Psalms 126:3

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!"


We've Been Waiting:

Making our Way to Miah:

We are very close to receiving out TA (Travel Approval) WHOOP, WHOOP!

April 23: All Hague adoption paperwork is complete. US Consulate will issue our Article 5 to China (CCCWA) within 10 days.


Happy Referral Day: February 21, 2013
(we waited 1 year, 6 months, 20 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes

LID - March 26, 2012

DTC (dossier to China): March 9, 2012

USCIS Approval: February 13, 2012

USCIS Fingerprinting visit: February 7, 2012

Dossier completed: January 2012

Chinese Consulate mailing: December 2011

Paper-chase began: August 1, 2011

Talk to our Agency: July 2011

Decision to begin the journey: Father's Day 2011

Showing posts with label 3rd Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3rd Year. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Happy 3rd Forever Family Day

It's hard to believe it has been 3 years since we became a family in China!  It now feels as if we've always been together. We are beyond blessed to be able to call you our daughter. We will always remember the day we walked into each others lives....how are hearts were changed and expanded beyond anything we could have ever imagined.
Sweet things about you at 4.5 years:
*you are 28lbs and 36" tall and wear a size 3T
*after most meals, you exclaim, "Mama you make a good dinner!!!
*you have a sense of humor, like the other day you pulled a clean pair of underwear over your head and said, look a new pony tail holder!
*you talk about Mei, Mei a lot and how you are going to love her and teach her stuff.  You ask if she will have black hair like you?
*after every bath, you ask, "will you how'd me a yiddo bit."
*you like to make up your own songs
*you want to put "lipstick" on when you see me putting mine on..I oblige :)
*you still ask to be rocked in the chair at times
*in the past few months, you like to pretend like you are a baby and make baby sounds
*you love to shake your booty at us which always makes us giggle
*you must have your 2 blankies and pillow with you wherever you are in the house and in the car
*when I ask you if we are blessed, you will say, "yes because of God/Jesus is in our heart and He made us a family!

Update on our journey to Mei, Mei this week: we submitted our I-800A application to the U.S. Immigration office! What a relief to be at this point and have that completed. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get an appointment to head to their office for our fingerprints.  We also sent off the last couple of documents to our State and a package to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco.  We now have about a 6-8 week wait for the US government to give us the final approval so our dossier can get into our agency's hand and then off to China!  This week we will be complete and submit our waiting child application for our agency.  We can be listed on their waiting list for future referrals while the balance of our paperwork is going through the system.  The unpredictable part is the wait for the referral.  There are many families ahead of us.  We hope to be matched and get to see her face by summer and going to China by the end of this year! Lord, let it be so...AMEN!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Nana & The Park


While on vacation we went to the park with Nana ..and got silly.


It was a lovely, sunny day













 Mom, I loved  sitting in the park with you and chatting.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Happy New Year!

Carlsbad Beach, California


We spent some time boogieing the night away with my mom and nieces, Katherine and Taylor


The guys stayed downstairs and watched movies


Can you tell who had more fun??


The girls getting their groove on!  Katherine and Taylor, thanks for bringing the hats and noise makers . . .

Intermission time . . .

We fit in a game of Yahtzee before we rung in the New Year.  This was Liliah's first game and she rolled 2 Yahtzee's and beat her Nana (and everyone else) with a score of 426


Ringing in the Year of 2012 - thanks girls, we had a blast . . .

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Huntington Beach, CA - AHHH!

 
We are enjoying our vacation in sunny southern California!  Huntington Beach is my childhood/teenage stomping ground!  My mom spent many Saturdays in the summer taking her girls to the beach.  We'd get in our cute little bikinis, pack a picnic lunch and head off to play in the surf and sand.  I cherish those days and the memories I have of them.

Familiar sights

 
She loved digging through the sand and pitching it over her head.  We just tried to stay clear!
  
Time for sandcastle building



Time to head to the water and introduce her to . . .

sticking her toes in and running away. . .

Loving my time at the beach.  Thank you sweetie, for catching these moments.


Feeling the pull of the tide . . .


I love this picture of her .  We were hunting for seashells for our sandcastle.

 We finished our day by heading to the pier in the background and grabbing burgers from Ruby's.  We soaked up the sun over our lunch and people watched.  It was the perfect day! 


Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas Morning

The girls on Christmas morning!

Big presents first!!! Daddy bought me a t-ball set
 
Then off to the next one!

A box full of art supplies . . .

Early morning portrait . . .

It was the best Christmas ever!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!  We did not do Christmas cards this year.  We have been very busy with Mei, Mei's paperwork.  We are so excited to receive our completed Home Study.  That means we've cleared our state requirements to adopt.  We also had documents certified by our state and just sent the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate today. In the next week or so, we will submit our special needs application request to our agency and head to immigration. We are headed off for a two week vacation - yippee!  
Our blooper picture . . . look we have a little elf with us!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Visiting Santa

I've been watching mommy....

 I wanted to do something special to get ready for Santa.  I told mommy that I looked prettier than her!  I also told mama that Santa is going to say I look pretty in my dress.  Mommy said, well...I'm sure he will think that, but there might be alot of kids and he might forget to tell you.  

Here I am asking Santa this very thing.  He said I looked like a princess . . .

She went right up and sat on his lap.  I love how enthralled she is here of him and kept holding onto his fingers.  He really is a friendly Santa.  She has had all of her pictures with him. 

Liliah has drawn pictures for her list to Santa.  She made a page for each of us, including our dog.  She is enjoying Christmas and is still at the age where she isn't begging me for presents, or how many do I have? It really is very sweet! Next was to head for the water fountain.  Her favorite thing to do at this nursery is to dig for and toss the coins!


 


We had ourselves a ball . . .

See you next year, Santa . . .



Then we went home & made cookies . . . the end!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Gingerbread House

Making gingerbread houses is an annual event in our home!  It's not something I did growing up, but started before we had Liliah to give some moms in our church the opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done.  Hubby & I use to do it the old fashioned way of baking and assembling the houses the night before.  Now it's a kit for us. 

You were so patient all week asking if it was time to make the house. I love your jammies, they say "Wake Up and Smell the Cookies!

Look at your face....I think you are pretending the strategy of your design, while your other hand is sneaking more candy!

Your favorite candy is the little colored balls.  You also like the hearts because you say they mean love!

You enjoyed the whole process and stayed until the end!  You and daddy have already started demolishing the backside of the house! I love this tradition that you and I have.