Happy Chinese New Year!

Daddy/daughter love!

Having fun and looking all grown up at a friend's Sweet 16 party!

Braving the roads for our church directory picture.  We are minus one very important Meletio though!

It's been an exciting last few days!!! In adoption lingo we received our GUZ# from the NVC (National Visa Center). This means that our i800 approval (immigration approval) was cabled to the US Consulate in China. I have to admit that it was a pretty stressful few days because we were hoping and praying that our Article 5 drop off would happen before the offices in China shut down for the Chinese New Year. We made it...barely!!! We came as close as one could come to the deadline. Seriously! I received a call from our agency one hour prior to the deadline in China that one of the copies that's necessary for the drop off was not a clear copy. David and I scrambled trying to make a better copy, etc. Long story short, we were able to our rep what she needed as she was literally walking out the door with what she had for us (and others from our agency) in order to make the deadline! Praise God for prayer warriors, our awesome agency, and a powerful God who prompted me to even contact the agency! HE got it done (I just about broke out in hives though- a tad too close for comfort for my taste, but that seems to happen a lot for us!). Now...just a few more steps and we'll be in CHINA: Article 5 pick up, TA (Travel Approval),  CA (Consulate Appointment) date set.  Hoping for mid-March travel!

The girls have been out of school since Tuesday due to snow and ice- craziness!! Abigail missed all week because she was sick on Monday. We've had a great time though. David's been home. We've thrown snowballs, slipped and slided on the ice, made snow angels, and played games as we've been housed in all week.

So thrilling that we skyped with Chan last night! Praying for the sweet little heart of his. He was very timid at first then he charmed us with his smile!

Adoption NEWS!!!

Okay, so a great way to start off the new year is with LOA (lockbox 1/6, notice 1/8...of course, that means nothing to you unless you're one of my China adoption buddies right now!).  See THIS POST here.  Two days later we got the hard copy in the mail!

So this is LOA-Letter Of Acceptance- (or Letter Seeking Confirmation).  It  looks all official doesn't it?  Same exact paper with beautiful red stamp just like 5 years ago when we received Audrey An's LOA. I'm pretty sure adoptive parents are the only people who get pictures made with their FedEx man!!!!

A beautiful site to me.  A daddy choosing to bring a son into his family.  It's official...we're coming to get you, CHAN DAVID!!!!  I love you, David.  You are a great daddy to our two girls, and you're going to be an INCREDIBLE daddy to Chan.  I cannot wait to see how God is going to use you in his life.    YOU are "da" man!!!!

Arrival of Audrey An's LOA in late spring of 2009.  I had to chase David down  between flights to get his signature! Look how small Abigail is- WOW!

This morning I emailed the NBC (National Benefits Center) to check on the status of our i800 approval and my officer stated our file was on her desk next to be reviewed!  She stated that if everything looked good the approval would be put in the mail today! Also, our visas just arrived via FedEx!  (I refrained from a photo op this time!). So not to bore you with more acronyms and endless policy and procedures...  Bottom line=according to general guidelines and other people's timelines who are just ahead of us, I think mid-March we'll be on a plane to CHINA!!!!  WOOHOO!!!!

Who needs to pack a suitcase and all that "other" paperwork stuff anyway...let's just go!

OH!!! I almost forgot to share THIS exciting news!  At the time of our LOA, we were able to subimit some questions.  One of mine was asking if they could locate any pictures of Audrey An and Chan when they were younger.  The youngest I have currently was right before travel in 2009 when they were both about 4 1/2 yrs old, but look what I got!!!!

One rough and tough lookin' DUDE- awesome! I love this pic, and I adore that our entire family has ridden motorbikes in Asia!

Audrey An- I'm guessing she's 2 in this picture.  She was SO thrilled to see this!  She asks me all the time for a baby picture of her (which I obviously don't have), but this seems to suffice for the time being!

Merry Christmas #2 and #3...well, more like HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 My head keeps spinning with adoption paperwork so I can't keep on top of the blog! So let me fill you in on Christmas before it's the middle of July! It went something like this...

Girls and I flew to TX to hang with the BFF and her sweet fam the day after girls got out of school.  Here are the cute munchkins!

Finally got a pic with the BFF (aka Kristina).  We realized we never get OUR pic taken together since our kids came along!

Ready for church!

THEN we flew to Big D and met David there for Christmas with his fam.

Abs got the coat she had her eye on for awhile!

Special appearance by Santa Daddy!

THEN...we drove to mom and dad's to have Christmas with my side of the family.  Always time for duets with Nana!

Nini showing the girls some old photos...they were in a trance!

 

So great to spend some time with Nini even though she wasn't feeling well at all. She wasn't up to coming over to mom and dad's for our celebration so we took the party to her house!

Of course, Audrey An's birthday is in the middle of all this so she got to have 3 bday parties...one in each city!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY #9!

 

Yep 3 cities in 7 days...it's always a whirlwind.  Thankful for trains, planes and automobiles! (well, no train on this trip, BUT....train in a few months!!)