Just testing out BlogPress... Lily looks so grown up in this picture.


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Check out the progress on our Piece of the Puzzle fundraiser. We are just about to hit the $3000.00 mark. We have just a little over 250 pieces yet to sell. Can we do it by the end of September? If not I will probably extend the cut off since it doesn't look like we will be traveling anytime soon.

Update: We are over the $3000 mark!!!


Still no word and I don't expect any for a couple more weeks. The other day when I was feeling particularly frustrated about our wait I was browsing some blogs and came across one of another family. This family waited 108 days. If you have never endured this wait it is so hard to explain. She did a great job and then had a devotional that was comforting.  Here's the link if you want to read her blog entry about waiting for their LOA.

http://kevichele.blogspot.com/2011/08/life-lessons-and-loa.html

So apparently our LOA was marked as "in process" on August 16th. What does that mean?


I have no idea really.


But I do know it means that it is not lost somewhere in a pile of paperwork, that it did not accidentally fall into a trash can or that it is just not being worked. Just a few of the scenarios I imagined in my overactive brain.


So even though it may be weeks (sigh) before we get our LOA at least I can rest easy easier knowing that it is "in process".



I know another family that received theirs exactly one month after theirs was moved to "in process".
That means maybe the middle of September. My worst case scenario is traveling at Christmas. That may become our reality. Won't you pray for a miracle? That our LOA comes NOW! Just a quick little prayer right now. Thanks!

At one glance I love you with a thousand Hearts. - Mihri Hatun

Still waiting and yes it is painful....

I try to not let it bother me but when I saw several families get their's after waiting much shorter times than we have it did. I am happy for them but GEEZ 76 days is painful!!! If it doesn't come soon we won't even be able to travel this year. And yeah  I know to trust God, I know there is a big picture and one day I won't even think of this wait but for now in this moment, it.is.hard!

I am ready to see these dimples in person....



Thank Goodness I have 5 fantastic kids at home helping me to stay busy but seriously....

Tonight Lily had her very first dance recital. I have been reluctant to sign her up for dancing for numerous reasons but when I found out about Christian Dance Ministries Summer Camp I knew this was the perfect opportunity for Lily. She attended camp for two weeks, they dance to contemporary Christian Music and the dancing is considered a form of Worship. Tonight they had they final recital.

Birthdays are a hot topic around her these days. We will celebrate 4 kids birthdays in the next 7 weeks. In order to keep me from being too stressed about this and to give birthdays a little perspective we allow our kids to have a party every other year. Mason will be turning 4 and hasn't had a non family party yet.
So tonight we talked a little about it....

Mom- Have you thought about what you want to do for your birthday?
Mason- Yeah, I want to play sports. Like kickball and dodge ball and soccer.
Mom- Who do you want to invite?
Mason- My girlfriend and Wyatt's girlfriend
Mom-Who is your girlfriend? I didn't know you had one.
Mason- Hayley
Mom- Oh, does she go to our church? nods yes. Is she in your class? nods yes
           What does she look like?
Mason- A dinosaur
Mom- Oh, what kind?
Mason- A T-Rex.

This was a serious straightforward talk, he never once cracked a smile. But I did.

No news about our LOA. Hoping to see it by August 20th or before. This week would be great, a lot of people have been getting them so maybe that is a good sign. Not that I believe in signs or anything, it is really just in Gods hands.

I have been super busy. I have been working a little more for some extra moolah and having the kids home makes me feel like I am forever feeding someone or cleaning something up. This week three of the kids are in camps so just Lily and Sellers are home and I have time to blog because those two just cleaned the whole downstairs for me in exchange for a trip to the Chinese Buffet. Seems like a fair swap to me!

We are just about done cleaning out Ellery's room. I am looking for a used crib to buy (cheap) or borrow. I am going to have someone make a few pieces of bedding and I am looking for an old vintage chest of drawers to paint turquoise and a rug. I know her room is going to be so cute, turquoise and pink!

My mom retired from the State last week and we had a super fun time celebrating with family. My parents siblings were all there and my mom's sister cracked us up with a funny roast! My mom got a late start working because she stayed home with us until we were in school, I know she is so excited about retirement. She already has made a big to do list, sorry dad ;) !

My friend Sharon has started a business and she has some super cute stuff. You can like her on Facebook
at Bloom Child Bloom. She has some adorable super hero  and Star Wars shirts for little boys and lots of cute things for girls!

Sometimes I have a really hard time imagining the size of Ellery. She is two but very small, she is in the 3rd percentile on Chinese growth charts which means she probably doesn't even show up on America's.
So today I looked up her measurements again, converted them and then marked them on the wall in my room. I stood next to it so I could imagine what it would be like to have her by my side.

