One more picture...this one's my fav

Here is 1 more new picture of Madison & this one is my favorite by far!!

I can't believe it.....

I can't believe it... I was on the blog of the Director of Christian Action (Christian Action co-manages Madison's orphanage) and found a picture of her holding Madison. I must admit, I knew it was Madison from the moment I saw it but, John had his doubts. Sure enough, I emailed the Director and it's her!! I am so excited to have a baby picture of my baby.

The blog can be found at http://siewmei.cahk.org/about/

Happy Monday!

I can honestly say, I normally hate Mondays!! Monday's symbolize the end of the weekend and getting back to real life as, I like to say. Normally Monday's are kind of blah and do not bring good news. BUT, today is different!! Maybe I should start loving Mondays :)

Today, we received notification that our Dossier (which is all of our paperwork) has been logged in China!! We are officially LID, but wait it gets better!! We have been LID since 8/13 so, we are already on day 11 of our 60+ day wait for our LOA!! Woooohooo!!

Now...when I think that today couldn't get better, it DID!! In my inbox was updated pictures of Madison. They sent us 8 birthday pics, she looks annoyed in most of them :) Ahhhhh.... she is so my daughter with that attitude. It's really wonderful to see that she is getting our packages and is being loved so much by her foster family. I am truly appreciative of them. I should be getting a update later this week which I will share once I have it!!

Happy Birthday Madison

Today is bittersweet, my baby turns two. I wish she was home with us to celebrate but, I know that she is with her loving foster family. On one hand I am thankful that she is with a wonderful foster family who loves her but, on the other hand I am crying inside that she isn't home with us. I keep reminding myself that this time next year, she will be home and we will be throwing her a big bash.

So... Happy Birthday Madison....we love you!!

Our Paperwork is off to China

So, after a day and half of running around and getting our paperwork certifed and authenicated by Santa Clara County, State of California and the Chinese consulate, our paperwork was offically sent to China on Weds August 5th! Our coordinator let us know that it was recieved in China on Monday August 10th, now we are waiting for it to be translated and then logged in (LID). Once it's logged in then the looooooooooong wait for our letter of approval (LOA) will begin. We expect to wait a min of 90 days for our LOA, but are hoping it will come faster.

We are still hoping to travel in Jan/Feb (but would love for things to move faster and travel in Dec)

Keep your fingers crossed for speedy approvals :)

I-800A Approval & the whirlwind

We are so lucky that we got a wonderful case worker at USCIS & she was able to approve our I-800A last Friday (July 31st). We were so excited because this was the last bit of paperwork we need before getting our Dossier ready for China.

Yesterday, I spent the day in the city with my mom getting our paperwork authenticated by the state department and the China consulate. What a expensive, whirlwind of a day!! We left at 6:30am & didn't get home till after 8pm. We visited the state office, the China consulate (twice) & then over the golden gate bridge to my wonderful China coordinator!!!

Well...it was all worth it, our China coordinator is sending our paperwork to China tomorrow (Weds Aug 5th)