Happy Mother's Day...

Every holiday since finding Anna has been difficult. This one was no different. I felt guilty for feeling sad being surrounding by the most beautiful boys in the world, but there was someone missing - my Anna. The day began hard as I opened my closet and saw her clothes hanging. Some days are just harder and today was one of those days.

But, even though my heart was heavy, longing for my daughter to be home, I couldn't help count the three beautiful blessings around me. I am the luckiest mother in the world.

So happy to be a mother and sending love to my Anna.

Getting Ready for TA...

As we anxiously wait for our TA, we are trying to get things ready for our trip to China and Anna's arrival to her new home. Our Visas are at the Chinese Embassy being processed. Our courier is scheduled to pick them up on Tuesday, so hopefully they will be here by Thursday or Friday. We are picking up items for our trip and to finish up Anna and Parker's room.

We are hearing from others in the adoption community from a different agency that packages with TAs are coming for those with LOAs at least through 4/19...we are 4/27, so maybe, maybe not. God knows and it will be the right timing for us when it comes. There are still a lot of things that need to be worked out, so I am going to trust that He is working them out perfectly.

I am very excited thinking about the reality that I will be holding Anna very soon. I have been doing sooo well with the wait lately. I am thankful to God that he has given me peace and has allowed me to focus on other things. I am doing some contract work for my former employer and it has been a great help, both financially and emotionally. I have been able to work at home and make some extra money that is really helping us out as we are trying to keep many "irons in the fire".

God has been so good to us. He has been faithful to me throughout my life, but within the last year, He has really revealed His faithfulness to me. He has gone above and beyond what I could have ever imagined. I am just humbled and so blessed to be able to be a part of this miracle - becoming Anna's mommy.

Thanking God for His goodness and sending love to my Anna.

What's New?

Well, nothing extremely exciting, but.....there is something new and anything to do with Anna excites me. Today we received our "Big Brown Envelope". It is the packet that adoptive families receive which contains a congratulatory message from the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China and the needed paperwork to finalize the adoption and citizenship on the US end. We will take all the papers with us to China. They will be completed and presented to the Consulate once in China.

We are also sending off our Visa applications to a courier today. She should have them by Wednesday and hopefully, we will have our Visas by end of next week, or the beginning of the following. We were also sent the tracking number of our LOA/SC. It is currently in Beijing waiting for delivery to the CCAA. Hopefully after it arrives, we will have our travel processed within 13 - 18 days. WOW - I can't believe we are this close :-) !!

Thursday night I finally found the bedding I am using in Parker and Anna's room. I also picked up a couple more pairs of pj's, socks and some nanny gifts. Friday, I went out to finish the needed items for the bedding, a couple more gifts for the orphanage director, notaries, adoption registrars and various officials. My bedroom is starting to pile up - my sister will kill me after all the cleaning out. I need to start packing things I know I have to take to get them out of the way. I also picked up the paint for the room and got the trim and walls painted. Parker's bed is finished, except a few throw pillows and Anna's comforter is done. I still lack her sheets, bed skirt and pillows. I hope to finish all that up this week sometime - we'll see.

Getting closer to travel and sending love to my Anna.

Back To Where It Started...

From Beijing, China to Cedar City, Utah to Adolphus, Kentucky to Salt Lake City, Utah and tomorrow, back to Beijing, China - our Letter Seeking Confirmation from Adopter (LOA/SC) is making its way back to where it started.

Our package didn't arrive until Monday, April 30th, just before noon. A family friend is also our FedEx deliveryman, so he shares our excitement with each package we receive. I joked that I might tackle him on his next delivery, as it will be our Travel Notice/Approval (TA).

After the package arrived, I waited for Rodney to come home and we both signed, checked the "YES" box (that we do want to accept Hai Zhi Yi) and were off to the local FedEx distribution center for it to be overnighted to Salt Lake City, Utah. The translator for CHI is gathering all the LOAs received for our agency and will be sending them to CCAA, Beijing, China tomorrow. The package should arrive on Monday, May 7th. Thereafter, they will begin to process our Travel.

So, now we are back in the waiting game...this time for our LAST step! It is hard to believe we have come this far and are so close to getting Anna. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter. But for now, we will wait and get things in order for Ms. Anna Mei Yi to come home. I still have to finish up her room and finalize our packing lists. I am so glad to be focusing on these tasks vs. getting papers together...much more exciting :-)

Praying for a quick TA and sending love to my Anna.

LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got it!!! LOA or SC is Letter of Acceptance or Seeking Confirmation Letter. It was the next huge milestone in our journey and today - it arrived at our agency!!!

Today, I started seeing people post on different boards about getting their LOAs who had LIDs in February...well that of course caused me to be excited as I had been anxiously awaiting the CCAA to start processing LOAs for those logged in during the month of February. No posts from our agency board though, until around 6:20 pm and a message was sent that stating all those with February LIDs should be near a phone - good news was coming. My husband was on the phone as I was reading the e-mail. I told him to take the call, if it were to beep (caller ID). He told me it had already beeped and he didn't take it! What?!?! The announcements started rolling in...LID of 2/7....2/13.....2/25 (same as us)....2/27! Finally, around 7:10, we got a call from the agency. It was the agency trying to call us when he was on the phone! But, we got the call, were are getting the letter and Anna will soon be coming home!

