Logged In and Other Happenings

We now know our logged in date (LID) - it was 5/22/12 (our dossier was sent to China 5/15/12).  LID is when the CCCWA (China's child welfare authority) officially acknowledges receipt of your dossier paperwork. We also got a notice in the mail today that our I-800 was received at the USCIS (Homeland Security) lockbox in Texas.  Now all we lack is our LSC (or LOA, or whatever) from CCCWA (which is our official referral) before our I-800 application can be approved.  After that we need to send our form DS-230 (and required documentation attachments) to the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  Head spinning yet?  Yeah, mine too.

In other news, we've been taking 'gastronomic cultural outings' (eating at some local Chinese buffets) to get the kids more acclimated to asian cuisine before Zane/SongSong arrives.  Even though his report states that he is 'not chosey to food', we'll likely be eating a lot more Chinese food in the next few months.  Our 3 girls came to us VERY 'chosey to food' (Oscar not so much).  If it wasn't bland or sweet, they wouldn't eat it - and forget about vegetables!  Since then we've got them eating all kinds of different foods - now including seafood, dim sum, dumplings, clams & mussels, etc. and loving them :).  Just more preparation - and trying to be out in front of some issues we may encounter in the not too distant future.  Today we even tried out some chopsticks (didn't really eat with them, just practiced how to hold them).

Other preparations made:  I ordered Oscar and Zane's loft beds - unfinished pine, assembly required AND 2 unfinished pine four drawer chests (eBay!).  Bought a night stand (also unfinished pine) that will hold a couple of fabric storage cubes, also a new mattress, all the bedding for Zane's bed, and bath towels for him too.

Thursday night I fell asleep before 9:00 PM and before the kids were finished with their showers and bedtime routine.  I've been getting up early and going in to work at 7:00 AM for two reasons 1) to get extra time in so I have paid time off for our trip and 2) because I have a major project I'm trying to finish up at work before we get called off to China in July.  (Right now, my project is supposed to be finished by July 16th.  We have to travel before July 27th.  Talk about cutting it close.)  I'm not a morning person, but it beats having to work on Saturdays (which is what I was doing since March and before summer school started) trying to get everything done in time on all fronts.  I'll be so glad when July is here (actually, make that when it's over).  That's when the real fun begins.