December 20, 2013

{Guess What We Got!!!}

It came! It finally came!

We waited 129 days for word that China has “officially” approved us to adopt XiaoRong.

I’ll admit to having a few rough days in our 129 day wait for LOA. The wait is hard no matter what…but being told your paperwork was lost in the system was really, really hard as we had NO IDEA when it would be found & continue moving through.

Of course, God knew exactly what was going on…and the exact time we would have that paper.

It is funny how everything comes together though.

On Mon. evening I had a little breakdown. Everything just hit me at once….waiting for LOA is hard, especially at Christmas time…knowing there’s a member of your family thousands of miles away. Then I got some bad news about one of my daughters (nothing horrible…I was just a tad disappointed in one of her choices). Add Christmas stress to that and it was just a bad combination. But, through this process, I’ve met some amazing people and as I sat down to relax a bit on Tuesday I chatted with her about everything and she reminded me that, while this is hard, we need to focus on the here & now and not let the stress of the adoption process ruin what we have right in front of us. She reminded me that God has a plan and, while we wished we knew of His plan, he’s got it all worked out & we need to lean on Him & trust Him with His timing. I needed that!

I woke Wednesday morning with a vow to trust Him and to enjoy Christmas with my girls & hubby and not let this stress beat me down. I did my normal check on FaceBook. There are a couple people traveling that I’ve been following, 2 of those families are in Shanghai at the same orphanage as XiaoRong. So, I’ve been ever so hopeful they might be able to get some pictures for me. And, guess what I found in my inbox?!

Is he not the cutest little boy EVER?!

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So…I was on cloud 9 for sure.

We had been told, after our director called CCCWA once again to check our status, that they were hopeful for LOA by Christmas. I was NOT holding my breath, but was a bit more hopeful as they’ve never mentioned dates before…just generic responses such as “soon”, etc. So on Thursday, I honestly wasn’t thinking anything about the LOA…I was still smiling over the pictures. My new friend messaged me to tell me she was match reviewed (meaning LOA has been issued by CCCWA but has not arrived at the agency yet…she has been waiting 134 days). I decided to check & see if maybe, just maybe, ours had been issued as well. I was SHOCKED when they wrote back that we had also received LOA. Finally….all the stress I’ve been holding the past month…it all melted away. He’s OURS! And soon we’ll be on a plane to bring him home to this crazy family!

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Emilee is so excited….Amanda will be, but holds in her feelings until he’s physically here…and Kalia has no idea what’s about to happen to her little world :)

What a Merry Christmas this will be!

1 comment:

  1. Finally!!! I'm so happy for you. Soon, he'll be in your arms , one less orphan.

    ReplyDelete