Give me a "T" Give me an "A", what's that spell?!?

That's right we got our TA (Letter of Travel Approval) from the People's Republic of China today!!

FINALLY!!!

Our agency says that they are requesting a CA (Consulate Appointment) so that we would travel July 29,2010. Here are our stats, and a description of what they are:

6/1/2007 LID (Logged into China adoption System)-

Waiting waiting and more waiting.....

4/13/2010 SN (Special Needs) checklist received by our agency

4/21/2010 Referral - we saw her little face for the first time

4/23/2010 LOI (Letter of Intent)- we wrote China saying we were interested in Dengfen, in essence saying "YES!"

5/5/2010 PA (We receive Pre-Approval from CCAA, Dengfen is placed "on hold")

5/24/2010 LOA (We receive Letter of Approval from CCAA making it official- Dengfen is removed from the waiting list)

6/29/2010 TA (We receive official permission form the country of China that we may travel there).

Our agency is requesting a CA probably for 8/9/10 (my guess...) that's a pretty cool date, 8/9/10. And if we do go on 7/27/10, that would mean that we would have her in our arms for the first time on our 18th wedding Anniversary...how cool is that?!

I have been in bed (literally in bed) since Sunday night with a terrible sore throat. I have NEVER felt this much pain in my throat. It felt like it was on fire, for 2 days. I guess maybe the Lord was once again preparing me, after all this little girl will have tremendous pain after her palate surgery, probably worse than what I have felt. But I am saddened to know a little bit of what she will go through. It will be for the good, I know and you know, but she will have to be the one to go through it, and I am not looking forward to that...

Son Power

I spent last week with 14 teens, one intern, 3 other moms, the student pastor and the minister of music at a music conference called Son Power in Orlando. To say that it was a "fun" week is an understatement. We had a BLAST!

First, we were there with 1200 students from all over the south east. It was awesome to see so many teens putting their all into serving their savior with praise and worship. They would rehearse in the mornings and then in the afternoons go out and do some missions helping other churches or various charity organizations in the afternoon.

Our group helped a church in Orlando clean out their storage sheds, Give Kids the World Village weed their putt putt golf, repair fencing and passed out VBS flyers for a church in Sanford.

We also had the opportunity to see a mystery dinner theatre show and get to know one another's "story" better. It really was an awesome time. I am here to testify that there are great kids out there who are willing to spend their teenage years doing something positive and to grow closer to the Lord. I am so thankful for our student pastor and our Minister of Music who poured so much time into making this such a positive week for our kids!!!

Shower #2

Today, my mom and sisters threw me a shower. Many of my wonderful church family/friends were there. Once again, we were blessed with many wonderful items for our little girl! She will be well dressed!!

We Got New Pictures!!!

So from out of the BLUE my DH calls me today and says, have you seen the new pictures?(very casual like). I knew right away what he was talking about! Boy, they can MOVE fast when they want to! I just submitted a request for updated info late on Sunday (6/13) night, and here they are sending us updated info!!

Well without further ado, here is lil one's new stats:

Her measurements: height 87cm; weight:12kg; head circumference:48cm; chest circumference:48cm; feet length:15cm; teeth:11

She drinks from the bottle, she has been healthy recently, no any colds or other sickness

I am so excited. There is a shower planned tomorrow, and now I have some new pictures and new info to give my dear friends and family!!

Many of the pictures were taken a while ago, but at least they are different ones. Some of them are dated, and I e-mailed my agency back right away requesting dates because I know it will mean something special to her in the future to have pictures with dates. When I get a minute, I plan to translate the little bit of Mandarin that was attached to the picture file in the e-mail, maybe there is more information there...

Awww the Joys of Summer Vacation.....

Signs of summer:

~A tank of gas lasts 2 weeks instead of one.

~I don't freak out if I leave the house without my watch. (Where is my watch anyway?)

~ The dinner hour is sometime between 9:00-10:00p.m.

~The 3:00 thunderstorm is the alarm clock for my afternoon nap!

~My regular alarm clock does no work Mon-Sat

~I finally get to watch Nick at Night.

~Sunday night is the new Friday night.

~My dog gets his breakfast at noon (ok, the kids do too)!

~I get lost in really good books, my arms glow a golden brown, my PJs are overworked, make-up is optional and life is very SWEET!

I hope you enjoy summer as much as I do!

Wordless Wednesday

add one lil girl

Add one lil girl to a family of four,

Add one lil girl,

which isn't that much more.

Add one lil girl to our lives and see,

what will happen when one lil girl

comes home to love you and me!

~ Sherrye

New at this...

Ok, so I have wanted to start this blog FOREVER, but have not had the time to figure out how it works. I will play around with it for a while and then tell people I know about it, once I know a little bit of what I am doing. This is my fist official TEST blog. I hope it works!!