Since my last post we have gotten a lot accomplished. With a lot of stress and hair pulling but accomplished. We finished up our home study, got it approved and authenticated, sent off our I-800a, got fingerprinted and waited for approval.....which came and we got that authenticated. Now all documents have been sent to our agency and we wait to DTC (dossier to China) for everyone not in the adoption business. YEAH!!

Comparing photos of our girl with our bio son at the same age: too fun

 As we wait for our home study to come back (which it should any day now) so we can send off our I-800a. We have been so blessed to be connected with a couple who lives in Baotou and is working at the SWI where our baby girl is. This morning we woke up to the best email ever. Pictures and a letter which told us how shy she is and doesn't like loud voices and how much she likes snacks (all kinds). Man will she fit into this family, so does her daddy and brother.

Things have not gone as we have hoped over the last month. (Does it ever) My fingerprints did not turn out so our home study is still sitting in court not being processed. After getting new prints done and being told by DPS there was a 5-6 week back-up I have been a mess. That just delays our home study that much longer. I am so thankful that school is back in and football is in full force. I stay so busy with Jeremy Jr that I don't have time to worry about paperwork, which is a good thing. However it is always in the back of my mind. We are trying to hurry!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We spent a few hours of our day at the Chinese Cultural Center playing games, eating, and just visiting and meeting new people. We had a great time. Jeremy Jr and I are looking forward to starting Chinese school in August. As of today our home study has been approved by our agency (yeah) and will soon be sent to the courts to be finalized. Once that is done we can send off our I-800A. We are being hopeful that the judge approves our adoption within a couple weeks and not a couple months. Fingers crossed.

Today we have our final meeting with our social worker (whom we love) before our home study is sent to court to be approved and finalized. She has let us know it can take up to 4 weeks to get this back. We are hoping for a lot less. Over the last weeks we have been very busy getting all of the paperwork filled out and sent off for authentication to the places they need to go. Only to get most of them sent back for corrections or another reason. But, it has mostly been handled. So, we really don't have much paperwork left. The Chinese Consult in New York is DONE. The Chinese Consult in LA is sorta done and I haven't even started on the Chinese Consulate in Houston but I will get there. So, after we get back our home study from the court I then send off our I-800. We are hoping that doesn't take as long to come back as we have heard. So, this is where we stand as of now. I was told last night that even though we are only doing paperwork, we should still update our blog. So, Susan...this blog is for you...

Happy Birthday to our big girl Aubrey Xiao Jiao. Who today turns 2.