Out of our hands now....

Well, it's off! Michael just got back from dropping off our dossier at FedEx! It is officially on it's way to CCAI, just two months, one week and one day after we started paperchasing. Yahoo!!!

Yesterday we got our I-171H back from the courier in DC. I was anxious to get the rest of our documents back and was stalking the USPS website to see if our Express Mail package had gotten logged in. We went to bed last night with no sign of our package, so I figured it would be another day.

Then, this morning around 10am Michael called and said "It's here!". I couldn't believe it, but he had our package in his hands!

So, we ordered dinner in and I made copies and gathered everything together while Michael printed out some additional passport photos to include. We put everything together and took it down to the FedEx dropoff before their final pickup of the night. It's headed to CCAI's office in Atlanta, so it doesn't have very far to go. They should get it first thing in the morning and start the critical review process. After critical review they will translate it and then send it to the CCAA in Beijing. All this should hopefully take about 2 weeks.

Ever wonder what an entire dossier looks like at this point? Here's what we sent off...

And here's the all important FedEx box that Michael just dropped off.

I had to say a little prayer as I put everything in the box, I remember doing that with our dossier for Cackie and it worked then so it can't hurt now!

I'll update soon, hopfully we'll be DTC (dossier to China) ASAP!

Busy week

It has been a busy week. On Monday, Michael had our I-171H notarized and he took it to the County Clerk’s office for authentication. I was gathering everything together that evening when I realized that the Clerk’s authentication was dated on the 18th, but the notary was the 19th. That will not fly with China and I freaked out!
So, I had Tuesday off to take care of the I-171H. We had a bunch of stuff to take care of… Michael got the oil changed on my car, I got a money order for the Chinese Embassy at the Post Office and then I took the I-171H back to the County Clerk’s office to get their authentication fixed. After some frustrating moments with an incompetent employee at the Clerk’s office I was able to get everything loaded up and Cackie and I headed to Nashville.
We made it to Nashville in record time… and within minutes our I-171H was Secretary of State authenticated! We then found a FedEx box and sent the I-171H to a courier in DC who will take it to the State Dept and then on to the Chinese Embassy.
After that was done, Cackie & I headed to OpryMills where we were meeting my parents. We had a late lunch at the Rainforest Café and then wandered the mall for a while. Cackie enjoyed the time with her LaoLao & LaoYe. I think they enjoyed it too!
So, if timing is right, we should be getting all our documents back by Monday… Tuesday at the latest! This weekend is all about finishing up our pictures and getting ready to send off our dossier! We have a wonderful bottle of Champagne that just needs a special occasion… I think completing our dossier in less than 2.5 months is a perfect occasion!
Stay tuned, we’ll have a DTC date soon!

Chinese New Year Facts

I'm trying to learn more about Chinese culture & traditions. This is something that I really enjoy and I want to be able to share with my daughters without having to say... "wait a second, let me go Google that..."
So, I figure it's a good time to learn more about Chinese New Year. I'll try to post what I learn here.
Here's the first tidbit... from http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.
The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

Happy New Year!

It's the year of the Boar (or the Golden Pig), a lucky year in China!

It's getting late, but I wanted to share these with everyone.

On Friday I got an email that my mom was sending a package our way. I knew that she was working on some presents for Chinese New Year and I just figured they were for Cackie.

I was surprised when I opened them up and they were for me!

Here's the beautiful bracelet & earrings that mom made for me...

And, here's the coins tied with red thread that should bring wealth. We've hung these by the front door...

Mom sent me a detailed meaning of the coins and the knots, but as I said it's getting late and I need my beauty sleep! So, I'll try to post the meaning of everything in the next day or so!

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Great News!

Wow, what a week it was!

On Friday the 9th we woke up to icy roads in Memphis. Not everything stopped (amazingly) but the overpasses on the interstates were pretty icy, so the FedEx truck couldn't get from the airport to the distribution station. So, we didn't end up getting the package from the State Department until Monday.

But, the good news is that my birth certificate came from NY at the same time! That was a great surprise, I hadn't even stalked the FedEx website to see if the package was on it's way, lol!

