Approval-Woo Hoo!

Can you hear us shouting all around? We rec'd GREAT news today! Our I800A has been approved-only 20 days since we mailed our application-woo hoo! I think this is one for the record books! I messed up our original package and tried to stop Fed Ex from delivering it to Chicago-I was unsuccessful-Lots of tears and worries on my part. Now I can see that God's hand was in the process all along. Because I had to call the office and explain my problem, I was able to reach a wonderful person who has helped me tremendously. She became my case worker. Today she called me to tell me that she rec'd my cleared fingerprints and that she will get my approval to me on Monday. Woo Hoo! What an awesome, Mountain moving God we serve! I am so thankful. We are driving to Columbia Tuesday to have our paperwork authenicated and then overnighting it to Carol in Washington that day. She will have my completed dossier to me by Tuesday, August 11th. I will hand deliver my dossier to Mei in Charleston on Wednesday. We will get to visit with some of our awesome travel buddies and hopefully we will be DTC by the 14th. One day short of 2 months since we accepted our referral of Andrew. I am in Awe of the miracle of this. Thanks for all of your prayers-please keep them coming! We are still praying and believing that we can meet our son before the end of the year! Hold on sweet Andrew, we are closer than ever!

Birthday Fun! Fingerprint Miracle!

What a day we have had! Guess how we started our day? We drove to Charlotte and were able to walk in and get fingerprinted!! Woo Hoo! For those of you not into all of the adoption lingo and process, this is a HUGE step in the right direction. Our appt was not until August 19th-3 weeks from now. The kind people in Charlotte helped us so much. This means that we will most likely have our final piece of paperwork before our original appt-Once we have this we can be DTC(Dossier to China)At this point the countdown will begin. We are praying hard that we will be able to travel by the end of this year. Please pray with us that all will fall into place to allow this to happen.
While we were in Charlotte, Nana planned a party for Andrew. We went to her house tonight for pizza and cookie to celebrate our little man's 3rd birthday. You should have seen the presents. Andrew is one loved little boy. He is going to love his Nana as much as we do! It was so much fun-lots of people were there to celebrate--Johnny, BJ, Jesse, Craig, Jodi, Max, Cole, Kamden, Mema, Papa and all of us! I can't wait to celebrate his birthday once he gets home. We are saving all of the presents for him to open.
Happy Birthday to our sweet Andrew-I pray that 5 months from now, you are in your mommy's arms surrounded by your family! We love you!

Letters to Andrew

My Sweet Andrew,
Tonight you are sleeping in China. Do you know that tomorrow is your birthday? When you wake up you will be a 3 year old. I so wish that I could be there to sing Happy Birthday to you, sweet boy. My heart breaks that one more special day is passing and you are not with us. I pray that you will get your package tomorrow. I hope that the nannies will read your letter to you and show you pictures of your family. We are so ready to meet you. Your brothers and sisters love you so much already. Anna Grace has informed us all that she will be your mommy. She is going to hug you, kiss you and she told us that you will be so happy. I pray you can feel our love right now. I ask God often to whisper in your ear how much your mama and baba love you. We are eagerly waiting for the day when we can come to you. This wait is so hard. I want to hold you and tickle you. I want to have a huge birthday cake decorated with cars and trucks for you. I want to watch you open all of the presents we have waiting for you. I can't wait to see you and Hayne sleeping in your room together. Hayne loves picking out things for you and he wants to match you. He is enjoying helping pick out decorations for the room you and he will share. When we go out, all of the kids want to get things for you. We can't walk past anything "cars" without someone picking one out for you. You are loved-you are our special little boy and we cannot wait until we can all be together forever.
I love you more than words can say! Happy Birthday sweet one-We can't wait to celebrate when you come home!
Love, Mommy

Tomorrow is Andrew's Birthday but it is already nighttime in China so I wanted to send him a letter before he woke up on his birthday!

