LID!

We got an email today that we have our LID!!
It was September 22! Only 3 days after our dossier arrived in China! YAY!

One of the other families from our agency got their LOA today and their LID was September 16. Could ours be just a week away?? That would be SOO crazy awesome!

Trick or Treat

Zack refused to go Trick or Treating because he didn't want to dress up. He said he would only go as himself!
I told him he couldn't go trick or treating if he didn't dress up.
As usual it was my will against his!
Lucky for me I found this great Perry the platypus shirt! We love you Phineas & Ferb!
He agreed! We have a winner!

Hey, where's Perry?

Here's the Trick or Treating group! 

The Perrys, Mom, Jake (Johnny Knox) and Katie aka Mary Ingalls! (We've been watching Little House on the Prairie!

Waiting up

Ryan decided to catch a ride and come home for the weekend. A certain someone was put to bed at 8:30 but waited up for him until 10:00. She's so happy he's home. Daddy may have an empty lap for a few minutes this weekend while Katie is velcro-ed to Ryan!

Fundraising

So my brain's been swarming with fundraising ideas! Just in time for Christmas shopping! Here are a few of the things we'll be selling to help with the finances to bring Sophie home:

Polar Bear Pillow

Pillows $20
Polar Bears
Pink & Red Hearts
Sports on Royal Blue
Pink & Green Flowers
Pink Ladybugs & Daisies


                   

7x7" pan of Fudge YUM! $12

My wonderful team of friends will be helping me make snowmen ornaments, Chocolate Crinkle cookies, Peanut Blossom cookies and Decorated Christmas Cut-out sugar cookies! 
Pictures coming! Please let me know if you are interested in buying any of the items! I will accept "orders" immediately. Thanks for your support!

Our girl at school

We received some pictures of our little girl at school! She looks SO much bigger than her referral picture! She is almost the exact same height and weight of Katelyn! Twins again! :)
We also learned her favorite colors are pink and red, she has lived with the same foster family for all 6 years and she is happy about being adopted!

Can't wait to get my arms around her! Waiting is SO hard.

Sophie's Care Package

We ordered a care package to be sent to Sophie through Angela at LadyBugsnLove. We chose a doll, a photo album, and a cake. Angela sent us this picture of the doll and a Hello Kitty photo album that contains 10 pictures of her new family! How cool is that!

 We also were able to write Sophie a letter that Angela will translate and send to her. Often when the kid's are sent a cake, the orphanage will take pictures of the child. I hope we'll get some more pictures of her!! That would be awesome! 

Even Better!

I got an update today from my agency. We still don't have LID. (That is the logged in date that is the formal recognition that China received our dossier.)

What we DO have is "in process" which means our case is through translation and is actively being reviewed! YAY!! LOA could be one month away!! This keeps us on track for travel in February/March as travel is usually about 3 months after LOA.

I'll take it! Happy day!

Cross Country

Josh just finished his first year of Cross Country! And finished in style! He set a new personal record (PR) with a time of 17:40 for 3 miles! He was trying to break 18 minutes! He did! Way to go, Josh! We're so proud of you!

Fun Family Fotos!

Thanks to my friend Pamela at Reflections, Etc.   for these family pics we had taken in August!

 She did Matt and Ryan's senior pictures for us too!

Jake, Ryan, Josh, Shawn, Deb, Zack, Katie, Matt

Attitude! Just a little with this gang!

Next summer we'll get to add Sophie to our family picture! 

Empowered to Connect

Great Parenting Resources! Loved Parenting with Love and Logic when we read it and went to a seminar. Now that we have read The Connected Child by Dr. Karen Purvis, Dr. David Cross and Wendy Sunshine, it's a MUST READ!! It's specifically for adoptive parents, but has GREAT info for all parents. Below is a link to some videos, especially check out the last one which explains I.D.E.A.L. parenting:

Immediate

Direct

Efficient

Action-based

Leveled towards behavior

http://empoweredtoconnect.org/what-every-adoptive-parent-should-know/

Good stuff!

Learning

I love learning.

I learned that the orphanage in Hengfeng is only for infants and since our daughter is 6 she is NOT in the orphanage, but in a foster care situation! She is in a family! I hope and pray that it is a loving family and that she has been in the same foster home the whole 6 years.

I also learned that the doctors at St. Louis Children's Hospital (where our insurance would send us) have done the surgery that Sophie needs many times. :)