So, I got everything ready on Tuesday and sent a huge package off to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC. My timing wasn't so great because they had a bunch of nasty weather and the package wasn't delivered until Friday. No worries, right??! We're in no rush, right??!

Surprise... surprise... our I-171H came in the mail on Friday! We were totally shocked! We weren't expecting it for at least another 2 weeks!

Don't believe me? Well, here it is....

(sorry, I blurred it since it's such an official document)

So, now I need to move fast and get the I-171H through all the authentication steps ASAP. Hopefully the rest of our documents will come in from the Embassy about the same time as the I-171H and then we can send them all to our agency together. Wow! How exciting! We are soo happy to be almost done! Less than 2 months into the paperchase and we're almost at the finish line! Yahoo!

Another package on its way!

Yay! I just checked FedEx and found out that our docs are being sent back from the State Dept.
Guess we need to get that money order for the Chinese Embassy quick so that we can get the stuff to them.
Yahoo! Now we're waiting to see if something comes back from the NY Consulate...
3 weeks ago today we were fingerprinted... 3 to 5 more weeks to go?

Houston we have liftoff...

Whoo hooo! Michael's birth certificate has been picked up by FedEx at the Chinese Consulate in Houston. They received it on 2/1/07 and their website says to allow 15 days for turnaround. One week is just dandy with me!
This is great news. We'll be able to have our first document to CCAI by the end of the week :-)
Plus, there's still a chance that either of our other packages (NY & DC) will be on their way home t0day.
Happy Birthday Michael! Your birth certificate is on it's way home!

Latest News

CCAI received 81 referrals last week for LID 9/28 - 10/13/05! Wow, a far cry from the 141 that were in Cackie's referral batch. But, it does show that the CCAA is at least moving along.



We're still waiting on our I-171H. This Thursday it will be 3 weeks since fingerprinting and I figure Friday should be 3 weeks since they received our homestudy. How much longer? Don't know right now. I know of a number of other people who are waiting on the Memphis office and were fingerprinted about the same time. Hopefully there will be a mass explosion of I-171H receipts and not a backlog.



Last week I sent off my birth certificate to the Chinese Consultate in NYC and Michael's birth certificate to the consulate in Houston. They should take between 15 & 20 days to get back to us. From that point those documents will be complete and I can send them to CCAI.



The other 10 documents that we currently have are at the US State Department in Washington, DC. Once I recieve those back I will turn them back around to the Chinese Embassy in DC. The State Dept has had them for a week now, so I'm hoping that they'll be returned today or tomorrow. Once we get those documents back from the Chinese Embassy they will be complete and ready to send to CCAI.



Then we will just need to rush the I-171H through the whole process and our dossier will be complete!

This weekend we are going to sit down and gather pictures and figure out how many more we need. Honestly that is the worst part of the dossier to me. We have to have 11 pictures with Michael & I both in them. That's hard to do!



On a personal level we have been blessed with our new puppies. Yes, puppies! We went to pick out our new guy and couldn't decide between the two that were left. The breeder made us a deal for both of them, so now we have two adorable Welsh Terriers! Jackson & Bruno are taking up quite a bit of time, but they are a lot of fun as well. Cackie really loves her puppies, except when they wake her up in the morning and when Bruno attacks her blanket!

I guess that's about it for now. I'll update when more info becomes available.

Ladybug Alert

Well, we're not even DTC yet but when refferals come I still celebrate. The CCAA is moving slowly, but surely. This from the CCAA's website...

Moving forward

OK, so today Cackie went to school again. A lot less arguing than yesterday, so that was a good thing.

I had received approval on the documents that I was worried about, so that felt great. All our dossier documents are now prepared and ready to roll. Margaret at my office was wonderful enough to notarize what needed to be notarized, so one step down. Then I called the County Clerk and gave them the list of all our notaries that we needed certification for. At lunch I went down to the Clerk's office and had all our documents certified!!! Yay! Step two of five, done!

Then, I got all my copies made, etc. and prepared everything to go to Nashville. The package went off this evening! Hopefully I will have the documents back by the end of the week.

More progress!!!! We have a new dishwasher and this one works!!! Michael picked it up this evening and installed it. Hooray!!! I love my new dishwasher!!!

