Any news is better than none at all

Yesterday I put in a call to our agency as I was seeing that other transfer families who frequent the Rumor Queen forum (RQ), were getting their new LIDs. I had just learned myself that C*A* would not notify families of their new LID but that agencies had to inquire. I thought I would be sharing new information about the process with our agency....but nope....they already knew that. *sigh*

At the very least, our agency said they would have our in-China rep contact C*A* again to find out the latest on our case. Well, I got word from our agency today that they contacted C*A* last night and was told we would have to wait another week before we got our new LID. Before our dossier can be reviewed and approved (LOA), we must have a new LID. So we continue to wait....

I am hopefuly we'll have a new LID next week. If that is the case, our travel is looking a lot more like June or July. And although I would love to travel as soon as possible to bring our daughter home, God has given me a peace about the whole thing. It would've been nice to travel in the spring but the summer would be great, too. In the meantime, our love just continues to grow for our precious girl.

New Photos of My Happy Girl

I'm in utter awe at the kindness of a young woman who used to live in my daughter's orphanage. Just last week, she sent me updated measurements on Madeline. No sooner did she do that, I hit the clothing shops and fabric shops for my sweet girl. It was the kind of "pick me up" I needed as we wait to get our new LID and then LOA. Well, again tonight, we received 2 new photos of our precious, happy girl. In all of the pictures we have of her so far, she is either not looking at the camera or not smiling. So you can imagine how my heart skipped a beat tonight. The Lord is so Good and He hears our hearts. And today, I started to make a precious little sundress for my Maddycakes. She was on my heart all day, and now I know why. I am one happy mama tonight. These photos were taken in her foster family's home.





On another note, I know I still have lots of catching up to do. But I do want to at least say that yesterday, I FINALLY sent my passport off for renewal. It expires at the end of April. I should get it back in about 4 weeks, which, unfortunately, is plenty of time before we travel...which at this point, is looking a lot like June.

Our Supplement 3 Has Been Approved!

Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!! I called our immigration officer just to give her a heads up that we overnighted our updated homestudy (as part of our Request For Evidence) on our Supplement 3 application. Well, she beat me to the punch and told me she had approved us yesterday!!! Wowie zowie! We had a deadline of Sunday, Jan 17th to get this to her. So we knew we had to send it off early this week. A lot had to happen to even get us to this point. Our extremely hardworking social worker got our child abuse clearances back in record time and wrote a mighty fine update....and all of this because Patrick changed jobs.

So.....we have jumped over one more hurdle during this paperchase and couldn't be happier. Once we get our LOA (Letter of Acceptance), we will be able to file our I-800 application as usual. If we got LOA but our Supplement 3 wasn't approved, that would delay us. So at least one possible delay is now no longer an option! If only the rest of our paperchase can continue without any more hiccups.....now that'd be nice!!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Caleb!!!

Wow. What a whirlwind of a week we have had, and it's not over yet! Caleb's 5th birthday celebrations began last Saturday at our town's little community center. We had originally planned on having it outside at the adjacent park. But unusually wicked winter weather thwarted our attempt. January can be a comfortable month with temperatures in the upper 60s/low 70s. Well, not so this year! It was bitterly cold for our area in Florida, with highs around 40! And not only that, we actually had some sleet! Yes, you read that right- sleet! Some parts of central Florida actually saw flurries but none for us.

Earlier in the week, we opted to move Caleb's party inside to the community center. And we are so glad we did! We had about 40 people in all, half of them kids! They all had a great time using the giant sized Mickey Mouse balloon as a pinata. After it was all over, Caleb kept telling us he had the "best birthday ever!" It just totally warmed our hearts to hear this. Later that day, though, he was a bit disappointed when his Bammy informed him that it wasn't actually his birthday on Saturday and that he was still 4 and wouldn't turn 5 until Tuesday. Bummer! It was too cute.

So today, when he woke up, he asked, "Today I'm 5?" to which we replied affirmatively and he yelled "Yay!" We decided that on his actual birthday, we wanted to take him to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. He kept talking about how he couldn't wait to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride and drive his racecar on the speedway. Oh my goodness, he was just so precious as his face just lit up everywhere we went. He loved shooting the bad guys with his lazer and helping Buzz. And he loves to drive "kinda crazy" with Baba in his racecar. I will try to add some photos and video of our day in the not too distant (I hope) future.

His birthday celebrations continue tomorrow night as we head to the Chinese Acrobat Show. Mama and Baba are really looking forward to this. We are hoping Caleb enjoys it as well. I will save all the catching up I have to do on other topics for another post. And again, I hope I can get around to it soon. For now, we're all gonna sleep well tonight.

Happy 5th Birthday, Caleb! Mama and Baba love you like......................crazycakes!



Thanks to Bammy, I've updated this post to include a video from Caleb's birthday party. Caleb is playing cars with his friends while his cousin Leah is happy as a clam with her balloon.

Madeline Got Her Cake!

Well, I finally received my cake pictures from Ann at Red Thread China. They were not at all what I was hoping for....and for several reasons. First I'll share the photos with you...

Madeline checking out her cake


Getting help eating her cake


A cropped version


An even tighter crop of the same photo


And now the reason for my sadness.

Reason#1: I was thrilled when I saw the email finally make it to my inbox. Although Patrick had gone to sleep, I woke him up so we could see the photos together. When I opened the email, I found 5 photos, one of which was of another little girl in Madeline's orphange (so I will be sending her parents a copy). So that left me with 4 new photos of my precious girl. Well, it turns out that 3 of the 4 photos are the same photo but cropped two times. So I really only got two photos. When we sent Caleb a cake, we received 6 unique and precious, updated photos of him. We were thrilled. Most adoptive parents will received about this number. So to only have 2 photos is such a let down.

Reason #2: My little girl is not looking at the camera AT ALL, nor is she smiling. This is truly heartbreaking. I would've loved to see her interacting with the person taking her pictures or the other children eating cake with her. But nope. She seems so sad. And it just makes me want to hurry up and get on a plane...like yesterday.

Despite this major disappointment, I am going to try to remain upbeat. For starters, Madeline's hair is growing! I am praying big time that they don't cut it before we get her. I was hoping to see her wear the hair bows we sent. But I know that was just wishful thinking. I tried. Oh well. Also, she looks like she's eating well!!!! I am still hoping to get updated information on her, like height and weight measurements. So, we'll see. Well, after this not so successful attempt at new photos, it looks like I'm going to have to hit up Angela at Ladybugs N Love for additional photos, at the very least.