I know that's weird isn't it?

I showed it to my crew and they got so excited because it finally sunk in to them that they are really getting a "little" sister. They all stood against the wall to see where she would come up to on them.

So....weirdness runs in the family.


She is nearly a foot shorter than our youngest. I just can't wait to get my hands on that  little girl and hold her. I wish I could post the updated pictures but we signed a paper that we swore we would not post any pictures of her on the Internet. I figured I would leave the others up, damage done. But I am a rule follower and would not want to jeopardize my daughters adoption in any way.

This week we will come to our 50th day of waiting. John feels certain this week will be the week we get our LOA, I am a little less optimistic but hopeful!

Today I am home all alone. I have big plans for the day and they mostly involve preparing for Miss Ellery's arrival hopefully later this year! We plan to have a big garage sale soon and are cleaning out. Also we are moving her into John's office temporarily so that she will be near us at night so we have a lot of cleaning out and furniture moving to do. I am convinced even if though she will be nearly three that she still needs to start out in a crib. As far as I know she is in a crib in China and I feel like she should be in one here until she gets used to everything. Even a few of my boys stayed in their crib until 3ish.

So it is exciting to start making room for her and planning her space. It will occupy my mind and pass time. It's not unusual in this waiting game to have days of feeling like it will never happen. I know it will but it seems so far away. All this "nesting" is good for my soul! My husband is pretty excited too to see some messes getting cleaned up and is being a good sport about losing his office.


COME ON LOA.....!!!!!!!

Days waiting for Letter of Seeking Confirmation from China: 38

Unfortunately not long enough. Average wait is 50-60 days.It could take much longer. (sigh)

Please come soon!! We want to go to CHINA!!

Last night was family night at Camp Barstow, our local Boy Scout camp.We are huge supporters of boys in scouting and Noah loves scouts. I was a honorary scout growing up because my dad was a scoutmaster for many years. I always wanted to be a Boy Scout instead of a Girl Scout because they had more fun. Noah is totally at home at camp enjoying the outdoors. He has learned many useful things and his favorite thing this year he is learning is Lifesaving. Never know when you will need that! Although it was great to see him, it gets more obvious each year how much he is growing up and needing us less. I thought about that on my ride home last night. There are difficult stages we go through with our kids but realizing that they need you less and are becoming independent I think is one of the hardest. Although I really don't want him clinging to my leg begging me to take him home because he's homesick I do wish he would just miss us a little bit. For the first time last night I think I realized how much I am going to miss him when he is gone. Thank the Lord I have four more years, I better treasure them!!

At the beach the kids were playing Hide n Seek while the adults were watching the USC Gamecocks win the College World Series (again!!). They were taking turns counting. As one little O'Cain was counting it went like this...

1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi.... Don't you remember counting that way?

My Sister in law asked this little O'Cain what was Mississippi? His reply was, "a second".
Amused she told him it was actually one of the states of the United States not a word meaning a second in time.

When Bobo came to count I thought I would ask him. I thought he may know since he has one of those United States interactive maps. So I ask, "do you know what Mississippi is"? He looks at me puzzled and then a little light bulb goes off and he says very matter of fact, "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi". We laughed.

We repeated this with each and every kid present and every single kid answered the exact same way. First a puzzled look then a matter of fact answer of "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi".

All Tammi could say was, "poor Mississippi". Time for a little US Geography lesson.

Check out www.beapieceofthepuzzle.blogspot.com for our lastest update.

Leaving today to get some sand between my toes. I'm taking four of the kids to the beach with my Sister-in-law. Just the moms and the kids. Can't wait!! Hopefully I'll get some good pics to share.

Hope you are having a GREAT SUMMER and don't forget to check out our blog:

www.beapieceofthepuzzle.blogspot.com

Are you amazed at the internet?? Sometimes I take for granted how easy it is to get information and pictures of things off the internet. Case in point....

I Googled our newest daughters town, city and province name and hit images. Wanting only to see what her surroundings are like and what type of enviroment she was coming from. But what I found really surprised me. I found 3 pictures of our daughter. An organization called Hope 4 China founded by an adoptive family in Scotland started the organization to help provide necessities and foster care to children in our daughters orphanage. In February they donated supplies and posted some pictures on their blog. In the picture our daughter is modeling some of the clothes that were donated. Only an adoptive parent knows how exciting this is. I can remember joining Lily's orphanages Yahoo! group and searching through all the many pictures trying to catch a glimpse of Lily other than the referral picture we had.
This glimpse into our daughters life is priceless. I look at this picture everyday. I have memorized her lips, her little fingers and studied every little detail about her. I sure hope the next 4-6 months flies by til we travel to see those little lips and hold those little fingers in my hand.