Off they Go....

Ok.. so the Friday before last I sent off 8 docs to the Sec Of State for Florida to be certified. The post office tried to deliver our express envelope on Sat (we were at the beach). I picked up the envelope yesterday at the post office.. and screamed in delight!! wahooo! Tomorrow David is off and he will get the honor of going to the post office to send those 8 docs plus his BC & our ML off to the Chinese Consulate in Houston for Authentication!! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter! And then next Wed we are off to Tampa for our fingerprints for the USCIS! I can't believe we are about done with our Dossier!! Wahooo....

Back to the beach... Last weekend I mentioned to David that it would be nice to go to the beach! So this past Saturday we went to Fort DeSoto beach in St. Pete.. yes I LOVE the Gulf. I grew up going to the Atlantic side beaches.. but I've been converted to a gulf gal! We got one of those half tent things for the beach at SAMs.. um how did I live with out it!! It was great!! Totally worth the $25 bucks we paid for it! Here are some pics from the beach.. One of a nifty storm we watched build off shore and a sand dollar. I've never seen one alive! They were all over the bottom of the gulf.. especially out at the sand bar. Don't worry we put it back in the water!

Anyway on the way back from St. Pete the traffic was all backed up at I-4 & I-75 so we hopped off I-4 and took 75 down to SR 60 to cut around the traffic. We were gonna cut thru Plant City and head back up. Just as we got to the road to head north back up to I-4, we saw a roadside veggie stand with a big sign...BOILED PEANUTS.. yum We got 2 bags and munched on them all the way home.. yum yum.. The beach was great. I highly recommend Fort DeSoto.. great beach! and man the water was warm!!!

Well that'll do for now. Will update next week after our adventures in government fun at the USCIS. After we do our fingerprints.. we're gonna go the the Devil Rays game!! yey! Also will update when we get all our docs back from the Chinese Consulate. Wow only 2 docs to go the I171H and our home study!! Wahooo.

Bye for now

~Donna

One Down.. Eleven to Go...

Yay....We have one document that is all ready for the Dossier!! My birth certificate has a nifty square sticker thing on the back with some more sparkly stickers and seals! Mostly in Chinese we have no idea what it says!! very cool.

We've been crazy busy.. thankfully everyone is healthy!! Though Chester still makes some sad sounding chirps now and then. He must have allergies.. I know mine are driving me crazy. It's been pretty miserable and dang hot here. Well it IS Summer in Central Florida!!! whaddya expect!?!?! Anyway David started his new job today so we haven't gotten much else done with our documents. Just have a bunch to notarize. The agency is sending the original Employment Verification letters to us. I'm hoping they notarize it for us.. that would be nice.

Not much else going on. Got some stuff to mail down to my nephew, Nicholas, he turns 5 next week!! wow he's getting so big. Starts school soon! How exciting!

Well that's my measly update.... which is OK BY ME!!! calm is good.

~Donna

Scary Weekend...

Let's just say I could do without another Sunday like we had this past weekend! Had a bit of a scare..David woke me about midnight to tell me he was having tightness in his chest, his heart was racing and tingling in his arm. OFF to the Emergency Room.. after several hours in the ER ..first blood tests came back negative. They admitted him and did all sorts of heart Stress tests and pictures.. and finally was released around 3:45pm on Sunday. His heart was fine! Whew. Given David's family history (his father died of his 3rd heart-attack) every person in the hospital said it was wise for him to come in. He saw our primary care dr today and he thinks it was the heavy excercise he did in the pool..and pulled the muscles that surround your ribs. They are actually pretty wimpy muscles and when they ache it can feel like chest pain.. that probably started a bit of an anxiety attack.. well you get the idea. I'm just sooo glad he is ok! whew!

Last night we had our interview with the Social Worker. It went really well. She is VERY easy to talk to and we realized there was nothing really to be worried about. She did say something that really put the whole Adoption thing in perspective for me. She called it the "Great Kidnap". And to not forget that. It will help you understand your child's fears and why she cries and all that. I mean you are taking them from all they've ever known and then to boot to another country. Wow.. heavy. Good to know! She also recommended Adoptive Families magazine which we already ordered last night! She and her husband adopted 2 girls from China and a little one from Guatamala.. so it was great to not only have her experience as a Social Worker.. but she has lived it... a few times! Neat person! So glad we have her. Ya know everyone, whether you are adopting or not, should see a Social Worker.. just that short time with her was great. And she said we can call her ANYTIME with questions, even if it's months after we have the baby home. How cool.. and very reasuring.

Paperwork.. well I think I mentioned that I had to fight Disney.. still haven't gotten those Employment Verificiations back yet. Got David's medical form.. so we are done there. Sooo freakin Disney is holding us up. As soon as we get those we are thinking of driving up to Tallahassee to get the 8 docs I think... certified at once. Then visit my folks! They only live an hour from the capitol.

I mailed my BC to the Chinese Consulate in NY.. they got it last Monday.. hope they send it to me soon. Argh.. maybe the Houston Consulate will be is faster?!?! I hope. Only my NY Doc had to go to the NY Consulate.. the rest of our stuff goes to Houston

Oh.. I was bad. I spent money on the baby. Well.. the original agreement was not to buy anything until our Dossier was in China.. I couldn't help it. I found the perfect quilt for the bedroom and also broke down and got a Chinese Barbie!! ain't she cool.

Well I hope everyone has a safe and fun Independance Day. David hates it when people say Happy 4th of July.. I agree with him...

Happy Independance Day!!! USA USA USA.. USA...

~Donna