Day 77 Waiting For LOA

So Absolutely Adorable! (20 mths)

A couple months ago we asked Brian Stuy if he would try and find the newspaper with Grant's finding ad. He did find it and oh what an adorable picture! The picture is grainy, but you can make out Grant at 3 months old - PRECIOUS ! He is very tiny and has big round eyes. The newspaper is so sad. There are about 30 children on the page - infants through 8 years old - all abandoned. It is such an honor to look at Grant's precious face knowing God chose him to bless us. There are millions of orphans in the world and this particular one will be our son. It is really overwhelming to think about.

Anyway, one of Grant's characteristics listed in his finding ad was he had an umbilical hernia. In all of our paperwork, we had never read he had a hernia. We were totality fine with him having a hernia, however, in order to get Grant's visa in China, our home study report has to list that we are able to handle Grant's medical condition - each condition listed, and this one had not been listed - OH MY! To list it we would have to file another addendum/Supplement 3 AND pay for another home study update.
We called our WONDERFUL China agency coordinator asked if she could ask about Grant's umbilical hernia. She contacted her China representative and he send an email today a saying that when the orphanage received Grant, it looked as if he had an umbilical hernia and they felt that was important to include in the ad. He did not and does not have a hernia. That was great news, but they actually spoke to the orphanage! and that was all that was said?!?! Yes, that was all that was discussed! - did they did not say anything else about the most adorable little boy in all of China -

I am just flat out chatty, because there is no way I could make any call and just ask one question.

As time goes by my heart aches for Grant - I would love to know every tiny detail about his life - I would even take one detail from the week - or month for that matter. When our coordinator realized how badly we wanted any additional information, she kindly offered to get a full update - we decided to wait until closer to travel.

Here is what we do know about Grant:
He smiles.

He loves sweets. He is a Perkins!

height 75.5 cm (29.7 inches), weight 9.2 kg (19 lbs) - I have no idea of his clothing size

He was sent to a foster family out of the orphanage when he was 11 months of age.

Nan Nan (his nickname) has four other foster siblings. He loves to play with them all. PERFECT~ how about one more to play with!

He can walk now, but he prefers to have one hand holding while walking. I get to be THAT person!

I cannot wait to know so much more about him!

Anyway, If you are new to China adoption process, I highly recommend you watch National Geographic's documentary called China's Lost Girls. It is very moving and does a great job discussing China's one child policy. Lisa Ling follows a family through the great adventure in China adopting their daughter. They are even from Atlanta! It will show you what the process will look like for us in China.

You can view this documentary for free on www.hulu.com. In the search box type China's Lost Girls and then chose the picture of Lisa Ling with a little Chinese girl labeled China's Lost Girls.

Supplement 3 Approved!

Wow, we just had great news delivered. I will have to back up to explain. As soon as we closed on our house, we had to send Immigration a home study addendum/Supplement 3. Our social worker had to come and visit our new home and rewrite certain parts of our home study. Immigration has to know our exact address and if our house meets certain standards - considering the condition of this house, our Social Worker had A LOT of confidence in us. I really think they want to know that everyone is not living in one room (although we were at one point :) and that it is a relatively safe home- also qustionable at times. Our wonderful social worker quickly wrote the addendum/Supplement 3. Anyway, Immigration approved our move and new home study addendum! Yesterday we found out that it was not delivered to Immigration until the 10th by FedEx overnight. I have been checking for a week to see if they recieved it - NO one could find it. Yes, we mailed on the 3rd and they received on the 10th?? God is grand and much bigger than extended overnight service! Our move has had no effect on Grant's adoption, I am so thankful and THRILLED. We are on day 71 waiting for LOA and totality trusting God and His timing.

Sweet Grant I love this house because it is where we will be bringing you home. It will not be long.

Day 64 Waiting for LOA

It has been 64 days! I must say the move has made time go by quickly. We continue to pray that is number does not go too high. We have seen this wait last up to 150 days - :(. We are at the mark where it could happen any day.

Happy Birthday Sweet Grace!

Grace and her new kitten, Sarah

I cannot believe she is already six. We surprised Grace with a new kitten. I was partially for selfish reasons. We live in a wooded area and I am terrified of snakes. At the suggestion of a good friend, who happened to have a litter of kittens, we decided to get a cat. She is a sweet kitten and our cockapoo, Bailey, LOVES her. However, the feeling is not mutual - Sarah tolerates Bailey's playfulness.

Laboring

No, I am not in labor, however my physical and emotional pain is close. We are in our new house after taking 6 days to move out of our old house. We finished at 2:30 AM the day before we closed. I was so tired that it was difficult to sleep. I have never been that exhausted. We moved in to fumes from hardwood floors, paint and dry wall sanding mess, lots of bugs and cob webs, and toilets that would only flush with the help of a plunger - yuck! Have I said I really love this house? Although it is not everything it should be right now, it is going to be great.

Fortunately, the house has a finished basement and the 7 of us camped out. (I was able to wash it down with Clorox before we set up camp and we have not seen a live scorpion since three weeks ago - toxic bug killing spray helped). Without a kitchen, I have become quite creative with a toaster. We have created great memories is such a short time - big highs and low lows. I believe the lowest moment was when one of the workers called the fire department because of some unknown fumes. That resulted in a verbal confrontation between the plumber and the painter - the painter claiming he was NOT USING OIL PAINT! I have discovered that unless there is a contractor over the project, the different subs are less than friendly with one another. My children's knowledge of words has also been expanded due to some interesting bumper stickers UGHHHH. The fire trucks did leave and it was decided that the fumes were from the floors or perhaps the bug killer combined with the floor fumes which had been trapped inside the non-venting hot water heater closet. Oh did I mention that for 5 days we showered with less than luke warm water. It is getting better every day and oh how I loved my hot bath tonight. God's provision has been so real and evident despite the lack of comfort.

I AM SO THANKFUL FOR OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!! We would not have made it without them. At the time of greatest need someone would step in or show up to help. Witht eh exception of some large furniture, we moved ourselves.

Skip's mother helped us with the small ones towards the end of the move. Such a HUGE HUGE blessing. My mother came to help as soon as we were able to move furniture onto the floors - I have never had enough nerve to ask her if I was adopted. I should though because I do not have anything close to her stamina, energy, patience and organization skills. She had us all going from sun-up until 10:30 each night and amazingly we ate a hot meal EVERY NIGHT! We are almost out of boxes!!!!!! I just have my office and kitchen boxes left to unpack - oh and boxes of toys that I cannot bring myself to open . Hopefully this weekend our kitchen will be finished.

The emotional aspect of life right now;
My dearest friend is moving to Nashville. This all came about during the frantic packing of our house. I have been in denial over her move. Her husband has already accepted a job so she has been here alone with her children. I wanted her to sell her house soon, but I thought it would take at least a month, which would be just enough time for it all to sink in. She sold her house in less than a week! She is the friend I touch base with at least every two days, she knows all of my issues - and accepts me, she is the one I call first, she has always lived less than a minute away, she is not afraid to tell me the truth when I need to hear it, she has held my hand through times when I could not see beyond the pain, she is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met - and very humble - she knows everything! and the dearest thing about her is she has taught me so much about the love of Christ because she lives it. She was the friend who helped me accept the fact that I do not fit in the box - and that is okay. This is the amazing thing, I have had many friends call me and express that She is the same friend to them as she is to me. I am going to miss her!!