Well, we left here at around 7.20pm Monday night, and made it to Troutdale a little before 8pm to meet up with Becky. She had the homestudy all ready, and we got to sign some more paperwork ... It was pretty exciting stuff!! They had us sign the form with your bio information and photo on it ... (had to actually sign across the photo, which felt a little weird), and then also sign your medical papers. I think this is what they call an official referral!! Baby, you're all OURS!!!!!!! Daddy and I left there a couple of very happy campers, and headed towards Yakima ...which incidentally, is a heck of alot further from here than we originally thought!

We stopped in Hood River on the way over, and had a really lovely dinner. It was called Three Rivers Grill, and we'll definetely take you there. Service was great, as well as a lovely atmosphere ... and the food was awesome! Left there after dinner, and continued our trek thru the Gorge and finally found where we had to turn off to get to Yakima. The turning point was heading to Goldendale, which I called Silverdale (and that made Daddy laugh), so we're officially referring to it as Precious-metal-dale...haha.

We got to follow this big truck forever ... He was driving kinda slow. We followed him all the way to this place that I just call the Toppy-place, cause I can't spell what its really called. Topponish? Toppononish? ...Either way, things got funny when we got there. It was pretty late, and we stopped for gas, and both Dad and I needed to pee reallllllly bad. Well.... the Toppy-place is NOT pee-friendly. Not a place open in town!!! We couldn't even hide behind a building, cause all the buildings have this weird way of facing another building.... So, Dad and I both bursting .... hit the road again.

25 more miles up the road, and we finally hit Yakima. Luckily it was an easy search for the hotel we were staying at, and Daddy and I didn't even wait for the receptionist... We were both off in search of a bathroom. Feeling a little better (and a little lighter too..haha), we checked into our room. It was a super short night, as we were up nice and early this morning to go get your immigration papers filed. The people at the Yakima office were super nice! As soon as we told them that we were there to file for you, they were all telling us "Congratulations!!" ...it was very nice!! We got to spend a while there before we got our fingerprints taken, and then we were on our way back home again. On the way into Yakima, we passed an Outback Steakhouse, so thought that might be a good place for lunch on the way home. We found it again on our way out of town, but unfortunately they don't open until 4pm, so we thought we'd drive until we found something else that looked good. Well, we drove alright ..... right past Outback Steakhouse, right past the Yakima Mall ..... we even found a Mercedes dealership .....and we kept driving .... Did this hilarious big circle, and ended up at the Olive Garden right down the road from where we'd filed your immigration papers ... We were giggling like a couple of kids!!! Had a nice lunch there, and then left for home! ... I guess we'll know for next time that Yakima is just one big circle!

It feels so nice to know that we're getting so close. Signing those papers last night was a big thing, and then getting your immigration filed today was just awesome. Now its all up to India. I can only hope that we get really lucky with CARA and court dates ... From what I've heard it can be as fast as a month - 6wks, or take as long as 4 months. Becky was very reassuring that Vijay would be pushing things as fast as she could, and as of right now, we're still on target for July....

What on earth am I going to do while we wait? .... I'm sure I'll come up with a few things .. we need to repaint your part of the bedroom....and get you dresser.... I need to finish your photo book ... (ooooh, which reminds me, we got given the coolest toy!! A lady that works with Grandma gave you this supercute teddy bear dressed as a police officer ...its already on your bed), ....... I'm sure I'll be trying hard to come up with ways to keep busy.

Lets hope India moves fast now ..... The countdown is really on!!!!

I love you ........