Birthday party pics!

It has been a great Christmas Day! We have visited with family, ate well, took some great naps, played with our new toys and things really couldn't have been much better... until... I opened email and found birthday party pics of Mia and her friends! We continue to be amazed at what a beautiful little baby girl she is and I cannot wait to get my arms around that sweet thing. The pictures continue to encourage me as I see people around her that appear to care for her, who are laughing and smiling with her, and other babies that also look well cared for. I am very thankful for every person in these photos because I know they are loving her until she can come home with us. Her cake was beautiful and we are still trying to identify some of these lovely fruits that we don't have access to here in the U.S. (or at least not in Gadsden, Alabama...LOL...) God continues to lift my spirits and I am so thankful. What a mighty God He is. May you all feel the love of our Saviour this Christmas Day. Love to you all.

"Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father." James 1:17

We Had a Party!

Since Wednesday, December 23 is our little sister's birthday, we decided to have a family celebration of her BIG day. Mimi and Gig cooked a delicious dinner complete with birthday cake and Molly blew out the candle for her. Next year, we look forward to HER blowing out her two candles on the cake. That's a sweet thought.:) We really hope that we get update photos soon from China of Mia's real party at her orphanage. We ought to be getting them soon. Until then... Merry Christmas to all.

Happy Birthday Mia!

Today is Mia's very first birthday! She will have a party complete with cake and candy with her friends, thanks to Ann of RedThreads. I know that we can't go get her right now, but I would give anything if I could just peek in and look at her. I would love to be able to give her a hug and kiss. I am so sad that we are missing this day with her, but I know that there will be so many more wonderful birthdays with her from now on. Her birthday package of clothes and toys should arrive in a few days and hopefully we will be given some updated pictures. I pray that this paperchase process moves quickly. I am SO ready to go to China. We are planning a birthday party at Mimi and Gig's house to celebrate Mia's big day, minus Mia. We'll take pictures to show her that we celebrated on her day all the way across the world. I already love her and have never met her. Isn't that something?

One More Photo...

I couldn't fit another picture on the last post, so I'm posting again to include the group shot of all of the children who came to our party today. Their houses looked awesome!

A Gingerbread House Party!

We had such a fun day at my sister's house. We had a gingerbread house party... the kids decorated gingerbread houses, heard a story from a guest reader, Mrs. Janet Bavonese, and was even paid a visit by Santa Claus himself! The children had a good time being creative with their houses. The mothers enjoyed getting to visit with all the other mothers and grandmothers and watching our kids be kids. It was a great party and something I think all of the kids will remember in years to come. Merry Christmas everyone!

Busy Day

Today was such a busy day. I had to get the I-800A sent back to USCIS and then went to the post office to mail Mia's birthday care package, not to mention all of the end of the year work-related stuff I'm doing too. I'll be glad when the weekend comes so I can take some deep breaths! Anyway, Mia's package is on it's way to her!!! I so hope it makes it there in tact.

I'm posting some pictures of my sweet boys. We are all looking forward to "being lazy" as Garrett calls it during the Christmas break.

I'm just too tired to think right now, let alone blog... so that's all I've got for today!

We now have PA !!!

Last night I got the email from our agency that we were issued a PA from CCAA. I know this sounds like a lot of acronyms, but in simple terms it means that China is giving preliminary approval to us to adopt Li Ji Mi (Mia)pending a review of our dossier. This is exciting news because it means we are one step closer to getting her home. It also means we can now send care packages to her! Since her birthday is coming up next week, we had to get busy! I have been buying her clothes and a few little toys to send to her. I've also hired Ann of China Red Threads to take in a birthday cake and party favors to Mia's orphanage. As part of that service, we should receive some new update information as well as more pics!!! On a disappointing note, we received a rejection notice for our 1-800A application to Homeland Security because Griff's signature was missing in a couple of places... Ughhh... Frustration... I'm taking that to Lifeline this morning so that it can be resubmitted for approval. I wonder how people can get up enough guts to adopt again after all of this. I suppose it's similar to childbirth... you forget how uncomfortable you are for nine months. I guess this is like that. Keep praying for us, everybody. God is answering prayers every day. :)