Hey! Hey! We have our LOA!!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm so excited to share the news that we have our LOA? This is our Letter of Acceptance saying that we have been approved to adopt Tia and if we are still interested (ya think?) we need to return the letter and they will give us travel approval! We only waited 76 or 77 days (US vs. Australia dates). The China program coordinator, Heidi said we should be able to travel right after Chinese New Year (sometime around February 15th!) That also means we may be able to travel with my best adoption buddy Rebel when she goes to get her little girl Lilli! I am so happy - YEAH!!!!!!! The official LOA will be delivered on Monday, when we will Fedex it right back to Washington! This is really happening . . . . Tia, we will be there in less than 2 months!!!

Around the house . . .

Thought you might enjoy some photos of Christmas around the Witt house.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Down Under! After enjoying a wonderful 9 day trip to Tasmania it was such fun to return home and have loads of Christmas cards from our friends and family - thanks to everyone! We gathered around the Christmas tree, turned some Christmas music on, made a pot of tea, set out a tray of Christmas cookies and enjoyed reading all the beautiful cards and looking at the photos of your families. It was really fun and I''m sure it will become a Christmas tradition. At this special time of the year being so far away from home could be sad but we feel close to you through your beautiful Christmas cards and photos.

The littlest ant. . . .

Isabella's class was in charge of the Junior School Assembly last week. All the girls in the class had different jobs such as Being the MC, singing, doing skits and giving awards to Junior School girls. Isabella was originally disappointed to only have the role of the littlest ant in one of the skits "The Ants go Marching . . . ." - you know the song . . . .

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, . . . . . .The little one stops to tie his shoe and they all go marching down to the ground To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Isabella had a couple lines that she did as she was carrying the very large basket meant to be a sultana (raisin in Aus speak) she fell to the ground and cried out "this isn't much fun!" She was amazing - she stole the whole show with her one line and had lots of compliments on her performance. Once again we are reminded that this little girl was BORN FOR THE SHOW!

Surf Awareness Day!

Most Australians (there are only 20 million) live very near the coast - so there is sort of a surf culture here. All the school kids go to a Surf Awareness Course in Year 5. Jonah's class had their day last week. The kids learn about the rip tides and how to handle the change in conditions at the beach. After the classroom section the kids all go to the beach and they get in the water onto a surf type board and learn how to handle the tide and the surf. I'm sure this type of education saves a lot of lives in Australia but from Jonah's perspective it was just good fun to go to the beach with all his Year 5 Mates!

Chicken Boy!

I have to share a funny story about Jonah. Jonah loves chickens. He had a Chicken Club in second grade. The boys all loved to say "chicken" at the silliest times. He has a few rubber chickens (one is laying an egg!) attached to his backpack and he was a chicken for Halloween one time when he was 9. I remember when Jonah was about 5 years old, we were eating chicken and he looked at it and asked: "Mom, what are we eating?", and I replied "chicken" and he said "as in A Chicken", oh, yes that would be correct . . . "YUCK" was his reply (have to agree when you think of it that way, and while you are biting into it . . . ) Like most people these days I pretty much only had made chicken breasts, and boneless, so it is easy to forget it is all from A Chicken. The other day we were eating drumsticks for the second or third time in the past few months. They are much cheaper in Australia than breast meat and since food (and everything) is so expensive I have been trying to trim the grocery budget a bit. Jonah didn't eat much of his chicken. When I said, "Jonah, finish up your chicken.." He had the most squeamish look on his face and he just said "Mom, I just can't do it, I cannot eat chicken right off its leg!" It is the funniest thing! My Crocodile Hunter, loves to fish kid really can't do it, so I cut it off for him and he ate it but I just don't think he is ever going to enjoy a good barbequed chicken leg like the rest of us in this family do! That is our silly Chicken Boy!

Trick or Treat!

We had a fun time on Halloween. The kids went trick or treating with some friends - there aren't very many people that participate but one of my friends lives in a neighborhood with a few houses that do give out candy. We had a really fun time!