We have received our travel approval from China. We have our dates. Hope will be in our arms on September 19th. I am so excited!!! Please pray for us as we prepare to travel. Pray for our children as they prepare for our departure. Pray for my mom as she prepares to take my place for over two weeks. Most of all pray for Hope as she prepares to leave behind the only life she has ever known. Pray that she will be receptive to being a part of a family. We know that God ordains every step of this journey and are looking forward to seeing miracles all around us unfold.

No words needed!

First Day of School

The excitement and anticipation of the first day is so much fun. I love seeing the light in their eyes as they get up for school on the first day, it kinda reminds me of Christmas morning. I love that my kids love school as much as they do. It has been my yearly tradition now to make Noelle's first day of school outfit, and I ran into several road blocks this year, but I got it done. She ran out of bed and headed straight for the dining room table to get a glimpse of her new outfit. She loved it, and I loved that it fit. Hunter cracked me up because once he was dressed Noelle and told him he looked adorable, and he said, "I'm gonna go upstairs and change." I talked him out of it by telling him how handsome he was. I am excited about this year and about their teachers. I truly believe that the Lord has them right where he wants them.

My Girl!

This is a sweet video we got of Hope while we were waiting to see if we would become her parents. Once I saw this video and saw her sweet smile, and the way she puts her tongue out just like Hunter, I was HAD. After watching this video, the extent of her special needs just didn't matter anymore. She was ours, and we were hers. Sorry about the sound. I can't get it to work correctly through youtube since this isn't one of their supported video formats.

Frogs in the Kitchen

I never thought I would be a good boy mom. Just ask my friend Michelle. I used to call her over to catch anoles that would find their way into my home. I have come a long way, and I am rather proud of myself. I can catch a lizard, turtle, tadpole, fish, snake (except for when I am on a mission to kill them), and frog all with great success. I don't love this activity, but I love my son enough to participate. However, sometimes this little critters just cross the line.

This is Hunter and his friend Lee. They look sneaky don't they. The two of them together are something else! They are holding Mr. Bullfrog that they found. I snapped a picture and said, great, now take him outside. Imagine my surprise when three hours later when I went to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher, Mr. Bullfrog was resting comfortably in my sink! Oh the joys of having a boy!

Oh the Drama!

Oh the drama that this little tiny girl can create! She wanted to get her ears pierced. I thought it would be best to wait til Hope got home, so they could do them together, but her daddy told her she could have them done now if she wanted. Oh yes, she was READY.

When we went in I tried to explain to the girl how I thought it was going to go down. I told her, no this will not hurt her, she is actually very tough, but that she will be overly dramatic, and hilarious all at the same time. Before she could even get started LeeLee had her laughing hysterically, just by her witty little comments. So far so good! LeeLee was giggling because it was ticklish. Oh, this is where the true drama began. Sorry I didn't get pictures, but between trying to get her to stop the drama and laughing hysterically, I had to put the camera down. She shot in the first earring, then LeeLee started laughing very loudly and and started screaming, "it hurts, it hurts!" By this time she had a small crowd forming to watch her because the laugh was so out of control. I was even able to translate that a Mexican family near by commented that my girl was very crazy. So, for the next 30 minutes, the drama continued as the poor girl tried to do the other side. LeeLee held her ear and laughed. She buried her ear into the bear so the girl couldn't get to it, she was determined she wasn't getting the second hole done, while continuing to laugh at us all. Then it happened, the girl decided to barter with LeeLee. It went something like this....

Girl-I'll give you a sucker and two stickers if you let me do your ear

LeeLee-Let me see um

Girl-Here they are

LeeLee-Not one but 2 suckers

Girl-Okay

LeeLee-all the suckers?

Me-Eleenah Faith, you will get two and only two!

LeeLee-aw man! Okay but only if I can have two pink suckers.

Girl-Okay

LeeLee-okay then shoot my ear, just don't shoot it off

This is directly after the second hole, she grabbed the suckers then started the screaming laugh again. This time it was only five minutes. Kinda glad Hope didn't see this, she would have never gotten her ears done.

LOA

We were informed today that we have our Letter of Acceptance from China. What does that mean? That means that China has approved all of our documents and they have officially approved us to be the parents of Wu Lina. We are beyond excited. Now I can share with you a little more about her. Her Chinese name is Wu LiNa. Wu is her last name, Lina is her name. They call her "NaNa" though. Her birthday is February 25th. She is currently 6 years old. She currently resides in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. She is in an excellent orphanage where she is truly loved. I will update you more on Baotou later. From here, we have to apply for her approval to come into the US. Once we receive that approval and a visa is issued in her new name, we will receive travel from China. In a perfect world this will take about 8 weeks. Sometimes it goes slower, sometimes faster. Then we will travel about 2-4 weeks later. We are so excited to be onto the next step. We have some friends in China now adopting from this SWI. Yesterday they got a report that our daughter is bright and happy, cute and pretty. I love it!