Driving home from Colorado today,
we received a call from our agency…
We now have our
Letter of Acceptance or
LOA
from China!

With this in hand,
we can start the process with USCIS or US Immigration and
also have a better idea when we may be able to travel.
We are hoping to be in China this coming November,
just as we were two years ago to bring Lucy home!

With this in hand,
we can also share a picture of our precious boy with you!

The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.
Psalm 118:27

P.S.
You can still~
“Tag the Bag”

Friday, July 29, 2016
We received our call from AWAA!
They have a file for us to review…
and it belongs to a precious little boy that Becca met while in China last October.
We know his little face, had asked about his paperwork being ready or not, and had prayed for him.  We are just a little excited. During story time, Lucy comments, “wow, you are reading so fast!” We are thrilled to be able to contact Becca in Sicily before her days ends! (they are 7 hours ahead of us.)

Saturday, July 30, 2016 and Sunday, July 31, 2016
We pray and ponder, communicate with our amazing pediatrician (who is on vacation, yet still makes time for us!), talk in code with Hanna and Spencer over Michael and Lucy’s heads (*smile*), manage to have  phone call with Becca…realize that Michael will get to be a big brother, wonder if Lucy will be disappointed to not be welcoming home another sister (this had been her vote) and how she will process this whole, well, “process.”

Monday, August 1, 2016
We contact AWAA and say “yes!” we want to move forward!
Receive an overwhelming email with several attachments including directions on how to do so… and then that evening we get a chance to share with Lucy.  We tell her that we have heard from our friends that talk to China for us, we think we know who our “New Little Birdie” is… we show her his picture and share that he is 3 and in her city.  She looks at his little picture and said, “I like him. He is cute. Great.” The wheels were obviously turning, she holds up 3 fingers and says, “we have 3 brothers, and 3 sisters!”  She then proceeds to make plans to help him feel safe… Felt safety is different than being safe… she likes the ideas of playing together, feeding him good food, bringing along the stuffed panda we have for him with us to China.  Next, she tapes his picture to her bedroom wall and shares it with her favorite doll and then continues to “introduce” her new little brother to several other dolls and her own stuffed panda bear.  Oh, my heart, grace upon grace, thank you, Jesus.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016
This morning I get the chance to tell Michael about our “New Little Birdie.” I show him the a picture and he asks me, “Is he a boy or a girl?” He responds to my answer with, “Yay, he will be in my room!” Michael, you get to be a big brother…Wheels turning… “yes!” He answers with a big smile.  I tel him that his new little brother’s Chinese nick name is Yang Yang and thinks for a minute and asks, “Does he speak Chinese? Then he won’t understand what I am saying…” Well, you can help him learn English, “Ahhh…” I give him the picture to keep and he tells me, “This is my own little picture of our new little birdie, I can look at it whenever I want.” Yes, you can, Michael, yes you can!

We are still hopeful to travel before this calendar year ends.  Our little man will be just about 3 1/2 years old at that time.  We are just so grateful and rejoicing!  If you would like to help us bring him home, you can Tag the Bag – take a look here!