And then there were FOUR!

Josie's stocking arrived in the mail today so we hung it up and wish she was here to see it. No news to report on our LOA so we're trying to focus on Christmas and trust God's timing.

The boys are done with school for a couple weeks and we're expecting a winter storm. I'm looking forward to staying home and enjoying family. We'll play some games, watch some movies and enjoy being out of the rat race for awhile. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your families!

Music!

You will notice a change to our blog today - we added music! My friend, Christina is teaching me all sorts of new things to try while I'm waiting "patiently" for our LOA. Enjoy the music while you check in with us and feel free to use the arrows to forward to your favorite tune.

Nothing new to report today. We are busy preparing for Christmas and Ben's 40th birthday. We're heading to the Holiday Bowl which is actually on the day of his 40th Birthday to celebrate! It's going to be a great time! We'll be spending time with Ben's parents who have started to spend their winters in California and we are looking forward to the nice weather. I have to admit, I didn't think we would take another vacation as a family of 5 but am happy to know that she will be with us soon!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Adoption Talk

Okay, this post is for you fellow adoptive parents that know all the lingo. We have officially been waiting 56 days for our LOA. I am hoping it comes very, very soon so we can bring Josie home! Our official adoption statistics look like this:

LID 09-03-09

LOI 10-21-09

PA is 10-28-09

Please pray that all of our approvals arrive quickly so we can travel soon! We're ready for Josie to be home with us!! I love this picture of her. She is with her foster parents. It helps to know she is being loved and cared for until we can get there.

Isaiah 43:5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; Iwill bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.

Preparing for Christmas!

Well, I can't believe Christmas is only 10 days away! It has really snuck up on me. Honestly, I feel like I walk around in a daze most of the time. Just waiting for news on when we can bring Josie home. I've been trying to use my time productively and have been getting advice on how to keep her occupied on the plane, how to teach her English, etc, etc. I've been told that stickers and magnidoodle are the tricks for the airplane and that learning English won't be a problem.

We were able to send her a photo album of our family and our home. We recently received updated pictures that show her looking at the album. It was so great to see her! She is such a precious, precious child. I can tell already!

I Samuel 1:27 I prayed for this child. The Lord has given me what I asked him for.

Snow Days!

Well, for those of you that don't live in Nebraska we just had a major winter storm! Our boys have been out of school for two days so we've been busy, busy working on moving things around and preparing Josie's room. It is so fun and the boys have been a big help!

Last weekend, we were out of town for Ben's sister Melissa's wedding. It was so beautiful and a real joy to see her so happy! Here's a picture of our family at the reception. Noah and Trent even got up in front of the large crowd to perform a little song in honor of the happy couple (Noah sang and Trent played the piano). It was so CUTE!

Switching Agencies

Okay, where were we? Oh yeah, our home study was approved in January 2009 and we were on our way. We began gathering our many, many documents for our dossier and working closely with the China program workers at our adoption agency. For those of you that have adopted, you know that your adoption agency is very, very important in this process. Although we went with a very reputable and I still believe, wonderful agency, we began having doubts about our choice and after a lot of thought and prayer, we made the decision to switch adoption agencies. In May of 2009, we began this painful process. This meant we had to start all over with our home study which cost us additional time and money. However, our move to Holt International agency would be a wonderful choice! I knew from the first time I talked to them that this was the right agency for us. They were very open with their information and easy to work with. They quickly completed our home study and it was approved in July of 2009. We were one step closer to seeing Josie's precious face for the first time!