Happy Thanksgiving

from our family to yours!

We are feeling so incredibly blessed this Thanksgiving, despite missing our littlest guy! Praying that God is keeping him safe and loved this Thanksgiving... and rejoicing in the promise that he will be home for Thanksgiving next year!

Have an awesome day!

A story to tell Charlie one day...

We had so much fun on our little trip to DC! We were all glad we went, even though it was a short trip and we got home very early Tuesday morning after driving most of the night. Our little trip was definitely a testament of LOVE to our sweet guy... I don't know how many people would drive to DC on Thursday and again on Monday.. when it's a 7 hour drive! But that's how much his daddy loves him :) For once, we weren't waiting on a painfully slow homestudy process, a very rude fingerprinting lady, who could've cost us 2 weeks in the process, and a host of other things... finally things were waiting for us, and we wanted to do everything possible to move things along.

We left after Church on Sunday and it only took us about 6 hours to get to our aunt and uncle's house. Also, two of our cousins had just come home from college that afternoon, so we got to see them for the first time in over two years! That was fun :) My aunt made a delicious meal and it was just fun being with them!

We got up bright and early and drove about 40 or so minutes to Washington DC. We were VERY thankful to have brought Booie, as we qualified for the HOV lane and made it very quickly! We started at the Dept. of State office to get the form that was wrong redone. We were the first people there and it only took a few seconds to get done. Then it was off to the Chinese Em*bassy, which wasn't open yet, so we had some donuts and coffee/peppermint mocha/milk at Star*bucks! AC was so cute as she wanted to bring her Bunny and she wheeled it around in a high chair and shared her donut :)

As it got closer to 9, we left for the the short walk to the Embass*y and were some of the first few people there. While we waited for them to start calling names, AnnaClaire drew some pictures of our family and did some "baby Charlie paperwork!" She's so into it all... I'm glad she was able to witness firsthand all of the paperwork, as we went through this same process with her! After we dropped the form off, we headed to the Washing*ton Mon*ument to get tickets. We were able to get them for 12:30, so until then, we walked around... saw the W*W*2 Mem*orial, the Cap*ital, the Whi*te Hou*se (AC was excited to see the big house where "Ba- wock O*bama" lives!) We also went to one of the museums for a bit and saw some fish that looked like Ne*mo and Do*ri, which AnnaClaire loved seeing! We then got some popcorn and headed back to the Washin*ton Monu*ment. We had a lot of fun and it was fun to see... I'd never been to the top! AnnaClaire went on and on about going to the "big tower with the little windows and the red lights." It was pretty cloudly, but we could still see stuff, which was fun.

After some time in the Monu*ment, we headed back to the Chine*se Em*bassy. I stayed in the car with AC, who was sleeping, while Dad checked. 20 minutes later, he came back and it still wasn't done. This was after 1. We had dropped it off RIGHT at 9:30. Crazy. So, we walked in the pooring rain to a little Chin*ese restaurant down the road... perfect place to eat:) It was delicious.

As we were eating, AC told us that she wanted her Bunny... we told her it was in the car (we thought it was!) She started crying and we assured her it was waiting for her in the car. Wellll. On the walk back (in the pouring rain, might I add!), I was holding AC when all of a sudden, she says, "SISSY! Look, it's my bunny!" I told her it was in the car waiting for her... she repeated herself, so I looked down and sure enough, there was her bunny. It was dirty and SOAKING wet and looked more like a dish rag than a precious lovie, but it was there and that's the main thing. It had probably been out there for 45 minutes... we were so glad it was still there! You might just think it's a bunny... but you see, AnnaClaire cannot sleep without it. She brings it EVERYWHERE (we normally don't let her take it out of the car though.) I honestly don't know what we'd do without it. And it may seem silly and small... but we are thanking God that we found her beloved Bunny! :)

We went back to check on the document after lunch... We thought it was ready when they told us to pay for it, but still... no. Finally, at 3, they called us and told us it was ready! We started the drive to our agency, Madison Adoption Associates, in Delaware right after getting settled in the car and organizing the whole dossier (which was all done- just had to add the last form to it!)

What should've been a 2 hour drive ended up being closer to 4, despite making sure to leave BEFORE rush hour... yep, didn't matter. We finally got to the agency at 7. Yes, 7 PM, and our coordinator, Diana, was still there and waiting for us! Our agency is so AWESOME! Oh and did I mention that Diana just got back from a trip to China on FRIDAY?!?!? She checked over our whole dossier while we were there and said she'd send us the tracking number the next day! We were in for another treat, because her kids were upstairs with their grandparents, so we were able to meet Diana's Charlie... Charlie is the exact same age as our Charlie (they both turn 4 in January!) and it was so special to meet him because in a sense, he is the reason that we are waiting for OUR Charlie! You see, Diana gave our little guy the name "Charlie" because his little referral reminded her so much of her Charlie! Well, as most of you know, the reason we found our guy is because of his name! So it was fun to meet the little guy who are Charlie was named after... and found his family because of :)

After all of that, we grabbed a bite to eat and started our 9 hour drive home... So it was a short and busy trip, but we had fun visiting with realatives, showing Washing*ton DC to AnnaClaire, meeting Diana and Charlie, and mainly, we accomplished the goal and are FINALLY DTC :)

Those three little letters that we've been waiting to see.......

