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November 03, 2006
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I
saw this today on Yahoo and thought I would keep it for Nora's
scrapbook.
The
caption read: Dancers from Dance China NY perform during a
dress rehearsal at New York City Center for the show: “One World: A
spectacular Global Celebration”
On October 23, 2006.
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Nora's
Chinese Character
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October 27, 2006
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 I
found this today online. It is the Chinese Character for
Nora's Name. I am planning to make a stencil of this and
paint it on Nora's bedroom wall. We'll see how that goes!
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Shaohannah's
Hope
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October 16, 2006
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Praise God from who all
blessings flow!!!!!!! We
received a letter today from Shaohannah’s Hope! They are awarding us a grant for
$2,000 for our adoption!!!!!
Our God is an on-time God!
The letter couldn’t have come on a better day. Today, my mother had surgery to
remove her right kidney.
Please pray for her recovery that it will come sooner than
expected!
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DTC
5 months!
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October 05, 2006
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5 months since DTC! I can’t believe it has been 5
months. Billy and I went to
eat at a new place in Cleveland called “YUMMY” that has Chinese and
Japanese cuisine. It was
very good!
Billy’s fortune cookie
said, “Simplicity and clarity should be your theme in dress.”
My fortune cookie said,
“Stop searching forever, happiness is just next to you.”
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Other
pic
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September 06, 2006
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 This
is the second picture I found. Look at those baby beds!
They don't even have mattresses in them!
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Sweet
Babies!
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September 06, 2006
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 I
saw this picture on a family website. This was taken at one
of the orphanges in China. This is how Nora could be living
right now. It makes me so sad to know that she is not with
us. There is one other picture I will post after this.
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DTC
4 months!
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September 05, 2006
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We are 4 months since
DTC! We are making
progress! Billy and I went
to eat at Imperial Garden in Chattanooga because Billy had a softball
game in Ringgold.
Billy’s fortune cookie
said, “Stop Searching.
Happiness will come to you.”
My fortune cookie said,
“Patience is the answer to happiness.”
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August 28, 2006
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Billy and I went today
to have our second Hep A & B shots. We have one other round in 5
months.
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August 19, 2006
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I found a great used
dresser for Nora’s room in a yard sale for only $50 and it is solid
wood and has huge deep drawers.
It looks great in her room and the only thing it needs is
new handles.
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Nora's
Birth Mother?????
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August 09, 2006
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I
found this story and picture on Yahoo today and thought it
was so cute. I wondered if one of these women could be Nora's
birth mother. Funny, huh? She may not be born yet!
The
caption read: "Pregnant women show colour paintings on
their bellies during a body painting contest held for pregnant
women at a hospital in Haikou, south China's Hainan province on August
7, 2006. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China Daily"
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3
month DTC!
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August 05, 2006
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3 months since DTC! We celebrated our DTC this month
with our Pastor and his wife, Jack & Darlene and two of our
very best friends, Melissa and her son Samuel (whom we have
arranged Nora’s marriage to) and our friend DeAnna. We went to eat Chinese at
Imperial Garden – our favorite Chinese restaurant! Billy’s fortune
cookie said, “You will be showered with good luck before your next
birthday.” My fortune cookie
said – “Seek out the significance of your problem at this
time. Try to understand.” OK. Whatever!
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July 28, 2006
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Billy and I went to have
our Hep. A & B shots today.
We also updated our Tetanus shots too. We have to have another round of
Hep. A & B again in one month and again in 6 months.
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July 25, 2006
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We found out today that
we have $665.00 in our Eternal Family Fund with AWAA (our adoption
agency). This is money that
has been donated by friends and family in our name!
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July 22, 2006
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We finally have a total
for the baby bottle fundraiser at our church! We received a total of
$532.00! This was all change
that was donated. It took us
nearly 2 hours to pour all that change into the machine at the
bank. At least we didn’t
have to count all of it!
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July 08, 2006
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We painted Nora’s room
today and it looks great.