Care Package

We just got this picture of our Care Package to Andrew! Ann at Red Thread is AWESOME! She is wonderful to work with-This package will be delivered to our little one on his birthday-I am so excited that he will finally know we are coming(we are praying that they give him the photo album) The orphanage will not accept a cake due to the Swine Flu worry so we sent packaged cookies instead. He will also get this panda bear and treats for the nannies. I pray that they will use the disposable camera and take his picture. What a treat it will be to get those pictures when we meet our boy. Praying that paperwork is moving in the right direction and we are able to be fingerprinted soon!

Video Update

Just rec'd the biggest blessing in the mail from our agency-A video of our precious boy. In the very beginning they are telling him to say Mama and HE DOES!!! Imagine my delight in hearing my son say Mama for the 1st time!! Gotta tell you it was a moment in our house-I remember jumping up and down and yelling for the kids to come. We had not heard it the 1st time we watched. I have been watching those 45 seconds over and over and memorizing all of the details of his precious little face. Can't wait to hold him in my arms. Thanks to our agency for such an amazing gift at just the right moment!

Travel Group Reunion

Lots more pics coming soon-must wait for Ashton to make me some cool collages since we have over 300 pictures of our wonderful weekend get away with our travel group-Wow-There is so much to say but for right now I will let this one pic do the talking-What do you get when you mix 9 beautiful little girls, there huge families and a lakehouse----boat loads of fun!!! Thank you to Gandy and Gil for an absolutely perfect reunion(it would have been beyond perfect if everyone could have been there-we missed you guys)

Guess who's Potty Trained?

We are so proud of our big girl! She is now officially potty trained. All is took was a visit with Ella to make her realize that if Ella could wear panties, then so could she :) Thanks Ella! We have not had an accident in almost 1 1/2 weeks. Goodbye Diapers, Hello Pretty Princess Panties!!!! Go Anna Grace!

Beach Trip

Lots more pictures to come-Thanks Ashton for the AWESOME collages! You rock! I love all you do!

Gotcha Day Celebration

It is hard to believe that today we celebrate that special moment when all of our dreams came true, the moment when Anna Grace finally joined our family. It is one of those moments that I will never forget. Anyone who thinks that adoption is a last resort is so wrong. Adoption is a blessing straight from God that forever changes all who are involved. I cannot imagine how different our lives would be without the joy of Anna Grace. There is not a day that goes by that she doesn't remind us how blessed we are to be her family. I can't imagine how much more blessed we will be once we are able to bring our son home.
Today we celebrated this special day at the beach. Nana went shopping and brought home cake, gifts and more. Anna Grace was thrilled. She kept saying "it's my gotcha day" So precious. She had a ball opening presents and eating cake.
So much has changed in two years. She is no longer a baby. She is growing into such a precious little girl. Thought I would make notes of all that she is doing now.
***She loves Princess stuff more than anyone I have ever seen-You will not see her without a crown or high heel shoes. She always has on a princess gown. We have mortified my other kids letting her dress this way in public but I figure I will choose my battles :)
***She talks non stop. She tells you what to say during a conversation. If she does something good, she will say "say good job Anna Grace" It is quite funny. She also takes opportunities to tell us how our actions are affecting her heart---"you make my heart cry" "you make my heart smile"
***She loves her sissy, ammy and haney grace(these are her names for them) They still think she hung the moon
***She loves to get her nails "done" she makes the ladies at the nail salon laugh everytime
***Bop Bop(my dad) is her favorite person in the world. There is no place she would rather be than curled up beside him watching Barney
***Barney is her very favorite show-she watches it all of the time. She still loves Dora but noone compares to the purple dinosaur
***She has started swimming in the pool with just arm floaties. She is a little fish.
***She is potty trained-woo hoo! Ella came to visit us at the beach and that was all it took. If Ella can wear panties, then so can I!
***Anna Grace is a pure joy! She is a blessing straight from the hands of God!