DTA!!!!

To steal a term coined by my blogging friend Karen, as of Friday, 2-24, we are DTA (dossier to agency)!! I am extremely relieved to be done with this part of the process. Now we just wait for agency (CCAI) to review, translate, bind, send to China and give us our DTC (Dossier to China) date, which really means nothing, and then we wait for our dossier to be logged in (our LID date). The LID is the official start of the waiting period. I really hope our dossier is logged in by the end of March. Our anniversary is on the 25th and this would be a wonderful present!

We got new carpet this past week. It is wonderful! It feels so soft to my feet (and I know little knees will appreciate it). I will probably be spending the next 2 weeks trying to get my house back in order, but it is a small price to pay for new carpet!! :)

Training for the marathon is still going great. This Saturday I did 6 miles, my longest to date. I will never win any speed contests, but it is so gratifying to be able to complete these distances that I've set my mind to!

Well, I've been saying that I would post pics of the nursery to be. I still have a lot to do. Officially I plan to put a twin bed, the crib, a chest of drawers (that was mine when I was a baby) and a glider in the room. I haven't started on the furniture, because I have PLENTY of waiting time to do that, but I have painted, hung curtains, and bought some accessories.

Here is a glimpse of the room....
















I love Classic Pooh and friends. I just love that Pooh has many friends but only one Piglet. That's how I feel about our daughter. Yes, there are thousands of abandoned babies, but only one will be OUR daughter.

The fabric shown is the Ralph Lauren pattern "Allison"- This is what I will be using on the twin bed. The sheets will be a pink check and this is the comforter. I will probably use coordinating material for the crib bedding, which I will probably end up making.
























The picture below is of my mom's rescued beagle surprise named Tabitha. I imagine she is thinking, "How dare they dress me up like a doll. The indignity of it!!"

Almost on our way...

This week was a pretty good one, inspite of the fact that Derek was gone to West Point Lake for a fishing tourney (Stren Series). Our documents came back from the Sec of State with their certification, so as soon as they did, I sent them to the courier in DC to be certified and authenticated by the US Dept of State and the Chinese Embassy. We should have them back by the end of next week, and then our dossier will be ready to go to our agency! WOO HOO. At that point, all the paperwork is out of our hands and we just wait. And wait. And wait. But at least now, we are closer to the waiting!!

Training for the marathon is going well. I am almost through week 2 and have upped my mileage considerably. Before I started this training I was logging 9-10 miles per week. Week #1 I logged in 16 miles and this week I will have 19 miles. Tomorrow is a five mile easy run in the cold rain at 6:30 AM. Last week was also in the rain. What do I have to do to not run in the rain? Oh well, at least this proves to myself how dedicated I am. Before signing up for this, I would have said anyone who got up that early to run in the cold rain was smoking something funny! I did buy a couple of books written by Jeff Galloway. He is a marathon runner who advocates and running/walking approach for long runs. This is what Sunny Lea does (my cousin who will be doing the marathon with me) so I will probably give it a try. So far I can do 5 milers, but the thought of 10, 14, or more is a little daunting.

I need to get to work on my donation letters. One of my adoption blog friends, Karen, gave me my first donation. Thank you Karen! This means so much and it was such a surprise to find out about!

Well, that's about all I know to report right now. Hopefully the CCAA will be sending out referrals soon. Here's to hoping it is for a full month this time!

Just Added...

I just added a link to my Team in Training Donation Web Page. This is for the money I committed to raise to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for the Rock n Roll Marathon in June. I need to raise my funds by late April, so if you want to donate, please click on the web page on the right and it will take you to my web page which will accept donations. *Please Note* that if your company participates in matching gifts, please fill out the matching gift form that your company uses and send it to me. LLS will follow up with your company to get the donation, and I will get credit for the amount that you and your company donates.

My address for the matching gift form is Suzanne Schlotterback, 8 Winslow Way, Simpsonville, SC 29681.

This is such a great cause, and all donations are tax deductable. I will automatically send you a receipt if your gift is larger than $50, but I will send a receipt for a gift of any size if you let me know you need one.

Thanks in advance to all my family and friends that will be supporting me. And if you are unable to donate any money, your moral support will be needed just as badly!

Rock On!

And the next hurdle is.....

We received our 171H on 2/2/05. WOOO HOOO!!! This is exciting news, as this was the last bit of paperwork we were waiting on.... well, sort of. We also didn't have our homestudy, but our social worker assured us that as soon as we received our 171H, he would give us our homestudy so it would have the latest date possible on it. Monday morning Derek and I went by and picked it up, and to say I was disappointed is an understatement. There were so many mistakes in it, it was pathetic. I faxed it to our agency and they agree that some changes are necessary. I have emailed the social worker and asked for the changes to be done, but I can tell you he doesn't get in a hurry for anything. This is now all I need to start the certification process, so it is really really really driving me crazy that I am waiting on this. I asked for a rough draft from the social worker but never got one, probably because it was not ready yet. UGHHHHH.

We spent the weekend in Savannah so that Edra and I could attend Frances' 80th birthday party. The party was so nice, and it was good for Edra to reconnect with some of her friends from her life in Savannah. It was also good to visit with the Kesslers. Krissy is pregnant with a little girl and due May 16th. She is showing now and milking it for all that it is worth!

Because I needed to get a workout in anyway, I participated in a 5K on Tybee Island Saturday morning. I surprised myself and posted my best time yet all because of a gamecock! I set out at my normal 13.5 minute mile pace, but quickly realized that there was a man wearing a gamecock t-shirt right in front of me. His t-shirt had a gamecock "the good", a Florida Gator "The bad" and a Tiger Paw "the ugly." I looked at this shirt most of the race as he was in front of me the majority of the time. When we started into mile #3, I decided there was no way I was letting this gamecock beat me, so I kicked it into high gear, passed him like he was walking and finished in 37m29s. The Tigers win again! I wanted so badly to shout "Touchdown Jasmine" as I ran by but decided to keep it to myself. LOL!! Now, I know that I'll never be a speed queen, but at least that is somewhat respectable!!! (I didn't finish last! Actually, I finished like 630 something out of almost 1000, so that wasn't too bad!)

We had our first Team in Training fundraising meeting last night. I am pretty anxious to get started. My first team workout is Saturday morning, and I am actually looking forward to it. Can you imagine that?