Highlights of Our Holiday Week

Just swinging with dad.

Karli and Kylie at our church's Christmas performance.

Opening gifts from grandma on Christmas Eve.

Right before bed on Christmas Eve, eagerly waiting for Santa.

Santa came!!!

Coming into the living room on Christmas morning.

Opening gifts on Christmas morning.

Opening gifts at Granny and PawPaw's the day after Christmas.

Us kids with our great-great-grandpa Jack. He will be 100 in April.

We took a mini-trip to visit the longest foot bridge in the U.S. located in Rusk, Texas.

What A Difference A Year Makes

One year ago today, Karli left China, traveled 36 hours, and joined our family. She had already met dad, mom, and Kylie, but on 12/18/08, she met the rest of us. Here is a then and now picture. as well as a picture of me meeting her for the first time.

We Are Now Paper Pregnant

We are officially waiting for Kacee now. Our papers have been mailed to China, and we are in a holding pattern waiting for China to accept our paperwork. The average timeframe for acceptance right now is 90 days. (It could be more or it could be less though.) Then we will receive an official referral called a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) granting us permission to adopt. When we get the LOA, we will travel about 10 weeks later since we have to wait for the US government to process some more paper work. We will probably travel in May or June.

Karli's School Christmas Party

Karli's pre-k class had a Christmas party this morning. Her teacher invited Kenzie and allowed her to participate. Both of the girls had a fun time decorating cookies and eating snacks. Karli's teacher gave everyone a book for their present.

Finally!!!

Two months to the day after we mailed our I-800A application to the USCIS, we received our approval. We over-nighted it to a courier to get certified at the Secretary of State and hope to have it back on Wednesday morning. We will then take it to the Chinese Consulate for authentication and use same day rush service. Finally, it will be over-nighted to our agency to join the rest of our dossier. We hope to be DTC (Dossier to China) on Friday.

Stamp-alooza

Kenzie decided she wanted to play with the stamp she received in a recent kid's meal. Instead of stamping paper, she decided to stamp herself. After realizing what she was doing, we took off her clothes and let her go at it. She thought it was great - even though her expression looks very serious.