145 days after seeing his face for the first time...

we are FINALLY DTC*!

We brought our completed dossier to our incredible agency around 7 last night...

And today, we are DTC.

11/24/09.

That's our official date!

God is good :)

I'll tell you all about our adventures in DC soon... for now, we're just celebrating the fact that we are finally DTC!

*DTC means "dossier to China." Basically, that means that we have completed the mountains of paperwork and are one HUGE step closer to bringing Charlie home. Next, we just have to receive our LID (log in date- once our dossier is logged in to the system) and 4-6 months after that, we bring Charlie home :)

Setback...

First of all, just because I'm a sixteen year old girl, can I say how amazing N*ew Mo*on was? I went to the midnight premier with some friends on Thursday night and went again last night... it's amazing. So much better than Twi*light, and it also stays pretty true to the book.... Now I just have to wait for June for Eclip*se! (P.S. if you even have any idea what I'm talking about... I'm an Edward and Bella fan, not a Jacob and Bella fan... but we all made Jacob shirts because there weren't enough E's. And Ne*w Mo*on is kind of Jacob's movie...)

Okay, not that I'm done with that...

We once again had a setback this weekend with Charlie's adoption. Sighhhh. Dad drove up to Ra*leigh on Thursday and everything went well... He made it to D*C that night and stayed at my aunt's house (his sister, who lives just outside of D*C) and made great time getting everything done. He picked everything up from the Chinese consulate and they told him one document was rejected. Mom and Dad's marriage liscense was authenticated with a NC seal instead of a Texas seal, so the states didn't match. We could just have the courier redo it for us, but that's going to set us back another week or longer due to Thanksgiving, and we are doing everything we can to make up for the lost time with our LONG homestudy process. And so, Dad, AnnaClaire, and I are roadtripping back to DC on Monday, will get the form straightened out and re-authenticated and then will send our entire dossier directly from there. Prayerfully, all will go well this time and Madison will get our dossier on Tuesday and can still send it before Thanksgiving. Please pray along with us.

God's timing is absolutely PERFECT...

Kylie and Caleb!

Kylie, Caleb, Kate, and AnnaClaire... and all are waiting for another sibling! Kylie and Caleb are waiting for their little sister, Darcy, and of course, AC and Kate are waiting for their brother, Charlie!
Sweet friends, Kylie and AC!

This one cracks me up~ Caleb and Kate... Cooties?!

On Friday, some sweet friends from our Kate's travel group were in town, so the Moms and the kiddos finally got together! We hadn't seen them since the day we left China and AnnaClaire still talks about playing with "Ky-wee" on the airplane (they were on both the flight from our city to Newark and from Newark to Beijing) and in China, so she was so excited to go see "Ky-wee" and "Lu Tao"(Caleb). I cannot believe how much they have all grown!! Just to give you a glimpse, here's a few pictures from China...

Kate and Caleb in Guangzhou (11/08)

AC (has a starburst in her mouth) and Kylie SO excited to be in Beijing after a long day of travelling! (10/08)

AnnaClaire and Kylie at the Chen Family Temple in Guangzhou! (11/08)

I just love adoption! And the friends we make through it! And that AC had friends her age to play with when we were there getting Kate... friends who will always be a part of our adoption story! Thanks again, Kylie and Caleb! Maybe next time, I'll be able to make it :)

P.S. Dad turned down tickets to the Pan*ther's game tomorrow night...

because he's driving our i800a and his medical to Ra*leigh to be state authenticated (everything else already is) and then is going on to D.C. to get everything China authenticated! (Dad has been working out of town since Monday, which is why he is just now going.) If all goes well, Madison will have our dossier by Tuesday and will send it to China on Wednesday!!! Prayers, please!!

It FINALLY came...

Our I800a, that is! Mom called Dad yesterday while we were enjoying the Te*xas vs. Bay*lor game. It only (sarcasim, of course) took 10 days shy of 2 months to come! Oh well, it's here now and that makes us a little closer to getting our sweet boy. We have a little issue with Dad's medical form (which has come back THREE different times... wrong every time) which hopefully will be sorted out tomorrow. Then it's off to Ral*eigh to get the medical form and our i800a notarized... then we send everything with the courier to get authenticated in DC... and THEN we are DTC. I looks like it will definitely be sometime this month, FINALLY. It's been such a long process... Over 4 months since we sent our LOI.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow, Dad and I are headed here:

We will go on to Grandma's house, outside of Houston, for a day with her... and also to get Dad's "new" GRA*ND MAR*QUIS! Don't know if I have ever mentioned it here, but Dad and I have been sharing a car for the past 5 months, and Grandma is giving us (yes, we have a great grandma!) her old car! We will then spend the night there before leaving early to go HERE:

Where I will get to see Will (my 18 year old brother) for the first time since AUGUST! We will also tour the campus (it's one of the colleges I am thinking as of now.) We also found out that it is siblings weekend (had no idea when we planned this whole little trip!) and they have some traditions going on for students and their siblings...

Then on Saturday, we are going to see him in person:

Yep... the Bay*lor vs. Te*xas game!!!!! (It's at Bay*lor) I'm SO excited :) You probably all know that we are Te*xas fans (Mom and Dad graduated from there!) and I am SO glad to finally be able to see a LIVE game:) Of course, Will's not too happy that we are rooting for Te*xas... it's going to be a fun game though!