(And worth every sore muscle.) We used the color
“silent ripple” by Behr paint from Home Depot. It looks lavender with more blue
in it – kind of like the sky.
I am planning to paint one wall with a white picket fence on
it. But we will see how that
goes – I may change my mind.
I have some dragonfly wallpaper cut outs that match the
paint perfectly. I will add
pictures of her room to the site as soon as it is finished! I can’t wait!
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2
month DTC Anniversary!
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July 05, 2006
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Today is our 2 month DTC
anniversary. I can’t believe
it has already been 2 months! We went to eat Chinese at
Imperial Garden , our favorite Chinese restaurant! OK, now last month our fortune
cookies we’re a little weird, so when we got our forturne cookies
this month I know it’s not coincidence!
Billy’s forturne
cookie: “Be prepared to
modify your plan. It’ll be
good for you!”
My fortune cookie: “Next week, your luck color will
be green.”
Josh’s fortune cookie:
“Focus on your long-term goal.
Good things will soon happen.”
Mom’s fortune
cookie: “An important
discussion involving you will take place today.”
Ok,
now last month when I read Billy’s fortune cookie, I thought Oh no,
we are going to have to wait longer to get Nora. But Billy said it might mean we
would get her sooner and it could be good news. I think that God is
continuing to confirm to us that his hand is watching over the
whole process and that it will happen sooner than later and he will
supply everything we need. By the way, we are painting
Nora’s room this Saturday and are planning to do her room in purple
and green! How weird is
that? My Mom says my luck
with green means money! I
hope so – Nora is so worth it!
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June 13, 2006
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Found
out today that our LID is actually May 16th! Hopefully one
day will make a difference!
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1
month since DTC!
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June 05, 2006
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 Today
is 1 month since we are DTC!
We went to Imperial Garden to eat Chinese to celebrate! I have been looking this week at
paint samples for Nora’s room.
I want to paint it a very light purple. My fortune cookie said, “Focus on
the color purple this week to bring you luck.” Billy’s fortune cookie said, “Be
prepared to modify your plans.”
Ok, now I know some of you are thinking “I don’t believe in
luck or fortunes!” And
neither do I, but I do believe that God can speak to us in very
weird and specific ways. I
am hoping that Billy’s fortune meant we are getting her sooner than
we think we will! God has
perfect timing!
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June 02, 2006
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I purchased Nora’s baby
bedding today! I got it at
JCPenney on sale (of course).
It is purple, pink and green and has flowers and dragonflies
on it. I can now get the
paint and start on her room!
I can’t wait to get it done!
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May 19, 2006
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We found out today that
our Dossier was logged in to the CCAA on Wednesday, May 17th,
2006. We are LID on 5/17/06!
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May 14, 2006
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Mother’s Day (and my
brother, Josh’s 29th Birthday! Just one more year until he is
old like me! ) At church today, my friend Sherri Roe started a Baby
Bottle Fundraiser where we handed out Baby Bottles and everyone
will take them home and collect change in them until Father’s Day and
bring them back to us.
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May 11, 2006
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Received an invitation
to join the Yahoo Group for our DTC Group 262. Hopefully we will learn great
ideas there!
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May 09, 2006
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We received a packet
from AWAA with a list of email addresses of other families that
have the same DTC we have. This will be so helpful to be in
contact with the people we may be traveling with.
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May 08, 2006
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Our Dossier was
delivered to the CCAA in Beijing !!!!!! Whew!!!!! No mishaps!
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We
are DTC!!!!
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May 05, 2006
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DTC!!!!! We are finally DTC! We received an email from AWAA
with the Fed Ex tracking number for our Dossier. It should be delivered sometime
next week! We will also be
receiving a packet of information from AWAA with the email
addresses of other families that are currently DTC. That will be so helpful to get to
know them and find out what all we should pack when we travel to !
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April 25, 2006
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We received a call from
Allison our family coordinator today that she received our Dossier
and that everything looked great!
(Whew!) She did tell us
that because of Ch1na’s Labor Day that they will not be sending any
Dossiers this Friday (4/28/06).
