Ahhh! Finally.. back to real life!!!

Well for the past week and a half we have been living in limbo.. between two houses.. one with all of our furniture in it and no electricity and the other.. had electricity...but no furniture!!! We finally "moved" into our new home last night.. for the first time all of us sleeping under the same roof. Now, we are just trying to get everything unpacked and our lives back in order. Moving is hell!! Everyday last week we worked hard all day.. packing and unpacking.. and still last night when we went to get the "last" of the stuff.. we ended up moving until 3 am.. that was great fun. It's been much harder since we moved just a mile away and we did it all our selves. But I am so amazed by our wonderful friends. Last Saturday, several people from church came and helped us move furniture and the big stuff. All through the week we had friends coming and helping us pack, unpack, transport things.. etc. Then, this past Saturday we had our friends over with their big pick-up truck's and that helped a ton! I know they all had plans that day, but they pushed them aside and spent all day helping us move. Then yesterday, our friend came and helped us move til 3 am! And today, more friends came and helped us unpack. I know for a fact, I would not want to come help my friends unpack their house!! I am so thankful we have such wonderful friends to help us from loading boxes, to making Thanksgiving dinner for us, to helping us dump trash in the dumster! We are so blessed.

Moving has been so stressful that I can't even remember what week we're on for TA. I think it's week 2 right? 2 weeks since DTC? Im not exactley sure.. but things are moving fast. Stressful.. but fast! Can't believe December 1st is just around the corner. Better start getting the Christmas decorations unpacked..!!

Day 2.. and I'm ready to go...

Well it's been 2 days since our DTC.. and officially we can't start the countdown until we get our Log in date (LID). I'm going to take a guess at that.. so I'll say December 1. And I'm hoping that's a conservative guess!!! A day in late November would be even better!!!!

Currently it's looking like we could get Travel Approval (TA) in as little as 39 days! How cool would that be?? That would put as with a TA in late January/February depending on our LID.

This weekend we were talking to a friend of ours and she commented on how amazing it would be if we could get Esther on my 16th birthday, which is Feb 26th. Then I was thinking we wouldn't get TA till March or April.. but I like what she was saying.. and with all the new recent TA's, that's the date I'm hoping for. I couldn't imagine a better birthday than spending it in China. (Just wish I could have my friends with me..)

So.. day 2 is almost over.. and if we're lucky, we should only have about 40 days left to go!! It doesn't seem that far away now. And I know it will go soo quickley with the move this weekend and the upcoming holidays.

FINALLY!!!! DTC!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow I have not been this excited since the day we found out we were DTC for Emma! But... (drum roll please)....
WE ARE DTC!!!!!! TODAY!!!!! FOR ESTHER!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

This means that our paperwork is now on it's way to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) office in Beijing, China. We will now wait for a Log In Date (LID) which means it has been logged into the CCAA database. Hopefully it will be logged in before the end of the month. It has been taking between 2-6 weeks for LID's.. so we really have no idea of knowing when.. but at least we will know soon.

After the LID, we can officially start the count down for Travel Approval (TA). These are taking just under 3 months.. so it looks like maybe a February TA for us. But you never know with the CCAA.. they might make things go faster.. or it could go slower.. so we really don't know exactley.. but somewhere between January-March, we'll get TA. Then.. we'll go to China and bring Esther home!!!

I am just so glad the paperchase is now finally over. Wish we could have been saying this LAST month.. but it's all in God's perfect timing.. so I just have to learn to be patient and trust him!!

And I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Pam Eidson who helped us finish our dossier. We couldn't have stayed sane without her!! She has definately been a blessing to us with Esther's adoption. Pam is a dossier consultant/courier and also an adoptive mom. Her website is: http://www.abcadopt.homestead.com

So now we have it.. DTC for Esther Joy XiaoTian on November 14, 2005!!!
How ironic that we were DTC for Emma on November 5, 2003 and Logged in on November 17, 2003!