Our church has had a Fall Festival as an alternative to Halloween for years. This year, for the first time, we moved the event outside and tried Trunk or Treat.

Carmi decorated the back of our van in a Chinese New Year theme. Eliana wore a Ninja costume and Karys dressed up as an authentic China girl wearing a traditional silk outfit in Daddy’s favorite color.

Carmi and I received an email from our case manager this morning.

She surprised us with 3 new pictures of our son and some “supposedly” updated measurements. I say “supposedly” because Carmi thinks they are the same numbers we received back in April.

I showed the pictures to Eliana and Karys. They both stood and s-t-a-r-e-d at the pictures like they were just soaking it in.

We went to the early service at church this morning and then snuck off to Carowinds for the afternoon.

Eliana wore her million-dollar smile practically the entire time. She does love the rides.

Did I mention that she’s fearless?!? We’re in trouble when she grows more and can ride the “big” rides.

At least I made the first and last trip. I went into the hospital right after our first trip and missed the entire summer.

We’re following another family’s blog right now that is pretty special.

At this moment, there is a family from California in China adopting a young man.

This young man is the same age as our son.

This young man is in the same province as our son.

This young man is in the same city as our son.

This young man is in the same boarding school as our son.

This young man most likely knows our son.

But we can’t make contact now and it’s driving me crazy.

We received an email from our case manager just now telling us that our dossier was received by the China Center of Adoption Affairs and logged-in to their computer system on October 17, 2008.

We’re IN, baby!

I took the girls outside when I got home from work and we played some soccer.

Thought I’d show you where Eliana spends most of her time when we play. She can’t keep up with the old man.

Our church had a property dedication service this afternoon for 13 acres that were anonymously donated.

Karys was a little distracted…