The only downer the last few days has been that we miss Guinness. We look out into the backyard and feel such a loss. We probably weren't always the best to him, but we loved him and we really miss him. I asked Michael to go out and move his bowl, just so I don't see it an expect him to run to it. Funny, how sometimes things just hit you and you feel sad.

Well, I couldn't help it... actually I don't know why I did it, but on Sunday I checked out the dog listing in the classifieds. There was an ad for Welsh Terriers, they look just like Airedales, just smaller. They are about 15 inches tall and 20 lbs. The perfect size dog for us. I told Michael about them and then didn't think about the ad until Monday. On Monday I went online to the newspaper ads and there was a more detailed description with pictures. I just about lost it when I read that the puppies were born on 11/25. That was Guinness' birthday!! Is this our doggie red thread??

Well, I called about the ad on Monday eve and found out that some puppies from the same sire live here in our neighborhood. Another red thread??? I gave Michael all the details to let him decide what to do.

Tonight he made his decision....

One of these sweet little guys will be ours on Saturday!!! I called the breeder and we'll meet her on Saturday morning to bring home our new puppy. We just can't deny it. We're dog people and we need another doggie around the house. We're still mourning Guinness, but maybe having a mini-guinney around will make it less painful. Cackie will get to grow up with a puppy, something that we wanted. Hopefully it will all be great, stay tuned to find out more.

That's it for now, if it's not enough for you.... sorry! lol!

Long overdue update

OK, so it's been a few days since I've updated. Be thankful. Last week was just a crappy week, if I had posted it would have been really depressing!

Here's what's happened since my last post...



Friday, January 12

We met with our social worker, got there a little late due to a flat tire on my car... grrr, we approved our home study and had our social worker send it off to our agency. Major, major progress here! In less than 30 days we have completed our homestudy! Whoo hoo!!

We also decided to go ahead and have the house listed back in the MLS (the listing had expired on 12/31/06). Not sure what we'll do if it sells, but we figure we'll give it a go and see what happens.



Saturday, January 13

Not much happened. Went out ran a few errands and hung out around the house.



Sunday, January 14

Went to church and then met Cackie's friends at the Memphis Symphony. Yes, the symphony! They have a wonderful program to introduce children to the symphony and all the girls had a great time. After the program we all went to Huey's to hang out and eat. The girls had soo much fun and all the mommies & daddies got to hang out & relax.



Monday, January 15

Cackie & I were off for the Martin Luther King holiday. We had someone come see the house that morning, but we were home in the afternoon. Had a scare driving around town, came way too close to getting run over by a black Volvo, but we survived and were able to go home and get some rest that afternoon.

Great news! CCAI has approved our homestudy!! We're oh so close to getting fingerprinted!



Tuesday, January 16

Back to work and school. Cackie was a little warm this morning and we were worried that she was coming down with something. My mom came to town this evening and totally enjoyed visiting with Cackie. For some reason we lost power twice tonight??? Of course, it happened while we were cooking dinner. Thank goodness we have a gas stove and Michael had just installed the gas logs in the living room! Cackie was still this evening and I'm really worried.



Wednesday, January 17

Mom stayed home with Cackie in the morning while I went to work. Her fever was right around 100.5, but totally abnormal for her and I wanted to keep her home and see what was going on. After I came home and Cackie laid down for nap I called SEARS to find out about our dishwasher. Nothing had been done about... I couldn't find one person who knew anything about what was going on! GRRRR! Finally I was able to find someone who would order us a new dishwasher. It's supposed to be in on the 22nd, we'll wait and see. Cackie's fever shot up this evening. Something is definitely going on. This is only her 3rd fever since she's been home, so I really don't have a lot of experience with this. We keep treating the symptoms and see what happens.



Thursday, January 18

Cackie woke us up at 4:30 am, crying with a fever around 102. I get up to take care of her (Michael has to get Zack to work in W Memphis by 7am, so I let him sleep a little longer). I give Cackie some meds and make up the futon downstairs so that I can lay down with her and give her some loving. Michael decided that it would be best for him to lay down on the futon while Cackie and I lay down upstairs uninterrupted. We laid down for a few minutes, just got settled when Michael came upstairs. He sat on the bed and told me that Guinness was dead. Guinness was our 8 year old Aeirdale Terrier. Last year, just before Christmas, he was very sick and had a mass on his spleen. We had his spleen and the mass removed to find out that it was a very agressive angiosarcoma. He was given 3 -4 months to live. He made it 13 months and 1 day. We are devastated, really no way to explain the loss that we feel. Guinney was our protector, he stunk and was way too hyper, but we loved him with all our hearts. We'll never forget you, "Guinney the Face".

