Waiting. It's what I do Best.

Waiting on the pumpkin pies to finish cooking! It will be a full day tomorrow with wall to wall family members (literally.. I shall take pictures to prove this) and tables overflowing with food. Tonight Tim and I met my parents, my sister and her family, as well as her in-laws at Traditions. It was a nice atmosphere and we even saw some of our friends there. It was a pleasant evening all the way around and good food, too.

After work I stopped by Chez Bazan in Tyler to pick up a cake and place it on my boss's tab (thank you). Once I got home, I interrupted Tim from working on the fence to take a "pie break". It was a very tasty, richly flavored fruit pie. Not long after that, I was ready for a nap before dinner. I slept for probably an hour, and kept dreaming of Chanz. As I was waking up and the dream I was having began to unthread with the intrusion of reality, I was able to catch the ending. I was standing over him and patting him on the shoulder, calling him my Champion. The image and the echoing words "champion..chamption.." stuck with me for the rest of the evening.

I thought by now we would have our approval letter from NBC Hague. It was stated in an email that it would be issued that evening but I just read on one of our information sheets that it could take up to two weeks to get the letter! Two weeks!! Well: One down.

As I am scanning the information sheet, it seems very possible that we may even leave to get Chanz by January! I am hoping we can travel before February because that is the month of Chinese New Year and prices for air fair go UP.

I can't believe our journey is almost at it's peak. We're so close to bringing our beautiful child home! So much preparing has happened, both inside our lives and all around. What a blessing this child has already become <3

Happy Thanksgiving

Chanz's Nursery

I stayed up late working on the nursery. Even though the floors are not done yet, I can still work on the walls and how I want things set up. The pictures on the wall weren't too hard. Scrapbooking seems to come out anywhere! My brother in law -Michael- is making a chest of drawers so Chanz will have a place for his clothes. The leaves on the wall took *forever*. Stencils seemed like a good idea but painting with them is a whole lot harder than it seems. We also want to redo his closet..put some larger, folding doors instead of the one, small door.He already has quite a few toys, but he will get more when we have a "toddler shower". That's another post, another day! Meanwhile, I'm really having fun working on our little guy's room. It helps make the waiting a little easier and I feel like we're accomplishing something. I loved how his little frog blanket turned out. Tracy and I finished it in less than an hour. I bought stuffing for the pillow the next day and finished it up. I suppose this is all the update I have for now. The Holidays are upon us. I SO wish Chanz could be here for them, but we get excited when we think about how different the next year will be for us. So many changes, and a little ray of sunshine to make life that much sweeter.

Still waiting

We still have not received any word that our paperwork is completed, so we've occupied our time with saving money and fundraising. I've sold close to 200 bracelets and they aren't even in yet! About the first 100 pays back the money I had to spend to buy them, but I expect to get enough donations to help with the expensive hobby called Adoption!
I will work this week on getting a care package together to send to Chanz in the orphanage. It may be cheaper to buy stuff online *in* China and just have them ship it to the orphanage. I want him to be warm and have his own things. The weather where he lives is somewhere in the 50s during the day and 30s at night. That's cold for a little kid! By December it will be 30s-40s during the day and high teens-low 20s at night! yikes!
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We met Chanz's pediatrician today and LOVE him! He is a very nice, polite Christian man. Somehow there was a mix-up with appointments. I had 10:00 written down, but they had me down for 12:45. He saw us anyway and did not rush through our visit and took his time. He told about his two trips to China and even offered us some heavier coats and luggage to take with us! He said not to worry about eye appointments or any of that until after his first doctor's appointment, and he would make the arrangements. Much relief!

I friended a lady on facebook that had a son with albinism and then adopted a little girl from China with albinism. Her son is in his teens, so she has lots of experience with the condition and I'm going to learn everything I can from her!

Meanwhile, we received a I-797 Notice of Action from Homeland Security. Things are mooooving along!

Final Steps

Last night we stayed up until past midnight trying to fill out the final stretch of paperwork, the I-800 and I-864W. Tim will overnight this to Dallas today and it should take approx. 2 weeks to get that back. Then, once we receive our approval letter, we send copies of the documents to Great Wall, they send the documents to China via email, and they begin working on our travel arrangements. Basically, we're on the tip top of the mountain looking down! All the waiting is suddenly over.

When I got the phone call last week that our LSC (letter seeking confirmation) was in, our case worker said "This is a lot faster than usual." I told her that this kid is covered in prayer so I wasn't surprised!

The only downside is the reality that we have a lot of money to come up with yet. I am not worrying about it because I know God will provide, however the human side of me can't help but get a little antsy about it. We have the orphanage donation, travel costs, and money lost from not being at work (since I have no benefits). This is a lot to consider!

I am excited, none the less. His room is far from finished and I am not sure we can do the floors yet because I want to make sure we have enough money for travel. (I spilled paint on the carpet a couple of years ago). It's still cute with frogs and monkeys and giraffes and a huge ride-on elephant from my friend Kelly!

Very excited that we'll have him home soon..very soon!