Our 1989 mazda died a natural death the other day - thankfully in its sleep. Sharon and I knew this was inevitable, although we were hoping we could put off the purchase of a new car until late summer.

On the adoption front, we have collected almost all of the family pictures we need, and we are looking forward to getting fingerprinted on January 26th in Charlotte, NC. Following this time, I am going to focus some of my energy on filling out two adoption grant applications. These could provide Sharon and me with an important fraction of the adoption costs, and so we hope each of you is praying specifically for this.

Friday, January 6, 2006 12:51 PM, CST

Our social worker came to our house this week for her last visit - her first with our boys. All of our boys were cordial, outgoing, and funny. I feel good that their conversation with the social worker not only showed them to be pleasant, but also excited about their role as a big brother to Grace.

Also, there have been rumors circulating the internet that China is purposefully slowing down their adoption process - shifting the typical wait time after the dossier is logged in (LID) to the Chinese system from 7-10 months up to 10-12 months. Our dossier consultant e-mailed us yesterday to let us know that this rumor is untrue and that the wait time is still 7-10 months following LID. This is great news, but we are highly tentative about completely embracing it.

Our last piece - the fingerprinting - is taking place in Charlotte, NC on January 26. This will be the last thing we need to do, or can do, other than wait. (Pat)