect to get anything in the mail today so, I'm not that disappointed.
I just hope that we get it on Friday. The kids have a 1/2 day of school so I may leave work
a little early and HOPEFULLY our approval will be in the mail. If it's there I'm going to run
it over to be notorized and get it in the mail tomorrow! Jeff & I need to get our passport size
photo's done this weekend for our dossier. I called Walmart & they said it only takes about
15 minutes. I just hope we can get a good picture. I never like any of my pictures so, I hope
we can view them before they are printed. If you can't, I better bring a lot of cash with me.
Jeff & I haven't had a family picture taken in over 14 years after we had our 1st child. We
have had two other children since that picture was taken. I'm just waiting to lose that extra
10 or 25 pounds & grow my hair out. One of these days we will have one taken. We might as well wait until our little Ava is here and our family will be complete.

Today was a good day!

So, after STILL not hearing anything from the USCIS I emailed them. I couldn't believe it,
they responded to my email!! It looks like they were going to process our approval but,
realized that our agency had a license that expired on January 14th. They needed a copy
of the new license before they could issue our approval. I talked to our homestudy agency and
they faxed a copy today. Then came the best part, the USCIS emailed me again! They said
they received the new license and we SHOULD receive approval by mail. I'm really not sure
what the mean when they say SHOULD but, I'm just so damn happy they we heard from them at all! I'm also, not sure what they mean when they say BY MAIL. How else would you hear from them? Could it be that we will be DTC in February? I'm so excited. We have to get our
passport pictures taken for the dossier this weekend. I can't believe the paperchase is almost over. I can't wait until we are officially paper pregnant!

Still waiting......

Well, still nothing in the mail from the USCIS. I really thought we would here something
the last week of December. I just want to get that approval in my hands and I will relax.
That "little" arrest 20 years ago still in on my mind. For the record my dear husband is
the one with the criminal past. I know he told me about this before marriage however, it
seemed to slip my mind and his mind too. While he was working his way thru school he
was a bouncer. The story is that one of the customer's was giving the waitress a hard time
and needed to be removed from the establishment (that word sounds better than bar) .
Jeff and another employee "removed" the man from the bar and he wasn't to happy about
it. He returned with the police and said he was pressing charges. My husband and the other
employee were taken to the station and fingerprinted. The charges were dropped after the
guy didn't show up to court. My husband swears that the man was not injured in any way.
He may have not been injured 20 years ago but, if this stops us from getting an approval...
I'm gonna find him and kick his a**! My bark is really bigger than my bite.