Article 5 dropped off!

Moving right along!

Article 5 PICK-UP will be January 5, 2012!
THEN hoping we get TRAVEL APPROVAL before Chinese New Year which is January 23rd and everything shuts down for the week.

As it gets closer I am more and more excited to bring this little girl home,
AND I'm reminded how hard it will be to leave 2 little ones and 2 big ones behind and be GONE for 2 WEEKS. Zack is already talking about how much he'll miss me. :(
So thankful my sister will be loving on him for several days, and my mom is willing to come for the last week. (and thankful my dad is willing to let her!)

More later on how  thankful I am to all the people who ordered fudge, pillows, etc and who are willing to donate to Lifesong on our behalf to make this adoption a reality!

NVC Baby!

Check.
Another milestone behind us! Hoorah!
The National Visa Center (NVC) cabled (emailed) the approval to us, then we emailed it to our agency (madisonadoption.com who we totally love!). Then Madison emailed it to China where their rep will drop it (along with some other paperwork) off at the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. It will take a full 2 weeks at the Embassy, then......
China can give us our long awaited TRAVEL APPROVAL!
Still hoping for early February travel! (or leaving at the end of January would be fine by me!)

I800 Approval

We finally got our I800 approval in the mail yesterday! I was expecting this step to take only 2 weeks (per our agency) but it took 4 weeks! Hopefully the next steps will go faster than usual! I have no idea how the holidays in the US and China will affect this process!
Here's what's next:
1) Need  NVC (National Visa Center) to send our file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou (usually 1 week)
2) The US Embassy issues our Article 5 (always 2 weeks)
3) China gives us Travel Approval (1-3 weeks)
4) We pick a Consulate Appointment date and get it confirmed with the Embassy. (usually a couple days)
We buy tickets to China!!

We're getting closer!!

Having a daughter

Having a daughter is different than having sons.
In many ways!
This morning I was hurrying to put on makeup before taking the boys to their homeschool art class.
Katie joined me in the bathroom and wanted to have everything I put on face put on HER face. Now this actually happened with my sons too! But I only let them have lotion on their faces! Which is what I let Katie have at 5 years old.
But as she's asking me: "Why do you put makeup on?"
(Again, my sons asked the same thing.)
"Why do you put the brown lotion on your face? Do you want to be brown?"
Then with the eye pencil and  mascara: "Why do you put black on your eyes? I like you just the way you are!" (How sweet is that?)
But here is where the difference between boys and girls is for me:
My sons will never go on to wear makeup when they get older.
But my daughter WILL.
And it got me thinking? I want HER to be happy with "the way she is". I don't want her to think she needs mounds of makeup to look beautiful.  Or any makeup at all! In fact, I love the way she looks "just the way she is"!
And I want her to be happy with the way God made her!

Hmmm...I welcome your thoughts here! Post a comment!