Nathans 11th Birthday

Nathan had a birthday at the end of Jan. Because of my disorganized pictures have not been able to post them until now. We went to Olive Garden on his birthday and then he had a NO sleep over with 4 friends a few weeks later. Yeah..that was interesting :) Anyways, I can't believe he is 11 and almost as tall as me. It goes way to fast.

On the adoption front...we are still waiting for the coveted LOA...letter of approval. It could come anytime though! I know I keep saying it but this waiting part is really hard! We already received 2 of the kids passports in the mail...the third I am assuming is following close behind. They can quicker than were told...nice for a change! Also airfare prices, when we research them online continue to look very reasonable. I am praying that will be the case when we finally buy tickets...that will be a huge help!!

Megan drew a picture for Nathan's birthday and she was very proud of her work.

Passports for the kids~check!

We applied for passports for the kids this weekend! It is exciting to feel like I am doing something during this looooong wait! I know it is going to be a lot of work bringing the kids but I am excited to take them. I hope they will feel a part of the adoption experience. We will see I guess. At this point we are still waiting on the LOA...letter of approval. That is expected in late March...no guarantee of course. That still puts on course to travel in late April. Wait, wait, wait...I hate it! Megan told me again she wants to go get Lauran now. So, I guess I am not the only one who is disliking the waiting!

Packing for China!

Ok...so the closer we get to going to China the more I think about the dreaded task of packing. We have decided also this week, that we will take the kids to China. Unless however, airfare skyrockets when it is time to purchase tickets. Right now though, it is in the doable category...so we are planning like they are going. So maybe the idea of packing for all 5 five of us this time has sent me over the edge, but I keep having reoccurring dreams about going to China and each time I completely mess up the packing....I forget to pack half of what we needed. In one dream we each have 2 outfits for 2 weeks and all of Megan's clothes were the wrong size. It is an overwhelming task to pack. It is not like traveling to another state and you just go to a store to buy what you forgot. Some things are available but not everything and somethings are different. Anyways....the latest in the process of adoption :) Some parts of it are painful but all worth it in the end!

Care package to China!

Last week we finally sent off a care package to Lauran. The idea is to send a couple of things for her and some photos so they can start talking to her about us and hopefully she will somewhat be familiar with our face. Especially when you are adopting special needs, there is a longer wait from the time you are matched to the time you travel. So we sent her a blanket I found on clearance at Target with LADYBUGS!! I love Target! We also sent a stuffed animal with a heart, another small toy and a picture book with pictures. We included 2 disposable cameras too, so hopefully they will take pictures of her over the next few months.

Then we included, crayons, coloring books and suckers for the other kids and chocolates for the caregivers. Chocolate from the U.S.A is a big deal over there. It was hard to find when we were in China. I didn't understand last time we went why it was on the packing list...now I know. There was a little bakery at the bottom of the hotel we stayed at that we tried and bought some "sweets" and it tasted like they forgot the sugar.