Immigration Approval

We received word today of our official immigration approval. YEAH!!! We were hoping to be DTC on the 8th but it actually looks like it will be the 22nd. A little disappointed about that but as long as we are getting DTC in October that is a huge deal!! Closer and closer all the time. Can't share pics til we are DTC so we are on the countdown!

little Lance...

GOING STRONG
AND THEN A SMALL TINY HILL AND HE STARTS GRUNTING SO WE HAVE A LITTLE WAY TRAINING TO GO BEFORE HE'LL BE READY FOR THE TOUR

TAYLOR IS LOVING RIDING HIS BIKE AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THE WEATHER HAS BEEN BEAUTIFUL!!

WELL AFTER TALKING WITH IMMIGRATION AND OUR SOCIAL WORKER TODAY IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT WE CAN HAVE OUR DOSSIER SENT TO CHINA (DTC) ON OCTOBER 8TH. OUR AGENCY ONLY SENDS DOSSIER'S TWICE PER MONTH SO WE ARE PRAYING WE CAN GET EVERYTHING DONE IN TIME. WE HAVE TWO THINGS LEFT TO BE AUTHENTICATED AND WE NEED THE ORIGINAL OF THE IMMIGRATION APPROVAL. THIS IS SUCH A BIG STEP AND SUCH A LOAD LIFTED TO GET TO THIS POINT!! NEEDLESS TO SAY I AM VERY EXCITED AND TODAY I MADE A LIST OF 'TO DO'S' THAT JAMES AND I NEED TO GET STARTED ON. WE'VE GOT A LOT TO DO TO PREPARE FOR 'LIL SIS'. WE ARE CHANGING BEDROOMS, PAINTING, NEED FURNITURE FOR TAYLOR, AND ON AND ON. JAMES WILL BE EXCITED TO SEE THE LIST I MADE OUT TODAY!!

Cracking me up

Taylor just cracks me up. Here lately I am hearing my name "Mom" or "Mum" only like a million times every day. But in the car he will say "mom.......mom.......mom", "yes Taylor", and then he will say "cumear" (Come here in like this New York accent) and I will say "Taylor I can't come here, we are in the car" and he will say "turn yo face around". And it just cracks me up.

Spoke with Nina!!

So Nina (our immigration officer) called me on Thursday and left a message. So at 7am Friday morning I spoke with her and we had 6 small issues with our homestudy, just wording and 1 small thing needed from us. So James is overnighting our part on Monday and our social worker is overnighting our HS corrections on Monday and our I800 (immigration) should be approved next week. YEAH!!! This is such a huge step and although I don't have that approval in my hands yet, I can atleast see it!!!!

We have assignment

There has actually been a person, a real live person assigned to our immigration application. Her name is Nina!! I am so excited. I mean if your application has been sitting there since July 17th and it's never been assigned to anyone to work on it then how can it get processed.....right!! Well now it can. I have read on other blogs that theirs got processed 3-4 weeks after being assigned. So maybe, maybe we are on that path!!

I really would like to be DTC in October or the 1st half of November(all our paperwork in China)!!!! That would be awesome and it would make our chances of travelling in March very realistic. Not set in stone, but realistic. If we end up not being DTC late November or after it is very likely we won't be able to travel in March and then it will be May.

If we travel in March we will be in China with our daughter for her second birthday!! How awesome would that be!! Also, there is a business that can get updated pictures of your child and updated information and our agency will not allow us to order her info until we are DTC....and we are not allowed to post any photos of lil' sis until we are DTC. So obviously for many many reasons we cannot wait to be DTC. Most of all it will put us so much closer to actually having her in our arms.

Fingerprints done...check

OK ...one more step completed. We drove to Nashville today to do our fingerprints. Yes we did them last time and James kept asking why we had to do it again. I have learned don't ask why...just do.

I want my baby girl home!!!!!

ABC's

Taylor said he built 'Cago' (Chicago)

Taylor's speech is coming along really well. It seems harder for him to sing than anything else, so he hasn't seemed to interested in learning the abc song until now. He loves to read books and be read to and now he is singing his abc song. It's so cute to see him constantly learn new things. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gfcCVbw_8