Day 84...

Glimmer of hope today from a little birdie.  Crossing fingers and toes to maybe see my LOA on Friday or Monday!

Amy Has Her

Great morning to wake up and see one of my "projects" with her new baby girl.  Amy finally has been united with her little Louisa!  She is updating on her babyjellybeans site, you can get the code off her blog here: http://popsiclesandpopcorn.blogspot.com/

Happy Gotcha Day for this sweet family!!

Princess Power

Lunch in Xi'an

Love His Smile

Happy Friday!

Favorite Party Pic

Tea Party

While the boys were away, us girls went out to play!  Shelby requested that we have a REAL tea party. I checked around and found us a deal, we were then off to have a $20 "real" tea party.  Shelby enjoyed every single minute, scones and all.  Me on the other hand...well not my cup of tea-haha.

The point of the event was to spend time with my girls, and that was a great success. Memories were made and scones were eaten (at least by Shelby)!!

The Boys

Caleb has his first band concert last night. He did great as expected! So proud of both of my big boys. Here they are enjoying their muddy weekend they had with their dad doing all things BOY. Love my boys :)

Let It Snow

Ian is really enjoying playing in the snow this week.  I love this first picture-pure JOY!

I love seeing him having fun and playing in the snow.  I don't think GA will ever see that much snow, so I am happy he is getting to experience it now before he comes home. 

I am dissappointed in the extra long wait for LOA,  but very happy that he is getting to make some good memories in China!

Happy Year of the Dragon

We celebrated Chinese New Year with some friends this weekend.  The boys had their own agenda (will post later), so it was just a girls weekend for us.  We had a great time sharing stories and meeting old and new friends.  What an amazing year it has been!

Snow Day for Ian

Makes my heart smile today :)

My Day

Woke up this morning with high hopes of getting good news...

And now...

Unfortunately my LOA has not been issued from China.  The "big" deal about it not arriving today is that now the folks in China are closed for the next TEN days...ugh.  The whole country closes for an entire week to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

 

So very sad that now at the earliest, it will be May when I can travel. 

Growing Up

Yes she is...right before my eyes. There's no stopping her I'm afraid

Big Performance

The big performance day is coming for my son.  His whole class has been practicing and rehearsing for the big day this Friday. All the kids are very excited to finally reach the big day when all their hardwork will finally be revealed.  They have learned new songs, practiced a few new little "dances", and even learned some new poems to recite at the big event.  Finally the big day is coming!

They will all line up on the stage together to perform for their
proud parents,
doting grandparents, 
little sisters,
big brothers
peers.

You see my son I am talking about is Ian.  Unfortunately this is his reality-no one there for him.

Every year the orphanage kids "get ready" for the big Chinese New Year celebration.  Their celebration will be this coming weekend.  No one is there to cheer them on, to tell them how great they looked, to take picture after picture of their big day, or to give them a big hug afterwards telling each of them how proud of them they are are.  THEY HAVE NO ONE!


How sad it is to realize that this is their reality, my son's reality for the past 8 years.  It breaks my heart to truly let myself think about it, and it should break yours too :(

If you want to know how to be there for a child, drop me an email to learn more about adoption.

Learning Patience Slowly

Nine Today

Happy Birthday to my favorite Travis in the whole world!!!

Girls Night Out

Birthday Kid

Here is Travis showing off his favorite kind of gift :) Heaven help me tonight as we host a sleepover with 7 BOYS!!

Hope

Check out our dinner fortune tonight!!

First Day Back to School

This is what Elise thinks about going back to school...

Straight As

Well I already knew my youngest son was adorable, and now I know he is smart too! 

Check out his latest report card from the orphanage :)

Congratulations Ian, can't wait to give you a hug and a kiss for each hard earned A!!

62 Days and STILL Counting

I tried to be patient at least up to the 60 day mark.  Well now, we are at day 62 waiting for our LOA (Letter of Approval) to adopt Ian.  Unfortunately the "averages" right now are all over the board from 50 to even 120 days of waiting for LOA.  Hoping and praying it comes SOON, as I am not a patient waiter.  The LOA wait seems to be the hardest for me since there is absolutely nothing I can do about this wait.  At least with the next few "waits", they are fairly predictable and I at least know a few tricks to speed them along. But for now, all I can do is wait........................UGH

KFC Yummy

A Day in the Life...

Small World

Just received these pics from another family who just so happened to be in China at the exact same time we were last year. I mean exactly, as in our families were actually together at the medical exam in Guangzhou. They were there adopting their new 6 year old daughter, who was in the same class as Ian.  Here are the pics from the little song the class sang for them. 

How neat it is to be able to see exactly what he was doing at the same time we were in his country :)