LSC/LOA !!!!!!!

Yup - you heard it right - our Letter Seeking Confirmation formerly known as Letter Of Approval is HERE on Day 78!!!!!!

Funny thing - I was hoping that it was going to come soon, so I thought I would get a couple of number pictures ready. I was just snapping this photo when the call came!

Now we wait again. This time for our TA (Travel Approval). Our agency said that we should plan on traveling in 2 - 2 1/2 months from now. Hmmmm. Christmas in China!

Day 73

I KNOW it is God's timing. I KNOW that HIS timing is perfect. I still feel like whining, though. It is been 73 days since our official log in in China's system for this adoption. We are still within the average turn around time. Anytime soon would be great!!!!!

Since ZabiChu is legally not yet our daughter, I can't share much, but we were over the moon excited to get an update on her! Do you see her ponytails????? Well, you can see one of them! She is 1 inch taller than chickadee, weighs the same, same size foot, but a little thinner. She loves to eat fruit, is shy of strangers, goes to kindergarten and is being prepared for adoption. Now if I can just get my achin' arms around my sweetie, I'll be happy!

MissE has been busy creating and sewing a Japanese kimono for a masquerade ball being held in October. She has done an outstanding job!

IBoy has recently been bitten by the camera bug! He has been traveling around a couple of counties with his auntie and snapping hundreds of shots. I'll have to share some of them later - they are really good!

In closing today, I'd like to share a poem that I recently found that touched my heart. Although we don't have any children with disabilities, we all need to understand that life throws curve balls in many different forms. We all need to open our eyes and see God's beauty surrounding us.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Bible Smugglers

Warning: This is a multi session post, please be patient! I have been swamped and not able to sit down and devote any time to sharing about our game night. Here are a few photos, I have had so many people asking to get them up and we are headed into a crazy busy week, so I'll do my best!

A crowd of fun loving, energetic families convened at our place on Friday night for a much anticipated game of Bible Smuggling. A game played in the forest, in the dark. The object is for two teams to smuggle their "bibles" to "churches" hidden around the playing area without being caught by the police. If a person is caught by the "police", they are put into "jail" and made to give up their "bible". The captives can be released from "jail" by correctly answering Bible trivia.

What is this - a used car lot????

Scoping the area.

Checking in.

Dads chatting.

Camp set-up.

Hanging out.

A innovative roasting technique!

Good music.

Friends.

Getting the proper camo make-up.

MissE on the left and Mams-friend.

Ready to go.

Lining up for a head count before heading out for the first round.

By the time that I ran to the house to get the video camera, the crowd was noisy and dispersed, and I only caught the tail end of their last song that they played :-( They really sounded much better than what you can hear here.

Of course there couldn't be a campfire without the staple s'more!

Front of the house.

A tired momma.

The littles enjoying the swings and fort.

Some chose to stay inside for the night.

Part of the crew gathered in a warm, dry kitchen for breakfast!

Out the back door.

I have a TON more pictures of our fun event on FB, if you are interested in seeing them in all of their unedited glory!

Porcupines and Spaghetti

Oh - before I say anything else, two of you got the mystery photo right! It was some sort of fungi growing on a stump - I had never seen any that vividly colored!

Sorry it has been such a long time since the last post - we have been busy doing a little more landscaping and getting outside work done before the weather turns. We also began our new venture of schooling world history, chemistry and logic together with another family, so there was planning to do on that front. Our other school co op begins next week and I am going to teach a geocaching class, so that will be my focus over the next few days now.

How do you like our new house? It might need a little elbow grease here and there . . . . .

an air conditioned back porch,

Come on in - looks inviting, doesn't it?

Just kidding! This was another spot sil and I found to take some photos last week!

The other night the dogs alerted us to something prowling the property. IBoy went to investigate and this is what he found:

Over 50 friends have been invited up to our place Friday night to play a game of Bible Smuggling. In the dark. It is a combination of tag and capture the flag in the forest. The teens are psyched about it, and I'm not sure what the adults are saying - they don't usually use "those" kind of words around me! hee hee Many of the families are pitching tents and staying overnight. Should be a blast!

To get the "trails blazed" in preparation, 7 friends volunteered to come up and and lend a hand. They kind of worked up an appetite. Guess ya gotta feed the buggers, eh?

I have been having fun stalking ebay for great deals on "twin" clothing. I have read that by dressing the girls alike, it will help our newest daughter feel more like she belongs. Kind of a visual reminder - oh, we are wearing the same clothes, I must be a part of this family! Yeah - that is the "official" reason I am going crazy. Do you want the "real" reason? I think that it will look stinkin' CUTE! Yes, I will continue to do it until they voice an objection!

A box of the new clothes came today. Dad thought that a matching outfit was for him -

and this is what Chicka thought of THAT idea!

Couldn't resist sharing this photo. I was warming up some leftover spaghetti, turned around and saw Chicka scarfing down the cold noodles straight from the bowl!

Home from CA and Special Friends in China

When we were in China in '08, we met a wonderful young woman with whom we enjoyed spending time and getting to know. We have maintained contact with her and look forward to seeing her again soon. She and her handsome husband (whom we have also had the pleasure of spending time) have since had a sweet addition to their family! Please welcome HY, our godson!

MissE used some of her hard earned cash to buy a flight to CA to visit her BFF that she hasn't seen since we moved in '05! The R Family is very dear to us and we miss each other terribly. It seems like we keep planning get-togethers and for one reason or another, they never actually take place. We are already talking about next year's plan, so maybe, just maybe it will work this time!

Out and About in Toutle

What? You can't use clip on earrings for a hair decoration? Why not?

Chicka found some of my OLD dresses. It is the new daily attire now - both of them together!

Peek!

Alright - now that you are here, you get to see photos of another road trip sil and I did this afternoon around Toutle!

OK - what is this? Any guesses?

This was the only dwelling we saw on Merchant Road. Oh, I know - it is the old Merchant's Place! Ha - probably is!

Looking up.

This one is kind of blurry - I forget to reset the camera. Chicka was having SO much fun running in circles! Goof ball!

Do you see the peek a boo belly button?