DTC!

In the lingo of the adoption chat groups I read, DTC means Dossier to China! So, we are now officially DTC! Our agency mailed our dossier to China on Friday. Within the next one to six weeks, CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) will log us into their system, and we'll be "in line." If we weren't using the Waiting Child (special needs)program, we'd then receive a referral in 2-3 years! But with the Waiting Child program, it is much faster. We're hoping the phone call about our child will be coming soon. It could actually be any day, but it could also be months. So, we'll just keep taking it one day at a time. . .

Dossier in Progress

Our dossier is now in the hands of our agency, Living Hope. I mailed it January 28th, and they received it the next day. What's a dossier, you may ask? Well, it's a compilation of every possible thing you might ever want to know about someone, and plenty of things you couldn't care less about. Here's the list of what it included:

birth certificate for each parent (remember, we had to get newly certified ones as if the information might have changed)

employment letter for each parent (even for me, who's not employed)

marriage license (yes, newly certified again)

divorce/death decrees (we got to skip that one)

medical exam form for each parent

certificate of criminal or non-criminal record (thankfully, we both received the "non-criminal" version of this)

adoption application letter ("Dear China, We want to adopt one of your children, and here's why . . . ")

financial statement (which will be in much better shape if our house ever sells!)

completed home study (the requirements just for that would include a list longer than this one!)

USCIS notice of favorable determination (the form from immigration that I rejoiced over in my last adoption post)

three copies of each applicant's passport (why?)

two passport photos of each applicant (ok)

six photos reflecting family life (no, i did not send in the ones of the boys and the dog wrestling each other while the room around them is in utter chaos)

and, of course, a certified check (no, not a small one and not the last one)

So, after reading all that you can probably imagine my glee at having it all finished! Today we got an email from our agency saying, "Your Dossier is in the State Seal and Chinese Authentication process. We will let you know when we send it to China!" Yay!

No leads on specific children yet, but we could potentially get a call from our agency at any time; or we might find a child on their internet list when they receive the new one from China sometime this month.

So, it's an exciting time! But, for those of you who know me, you'll know that this whole process goes against my planned, scheduled, organized personality. I mean, we could go to China is less than 6 months, and we don't even have the date on our calendar yet! How can I even function?!!

=)

We had a family Valentine's Day celebration Friday night. We've never made a big deal about it before, but for some reason Ethan was very excited this year and kept asking "When's Valentine's Day?!!!" He even picked out a box of chocolates for me! We had a special fancy dinner, complete with candlelight. (It was actually dark outside, but the flash made the picture look like day time.) Then we gave the boys their candy and a new book about love (which we give them every year). Later, Heath and I watched Fireproof--very good movie for Valentine's Day. Then, this evening, Heath and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster. Fortunately, we got there before the rush and only had a 90-minute wait . .. but it was worth the wait for the delicious food! And tonight I got an e-card from a friend (thanks, Rachael) reminding us to think about God's great example of love for us . . . without which there'd be no reason to celebrate. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!