However, our DTC should be 5/5/06.
When she told me that, I
knew that May 5th
was a significant date for some reason. When I looked back at my journal
from last year, that is the day I went online to America World’s
website to request an information packet. I know that is not just a
coincidence. God just
continues to show us we are doing what he asked us to do! He is so faithful in confirming his
will for us!
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April 24, 2006
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Sent our Dossier to
America World today!
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April 21, 2006
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Received our documents
back from the Chinese Embassy and finished up our Photo Pages!
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April 19, 2006
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The Chinese Embassy is
finished with our documents!
They should be here on Friday, 4/21/06!
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April 13, 2006
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The Chinese Embassy received
our documents!
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April 10, 2006
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Received an email today that
the U.S. State Department has completed the Authentication process on
all of our documents. Now on to
the Chinese Embassy!
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April 05, 2006
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Received an email today that
the U.S. State Department has received our documents to be
authenticated.
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March 31, 2006
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Sent all 13 documents to Washington to the
Dept. of State and the Chinese Embassy.
When these come back, we will be ready to send everything to our
agency and then sent to ! Please
pray these documents will return safely to us!
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March 29, 2006
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Received back our Birth Certificates and
Marriage Certificate today from the SOS’s office in Nashville . – Just
2 more certifications to go!
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March 25, 2006
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Billy and I had our pictures made
today. These are the photos that
will be sent with our Dossier to . I will post all of those
pictures as soon as they are completed.
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March 24, 2006
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Received
our correct Birth Certificates today.
I then sent them along with our Marriage certificate to
Nashville to be certified. They
should be back next week.
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March 22, 2006
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We
found out today that the Birth Certificates that we obtained in December
are not the correct type we need for certification to send to . So, I had to re-order new ones
on-line. Those will also need to
be certified by the Secretary of State along with our Marriage
Certificate. I was very upset
about this today. It would have
been nice to have known in December that these were not the correct
type. Anyway, that’s a whole story in itself. There is a reason we have had things
that have had to be re-done. It
may be that Nora is not born yet!
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March 20, 2006
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Today we received the I 171-H
back from Nashville today.
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March 15, 2006
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Today I took the copy of the I
171-H to be notarized and then certified by the Bradley County Clerk’s
office. I then sent it by UPS to
Nashville to the Sec. of State’s office to be Authenticated. It should be back by Monday and I can
send all of our documents to Washington D.C. to the Dept. of State and
the Chinese Embassy. This is the
last step and we can send everything to our agency and then to Ch1na.
Once our Dossier is sent to
Ch1na, that date is called DTC (Dossier to Ch1na ). When then get word of when our Dossier
was logged into their system. This
date is called LID (Log In Date).
We are hoping for a LID sometime Mid-April. We then just wait on a referral of a
child, which currently the referral times are around 9 months. So, we should have a referral by
December or January 2007 at the latest.
You then travel around 6 to 8 weeks later. That would put us going to in either
February or March of 2007.
OK, so if that is the case, I
look at it like this – It took us 6 months to conceive this child, 11
months to carry this child and 14 days to deliver this child! Talk about “Birthing your
Dreams”!
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I 171-H ARRIVED!
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March 13, 2006
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March 13, 2006 – THE I 171-H
APPROVAL ARRIVED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been waiting on this for 3
months! This is the last document
for our Dossier to be notarized! I
also received my Passport today – Good timing!
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March 06, 2006
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Received Billy’s Employment
Verification Letter back from the Secretary of State’s office in Atlanta,
GA.
Now we are just waiting on the I
171-H from the USCIS (United States Citizenship Immigration Service) to
arrive. This is the approval for
Nora’s citizenship and for us to actually go to to get her. PLEASE PRAY THAT COMES SOON! I am sooooooooooooo wanting to send all
of this paperwork to so I can just prepare for our referral and work on
Nora’s room!
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February 28, 2006
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Sent Billy’s Employment Verification
Letter by UPS to the Secretary of State’s office in Atlanta to have the
“Great Seal” attached. This should
be back some time next week.
