*DTC!!!!!

Alleluia, we are DTC today! Translated: Our big bundle of paperwork (Dossier) went To China today!

Our paperwork before sent to our agency.

Today is my late Grandma's birthday and I took Koen out to her grave site to honor her. She passed away year and a half ago. I hadn't been there before and decided a couple months ago that I would go on her birthday. It was a beautiful day and the cemetery is on a hill overlooking the city. It was such a perfect day to go. Afterward we visited a park nearby that is also a farm. Koen had fun getting to see the horses, goats, chickens, bunnies, and a very muddy pig.

When we got home there was a message from our agency saying she was putting our dossier in the mail to China. Yay! Once it is there it will be "logged in." China will send our agency our LID (Log In Date) but we likely won't know about it until well after in happens.

Our agency also received our special needs checklist today, and sent us an email asking for confirmation that we would like them to try to match us with a child from the list the CCAA puts out about every month. I quickly replied with a yes, and now we wait to hear from them.

I hope, hope, hope that we will see her face soon.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is Chinese New Year, and the first time that Chinese New Year has felt significant to me. The nannies at my daughter's orphanage are likely celebrating. I pray the children get to be a part of the festivities and are not forgotten on a day like this. Welcome to the Year of the Ox - prayerfully, the year we will bring our little girl home.

Our paperwork should head to China in the next two weeks, as it is currently being authenticated in San Fransisco. Then we will be DTC, and can decide when we want to start looking for a "match" on the CCAA's lists. I hate having so much control, and just pray the Lord guides us in the decisions we need to make. We've been researching many different medical issues and trying to decide what we are ready for, and not really feeling adequate for anything.

*Premature Excitement

So, my post last week was a little premature. We thought it was the last of our paperwork, but we had a couple issues with our medical forms. We had to get them resigned, and add some letter explaining the medications we take, which put us back a couple days. On Thursday we dropped the last piece of mail at the post office, and on Friday our agency sent our last pieces of paperwork to the state to get authenticated. I believe that we should be DTC (Dossier to China) in the next couple weeks, but I'm not totally sure what all needs to be done.

I joined two yahoo groups about adopting from China - one for the special needs program, and one for adopting toddlers. We are still unsure what special needs we are open to, and are finding this is a good way to learn more about them from adoptive parents who have experience.

We went to the zoo with friends yesterday, and as we were walking through the tropical rainforest, and cute family with two young Asian girls and two very white parents walked next to us. I was unsure of how to ask, but really wanted to know, so I blurted out "Did you adopt?" The mom graciously answered, and was excited to hear we were adopting from China too. It went well, but my friends couldn't believe I had asked. The children could have been their grandchildren, or from a previous marriage, or foster kids.... Do you have any advice about how to ask without offending?

My other concern was that their girls were old enough to understand our conversation, and I didn't know how comfortable they were with talking about their adoption, or feeling like their family looks different enough to get these questions. The mother didn't seem to be concerned, but having not been through it, I'm not sure how to approach the subject with them listening. I probably shouldn't in the future, but I love, love, love to see adoptive families!