DTC 9/22/2006
Our paperwork has finally been sent! DTC means Date or Dossier To China. I got a message yesterday and hopefully in a few weeks we will FINALLY be logged into the system. Now I have cleared off my dining room table and put all my papers away, there is nothing left to do but wait out the next year and hope the process speeds up. I'm sure I will be buying things here or there along the way. Who are we kidding? I will be buying a lot of stuff while I wait. Nothing like shopping to make you feel better.
Saturday Ken and I went to a brunch for families in Bowling Green with adopted Chinese children. Some have already adopted and some are going through the process for their first or second baby. We met a lot of great people and got some great tips.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Sarah

Well we did not get our papers sent to China on Friday the 15TH. BUMMED. We were hoping it would have happened. They should be sent this Friday so we will let everyone know.
Happy Birthday to Carson today!! Our niece is 1!
tomorrow is our 3 year wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Ken.

Here are some of the items I have started purchasing. I usually wait until I get something
accomplished in my paper work or home study to buy as a celebration. The Dora doll is a special one that won't be sold for that long so I bought it as soon as I saw it in Wal Mart. She is dressed in an outfit from China. My dad made the chest when he was in high school and he just gave it to me last month. I plan on putting it in Kate's room.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2006
We finally got our papers back from Washington last Tues. I immediately sent them to my agency. I will know tomarrow if it was all sent to China on Friday the 15th. If not then they will go the 22nd. I took a couple of pics of the documents. All the ones with the red stamps came from the Chinese embassy and it is all written in Chinese. The State Department also approved them and Condeleeza Rice signed them. Pretty cool. We also included some pictures of ourselves and all our reference letters in the final package.
I will let everyone know tomorrow if we are finally DTC (dossier to China).

FINGERS CROSSED
I should be getting my paperwork back Tues. morning if all goes well. Our papers are at the Chinese Embassy right now. I will get them down to our agency by Tues. afternoon or Wed. morning. If all goes well they will be sent to China on Friday the 15th and we will finally be DTC (dossier to China) after that it shouldn't be long before we are logged in. Right now the wait has gone up to 13 t0 14 months. I keep reminding myself and Ken that we will have her for the rest of our lives so what is another year.
We went to the Titans season opener game today. They lost (ofcourse) but we still had a good time tailgating and hanging out. We need to enjoy it now before we have Kate and she will not tolerate watching a losing team (just kidding to all you Titans fans!).
I will report back once I get that beautiful Fed Ex package.

I am patiently waiting for the Fed Ex man to get here with my last two documents from Frankfort, KY. Once he comes I will send ALL my documents to the Assistant Stork In Washington, D.C. to be authenticated through the U.S. State Department, and the Embassy of China. Then finally they will be off to China!