As We Wait...

No big updates from our agency to share in regards to our adoption process. They are in contact with their liason in China trying to find out from the CCAA if our dossier has been translated and if we are close to having our log in date. As of yesterday, no response has been received. As we wait, all of us are preparing as best as possible to welcome our new daughter/sister into our family. We received a service plan from our agency that will be a part of our preparation. There are a stackful of books on transracial adoption, bonding, making cultural connections, etc that we are in process of reading and learning from. The service plan also has us doing research to find local Chinese cultural events/classes, resources and professionals to help our daughter with her cleft lip and palate, educating family and close friends on adoption, and starting a lifebook for our daughter. Those are a few of things that are part of the service plan that we are enjoying doing. It has been fun to watch how excited our kids are to meet their new sister. Recently Rachel left a post it note to Phil reminding him of how much she liked her daddy-daughter mini-golf date and this is what it said (with her kindergarten spelling): "I loved going golfen. Next yere we shod bring CL with." (CL will be the code name I use for our daughter since I don't think it is best at this point to post her name on this public blog). Shopping at ALDI a week ago Isaac got in the cart seat and said, "Mom, when CL is here she can sit next to me in that other seat." For those that don't shop ALDI regularly, the carts are large and have two kid seats in the front of the shopping cart. We will update you when we find out any more info. At this point, after exploring some sites that give average times of waiting for certain steps in the China adoption process, we are estimating our travel dates to be in October or Novemeber. But ultimately God is in control of the timing of this all and that is good to know! "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9