We heard from our agency (CCAI) that our dossier has been logged in at the CCAA in China! Our LID (log in date) is 4/23/07. This is the official start of our wait for our referral, which, they tell us, could be as long as 2 years, or even longer. But at least we have done everything we can do now. From this point until referral, all we do is wait. This is a really HUGE milestone in our adoption process, and we are so excited. Our excitement will probably wear out a little before we get our referral, but I know that once we see our new one's little face, we will get it right back.
A couple people have asked me when I took that picture of our yard full of snow. Yes, I actually did take it on Tuesday, April 24. Hannah and I went to Gymboree in the morning, and by the time we were on our way home, we had white-out conditions, and I went off the road once. Luckily, I spun around so that my front wheels stayed on the road; so we weren't stuck in the snow bank - our front-wheel drive got us right out. We didn't get mail for 2 days in a row (forget that crap about "neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will keep these faithful couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!"), and the schools were closed. By the time Lindsey got home Monday evening, there were people just "parked" in the streets of our subdivision, wherever they happened to get stuck; and the snow plows hadn't been through at all. The next morning, Lindsey couldn't get to Court because the road to town was closed, so he to call in to let the Clerk and his client know. Then we had pancakes for breakfast! We couldn't get out of our driveway anyway; not until Clint and his brother Josh came to dig us out. They couldn't drive into our subdivision because the snow was too deep, so they parked and walked to our house. All to dig us out of the snow because the schools were closed, so Clint couldn't coach and Josh couldn't go to school. What nice guys! I should have taken a picture of them and posted it here.
Hannah's big accomplishment these days is peeing in the potty "just like a big girl". She is so good at it that the only time she wets her pull-ups is at night while she's sleeping (but then she wears a diaper), or when we are in the car and she can't go in her potty. She won't go in a "big potty"; even if I hold her she's afraid she'll fall in, and I guess she can't relax enough to pee. She was pooping in the potty too, but for the past few days she has decided to go back to her old habit of saying, "I have to poop" and going into her bedroom, closing the door and pooping in her diaper or pull-up. It's funny that she has to go in the bedroom, but then she comes right back out and says, "I pooped!" I've tried to get her to go in the bathroom when she says she has to poop, but she starts wailing and says, "NOOOOO! I want to poop in my diaper!" I've decided to up the ante a little. She gets some mini chocolate chips when she goes potty; now I've told her that if she goes poop in the potty, she gets some "Emmy-Em's (M&M's)", her favorite candy. I'm not sure chocolate chips are enough of a bribe for pooping. I'm not sure what it's about, because she clearly knows she's going to do it. She just doesn't want to go potty. It's strange the things you talk about when you have kids!
