Day Number 82 and No LOA-yet.

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO CHINA?!

Welcome to my pity party!

Today mark day number 82 for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) wait. Two families that were logged in about a week after us just recieved their LOA's. Ugh. I am happy for them, but completely annoyed that ours has not come. Our coordinatior is checking with the CCAA to make sure that there are no snags, but we will not have any news for another day or two. I am sure that everything is fine, sometimes LOA's piggy back one another. It just seems SO unfair that we are experiencing another delay.

We are getting excited to return to China! I am starting to make "To Do" lists and today I bought a new diaper bag & travel size Clorox wipes. (If you know me, you will see the humor about me buying wipes). :-) We talk about China and Sophie every day. Emma recieved a book for Christmas called "My Mei Mei" and she LOVES it! She wants to hear it every day and I think that she understands that the book is about her and Sophie. :- )

So please cross your fingers or say a prayer if you are the praying type that I will have GOOD NEWS to post soon! :-)

Three Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today we received a call from Emma's Adoption Agency; Children's Hope International. "You have a daughter"! The woman on the other end of the line told us. THEN they faxed her picture to us and we saw Emma's face for the very first time. We learned that her name was Dong Can Ni. She was 20 months old and waiting for us at Yang Dong SWI in Guangdong Province. She was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL baby that we had ever seen. We were FINALLY parents! Emma still looks the same today. Just a little bit older and with hair. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

*HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 EVERYBODY*! :)

We took a short trip to Kansas City, MO last weekend. Emma was excited about going and repeatedly said "Going on vacation in Daddy's vehicle to Kansas City, stay in the hotel. Go to China on the big airplane in two months"! I think that we might have a future world traveler on our hands. ; )

Over all Emma did well on the trip, minimal anxiety in the car and only one gargantuan meltdown. The meltdown was partially our fault; Emma loves carousel rides but lately has not done well with leaving the mall when the fun is over. We should NOT have attempted it. Oh well. She DID however enjoy visiting the WWI museum the next day, go figure. : )

Below area few pictures from our little trip....


~Riding the Carousel~ ~Driving a Car~

~Eating a Donut in Bed~ (Did I really allow THIS?!). ;)

Sophia Grace: DAY NUMBER 61

SISTERS: I thought that I would post "side by side" pictures of the girls. :)

(I can not WAIT until they are REALLY side by side)!!

In case anybody is wondering about our other little peanut, we still have not received any news from China. Not a word. Nothing. Today we are on "Day #61" of our wait. We are waiting for our "Letter of Approval" from China, after that we get to wait for Travel Approval-which typically follows pretty quickly. I think that we are going to be waiting for a while yet. UGH.

Emma has been asking to "Go on the big airplane, get Sophie in China". I tell her that it is probably going to be 2 or 3 more months and she says "No, two days, go get Sophie"! I wish that she was right. People have asked me if Emma understands that she is getting a sister. SHE DOES! :)

HO-HO-HO!!!

Imagine Emma's surprise a couple of weeks ago when a letter from SANTA arrived in the mail! She can recognize her name spelled out and was impressed that Santa included her name in his letter to her.

Emma is VERY into Santa this year and she knows that he will bring her toys. I realize that this is not the true meaning of Christmas, but we will continue to work on that lesson...after all she is only 4.;)

November Catch Up!

"EMMA-ISM" of the day:
Mommy asks: "Emma, how do you spell your name"?
Emma replies: "E-Emma-Emma-A"! :)

That said, I present to you a few pictures of "E-Emma-Emma-A" taken over Thanksgiving Weekend, plus the last one taken in early November.

Emma with Mommy and Daddy on our Carriage Ride through Old Town.

Emma & Daddy visiting the Penguin Cove at the Zoo.

Emma and Lao-Lao making their first Pumpkin Pie together.

Emma LIKED stirring...ALOT!
Surfing the net while Mommy cooks dinner (Just like her BFF Eliza)!

There is a Birthday in Our Family and a Favorite New song, too!

*Warning*: There are NO pictures in this post.
(I do promise to add some soon)! :)

Today is Sophie's second birthday. I wish that we were able to celebrate it with her! My heart tells me that I am not the only one feeling this way. Surely today her birth mother has thought about her many times. I wish that I could hold her other mother's hands tightly in mine and commiserate with her about missing out on this special day. I am sure that we would both cry. But, then I would tell her how we sent Sophie a cake so that her birthday would not go unnoticed today. For a short time....maybe just 10 minutes...she received some attention and a few bites of cake. I would also promise her birth mother that Sophie will never spend another birthday alone-as we are going to China to bring her home very soon. Lastly, I would thank her for making a very difficult choice two years ago today-a choice that allowed us to complete our family.

Emma LOVES birthday cakes and the song Happy Birthday. I am sure that she will be singing Happy Birthday to Sophie's picture today! ; ) Actually, we can not eat a slice of cake in this house with out sticking a candle in it and singing...no, I am not kidding. Another song that Emma REALLY likes is Jingle Bells. We have been singing it lately. A LOT.

She will say to me "Mommy, sing dashing through the snow"! At which point I prompt her "What is the name of the song"? Emma always replies VERY loudly "THAT'S JINGLE BELLS"! :)

So, do YOU have the song stuck in your head now too after reading this entry? ;) Greg and I do, and probably will for the next several months...at least until July or so!

"JINGLE BELLS"

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh.....