LID!!! Finally, part 2, and memories

 WE HAVE OUR LID!!!!

None of us were smiley by time we got to pic #10.... LOL

(I started this post on Saturday) First off our documents were Finally delivered to the CCCWA on Feb 25th.  They had been sitting in China with the CCAI office since it was sent over back on Feb 7th.  It took a few weeks to get over there due to the holiday. Most things are still shut down in China but the CCCWA is finally accepting Dossiers. Now we're just awaiting out LID..   Much like of our children are different, each process to bring them home has been too.

Since my last post we have Celebrated both boys Gotcha days.  Nian's on January 19th, and Cheng's on Feb 27th.  We celebrated with both boys by going to the restaurant of their choice both with a play area. lol but it's their choice.

We are ready for this cold weather to be done and spring to arrive.  The sun has been shining brightly here the last few days but it's bitter cold out there. We took a nice walk last night and both boys wanted to take bags to pick up trash along the way. Wow lots of it out there, and we didn't even go that far.

Right now I'm working on updating our parent training.  Our agency request that we take the classes again as a refresher if it's been a while since we last has the training.  It sure does bring back memories, and it's was MUCH easier to complete when it was just the two of us and Isabel than it has been with both boys running around.  Right now i'm on Special Needs and Older Children.  She's talking about Gotcha day (as we call it) and how it might feel for our kids. What is an amazing exciting day for us might be a day or fear, terror and unknown for the kids.   That's SO true.  I remember both boys Gotcha days clear as if it just happened.  What a good reminder that this day is the end of a long journey for us, but not for our kids.  We have loved them for so long, but they don't love us.  We are strangers.  Glad I heard that again.  I'm aware of the kids shutting down and grieving, but that sentence is so plain and powerful.

We got some good quality time with both sets of parents this weekend.  My dad fell last weekend and finally decided to go to the Dr where we learned he had some fractured ribs. OUCH... Glad it was nothing worse.  Now to try and get the mailbox moved to the end of their driveway instead of the neighbors.

We are working on some additional grants and have a Pasta Dinner fundraiser, auction and bake sale scheduled for April 25th 5-7pm at our church so save the date if your local.  Now that we are LID our next step is to get matched.  Once we are matched and get our LOA = Letter Of Acceptance which means China has accepted our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt a specific child.  Once we have our LOA we'll have a few more fees to take care of before our big travel fees.  We hope one of the grants we're applying for will be approved which will cover the travel costs.

We are about 14 months into this paper pregnancy and I'm praying we'll only have another 12 months to go before we bring our little girl home.  We know this plan, like all plans, is in God's time not our so we just need to keep praying and being patient. Both our boys were a quick (lol) 12 month start to home...

It's still hard to believe it's been 3 years since we became a family of 5 and were in China to bring Cheng home. So much has change with us, and with them. Looking back in pictures Nian was so small/young himself.. Ugh time flies...

I still get this look on occasion

My baby was so little.....

There's my boys! 

 

Cheng was playing I'm NOT Touching you cousin Evan

LOL oh the pizza there....  this one was Evans which made it twice as funny

Thanks for checking out what we've been up to.  We continue to ask for your prayers while we go through this long journey. We really appreciate and need them.

Blessing to you and your week... 

Becky