HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!

At 11 PM last night my phone got a text. It was from the lady who we ordered Hope's birthday package from.  She was letting me know she just received photos and was emailing them to me now. So of course I jump up and wait.  I waited for 30 min before I texted her again. I felt bad because it was 11:20 PM.  She replied and said "OH no!  The file is too big. It's a zip file and I can't open it".  So we went back and forth and thankfully my hubby understands zip files and macs etc.  So we had to download something to open the file. And she had to send it to another email account because it was huge.

Around midnight we get it opened.  And we received 19 photos of the party.  Hope looks happy.  Maggie is there too. I was happy to see that.  There were about 6 other kids there too.  I'm so glad she was celebrated this weekend.

Here are some photos.  Enjoy!

Today....

Today, May 19th, is Hope's 13th birthday.  It's hard knowing she's becoming a teenager and we're not there with her.  BUT, this will be her last birthday without us.  We will celebrate once she is home.  We did order a party for her and were told they would celebrate today. We are anxiously waiting to see if they send us photos.  Once they do, I will post some here.

I think our agency is not liking me too much.  You see, I'm a little anxious about getting to China.  They kept saying "No rush in sending us the next forms needed to go to China. Once you get the 800 approval you can send them".  Well, I don't want to waste time.  So I sent everything we had to them this week.  The last two things they need from us we can send via email.  So, once they receive that from us, they can immediately send the package to China. No waiting for the mail to arrive.  That saves at least 2 days.  They should realize by now that I'm not going to wait for a piece of paper.  I'm not going to sit here and do nothing.  So, they can be upset with me if they want.  I really don't care. I just want to get to China ASAP.  :-)

Update on the I800's.  This is another approval that we are waiting on. But thankfully it should not take long. Hopefully 2 weeks from now we'll have that.  We sent it all to China on May 11th. They received it on Monday May 14th.  We received a text yesterday with our receipt #.  They said it is being sent to the NBC for review & approval.  Then it will go to the NVC where they will issue our I800 approvals.  This should all take about 2 weeks.

Once we receive the I800 approvals, we email that to our agency. They send our DS 230 package to China. A day or so later we receive a PDF that goes to our agency.  Then it gets dropped off and two weeks later our Article 5 is issued.  That gets sent to Beijing and they issue our Travel Approval.  Once that is issued (about 1-3 weeks after the Article 5) then our agency requests our Consulate Appointment and then we book our flights.  We hope to leave anywhere in the middle of July to beginning of August.

Two months from now we would love to be in China. So keep praying.

Thanks!

SOON.....

These shoes will be filled.

3 Little Letters Mean SO Much!

That's Right!  WE RECEIVED OUR LOA'S!!!!!  It took 90 LOOOONNNNGGG days.  And wouldn't you know it?  We're out of town.  Well, I came prepared.  We packed our I800's "just in case".  And I'm so glad I did.

We are in Maryland surprising my friend who flew home from China with her new daughter.  She had no idea we were coming.  And it was a great surprise.  Anyway, we flew in on Thursday morning. Spent all day relaxing and hanging out with my friend's family.  Well at 5 PM, just as we pulled out of our hotel to head to the airport to meet them, the phone rings.  It was our agency.  "Congratulations, we have your LOA's".  We were thrilled.  They asked where they should send them.  I told them our hotel. She said "OK, well do you have your I800's?"  I said "Um, yeah!  Duh!" (well I did not say duh LOL).  I told her that I did not want to waste any time.  She started laughing.

So she sent it to our hotel. And at 12 PM today it arrived.  We signed everything, made copies, and found a Fed Ex close to drop it off.  It is now on it's way to TX where it will sit in a lockbox.  Then it will head to Missouri (I think).  That is where an officer will look it all over, and approve it.  We will then receive our I800 approvals.  This will go to our agency. They will then send that along with more forms (that we have filled out and will send to them this week) to China.  2 weeks after it's dropped off, our Article 5 will be issued. That will then go to Beijing where then our Travel Approval will be issued.  All of this will take 2-2 1/2 months.  We're looking at travel end of July or beginning of August.  We could very well be home right before the 1st day of school.

So that is our exciting news for now.  We are thrilled!

New Pictures

My sweet, dear friend is in China now adopting her precious daughter. They went to the orphanage yesterday and met Hope & Maggie.  I'm so excited. She sent me a bunch of photos.  I will include a few.  Maggie was invited to go to lunch with them.  My friend said that she was very polite and smiled a lot.

On the LOA wait.....well we're still waiting. But we're out of review, and now "in process".  Whatever that means.  So the phone call should be soon.  We're more than ready.

Enjoy the pictures.  We can't wait to bring them home.

They are wearing the necklaces that we made. My friend took them for us.

More Pics from Craft Day

I finally uploaded the photos I took on Saturday. I'm still in awe of the support we received from friends & from strangers.  So many people helped support the cause.  We raised a total of $1440.00 that we split between the 5 families. God is Good.  We have had people ask "when is the next one".  Oh how I wish it were that easy.

Please continue to pray for us.  Billie, Melissa, Deidra and Sara.  And please remember the children in your prayers.

Thanks!

Every person went home with a cup filled with goodies

The Give Away Table. Enough prizes for everyone to win

Lunch