It's Christmas Eve Eve

Hi all. Hope this finds you all well. We have been spared several of the recent heavy snows that others have been experiencing. We have probably received about only 7 inches total, that is with some high winds.



Jessica is an outdoor girl for sure. Danielle was able to purchase Jessi a new snow outfit and she seems to stay warm. I am excited for this snow season as we have decided that this will be the year to start Jessica on snow skiing. I started skiing at about the age of 12 and Danielle has been a couple of times and was miserable the entire experience. I will say that Danielle has learned to appreciate good snow gear and she has admitted that it does make a difference. Come January we will be headed to the mountains to give the new family sport a go.



On the adoption home front, we are officially Log In Date (LID) to China. The date of our LID was December 17th. So that means our official countdown for our Letter of Approval (LOA) has begun, so we are anticipating that timeline to be about five months. Then we have to get the Travel Approval (TA) which is about an additional month.



We have also learned, through one of our chat groups, that another couple is headed to Gutian Orphanage in January to get their child. We are hoping that the couple will be able to be in contact with Katie and that they are able to provide Danielle and I updated photos and a report.



Wishing you all the best and many Blessings this Christmas Season and in the New Year.

DTC and Christmas Dance Recital

DTC. For those not in the adoption community, DTC means Dossier To China. In other words, Danielle and I have officially sent all of our required documents to China for the CCAA to approve. It will now take about 3-5 months to be approved and then about 1 month after that until we travel to China to meet Kate. The picture on the right shows all the documents that made up the dossier. Our agency confirmed that CCAA received our dossier early last week. We have not received confirmation that we are LID (log in date) yet, but we anticipate that to be this coming week sometime.

The time is moving fast and we are so thankful to have all the documents out of our hands.

In other news this past Friday, the 12th, was Jessica's first dance recital, (note the picture on the left, Jessica is catching air). My parents were able to make it into town this weekend, and we are so thankful for the opportunity for them to come. We had a great time and celebrated our gift exchange early. It was nice that they could enjoy the time with Jessica and watch her open the gifts that the had gotten for her.

Wishing you all the best this time of year.

This is Jessica at home after she received her roses from her pappa and myself for her first dance recital.