Sunshine's Care Package - SENT!

I've had this package *almost* ready to go forever but I was waiting on one toy that I had specially made for Sunshine. I finally got that toy and ultimately decided not to even include it in the care package. I'll save it for when I know she'll get it - when we can give it to her as her parents :-) So this tiny package of 7lbs cost $58 to mail. LOL. Wow. I knew it would be expensive, but sheesh!

I hope she gets this package. But even if she doesn't get it, we'll have plenty of goodies for her when we hold her for the first time! Ohhhh if I knew how far away our trip was, I would count down the days! For now, I count down the days to our next approval :-)

LOA baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it's finally here. This is the document we have been waiting 2 months for - 59 days to be exact :-) This is our LOA - China's formal acceptance of us to adopt our daughter - Fu Jing Gui - I can finally share her Chinese name! This finally is feeling more "real." (Although, total sidebar - her name was translated incorrectly on this document - it is actually Fu Jing GUI, not Fu Jing Jia. I only had a minor heart attack when I saw that!)

So for my non-adoption readers ... what the heck does all of this mean? It means that we are a TON closer to bringing our daughter home ... a ton closer to holding her in our arms, feeling her, kissing her, smelling her and loving on her ... a ton closer to her being more than just a referral picture ... so close to her being ours. So very close to her being real. I know God knows her, but I long for the day when we know her too!

There are still several more steps, but this was a big one and we can almost taste our upcoming trip! I submitted our I-800 today - that's the next step - the "Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as Immediate Relative" ... I had to wait until we had the LOA to submit it because a copy of that has to go with it. It's a form needed for the US Immigration side of things. After that is approved, we will wait on several more approvals before we can travel ... my best guess is that we'll be leaving for China in mid-late May! It's later than we had hoped but it will be right around Sunshine's first birthday!

Please keep praying that things move along smoothly and that Sunshine continues to stay healthy! The last update we have from her was from 7 months and she turns 9 months on Sunday! Where in the world has the time gone?!?!?!?!

Cookies & pajamas

Angel loves to make sugar cookies so I bought some of those (gasp) pre-made ones that you just throw in the oven. My dad was over on Friday to hang out with the kids and Angel couldn't *wait* to make the cookies with him! I think it's more of the process that's important on these ... LOL. They just don't taste the same as homemade, so they are still sitting in the pantry. That's ok though - it was a good bonding experience :-)

Adoption has touched my heart

Yes, adoption has indeed touched my heart ... more than I thought it would in such a short time. Cannot wait to bring home our baby girl ... this is a true lesson from God in patience! We are on day 53 of waiting on our LOA. Ugh.

In the meantime, want a car decal? You can get one HERE at this fundraising mama's blog :-)

My breakfast date

I got my haircut this morning by the amazing Julie :-) Lovebug and I had some time to kill in between dropping Angel off at school and my appointment, so we headed to Chic-Fil-A for a very relaxed breakfast. He's a pretty awesome date.

I'm sort of impressed with my iphone's camera capabilities ... although it's extremely noisy even at ISO100, this still isn't a bad picture at all!