party girl

New photos of our party girl!

A little background...

Through a Yahoo group for Lucy Mei's orphanage, we met a fellow adoptive family with an adorable little guy currently in Lucy Mei's orphanage! His family will name him Warren.

The family lives just 5 hours away, is using the same adoption agency and are they are very likely to travel with us!!!! We both received our Letters of Acceptance (LOA) within a week of each other!

As you may recall, Lucy Mei turned 2 in May and we sent her a cake. Much to our surprise, we received 38 photos of our precious girl's birthday "party".

Well, guess who was invited to attend? Yep, Warren! I immediately emailed his Mama the photos and she was ecstatic!! What a blessing!

Then, as Warren's birthday was approaching, his Mama emailed and indicated she was also sending a cake. We hoped Lucy Mei would be "invited" to celebrate with Warren....and maybe, just maybe, photos would be sent.

Well, look what I got in my email?!!! 17 photos of Lucy Mei at Warren's party!!!

These kiddos arrive to us with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. No "history"...no stories or memories of the first 2 years of their lives. How amazing to have these photos and a treasured friendship that we pray will last a lifetime.

Lucy Mei and Warren 

Notice the Croc like shoes? :)

The little guy in yellow is soon to be named "Nathan" and his family
is leaving next week to bring him home!!!

Love her little face!!!

Could the forks be any smaller!?

Pants a little high-waisted! So cute!!!

Seeing her beautiful face brings me such peace and comfort. So thankful to our new friends for sharing these beloved photos with us! 

LOA!!!

China said Yes!!! 

On Monday, July 30th -- day 53 of our wait for the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the China Center for Children's Welfare & Adoption (CCCWA) --

...we received the email from our agency with the subject line: 

"YOUR LOA IS HERE!!!!!!"

Oh yeah....

...we said Yes too!!! :) 

Now, lots of immigration paperwork and the final wait for our Travel Approval. 

We'll be meeting our precious Lucy Mei in 10-14 weeks!!!

LID

It's official!!

Our Dossier was logged in (LID = log in date) with China's Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) on Friday, June 8th!!! The CCCWA received our Dossier on June 6th! Our agency sent our Dossier to China on June 1st. Overall, it was a very speedy log in date....(can take 2-3 weeks) so we are thrilled! :)

What's next?

We are now awaiting our Letter of Approval (LOA) from the CCCWA (the official document approving us to adopt Lucy Mei). The "average" wait time is approximately 60-90 days from LID....so, we are 5 days into our wait!!

Once the LOA is received, we will travel in approximately 8-10 weeks. We're guesstimating a travel date in late October or November.

Now we wait.....and pray for a speedy LOA!!!!

retail therapy

So, a $15 Gymboree Rewards Certificate had to be redeemed, right? Well, plus a little $ of my own. :) 

How stinkin' cute is this?!!

Ladybugs are considered good luck in China. Perfect!!

Lucy Mei will be sporting this next summer!!! Can't wait.....love.....

another update

Our agency sent yet another update on our beautiful baby girl!

2 photos....

.....and the following written update:

Medical/Development:

Her current health is good. 

She can walk, run, jump, go up/down stairs.

She can say "mama".

She is not potty trained.

Personality:

They call her Yun or Yun Yun. * 

She smiles easily, but she is a bit shy.

General:

Her sleeping and diet schedule:

Sleeping time: 8:30 p.m. - 6:00 a.m.

Nap time: 1:00-2:30 p.m.

She eats congee, rice, apple, sausage.

She is not in the foster family now.

* In China, it is a sign of endearment to call a child by their middle name (or middle name x 2). For example, Ben's name in China was Yu Xi Gang. HIs surname was Yu, first name Xi and middle name Gang. The caregivers referred to him as "Gang Gang" (pronounced gung). Lucy's middle name is Yun. 

LOVE that she smiles easily. :) Shy is ok too! Apples and sausage - we can do that!!

Every little bit of information we receive is a blessing. The next (and last update) will be requested by our agency once we receive our Letter of Approval (LOA) from the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) in China.

Our Dossier (paperwork) was delivered to the CCCWA today, 6/6/12. We can expect our Dossier to be logged in by the CCCWA (LID - log in date) within 3 weeks. Once logged-in, we can expect a 2-4 month wait for our LOA with approximately 6 weeks until travel. So, we're guesstimating a travel date of somewhere between late October to November.

Praying for a speedy log in and approval process!!!