LOA Finally!!!!

After waiting for for what seemed like an eternity, we finally have LOA.  This document (actually titled Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter) asks us to sign that we are accepting the adoptee.  YES, YES, YES we accept.  Now can we just go get her????  Not quite, we still have a number of other steps to go through.  However, we should be traveling within 2-3 months.  I can say with certainty that the last 3 months have been the most difficult part of this process for me.  LOA can typically take 60-90 days.  Obviously, I had hoped for a shorter wait.  When day 60 arrived, I became somewhat obsessed with the process and spent way to much time worrying about when other people were getting their LOA than trusting in God and His timing.  But, God is faithful and has a perfectly timed plan for the day that we meet our daughter.  We love you Ella Grace and can't wait to bring you home!  Until then sweet girl, you are covered in our prayers and the prayers of family and friends.

We received an update!

What a happy morning to wake up and find new pictures of my baby girl. These are the first pictures that I have received where she is smiling! And what a precious smile it is. . .

Somewhere in China. . .

My box full of gifts is lost somewhere in China!  It has been attempted to be delivered 3 times.  Unfortunately, it has been attempted to be delivered to the wrong address.  Looks like I get to start all over.  Maybe it will be found, maybe it will be sent back to me.  If not, one day when Ella Grace looks back through this blog, she can look at the picture of the things I tried to send.  Sorry, baby girl!  Momma is trying!

Lots of love in one little box

I have spent more time than I can count putting together a care package for my little Ella Grace. I have no idea what she truly needs, what the orphanage will allow her to have or what she will actually get that I send. So, I am sending quite the variety. First, I made a photo album of her new family and her house complete with Chinese translations. Hopefully, her nannies will look at the book with her and tell her who these strange looking people are! I added several outfits and pajamas. I don't know if she will get to wear them all or if they will even fit. Either way, I hope some child gets to wear them! I added a gift for each nanny and a note thanking them for the care they are providing Ella Grace until we can bring her home. There are two disposable cameras with hopes of pictures that we can develop later and bags and bags of lollipops and twizzlers for the kids.

I have also received a few recent pictures!

I can't wait to get my baby girl HOME!!  I am thankful that she is being well cared for (all things considered).  There are pictures of her orphanage on Little Redhead's blog (on my adoption blog list).  They just came home with Pippa and posted an amazing account of their experience complete with beautiful pictures.  Please continue to remember us in your prayers.  We are waiting for LOA (letter of acceptance) and are praying that it will come soon.  We are at day 30 and expecting to wait for 90.  However, sometimes it comes sooner!  We are working diligently on preparing her room and I am planning to post pictures soon!  Pink is such a fun color:-)

Ella Grace Bailey

We are thrilled to say that we have PA and can officially share pictures of our beautiful little girl, Ella Grace Bailey "Gracie"!  Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I got a phone call from our social worker telling me that we could share her picture.  I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks, not a couple of days.  Maybe this means all the other steps will go quickly;-)

It's a Girl!!!!!

We are so excited to announce that we have been matched with a beautiful little girl! She is 2 1/2 years old and absolutely precious!  We have spent the day reviewing her medical records and talking with physicians.  As most of you know we are adopting a child with special needs.  She has a congenital heart arrhythmia.  Good thing her Daddy is a heart rhythm specialist!  I have spent a lot of time praying that when we received a referral the child would have a medical need that Michael would be familiar with.  I was hoping that it would be her heart, but never imagined it would be an arrhythmia.  It certainly put us ahead of the curve while looking at her file!  God truly is a work in all the details of our lives.  I can't help but imagine that on July 18, 2011, when God spoke to my heart and told me there was a little girl out there for our family, He was also answering her cries for a family.  We are all in His hands and truly loved by Him!  The unfortunate news is that I can not share her picture until we receive PA from China.  Hopefully, in a couple of weeks I can introduce you to our little girl by name and by picture.  Please pray for her that she will be cared for and nurtured until we can bring her home.  I love you all and thank you for joining us on this most incredible journey!

Praying for a referral

It looks like the next list will be released on February 27th.  I promise to update as soon as we know if this is the month that we are matched with our little girl.  It is just a matter of time (and an awful lot of patience) before we see her sweet face!  I am so grateful that God is blessing us with another child.  We are so full of anticipation waiting to see how His plan continues to unfold. 

In the meantime, we are excited that we have been given an opportunity to volunteer at a Show Hope event in conjunction with Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Songs and Stories” tour near Huntsville this weekend.  http://www.showhope.org/.  I have also been approved to work on the medical team as a volunteer with Love Without Boundaries.  http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/. 

I also have several of my friends from The Red Thread group that are preparing to travel to China and bring their babies home.  Please pray for them that they have safe travels and that God will prepare the hearts of their children for the new life they are about the begin.  I can only imagine how difficult it must be, even for a small child, to be taken away from all that is familiar and placed in the arms of strangers.  Although they are certainly going to loving, Christ centered homes, it is in the familiar that we find comfort.  Please pray that God will comfort their sweet hearts as the unfamiliar becomes their forever family.

Love to all of you reading this:-)

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