{quick update}

Just wanted to let you all know that our Dossier for Benjamin has FINALLY arrived at the CCAA as of 10:32 AM this morning! Now all we need is a LID and the count down can begin ~ until we travel back to China for our son!!!!

where o where can we be?

HERE!

Well you all guessed it and if you are reading this post about 1PM Eastern Time today ~ we should already be at the Magic Kingdom enjoying our first day HERE! (our flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 this morning) I can't believe that we will be HERE for almost two weeks this time ~ it is not only a dream come true for us, but seeing how we are celebrating Francesca's 5th Birthday HERE as well, this is totally her dream come true as well...

I guess it is like they say, "a dream that you wish will come true..."

one photo {of each girl}

(I swear she gets more beautiful with each day that passes...)


(Our little Make-Up Queen ~ Yes finally we have our girly girl!)

Since everyone has been asking me "Where are some new photos of the girls?" I thought I would share one of my favorite {of each girl} that was taken over the Christmas holiday! As many of you know, our Pennsylvania Christmas Celebration didn't happen until New Year's weekend. Even though that was the start of the illness that took me out for one week, we all were still able to have a wonderful weekend with Grandma, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Scott, Scott Joe, and best of all G.G. Keith took a ton of photos but seeing how I am very limit in my time this week to not only download all the photos but also edit/down-size each one through flickr and than copy & paste them here to the blog, I figured I would share with you all two photos...one of Francesca & one of Annabelle...that was taken over that weekend!

to my family - "We truly had an amazing weekend with you all and we are so looking forward to spending almost TWO WEEKS TOGETHER with everyone at Disney World! We love you all so very much! See you all on Friday...!"

Seeing how you guys are going to be seeing a lot of my family once we return from our vacation, I figured for now I would spare you all of the craziness that goes on within our larger-than-life Italian family and really lay it onto you once we return (trust me ~ you'll be seeing enough of them in the many of photos that will be taken while at Disney).

MIA

OK picture this...ME not being able to do anything for almost one whole week while trying to get our house ready for a vacation that is happening in a matter of four days and trying to start packing for four people ~ that is what happen to ME last week. I got hit with an acute sinus infection - double ear infection - fever - cough - basically you name it I had it! I couldn't do anything but move myself from the bed to the couch. If it wasn't for Keith, Francesca would not have attended school all of last week, the girls would have never eaten lunch (or supper for that matter) and I would have never made it to the doctor's on Thursday to find out what was going on {inside my body} and get some strong meds to treat it. The photo above (while it is not me but my beautiful daughter Francesca) shows exactly what position I was in most of the week.

Today is Monday and I am finally starting to feel better. I am not 100% but I am getting there. I hope to be catching up with you all so very soon.

once again ~ our time line....

Seeing how we are now 100% packed away from Christmas and {OK confession to make here...I actually started on December 28th and was finished by December 30th which is so not me ~ yes I must admit I am one of those crazy Christmas lovers that keep the decorations up & lite until January 2nd BUT seeing how...} we are in HIGH gear of excitement over our very anticipated Disney trip, I though I would give you all a "status report" (or time line) of where we are at in our paper chasing for Benjamin...

- We FINALLY received our approved 797C on December 28th! The original was copied and that copy was notarized the same day!

- We went to Harrisburg PA to have our last.two.documents. certified by the State of Pennsylvania on Monday January 4th!

- By January 5th, our last.two.documents. were "over-nighted" to our courier service, Legal Eaze in NYC, to have SAME DAY authentication service...

- They were than sent DIRECTLY to our agency in Colorado (thinking the last.two.documents. arrived at our agency on January 7th)!

- So now we are waiting...waiting on a review from our agency and praying for a DTC before we leave for Disney on the 15th....

(we "heard" that we were approved by USCIS on December 22nd...and because of the holiday ~ and major snow storms or at least we think ~ we didn't receive our USCIS approval until 6.days.later. Sometimes, life just isn't fair, but I am taking it as it comes. Maybe we'll see quick LOA, TA, and CA and travel in record time April or May or even June...only time will tell...)

Anyway, that is where we are at! On our end, it appears that our paper chasing for Benjamin has ended (do you hear the cheering from our amazing band of supporter ~ we love you all!) AND I will keep you all posted on these dates that will follow...DTC and LID!

Love you all and finally an end to our paper chasing days....

{just too funny}

Isn't she just too precious for words!

Sunday Snap Shot ~ Our Princesses!

Since we are headed out to Disney World in Florida in exactly 13 days (we leave on the 15th)...

and our girls are just super dooper EXCITED...

as we are too...

I found it only fitting to feature our two girls in a princess dress {of their choice} to be featured in this week's Sunday Snap Shot photo!



Oh how we can't wait!!!!

PS - after seeing Francesca in her Princess Aurora costume which she got last year as a Birthday gift from Aunt Molly...I am thinking she is going to be needing another one before we go! (this one is just way too small for her to be wearing) Do you know how hard it is to find any Disney Princess costume right after Christmas? I think I am going to have to wait to find one while at Disney {sigh}...