The CCAA is closed all next week for a May holiday, so our agency will not send off the signed LOA until Wednesday. Hopefully it will be there first thing next Monday (May 7th) morning and our TA will be processed quickly! I am seeing 14 - 18 days on multiple boards. So that would put us around May 25th getting TA (this is purely speculation based on what I have seen others do). Then just trying to get a CA (consulate appointment) as soon as possible.

It is such an emotional thing...every step of this process. Every step we get closer to her, it sinks in a little deeper that she really will be coming home - soon! I know others have waited much longer than us, but any wait away from your child is a long wait. We are blessed to have made it this far. I know God's hands have orchestrated all this from the very beginning. Before her birth, my heart longed for her and it has only grown stronger as the months have past. I know that she is my daughter, I know that I love her as my own flesh and blood, I know that there is coming a day, very soon, that she will be placed in my arms and we will be united as a family. I can hardly wait - my heart is just overflowing with joy! It may sound extreme to some, but the love of a mother for her child is unexplainable - can you imagine His love for us?

I am so thankful for this journey and for what God has done for us. To some, it is just a process that we are involved and this is just the next systematic step set in place by a Chinese governmental agency. But to me, it is the fulfillment of a promise. God told me to step out and He would prepare a way. He has and He is. We have prayed for God to be with Anna, our dossier and for our paperwork to be processed quickly. He is answering our prayers.

Praising God for His faithfulness and sending love to my Anna.

Nesting???

We are on day 54 of our "official" LOA wait. I am relatively calm, not too terribly anxious, but feeling a deep urge to get things in order. My sister asked me if I was nesting...I hope so. I hope that my internal subconscious instinct "knows" that I need to get things ready for Anna to come home soon!

The beginning of the week, I painted a twin bed that I am using for Parker, finished switching out winter to summer clothes and arranged the room (Parker and Anna's) in a way that I think will work. We were up in the air on how we were going to arrange rooms, but I think the best solution is to put Anna and Parker together for now. They are only 17 months apart and the different gender isn't an issue at their ages. Parker will be 3 June 28th, and Anna will be 2 November 10. Plus, we really didn't want to do anything to change the house structurally, because we will be putting it up for sale when Anna gets home. No need to put more money in the house when we will not be utilizing the changes made for very long, hopefully. I think it will work out good. Plus, Anna is used to having someone sleep inches from her crib. I don't think she would like a big lonely room.

My sister, organizational queen, has came over the last 2 days to help me "get rid" of stuff. I love to hang on to things that I might or might not need 20 years from now. My closet was busting at the seams, utility room was a disaster area, the kitchen had too much stuff, the large closet in Parker & Anna's room was out of control, and the chest they are to share was full. But after 2 days of hard work and "letting go", the utility room and kitchen are organized, Parker and Anna's room/closet is starting to take shape and my closet is under control. Parker has a twin bed set up, Anna's crib is in place, Anna's clothes have been put in drawers and hung in the closet, and I am about ready to start on their bedding.

Tomorrow, the living room must be tackled. We put garage sale items in a corner and folded laundry is on the couch. I really would like to straighten the den and Carter and Jacob's room as well. The momentum is flowing and I don't want to quit till it is done - maybe I am nesting. I remember when I was pregnant with all the boys, I would hit this streak and I would clean like crazy. I stayed up one night on my hands and knees cleaning the floors and moving furniture (wouldn't recommend a 9 month pregnant woman to do, but if it hits, your gonna do it). I could hardly move the next day, but my house was clean. It wasn't long, until a baby was coming. I have read today on boards that those with LID as late as 1/30/07 (special needs program) were receiving LOAs/SCs today...that's only 25 days ahead of us. It makes me really excited to think about getting a call from our agency with LOA/SC news. I will just be beside myself...but it could be soon! A couple weeks ago parents that were LID in December were getting LOA/SCs...so that is 2 months they have covered in just under 3 weeks. I know there are some that have been waiting 100+ days, but I pray they get theirs soon and they really start processing quickly at CCAA.

God knows when and how, but I pray it is soon. Like I stated before, I am relatively calm, but I want her home so badly it just hurts to think about. I am thankful that God is giving me other things to focus on right now...it might just be making a place for her little socks to go, but it keeps me sane. The thread is tugging hard on my heart and I am soooooo ready to meet this baby girl that I love dearly. The miracle of adoption is beyond words that I can express. I have known I wanted to adopt for many years, but I have known about my child I would adopt while she was still in her birth mother's womb. God placed a different burden in my heart for her, just a month before her birth. I had had the burden for adoption before, but this was a burden for my child that I was suppose to find. I have loved her, prayed for her, hurt for her, cried for her, longed for her and I am ready for her. I am ready to touch her hand, stroke her hair, feel her cheek on mine, hear her breathe, see her smile, listen to her laugh, smell her little feet and kiss her forehead. I am ready.

Asking God for quick processing of our paperwork and sending love to my Anna.

Sweet Face...

We got another picture today of Anna. The couple that got us the update and picture of Anna earlier in the week is finally home with their beautiful daughter, Ella, and was able to download the remaining pictures of the orphanage. There was another picture of Anna in the group. We are thrilled to get to see another image of our daughter...here it is...

Sweet dreams tonight and sending love to my Anna.