Wonderful Weekend

Last Thursday, I sat in my blue chair in the sunroom reading an email from our agency stating that we might have another 4-6 week wait on our LOA from China. My heart dropped. We had been waiting since July and I was feeling very ready for something to happen, either for our LOA to arrive or for an update on Xue from his orphanage. I called my Mom and just shared my heartache with her and she did her best to encourage me. Thanks Mom. I was looking forward to the weekend, because my family was gathering together for a baby shower for Xue and I wanted to be able to share something new with everyone.

Move forward to 2:00 pm Friday afternoon; Kaori and I are running errands and are on the way to gymnastics. My phone dings to let me know an email has just come in. I check it. The subject reads: "Your LOA has arrived"!!!!! Very quickly I pull over into a neighborhood and devour the email as fast as I could! I was sooooooo excited! I was cheering and praising and Kaori was stunned. She asked me what was going on and I told her we got some great news from China! She started cheering to and then said, "Mom, what is news"? I tried to explain to her that it just means we are that much close to bring her baby brother home. She knew what that meant and said, "yay, we get to see him today"! Haha! I wish! But, that is okay. I was thrilled with our news and I called Dave right away. He was working from home and quickly checked the email so that he could see too. He was excited as well. On Friday night, we went out to enjoy being together as a family and to celebrate the arrival of the LOA.

Saturday afternoon we were blessed by our families with fun times, prayer for Xue and gifts! We had a wonderful day celebrating him and being together. The weather was lovely and the company was perfect. We wish Dave's family lived closer, but we will enjoy being with them next month. We received gift cards, a ergo carrier and his bedding. It was really awesome to share the news of the LOA with everyone at the shower. I was able to surprise them with the news of its arrival and read the statement on it to everyone at one time. It was perfect!

With the arrival of the LOA, our estimated travel is within 10-14 weeks. So, that puts us in January. My prayer has been to have him home by his birthday in February and it looks like it will happen. :) I tackled our first round of paperwork Sunday night and I overnighted it this morning. So, CCAI will receive it tomorrow and we will send our second batch at the end of the week. Yay!

Enjoy these pics of the arrival of the LOA and our party for Xue. My mom and sisters planned the whole thing and it was perfect. I could not have had a better weekend!

This package came at 10:45 am on Saturday morning. Just in time for the shower!

Shower Decorations!

Our family, minus one!

Sweet Xue

(we have to email his English name ASAP, gotta decide)

We are very blessed.

Another Package for Xue

I was in Target the other day and saw this cute blue elephant. I did not buy it right away because sometimes I have hard time spending money. A few days passed and I just kept thinking of him. It was silly really. Well, after I dropped Kaori off at school that following Monday, I went and bought him. That afternoon I packed him up along with some other items for Xue. We sent a camera, some food and a gift for his nanny. This is our third package we have sent to Xue and I sure hope that he is getting them! He should have received it by now. Kaori had fun helping pack the box up for her brother although at first she was pretty bummed that the elephant was not for her. Here are two pics of the box for Xue!

Something to Think About

I came across this "letter" written by obviously an adoptive mom with kids who were born in China. Although I don't always feel like this, at times I do. Even if you are not an adoptive parent, I am sure you have had similar experiences as this lady describes. I have heard many stories from my friends where people say stupid stuff to them about motherhood, being pregnant, etc...Nevertheless, I agree that we can all recognize that moment when someone is staring at us or our kids and just waiting to pounce with their questions about whatever they feel like they just have to know. I always have a list of prepared answers to move things right along and give them as little information as possible. Timing people, timing. Also, use your brains. How do you think those questions make our kids feel? They make me want to punch you in the face and they make our children feel different. Normally, I can tell when mere curiousty trumps sincere interest. It is those times when I use my prepared answers. Anyway, as we wait for news from China about son, I continue to try and learn as much as I can so that I am best prepared for Xue and Kaori. If you have an interest in reading this article titled, "Dear random shopper in the Target checkout line..." click here. here