One of Those Days

You know, one of those days when you just seem to go from one thing to another and not really get anything done.  One of those mopey kinda days.  Not because anything is wrong, but just because.

Well, I am having one of those days.  It is now 3:00 and the day is almost over and I know that I have been doing things all day, but I just can't say that I was able to scratch anything off of my list or really recall actually DOING anything today.  Hmmmmm...gotta get up and do something significant...I know, like the laundry!  That way I can tell my hubby that I did do SOMETHING today.

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

I got the call!  I got the call!!

We have our LOA...which means....that we will be able to get Makinley before Christams!!!!

Thank you, all, for praying for us.  We should get our Travel Approval in November and then we will be booking our flights to go get our baby girl!

.......Sigh............

That is just how I feel today.  It is also raining and gloomy looking outside....to match my mood.....sigh...

Today is day 41 of our wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance) and do not get me wrong, I know that is not a long time, it just 'feels' really long today.  The wait right now for where I am is 49 days.  Not getting my hopes up though because there are still a lot of people ahead of me waiting for theirs.  It also probably would not bother me if I didn't know that there was a deadline for getting her home before Christmas.  We are coming dangerously close to that line. Feels like de ja vu from Ashlyn's adoption...and we missed the deadline and had to go a month later than we should have.  Same scenario here.

I also know that God's timing is best.  I just REALLY wish that He would let me know when that was.  If he tells me that it is going to be later I would be ok.  I could prepare.  I know it sounds silly.  Why don't I just plan for the latter and if it comes sooner..Yay!!  I would love to do that, but my Momma's heart can not let go of the hope.  So I just torment myself.

My heart has also been hurting for the people that have waited way too long for their LOA.  One is at 125 days!!  We waited 107 for Ashlyn's and that was way too long!  I know how they feel...totally defeated.  They want so much to go and bring their babies home.  I do want them to get theirs before I get mine.  I have waited before, I can wait again.

I just need to focus on the fact that in 5 months Makinley will be at home with us, where she belongs.

Update on Makinley's Leg

As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country. ~ Proverbs 25:25

I just received news that Makinley's leg is fine.  The brace is being used to help her walk better.  Right now she walks with a gait.  It breaks my heart that it hurts her to walk in it, but what a blessing that she is in such an incredible orphanage that has the ability to help her with the treatments that she needs.  We are truly blessed!

Now come on LOA!!!!!

Update ~ Heart Ache

Actually, the update is that there is no update yet.....sigh.....

Maybe we will hear something on Makinley's leg tomorrow.

Please keep praying for our little girl.

Heart Ache

I received new pictures of Makinley yesterday from my sweet friend, Annie.  She is adopting her precious little girl and was visiting the orphanage.  In the pictures I noticed that Makinley has a brace/cast on her leg.  I am trying to get information about what happened to her.  I know that she is at an excellent orphanage, I just want to know what happened.  My heart just aches that she could have gotten hurt and I was not there.  This poor baby has gone through so much pain in her life that it just aches my heart.  I need to get to her and bring her home so that her Momma can take care of her.  I REALLY need to hug my baby girl.

I LOVE Email Lately!

Thanks to another family who was visiting the orphanage, I received this in my email this morning!

I am forever grateful to all of the families that have gone before me and take great efforts to get me a picture of my child who hates her picture taken by strangers.  She constantly shakes her head 'no'.  Out of 5 pictures, this one was my favorite. (Even though her mouth is full of congee).

I can not wait to go and visit Zhongshan so that I can pay it forward and give such amazing blessings to those who are waiting for their children.

On another note, I am still having dreams about Makinley every night......sigh.......I really pray that we will be able to get her before Christmas.  My heart is just not complete when a part of it is on the other side of the world.

Random Thoughts

No updates.  We are just in "wait mode" for the next couple of months.  If we can get our LOA (letter of acceptance) by my birthday (beginning of September), we still have a shot of making it this year to get our baby girl.  It would take a miracle because that would be less than two months of waiting for LOA and the trend is longer than that right now.  But I know God can do miracles....we will see if that is His will.

Feeling a bit somber the past few days.

Yesterday was Ashlyn's birthday and as the party was winding down my thoughts were shifting to her birth mother.  Was she thinking of Ashlyn?  Was she wondering what ever happened to the baby that she left on the hospital steps so that she could get medical attention?  She could not care for her.  She could not feed her.  Does God give her a peace that her baby is being cared for?  I hope so.  I pray that her birth mother has a peace that the baby she left four years ago did make it and is thriving.  I know that every abandonment story is completely different.  I am not trying to say that every birth mother gave up her child in love.  I know some do, but I also know that some do not.  We have purposed to only give our daughter information that we know to be true when she comes to us later in life with questions.  We do not want to presume anything.  It is not our story.  However, in Ashlyn's case there are specific things that we do know.  We will be able to share precious information (as little as it may be) with our daughter and then she can fill in her own blanks with what she feels is right.

Makinley has been in my thoughts constantly this week.  I have had vivid dreams with her in them multiple times this week.  I am not a dreamer and even when I do dream I tend to not be able to recall them.  Every dream is about me going to get Makinley, but they are all different.  There is a common thread though.  She totally accepts me in each of them.  Weird, because I watch her in videos and think that she will have a hard time adjusting to strangers.  She doesn't seem to like them very much (gives me a giggle at how she has responded to friends who have tried to get pictures for me).

Anyways, China seems to be tugging at my heart more than usual lately.  I pray for many things, but especially for us to be able to get our baby girl soon.  I can not wait to get back to China.

Update on Makinley

I just received an update on Makinley.  Yes, we are doing the Snoopy dance here!!

