Mumble Jumble

This post is going to be a jumbled mess and hard to follow but that is okay because it is a true reflection of my thoughts right now.  I had really hoped that all of our documents could be sent to China this year.  This step is called DTC - Dossier to China (your dossier consists of documents that the Chinese government wants).  We are not going to make that deadline :-(  We had our fingerprint appointment on the 17th.  This is a part of the USCIS  (Citizenship and Immigration Services) approval process.  Two of my fingerprints could not be read.  The nice woman taking them assured me that it would be okay because the rolled prints matched the non-roll ones.  Although I was sure that she knew what she was talking about, I still worried about it.  She was right, and our application to adopt was approved by the US government. We received our approval letter in the mail on Saturday the 22nd!  Best Christmas present ever!!  Now we have all the documents we need for our dossier.  Next step is to have everything certified at the Secretary of State office in Austin and then authenticated at the Chinese Consulate office in Houston.  Here is where it gets tricky.  Our agency only sends out dossiers on Fridays, so they must have our dossier by January 3rd in order for us to be DTC on January 4th.  Otherwise, it will be the 11th.  You may wonder what the big deal is about a week, but because of the timing it could mean a month delay in the matching process.  After DTC we will get a LID (Log In Date).  This is the date that confirms that China has our documents.  LID will normally come around a week after DTC, but you may not know your LID until a week or so later.  The list that referrals come from is normally released towards the end of each month.  We need to have our LID in order to be eligible to be matched.  If we are DTC on the 4th, then we will have a good chance of being eligible for the January list.  We probably won't get a referral in January, but it helps move us up the list so our chances will be higher the next month.  We really want the boys to come with us to China but that will only be possible if we are able to travel in June or July.  Every month counts in order for this to happen.  So in order to make the DTC date of the 4th, I am going to drive to Austin on the 26th to have our documents certified.  I will then drive to Houston to have them authenticated.  I have been told that the consulate now takes 4 days to complete the paperwork.  So I will then fly to Houston on the 31st to pick up our precious papers and will then send them on their way to our agency.  This is a lot of traveling.  I talked it over with Mark, and he immediately said that I should do it.  So it may be crazy, but I feel that it is right.  Please pray that all of the documents are correct and that none of them are rejected.  I might be stressing about all of this just a LITTLE.