So, I tried to go back to sleep, but it's hard at 5:30 in the morning when your doggie just died. Cackie and I got up and went to the sick clinic at her doctor's office. Just a virus, but it was good to have her checked to be sure.

We stayed home until just after noon, just resting and watching movies. After lunch Michael came and picked us up. We went and picked up our home study and then went and got fingerprinted. Quick and painless! Yahoo! Another step taken care of.



Friday, January 19

Cackie still has a fever. Along with runny nose and cough, we're having a great time!

Michael stayed home with her most of the day so that I could get some work done.

Animal control came and picked up Guinness today. I'm glad I wasn't home for that.



Saturday, January 20

I had to go into work for an ITS issue. It was planned, but still too long and I didn't want to be away from home. I did get some time to work on our dossier documents, so not completely unproductive.

Cackie still had a fever, but was feeling better by the end of the day. I wasn't feeling so great and actually fell asleep on the couch!



Sunday, January 21

Cackie is feeling better! I was REALLY starting to get worried about her.

Our realtor called this morning and someone wanted to come see the house this afternoon. We busted our butts to get the house clean and get out in time. Not much the rest of the day. Cackie feeling much better! I did email one of our documents to CCAI for their approval, just waiting to hear their response. I also prepared our birth certificates to be sent of to the Secretaries of State in PA & TX. Will do that tomorrow.

Monday, January 22
Cackie went back to school!! Yahoo!
Mailed off the birth certificates, hope to have them back ASAP.
Is the dishwasher in today? Didn't have a chance to get over there. We'll do that tomorrow.

That's as far as I'll go in this post. I'll talk about today in another post...

Major Progress!

Wow! Has it really been almost a week since my last post? We have made a lot of progress since then. Here's an update...

Friday we had our labwork taken. Then we went to the health department so that they could administer our TB tests. It was GREAT of our doctor to order these for us in advance of our appointments with her. Definitely helped to speed things up.

Saturday we took the two cats and the big dog to the vet for their shots. After that we ran errands and tried to get some chores & organizing done. It was early evening before we realized that there was a message waiting on the answering machine. It was CCAI telling us that they had finally received our application and all they needed to approve us was a doctor's letter for Michael. Whoo hooo! What a sense of relief!

Monday morning we went to the doctor and she filled out all our forms for us. I faxed them off to CCAI as soon as I could. I also faxed copies of all our newly completed documents to our social worker to help her complete our home study.

On Tuesday Michael went downtown and got our Tennessee recognition of Cackie's foreign birth. We still need to apply for a copy of her birth certificate, but the big part is done. That evening when I got home there was a message waiting from CCAI. We are officially approved and the agency forms, etc were waiting in my email box! Then just after Cackie went to bed, our social worker called to confirm a few items for our home study. The last item that she needed from me was our personal financial statement and I got started on that immediately. Our home study is now complete and we meet with the social worker tomorrow to review it and give it our blessing.

Yesterday we had all the CCAI agency forms signed & notarized and sent it all off in a FedEx package with a nice big check! They recieved the package today at 8:44 am and as soon as they process it we should get an email telling us how to access our dossier guide. Yay, more work to do! lol!

Tomorrow we get a look at our homestudy and then our social worker will fax it to CCAI for their approval. Once we get CCAI's approval we can get a final copy of our home study and go have fingerprints taken. The Memphis USCIS office says that they are taking approximately 8 weeks to process the I-600A and issue the I-171H. If we get fingerprinted next week, 8 weeks would put us around March 16 to receive our I-171H. That is plenty of time to have everything ready and get it to CCAI before their deadline. Whoo hooo!!!

