LOA is in the House

He says it was the first time someone has asked to take his picture. I thanked him from the adoption community. Did I sit on my couch for 4.5 hours awaiting his arrival? Uh, yes. Did he show up on time? Well, no. Did my scanner on my computer work as it has the past six months when it came time to sign it and scan it to Lifeline? Uh, no. Was I left at home without a way to the church so I could fax it? Well, yes. Someone had to go pick up the littles at school for me because, as I said earlier, I couldn't leave for waiting for the Fed Ex man. Did my LOA get signed and faxed to Lifeline? YES! Am I going to celebrate tonight? Oh my, yes.

Now, that I can breathe for a minute, we must move right along to visas, power of attorney for Tim, travel documents, travel meeting, etc., etc., etc.... This will all be a distant memory real soon and that is why I would like to document all the small stuff that we sweat so that others might not feel so crazy when they re-act as I do and forget the big picture.

Happy Birthday, Chaning!

Tomorrow for us/Today for her our little girl turns 4. Thousands of miles away from us, our daughter is celebrating. Tonight, we celebrated for her as well. Although our hearts are heavy that she is not with us on this day, we know she is being loved on and cared for until the day that we can wrap our arms around her. What better way to celebrate than for us to receive our LOA today. We literally did not find out that it was here until about 9:00 p.m. tonight. You gotta love spam email or cyberspace, take your pick.

This means that we will travel to bring Chaning home in about 8 to 10 weeks from now. This is our last leg of the adoption "wait". We were able to share the news with the kids tonight and little Carson's face just lit up like a light bulb when the words, Chaning will be coming home soon were mentioned. These kids are going to love on her to the point that we may have to make sure she is given her space to take it all in once we return home. Carson has always been the baby of the family and is sitting on GO to "teach" his baby sister all that she needs to learn.

Many of you have asked how Julia feels about the upcoming addition of Chaning. Julia starts each and every day asking how long it is until Chaning comes home and you can already see the love in her heart that she has for her baby sister. She is so nurturing. She is also so tomboyish. Watch out, Chaning.

Chaning, we hope you have a wonderful 4th birthday and cannot wait to celebrate all the rest of your birthdays with you. You are so loved! Oh, and your cake was really good!