First Day of School

Here are A and B on the first day of school last Thursday. A will be a sophomore and B will be a 7th grader. They were both being jerks right before I took the ceremonial first day of school picture, so they do look a little sheepish. It was an exciting day, because not only was it the first day of school, but our Article 5 was also picked up at the US Consualte in Guangzhou. This means we are waiting to receive travel approval from the CCAA. This last week people were receiving their travel approval in 9 days. 9 days! That's crazy fast! We also got our home study update on Friday, which means I need to send it in for fingerprint renewal. However, I need time to read through the I800 stuff to make sure I mark everything correctly. The problem is, if I have questions I can't ask them until people are in at the office; either USCIS or with our agency. When they are at work, I'm at work and it is REALLY difficult to make any sort of personal phone call at work. School just started and I'm SWAMPED with all sorts of little things. I guess I'll try to figure it out as best I can tomorrow and try to find time to call and ask questions if I need to on Monday. What I would really like is a super-fast TA and consulate appointment. That way I wouldn't have to worry about fingerprint renewal. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

Status Update

So, here's the status on our adoption as of Friday. We were "cabled" on Friday, which means our information has been sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. We need a pdf verification of being cabled before Cara's visa stuff can be turned in over in China, and China only accepts paperwork on Mondays and Thursdays. I asked for the pdf, but was told that I could not have it emailed to me. This means I will hopefully have the info I need for Cara's stuff to be turned in on Thursday rather than Monday, which kinda sucks. Then we wait for article 5 and travel approval. I just really, really want to travel before November, but I have a sinking feeling that it might not happen due to all of the holidays in China during the month of October.

Meanwhile, on the I800A renewal front: yes, both fingerprints and I800A expire on 10/13/10. This means we need a homestudy update, 2-supplement 2's, and a supplement 3 filed with USICS. Our social worker is coming on Tuesday and I'm hoping for a super-quick homestudy update so we can get all of this turned in ASAP. It shouldn't be that hard; especially since NOTHING has changed for us in the last 15 months. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Weekend Fun

I love, love, LOVE, summer Sundays on the Snake River. We launch the boat at Levey Park around noon and stay on the river until about 5:30. It is one of my absolute favorite things to do. This past weekend the kids were able to kneeboard and tube. A's BF had never kneeboarded before so he got to learn how. He was a pretty quick study. It looks like we only have a few weekends left on the Snake this summer since June was so cold in our area; we've only been 6 times so far this summer, and in my opinion, that's WEAK!!!! I have definately not gotten enough river time this summer.

This next weekend we'll go out in the boat, but we'll go Friday on the Columbia River. I don't like it as much, but hardly anyone is out there on Fridays and the houses along the river are awesome to look at. We will spend some time there, then go have appetizers and wine at Anthony's.

Cleared For Travel

This is what A and B look like after 2 shots each and a 2 hour dr. appt. But they are cleared for international travel and holding their signed paperwork. Tomorrow I have to mail these sheets in along with copies of their passport photo pages and a signed Travel Companion Acknowledgement form from our agency. I'm still waiting on an approved I800. I called Monday and they had no record of my SIM #. They said to call back 7 business days after our receipt was mailed to us, which would have been today. I'll call tomorrow around lunchtime and see what's up. Keep your fingers crossed that they have our paperwork; even better if they can tell me we're pre-approved!

Back From Vacation!

Here are A, B, and A's BF at California Adventure and J and I with Goofy. We bought tix to go to Disneyland 7 days prior to receiving our referral. In January our agency told us we would most likely be waiting for 18-24 months to receive a referral. I had a conference to attend in Anaheim so we thought, what the heck?! This will be our last vacation until China and we'll just start saving $ right after this trip. We purchased the tickets on June 15th. Seven days later we were referred our fabulous little princess. So I guess we'll just start saving $ now! :)

We tried something new called Ride Max. A found it on the internet. For $15 you put in the dates you're going to Disneyland and California Adventure and it will tell you what time to go on what rides, when to get Fast Passes, etc. I gotta tell ya, Ride Max ROCKS!!!! We rarely waited more than 20 mins for any ride. We went on several of the biggies (Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, California Screamin') 4 or 5 times. In the future, I'm all about the Ride Max.

On the adoption front, we received a letter from USCIS saying they are processing our I800. I will most likely call sometime tomorrow and check on the status. I just want to get her home ASAP!

The Decision is Made~

I have read a few blogs from people who followed the Nancy Thomas method for attachment, but had not ordered the CDs "Taming the Tiger While its Still A Kitten." I left a post on RQ asking people about using an Ergo for a 3 year old and got mixed responses. The post kind of turned into more of a "theory on attachment" kind of post, which wasn't really what I was looking for. I just wanted to know if an Ergo would work for a 28 lb child. I listened to what everyone had to say, and vacillated myself on whether or not to "pouch" Cara and use Nancy Thomas' methods for attachment. I bought the CDs and listened to them twice. I really think, for me, that the Ergo is going to help with attachment, so this weekend I bought one at REI. I went with the Ergo sport since it has more venting to keep Cara cooler. We'll see how it works, but I think our family is going to try to follow this method. I work in a school as a VP and my "frequent flyers" for discipline issues tend to be kids who have issues with attachment, so I know how important it is. I will keep you posted on how it works!

Update!

I did not expect to get an update from the Shanghai SWI. They are not known for providing updates. Imagine my surprise when this mischievious little face showed up on my email! I'm so excited to go get her, but we still have about 5 more steps. I800 approval, NVC cable to Guangzhou, letter received from NVC, Article 5, then TA. It's a long process, but then, all of it has been a long process! I just hope we can travel before our fingerprints expire in mid-October. I don't want that monkey-wrench thrown into the whole thing.