Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Dad.

I wish you were here.

Christmas 2006

Christmas this year was relaxing and lots of fun. My mom and sister came down for our traditional gift opening on the Saturday before Christmas. They gave us some beautiful gifts, including a hand print kit for the first five years of Jade's life. My sister also gave us Jade's first piece of jewelry- a tiny cross necklace. It's so beautiful!

On Christmas Eve, we went to my aunt and uncle's house and had a really nice time. We are STILL working on the leftovers! Fish, pierogies, spinach & feta strata, lasagna, coconut cake, cheesecake...well, they all still have a home in our fridge, but we are putting a dent in them little by little!

On Christmas morning, we exchanged gifts and we both bought gifts for Jade. She got some really wonderful things: a jewelry box, bath toys, blankets, letters that spell her name for her room, a Big Bird in China DVD, a stuffed animal, books, bibs, and ornaments.

Everyone came to our house on Christmas Day, and my aunt and uncle gave us more gifts for Jade: her first bank, a stuffed musical toy, little bunny slippers, and a photo album. It was a very special Christmas, and it really touched my heart to know that my family was also thinking about Jade.

I love that I still have five more days off from work! I know it will be hard to go back on the 2nd, but I am really enjoying the break! Happy New year to all!

Merry Christmas, Baby

Merry Christmas, Jade!

Mommy & Daddy are missing you

this Christmas.

Happy Christmas!

Here's wishing everyone
a very safe and joyful holiday season
and a blessed new year!

We Are DTC!

We received the email yesterday from CCAI stating that we are DTC! Our dossier was sent out on the afternoon of December 7.
I had a secret hope that somehow we would be DTC on my sister's birthday and LID on my dad's birthday (December 28). My dad passed away over ten years ago. Sure enough, when we got the email, we were DTC on my sister's birthday! Now we are just hoping for our LID soon, but it sure would still be nice for it to be on the 28th.

We also received the email from CCAI about the CCAA fee increase. If we are LID before January 1, it will not affect us. We've been reading all of the info on speculation about possible changes taking effect next year. It doesn't look like any of them will affect us (I hope).

We are celebrating our DTC tonight with a special "party" for just the two of us! Today, I am off to hopefully finish up the last of the Christmas shopping.

Almost DTC!

We got word from CCAI today that we have passed critical review! Wooohooo! Our dossier has now gone into translation. They said this will take a week or less and then it will be mailed to China! We will be notified again when that happens! I am soooooooooo relieved everything was okay in our dossier!

I Predict...