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February 10, 2006
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Billy and I went to the
Whitfield County Courthouse to have Billy’s Employment Verification Letter
certified by the Clerk of the Superior Court of Whitfield County . The lady that handled the certification
asked if we were adopting. We told
her we were and she told us that she had tried for 9 years to conceive,
adopted a child and then conceived another child. She had several scriptures posted on her
wall and she was so encouraging. It
still amazes me the things that God will put in front of us to encourage us
on this journey to our precious little Nora.
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February 07, 2006
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Billy and I went to Nashville to
the USCIS office to be fingerprinted.
This is part of the process for Nora’s citizenship approval. It was very neat the way they do it. They no longer ink your fingers. They use a scanner and scan your prints
into the computer. ( Of course,
technology!)
We then went to the Secretary of
State office for the state of Tennessee to have our documents originating
in Tennessee Authenticated.
This is a very interesting
process. Every document in our
Dossier has to be notarized. The
notary then has to be certified by the county office where the notary is
registered. The certification then
has to be sent to the Secretary of State for the county certification to
the Authenticated. The document then
has to be sent to the State Department in Washington, D.C. for the
Authentication by the State to be certified. Then the document has to be sent to the
Chinese Embassy in Washington
D.C. to be certified, then to the Chinese Consulate in Houston, TX to be
certified. This process has to be
completed for every document in our Dossier except for the family photos,
our Birth Certificates and our Marriage Certificate. Now, I only have one document to have
certified in Whitfield County, .
This is Billy’s employment verification letter. It had to be notarized in Whitfield
County because he works there. This
should be interesting!
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February 06, 2006
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Went to the County Clerk ’s
office to have the rest of our documents originating in Tennessee
certified. No problem this
time! Whew! Now, off to Nashville !
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February 05, 2006
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Had our Notary correct the rest
of our documents so we can have the documents certified through the County
Clerk ’s office.
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January 31, 2006
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Went to the County Clerk ’s
office to have our documents originating in Tennessee certified. They would certify our Police Reports,
but there was an issue with the other documents. Our notary put the wrong expiration date
for his notary on 5 of our documents.
We will have to have him correct this and bring the documents back.
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January 30, 2006
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Received our Home Study by Fed
Ex today. Now that our Home Study is
complete, we can apply for grants to help with the adoption cost.
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January 29, 2006
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Completed our Application Letter
to the CCAA ( This is the government agency in that will approve our
application and refer us our child).
Had Michael, our Notary to notarize this. This is last document that we had to provide
for our adoption. The only other
document that has to be notarized is our Home Study, which should arrive
any day now.
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January 23, 2006
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I went to get my passport. I’ve been trying to get this done for
nearly a month now and haven’t been able to get off from work to go. This should be back by March 6th.
Billy already has his passport from when he went to Jamaica last year.
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January 09, 2006
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Went to our family Physician for
our Exam. Our Notary, Michael went
with us and notarized our exam forms and our Financial Statement for
us. Also, had our 4th and final visit with our Home Study
Coordinator, Mitzi. She is the
greatest. She made us feel very
relaxed throughout the entire process of the Home Study. This was our home visit. I’m so glad that is over. I was more worried about that than
anything. Now I have new things to
worry about!
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Happy New Year!
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January 01, 2006
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New Year's Day! Maybe this will
be the year that we get to bring Nora home!
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December 28, 2005
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Billy and I went to have our
Physical Exams with our family Physician and they completed all the blood
tests needed. We had to go the
Hosptial to have our TB skin tests.
Will go back on Jan. 9th to complete Exam and have the
doctor sign the form and our Notary to notarize the form.
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Merry Christmas Nora!
I saw this on-line today about
Aids awareness day in China. The caption read, "Students
form an anti-Aids symbol during an awareness rally at a primary school in
Hefei, , on Thursday, November 30, 2006.
The number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in has grown by nearly 30
percent this year according to the country’s health ministry, which warned
that the virus seems to be spreading from high-risk groups to the general
public." 
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