Cross your fingers and Pray pray PRAY!!!

We just got an email from CCAI, our agency. They've received our dossier!! (our paperwork). Woo hoo. It's a relief that it's gotten there safely, now we're just worrying if we completed it all properly. There were SO MANY VERY intricate steps and they are SO PARTICULAR about EVERYTHING! Please pray that all goes well, and that we aren't delayed any longer due to a mistake on our part. I'll blog as soon as I get word that we're CLEARED and SENT TO CHINA!

Thanks for your prayers!
J.

Brennan's Baptism

Our seven year old, Brennan, was baptized this past Sunday
We are so proud of him and so grateful to God for His goodness. Here's a pic. of some of the family members who were there to support him. Thanks guys. We are SO BLESSED to have the most incredible family! Truly!

It's back!!!!

Well, we sent our dossier to the Chinese Embassy in Washington for two more steps, and we got it in the mail!!!! Yipee!!! Doug is making copies and checking everything thoroughly tonight. He will send it officially to our agency tomorrow. Shew!!! At this point...if all goes well, our agency will complete thorough reviews and translate our dossier and we will have our DTC (dossier to China!). So exciting!!! It will be a couple of weeks after it's sent that we should receive our log in date. Keep praying that all goes smoothly and that we haven't messed something up!!

Thanks for your support and prayers!

Our trip to State Capitol

Here's a pic of me and my boys at the state cap! Good times!

We went to the Capitol!

Well, we did it! We visited our state capitol to have our docs. authenticated. It started off really well. We were told it would only take @ 15 min. to do it. We thought we were golden! Doug, the boys, and I would take a mini road trip and make a 1/2 day of it...or NOT. We went to the Courthouse 1st, then headed for the SOS (Sec. of State's office). When we arrived a sweet young lady took one little look at our birth cert. (which Doug had gotten in APRIL so we'd be prepared) and said that we would need to go to the Human Resources building and purchase new ones as there was a new registrar AND we needed a LIVE signature. (no biggie, right?) So, I said to the fam., "Let's just think of this as a family Scavenger Hunt"! What a dork am I!? Anyway, we continued on our "scavenger hunt" and arrived at the Human Resources building. We waited in line, paid for the new birth cert. and the man said "it'll be about 2o min.". NO SWEAT, RIGHT? Well, that was the longest 20 min. EVER. It turned out that we were there for 1 hour and 40 min. The LIVE SIGNATURE REGISTRAR had gone to lunch. Perfect timing, huh? Oh well. I took the boys outside and played under a tree. They saw two ladybugs and were letting them crawl up their arms. (The things we do to occupy our children.) And the ladybug is supposed to be a sign of good luck for those adopting from China. lol. So, we get the birth certs. go BACK to the Sec. of State's suite and complete this process.
Now we must send our docs. to Washington for more authentication. We have two more minor steps...when we get these back, our dossier is reviewed by our agency, translated, and sent to China. Can't wait!!! Getting antsy for a DTC and LID!! (Dossier to China and Log in Date)
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!
Pray Pray pray!!!!