We were informed late this afternoon that our dossier (all of our paperwork) is currently on a FedEx plane headed for Beijing, China! It is scheduled for delivery by 6 p.m. on Monday, September 24. DTC stands for Dossier To China and is a very important date for us. We started this adoption journey the week of June 10, 2007 (my 38th birthday). Our LOI (Letter of Intent) was dated on June 18 and we received our PA (Pre-approval) from CCAA on August 6.

Our next important date and initials will be LID (Log-In Date). That is the official date of which we can start counting days of just how long it will take to get Gabe. Our agency is predicting 3 or 4 months, so it looks like we will get Gabe right around Christmas time. We have requested an expedited referral, due to Gabe’s medical condition. We don’t know if the CCAA will honor our request for the expedited referral or not.

What does all of this mean? Just that we are in the hands of God as to when the rest of this will happen. The CCAA (China Centre for Adoption Affairs) is very hard to predict. We know that this is God’s plan and it will happen in His time.

We found out yesterday that our nephew Jake will be home for Christmas. Jake enlisted into the Army Airborne Rangers on July 30 and is currently in Fort Benning, Georgia in Basic Training. Knowing my luck, I will be heading for China about the same time that Jake is headed home! I would love to see Jake at Christmas (and I’m fully planning on it), but I also can’t wait to get my hands on our little boy and bring him home to his Mommy, big brother and big sister (and our family doctor)!

Whatever happens in the next few months, Dana and I will be very happy to have all three of our children on the same continent, the same country, the same state, the same town and under the same roof! We won’t hear much now until we get our LID (probably in the next month) and then we’ll be anxiously awaiting the LOA (Letter of Acceptance/Refe