Now, if just some of the other stuff in our lives would come together so well. Two days before Christmas our dishwasher died, ugh! On the 26th we ordered a new one from Sears. It was available for pickup on the 2nd and we got it on the 3rd. Michael started to install it last Thursday, but it needed a special part, etc. Thank goodness Home Depot is just down the street. He didn't get to work on it again until late Saturday afternoon. We were soo excited when he finished installing it.... we loaded that sucker up and turned it on. It was just as quiet as in the store... after running for a few minutes we opened it up to see how it was doing.... NOTHING! There was no water getting to it! Long story short, the repair man came Tuesday and said it needs a new control panel! We'd never even used it and I wasn't going to accept such a major repair on a brand new appliance. After going around and around with Sears they have ordered us a new dishwasher and when it arrives (not soon enough!) we'll take back this one. Hopefully the new one will have no problems.
Then, do we sell the house and move... or do we stay and do more renovations & add on? We're having a heck of a time finding a house that suits us and has owners who will wait for us to sell ours. We've already lost the house that we really loved because ours didn't sell before someone else came in and snatched it away. We really would like to have a bigger yard and that is the downside to staying where we are. We don't want to sell and then live in an apartment until we can find a new house. That would not be a pretty sight! We're still hashing through this one, hopefully an answer will present itself soon!
That's all for now!

I not mean

We've been hearing this from Cackie a lot lately.
First, let me admit that we have always know that she is a very strong-willed little girl. From day one that was very obvious! Lately we have had our share of power struggles and recently for the first time she got "punished" and had to go stand in the corner.
Well, apparently she is exhibiting this same bossy, mean, "I want my way", "get out of my way" attitude with her friends at school. Her teacher and I have talked some about it, helping me stay up to date with what's going on, etc.
Well yesterday, one of her favorite teachers had to pull her aside and have a talk about being nice to her friends and her Mommy & Daddy. Cackie really loves this teacher, so I'm sure it sank in pretty well.
I asked her about her talk and she said "be nice to friends and Mommy & Daddy" (remember though, this is the same kid who admitted to my sister that she washed her hair in the toilet!), no problems admitting it, follow through is my worry. So, we had a long talk about being nice and good & bad. Explains why she keeps telling us that she's not mean... apparently she has been and the other kids have told her so!
Usually she gets pretty affectionate after she gets put in her place, which I took full advantage of. I love it when I say "I love you Cackie" and she says "I love you Mommy". I asked her if she would give Daddy a hug and tell him that she loves him when get got home from work. So, wouldn't you know that little squirt does just that! Get's up from watching Dora, runs to Michael and says "I give you hug Daddy". I almost had to mop up the puddle on the floor that was Daddy!
We're hoping for a good report from school today!

Progress!

Yesterday we were able to get our police clearances knocked out, yay!
By no means was it a pleasant experience, go thru security and the jail waiting area... wait for our "NO WANTS" form... go to the building next door (in a good steady rain)... get sent away because I had more than one electronic device in my purse (my cellphone & my small camera, well cameras are not allowed... but, duh! both of our cell phones have cameras which were no problem??!!)...back to the car in the rain to drop off the camera... up to the office to get our notarized "no criminal history" letters... but wait, Michael's "NO WANTS" form is dated 2006, grrr! So, I waited for the nice lady to process our letters while Michael goes back to the jail to get a corrected form... he comes back with it and we go on our merry way! At least that part is now over!
We don't have Dr. appointments until Monday morning, but we were able to get the Dr. to order our lab tests and we'll go have those done today. The results should be back to the Dr. by Monday, so hopefully then we will have completed medical forms.
Tomorrow we take the pets for their vaccinations, so that will be another thing completed!
Then on Tuesday, Michael is going to go and get done the stuff to file for Cackie's TN birth certificate. Now, if I would only hear from CCAI about our application! If I don't hear something in the next few hours I'm going to call and leave a message. They had referrals yesterday, so I know that is where all their resources were focused.
Things are looking up today and I feel some relief. There's still a chance that we can get fingerprinted next week (keeping those fingers crossed!).

