101 Dalmations... I mean DAYS!!

Our best laid plans are not always the way things work out! We are now at 101 days waiting for our LOA from China. When we started the process with our agency, we thought we would have LOA at about 65 days of waiting. We are now quite a ways beyond that and to be honest, we have gone through bouts of deep discouragement. But we are trying our best to take it a day at a time, enjoying our girls and the last summer with only two daughters.

Our latest news from 2 or 3 weeks ago, is that we are "in review". This means that the CCAA is looking at every piece of our file and making sure that we qualify for their adoption criteria. If they have a question, they will contact our agency, who in turn will contact us! The good news is that we have NOT been contacted for any new information.

So we still wait. The next step will be that our file moves from "review" into the "LOA" issuing department. We are not sure how long that will take.

In the meantime and since it is summer, I have begun thinking about packing for the big trip! I am gathering other people's packing lists. I'm also beginning to think of what I need with a two year old coming into our family! All of Emma and Savannah's 2 year old things have been given away!

So - from the beach - I'm still thinking every minute of the dark haired, brown-eyed girl on the other side of the world!

Sweet Poem

As a girl I had a dream, to be a mom someday.
My baby would have eyes of blue and hair the hue of hay.
But now my dreams have been transformed. New visions fill my head.
The tresses that I long to stroke are raven black instead.

And in my dreams those eyes are not so big or blue or round.
Now in my dreams they're almond shaped and colored cocoa brown.
And in my dreams my arms can stretch across enormous seas.
They reach half-way around the world and hold you close to me.

~Gayle Leubecker

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations he has brought to the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

"Be still, and know that I am God'
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

The Lord Almighty is with us (and with Mia);
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Sooooooo

are you tired of checking this blog and seeing NOTHING??? So are we!!