Her Name Is . . .

We have decided that her first name will be Avery which means "ruler of the elves" (isn't that cute?!). We will probably choose one of her given Chinese names for a middle name. The director of the orphanage usually names the children when they come. Their family name (our version of a last name comes first in the Chinese culture) is usually the last name of the director or somehow tied into the name of the SWI. Then the director usually gives them a first and middle name that somehow describes their personality or whatever sounds good at the time (kind of like American names). However, if one of her given Chinese names doesn't make sense or sounds strange in America we will use Xiaochan (show-chen I think). Xiaochan means "laughing, beautiful, graceful girl."

EVERYBODY SAY DTC! DTC! DTC!

Our dossier along with 7 other families is currently on it's way to China! That means we are DTC - YEAH! Now, we wait for an LID which could take anywhere from 1 day to a couple of weeks. God is so good! God is soo good!

Lori's Christmas Wish List

Here is a little list of the things I'd like to have for Christmas (no particular order):
1. A Cleaning Lady twice a month
2. A Weekend Away
3. A King Size Bed
4. The CCAA to Give Us Bigger Numbers
5. A Rockin' Body With Abs that Show and Nothing that Jiggles When I Walk

I don't ask for much, just 5 things!

I Opened the Comments Section

I opened the comments section up. So, if anyone who reads this wants to leave a comment feel free. We'd love to know who is reading this! Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself :)!

Here's What the CCAA Currently says:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before January 31, 2006.


The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before August 25, 2005.

As you can see we have a long way to go! But every day is a little closer! The rumor (which I don't hunt out I promise, I just happen to hear about this one. Seeking them out can make you crazy!) is that the reason the referrals have been really slow is because there was baby trafficking going on in the Hunan province and the CCAA moved to new offices. So, hopefully those issues have been resolved and things will start picking up.

Next Week We Will Have a DTC Date!

I emailed Bethany AGAIN! (We are so blessed that she is so patient and gets my sense of humor because I threatened to fire her, picket the Dillon offices (I don't even know how to picket except that you make signs, at least they would be cute because I would use my cool fonts on my computer), hunt down people we were waiting on, etc. - all empty threats I assure you). She said that ALL we are waiting on is for other families' I-171h's to get back from being authenticated which only takes a few days! YEAH! We will finally be on the wait list!
This week was a busy week in the adoption world. Families who received their referrals last month got their TAs (travel approvals) and their CAs (consulate apts.), and new referrals were sent out, AND it was the biggest batch of referrals we've had in a while! Unfortunately, it was no one at our agency who got referrals because our August '05 group already got theirs. Our agency only sends out one group a month (or in our case they skipped a month).