Progress!

Okay, so it's not like we're ready to travel, but we're one
step closer.  It's been almost a month since we heard
from USCIS saying they were processing our
paperwork.  The next piece of paper would be the appt.
letter for biometrics.  Once the prints are taken,
then we get the piece of paper that approves us
to adopt from another country.  The very last piece of
paperwork we need for our dossier to be complete.

Well, I've waited patiently each day for the postman
to deliver our mail and nothing. No letter. 

Yesterday seemed to be another day of nothing. I have
to admit, I was truly sad when I took the mail from the
box and there was nothing from the USCIS.
Then about 30 mins after getting the mail from
the mailbox, the kids came to me and said the
postman was back.  I quickly ran up the stairs to
find a book that I ordered plus two letters from the
USCIS. Yeah!!

So today we decided to try and get the prints
done a week early and we were able to get
in!  Thank you!!!

Our hope is that we'll get the final USCIS paper
by later this week/early next week so that we can
get it sealed.  Then.we're.done.   Our paperchase
will be complete.  Everything will be at the agency
for checking before sending our dossier to China. 

We're getting closer to meeting our daughter and
we can't be more excited!

We would post pics of her, but we want to wait until
we get our LOA before making it official on
the blog.  Just a little longer. :-)  We can't wait to
share pictures with everyone!!

Meet the Champ!!

The Wild Thing Kart Series at Stafford Motor Speedway has come to an end for 2010. The final race was last Sunday, September 12th. It has been an interesting season. Not many updates were posted because of our busy summer schedule both on and off the track, so here is a quick wrap-up of the season at SMS.

D ran the Tiger Sprint ‘B’ class this year. He qualified for the 1st feature race (which pays the most points) all but one time this season. He has two 3rd place finishes to his credit. His consistency has allowed him to accumulate enough points to finish 2nd overall in the point standings. Congratulations D!!

J ran in the Jr. Outlaw and Tiger Sprint ‘A’ divisions this year. He finished 8th overall in the Jr. Outlaw division. His best finish was 5th. Not bad for the first season. The biggest surprise was how he finished in the Tiger Sprint ‘A’ class.  J has four 2nd place and one 3rd place finish this season.  He was third in the overall points going into the final race last Sunday and ended up with a 6th place finish. This put him second in the overall points standings. However the kart that won the race, and was leading in the points, was found to have an illegal muffler and was disqualified.  He received zero points because of the disqualification which put J in the first place overall.  Congratulations J on becoming the Tiger Sprint ‘A’ division champion for 2010!!

There is still some racing left in 2010, all of it in New Hampshire. J&D Racing will be racing at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH on 9/26 and 10/10 and at Route 106 Racepark in Concord, NH on 10/2 and 10/9. Stay tuned for more updates now that summer is over.

We Have An Announcement to Make......

As you can see from our Adoption Timeline, we received
a referral a couple of weeks ago. :-)  We were totally
blown out of the water by the phone call as our
dossier is not completed and logged in with CCAA.
We had always thought and understood from others
that you NEVER get matched prior to being logged
in.  So when the phone rang that day and I saw
it was from our adoption agency, I thought it was in
regards to paperwork that I had been e-mailing them
for pre-approval for notarization, etc.

Imagine my surprise when the person on the other
end asked if we were still interested in the special
needs program.  Of course we were!  She said
that was good to hear because she had a file that
she wanted us to look at. 'Excuse me, you know
that our dossier isn't completed, right?  Yes, we
know exactly were you are as far as paperwork goes'. :-)
Silence on my end.  She asks if I'm still there....yes,
just trying not to cry....trying to slow my heart rate down. :-)
She then tells me some info about this sweet little girl and
tells me to get to my computer as she'll be sending the
file very soon.

As I wait for the file to show up, I call S at work.  He too
is surprised.  We weren't expecting a match for many
months yet.  But who are we to question God's timing?!
We spent a few days looking over her file, talking to
our pediatrician and the specialist at our local children's
hospital who will be taking care of her.  Everyone
we spoke to gave us no indication of any problems with
her file.  We also prayed for our decision and this special
child. 

We officially accepted the referral on August 23rd.
We submitted our LOI to China by Friday the 27th, and
we heard today, August 30th, that China has given us
pre-approval.  We still need to submit our dossier and
there's always the possibility of us being unmatched with
her, but as of now, she's our daughter! 

We now have permission to send her a care package.
So, along with completing our dossier and immigration
paperwork this week, we get to send a package to a special
little girl waiting for us on the other side of the world.