No progress

Well, no progress today towards our homestudy. One setback, though. I got home tonight to an answering machine message that our Dr. needs to reschedule our appointments that were set for tomorrow morning. They called at 9:55am and had Friday appointments available, but I didn't get the message until 5:45pm. GRRRRR! Can I just say that I am majorly PISSED????!!! Why couldn't they contact us at work? Isn't that why I spend 30 minutes filling out paperwork each year at their office? So that they can have my other contact numbers???

Don't worry, when I call tomorrow I will definitely suggest that they call us at work next time! Now it's just another day longer that it will take to get our test results back so that we can get our homestudy completed. I'll also be calling our SW tomorrow as soon as I know when our Dr. appoitments are.

And when I left work I thought it had been a boring day! Go figure! I'm beginning to think that it wouldn't hurt to start praying to Buddah to get this all finished in time! Maybe I'll just pray for ladybugs... We'll be praying for ladybugs to get our referral, so I figure why not pray for them now to get our dossier finished!

Keeping our fingers crossed that we can make April 13th!

Sobering thoughts

I'll admit, I read the Rumor Queen website a lot. I don't always believe the rumors there, but at times she is at least on the right track. It was on her website that I first heard about the proposed changes by the CCAA and then again when the rumors were true and the changes were definite, I found out from Rumor Queen. Learning about the news there gave us a few extra days to contemplate a second adoption before our agency gave us official word. Those few extra days were very beneficial!

She does a lot of analysis on her website and that is where I gain the most benefit.

The other day she wrote a post related to how long the wait is and how long it could get. Now that a new batch of referrals has arrived I wanted to do my own update of her thinking...

According to her figures, on October 3, 2005 (just 4 months after we got home from China) the CCAA had referred families with log in dates (LID) through March 15, 2005 (our LID for Cackie was 9/21/04). Today is 15 months later and this batch of referrals goes through LID of 9/27 or 9/28/05.

Here's how I think of it... On March 15, 2005 I take a leave of absence from work, but the whole time I'm gone work keeps piling up on my desk. I go back to work on September 27, 2005 after being gone for 6.5 months and all my work is there for me and I have to process every bit of it before I even look at the work that someone handed me as I walked in the door that morning. So, I dig in and start processing... processing... processing. Finally, I finish up with all the work that came in while I was gone and I look at the calendar... it's January 3, 2007 and I've been back at work for 15 months! It took me 15 months to process the amount of work received in 6.5 months. That's a lot of work!
What does this all mean for us, just starting our second adoption? No doubt, we will have a very long wait! My rough calculations... If our LID is 4/30/07, there will be anywhere between 580 (worst case, no more referrals between now & 4/30/07) and 529 (continue referring at current rate) LIDs ahead of us. Which comes out to a wait of 41 months! Sobering, isn't it?
All I can do is get our paperwork in ASAP and pray that things speed up!

Ladybug alert!

Referrals have arrived! Families whose dossiers were logged into China on 9/12/05 will receive phone calls tomorrow. Congrats to all receiving referrals!

Paperchasing

So, here we go again! We are in the paperchase for our second daughter from China. We are very excited and can't wait to put at least one part of this behind us.

We started working with our social worker on December 19 and to date we have had 3 visits with her. I've been gathering paperwork like mad to send to her so that she can get our homestudy completed. We are still lacking the following items:

1. Police clearances - Thursday or Friday, hopefully

2. Medical reports - Dr. appointments are Thursday morning, hoping that the results don't take too long

3. Pet vaccination records - the cats & Guinness are due for their shots, so we need to get them to the vet

4. Michael's employment letter

5. File for Cackie's TN birth certificate - Friday, maybe

The biggest thing that we need is our application approval from CCAI, our agency. We mailed it to them back on December 20 and they got hit with the big blizzard starting that day (they are located in the Denver area) (great timing, huh?) I did speak with someone in the office that evening and she estimated that they would receive it in the mail on their first day back from the holiday on the 26th. But, the storm was much worse that we thought it would be, so who knows when they got their mail. Then with the 2nd storm last week, another holiday and a National Day of Mourning for President Ford, it hurts to think about it!

So, today I sent them an email to see if the application has been received. Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow and will have a better idea of where that stands.

We are soo hectic here, trying to get everything done and work at the same time. It's looking like Thursday and Friday will be our big days to check off some of these items. keep your fingers crossed!