Let me start out by saying that Makinley is a year and a half younger than Ashlyn.  She is three inches shorter than Ashlyn.  She weighs 2 pounds less than Ashlyn.  And her foot is two shoe sizes bigger than Ashlyn's!!  I don't know if that last part is correct.  Back in February her foot was almost 5 inches and now it is supposedly 6 inches!  That means she went from a shoe size 6 (same as Ashlyn at that time) in February to now a shoe size of 9!!!  Is that even possible in 5 months???!!!

Anyways, along with all of this wonderful information we also received TWO NEW PICTURES!!!

Love, Love, LOVE these pictures!!!  She is actually smiling and not crying in them (hee hee).  But doesn't she look so big? 

This was her picture back in February.  Sniff...sniff....she looks like such a big girl now.

Ok...let's get this process moving!  I want my baby girl!!

We Did It!!

Tomorrow our Dossier will be on its way to China!!

Our (BIG) part is finally done.  Now we wait on China and the US to finish the process.  At this point we could still travel this year.  It is looking like end of November to beginning of December.  We would like to be able to leave by December 3rd so that we would be back the week before Christmas.  If that doesn't happen then we will probably be leaving December 31st (the week after Christmas).  We just can not miss Christmas with our kids at home.  But at least we are one step closer to meeting our precious baby girl.

Almost There

I just received word that my authentication papers are heading back to me today.  Woo Hoo!!!  That means that I will be sending my dossier to China this week.  It will leave my agency's office this Friday!!!!  One more step behind us.  One step closer to Makinley.  Hopefully we can still travel by end of this year.

Best Gift EVER!!!!

My friend, Heather, was at Makinley's orphanage last week and she was able to get some video of my Makinley!

Thank you, Heather, for taking the time to get this video for me. It is ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!!!






She didn't want her picture taken.  What a mess my baby girl is!!

Timing is Everything

I was pondering our travel to China to get our precious baby girl.  I really want her home before the end of the year, not in January!  I know that there is a good chance that we might have to travel in January so I decided to find out when Chinese New Year was for 2012.  I really don't want travel to be around then because all offices shut down for weeks during the celebrations.  We ran into this problem when we were adopting Ashlyn.  We ran into Autumn Moon Festival instead of Chinese New Year with her adoption and we could not travel for a month after we were suppose to because of the celebrations.

Soooooo......Chinese New Year is on January 23rd.  Makinley's birthday.  Please, oh please, let me get to her before they shut down for the celebrations.  I will be devastated if I have to miss her third birthday.

Adoption is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Status Update

Tomorrow I will be sending off all of my documents for my dossier to be Authenticated.  It is the last step in the process of getting my paperwork together.  After these documents are returned to me, I will be sending a great, big package to my agency and they will then send it off to China!!

It was taking about four months from the point that the package was sent until we would be able to travel.  We were thinking that we would be travelling some time in November.  Now the process has slowed down and the Letter Seeking Confirmation has gone from one month to three months!!  This now means that we probably will not be travelling until January.  YUCK!!

Only God knows the exact day that I will meet my sweet Makinley.  I trust in Him and I know that His timing is perfect...even if it doesn't feel like it.

Approval

I just received our approval for our I800A!!  It took 49 days for them to approve it.  On to the next step!!

Half Way There

Today is day 31 of waiting for my I800a.  The wait is running about 45-55 days right now.  That means that we are more than half way through the wait for approval.  On day 39 we go on vacation and don't get back until day 52.  Sooooo, what I am praying for is that when I return that my approval letter will be in my huge pile of mail waiting for me.  That would just make my day!!

The next step is getting my final papers certified and authenticated.  Then I will send my dossier to my agency and I am calculating that my dossier should be to China by the end of June.  That would be soooooo great!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was very nice at our house this year.  It is one of my favorite days of the year and I always look forward to it.  My amazing husband knows how much it means to me so he always stretches it out for a whole weekend.  I love my man!

This year was a bit low key.  I like it that way.  Just having a weekend to relax and do nothing if that is what I feel like.  Unfortunately this year my kids were not feeling well, so that is the reason that things were so low key.  Sometimes God just allows our house to get sick so that we stop and just be still.  It was a blessing to have such a peaceful weekend.  And, yes, my kids are feeling better now.  It was our bout with the "summer" cold.

I had a lot of time to myself.  A lot of time to reflect.  A lot of time to really see the blessings that God has given to me in being a mother.  I also felt the sting that I felt two years ago.  The sting of knowing that you have a child that is half way around the world from you and not with you where she belongs.  It is very hard for moms to celebrate Mother's Day and to not have a child with you.  Especially a young child.  That does not even know that she has a Momma.  I felt very blessed and sad at the same time. 

Praying for all of the Mommas that are waiting for their children.  Praying that the wait will end soon.

Fingerprint Appointment Complete

Today we were able to walk in and get our fingerprints done.  Thanks so much to all of you who let me know about this.  I was bummed that our appointment wasn't until May 20th.  Now it is all taken care of.  Praying that our I800a is approved quickly.

Fingerprint Appointment

I just received notice today that our fingerprint appointment is scheduled for May 20th.  This is the next step in obtaining our I800a.  I would love to get it done sooner (ya know, to speed up the process).  Can any one fill me in on information about walk-ins?  I had never realized that you could do this until I saw it on Rum*r Queen.

Thanks guys!

Over the Moon!!

So we thought that the picture that we received yesterday was fabulous and then this morning I received this......

So happy that others are going to Makinley's orphanage to adopt their children.  Love that while they are there they think of me and get me these amazing gifts....glimpses of my baby girl.

I think that we have watched the video 100 times already.  I think that every time I try and will it to be a little longer.