Travel Approval!!!

We just received word that we have Travel Approval! That means we can now set up our US Consulate appointment and book our flights! Yippee! It is tentatively set up that we will travel AROUND November 1, with a consulate appointment sometime in the week of November 12. Of course, nothing is official until we get the appointment. We should hear next week about that!
We're coming Gracie!!! Just a little longer!

Maybe you CAN have too many clothes!!

My sister and niece threw a great shower for Gracie last week. I think there were about 30 people there, and as you can see, the girl cleaned up!! She will be the best-dressed kid on the block! Of course, Lily was not impressed by the clothes, but she did like the ball! Thanks, Jeannie and Kristen, for the great party. And thanks to all my friends and family for the great gifts. I hope Gracie knows how much she is already loved!!!

Not much news, but lots of action!

We have been working hard, getting our travel papers ready to go. We sent off our passports the other day to get our visas. I won't rest easy until I get them back! We also sent a family picture and a little letter to Gracie that our agency will translate and include in a care package they are sending to her. What an experience that was- writing to a stranger who is your daughter, in only 500 characters (not words!) that someone else will read and translate!!! But it's on its way and I hope she understands that she is loved already and there are MANY people waiting for her to come home!
We have started to think about what to pack, and will get the list out soon. Once we have specific dates (Nov 1 is a good bet) I will post here. In the meantime, it's just hurry up and wait - which we've had lots of practice doing over the last 22 months!!!

What an unexpected gift!!!

We got a wonderful surprise this morning. A woman who also received a referral from the same orphanage as Gracie found a picture of her from last July!!! Now, we're not 100% certain as the children are not named in the photos, but she put that picture alongside one of Gracie's referral pictures, and I think it's a match!! I will attach them so you can see!

Thank you, dear friend, for the gift. I will respect your privacy and not name you, but you have touched my heart so deeply today!

New information on Gracie Xi Dong

We got our package from Great Wall this morning with Gracie's medical information and growth report. She is tiny!!! At 30 months (May) she was 22 pounds and not quite 31 inches - that's roughly size 18 months for clothes! In fact, when we got Lily at age 18 months she was 21 pounds and 31 inches. I'm still trying to grasp how little this sweetie is. Hopefully she will start to really take off as soon as we get her home. She is potty-trained (yeah!) and loves to take showers. Gracie knows some words and likes to talk to herself. She runs, jumps and climbs stairs. She started walking at 18 months, fairly typical for orphanage children. As to why it took her so long to get referred, who really knows? We were certainly ready a long time ago, so she couln't have been waiting for us!!! We're hoping we will get some updated info along with pictures as soon as the orphanage gets our acceptance notification. Thanks for all your kind words. We are all so thrilled and can hardly wait to get our hands on her!!!

Trying again on the pictures!

Sorry, not too savvy on the whole blog thing! Here are the pictures.

Here are the pictures!!!

Here are the pictures of our Grace Xidong! Check out the attitude and the stylin' shoes! Can't wait to get my hands on her!!! We are so thrilled.

It's a girl!!!!

We just got the call! Her name is Mao Xi Dong from Guangdong Province. She was born November 9, 2004!!! She loves music, singing, talking and imitating. She's sometimes obstinate and impatient, and has bonded with her care-taker. We are totally over the moon!!! We will post the pictures as soon as we get them.

YAHOO!!!!!

News from CCAA

I got two surprises early this morning. The first was when I went to get the paper off the front porch and someone had replaced our door mat with a ladybug mat!!! I have a short list of suspects and will confirm later. Then I logged on to the CCAA website to see that they have updated the info. They have completed matching for families up to November 25, 2005, which confirms what we knew all along: WE'RE IN!!! So this also means that referrals have been mailed!!! Hold on to your hats, kids! It should be tomorrow (or Wednesday at the latest)!!!!!

It's September 2...Still waiting for word...

Happy Labor Day week-end to all! We are keeping busy this long week-end, trying not to think about what SHOULD be coming next week! The three of us spent a nice day yesterday exploring the beautiful countryside. Today Ted will play in a Whiffle Golf tournament and then we'll all have a BBQ tonight. Ted has to work tomorrow, so Lily and I will get chores done and get her ready for her first day of school on Tuesday. Of course, I will be checking the web every 10 seconds to see if anyone in Europe is posting a referral - they don't have to wait for the holiday!! We'll keep everyone posted... ARGH!