Conference Call set for next week

Just an update for the bloggers. We have a conference call scheduled for next week. There are 3 other families that received their LOA's the same time we did. 2 from Ohio and 1 from Tennesse. The agency wants to conference us all in together just to introduce us and talk about applying for VISA's and travel plans. We hope to find out more then but for now this is all I got.

LOA signed and mailed again!

I told Marty this morning that I was not leaving the house until I had the LOA document in my hands. I sat here all day and finally it arrived by UPS around 3:30. The UPS man thought I was nuts because I was so excited to see him. I ripped open the folder and read the paper. I cannot explain the emotions I was feeling. Now I had to rush to the office to get Marty to sign it and then stop by the post office to overnight it back to the agency. I was at the post office by 4:30. The day was a successful one.

The agency will now process the paperwork and mail it China. We still do not know our travel dates but they are coming soon. As soon as I hear I will let you know.

By the way, On the LOA document China uses a red seal with the date of actual approval. Our date stamp is 12/25/08. CHRISTMAS DAY!! Isn't that an awesome Christmas present.

His Timing

Isn't God amazing! As I was driving home this evening praying to the Lord asking Him to wrap His arms around my son I began to think about my friend Shelli and how I wish I could call her and tell her the good news. It is so hard to believe that this New Years Day marks one year since Shelli went home. I now know why it has taken so long to receive our LOA. Crazy huh! Well, today is the day that I recall holding Shelli's hand in her hospital bed telling her over and over that I loved her and to stay strong and fight. At this time Shelli knew I was there. Her heart rate was lowering to normal and she just sat there and listened to me. I am so thankful for that time with her. "I love you", were the last words I spoke to her. Today Shelli let me know that She loves me and reminded me once again that God is control and His timing is always perfect. I guess a phone call wasn't necessary after all, Shelli already knew.

Please keep Eric, Dawson, Brit and the rest of the family in your prayers this week.

LOA - YES!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!! We finally received our LOA today! We are so excited and are looking forward to seeing our son soon!

LOA - A BIG FAT NO!!!!

It is Christmas eve and still no LOA! Tomorrow is Christmas and also day 130. The wait is getting harder and harder. I have been keeping up with other blogs and the LOA time frames have been from 115 days to 132. If things are normal for us than that puts us getting our LOA any day now. However, the agency is in Oregon and they have been closed this week because of the snow. Christmas too. It would be great to receive the call next week. We really need to receive the LOA soon in order to travel in January. Honestly, it appears that we will not travel until February but January is still possible. The Chinese New Year is also coming up at the end of January so we have to schedule around that as well.

We started this process in August of 2007. Kaegan was born on August 3rd, 2006. We chose him to be ours on September 3rd, 2008. It would be wonderful to welcome him home in January of 2009.

Keep on Praying!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Day 115 Still No Call

It has been 115 days and still no call. Please continue to pray!!!!!!!!!!

105 Days

We have been waiting 105 days for our LOA. Please pray that we receive it this week!!!!!

Update

I just confirmed with the adoption agency that our Log in date is actually 8-18-08. That is the date that we should begin to count our 12-15 weeks from. That puts today at week 13. We could get our letter any day now. If we get it this week it is possible that we could get our travel approval in time and still get Kaegan home before Christmas. If not, then we will definitely have our flights scheduled for the month of January.

This was good news. We thought that our log in date was in September not August. Anyway, keep praying. I will let you know when we receive the letter.

Update on Paperwork

We received an email from the agency today stating that if we do not receive our travel approval before November 21 we will not travel until January. This is due to the Holidays. It takes a few weeks to prepare ones travels therefore November 21 is the last dates that will be processed for travel before Christmas. Knowing this now confirms that it will be a miracle if we get our letter. The time frame now appears to be 3 months for the approval. That would put us receiving ours December 3rd. Too late to make it to China before Christmas.

Please continue to pray. We know that having Kaegan home for Christmas is almost impossble at this point but receiving our approval before then is not. We would love to have the letter before Christmas and travel in January.

Keep on praying!!!

Our Sonogram

Now that we are finally "pregnant on paper" we thought we'd share with you our sonogram.

Pray for a Speedy Process!

Ok. It is has been 58 from the time we received our referral, therefore it has been 58 days of waiting for our LOA. (letter of approval) I have just read on another blog that a family received their LOA and it took 134 days!!!!!! That is a very long time for me. Not to mention that is not even before Christmas. This family however will receive their travel notice and will travel before Christmas. What an incredible gift!!! I am so happy for them.

Please continue to pray for our process. We are anxiously waiting for him!

Pre-Approval Letter

We received a call from the agency today that they received our Pre-Approval letter. YEAH!!! We received this much quicker than normally. China has a new system and it appears that things may be speeding up. We are still hoping to get Kaegan before Christmas. The LOA is what we are waiting on now. That is the Letter of Approval. Once we receive that we will then wait on the travel dates.

Kaegan has received the news that he has a Mommy and a Daddy in the USA. He has also received our pictures. The agency said that the orphanges do a good job trying to prepare the child to meet his family by showing them pictures as often as they can. I sure hope this is true. It is just exciting to know that he now knows about us.

Keep on praying!!!

Kaegan's Shower

Kaegan's Swing Set

Pappy and Mimi bought Kaegan a swing set. Marty and several of our friends put it together. Thanks to all who helped and thanks to Pappy and Mimi for the gift. We can't wait to see him playing on it.

Kaegan's Room

Amency and I painted Kaegan's room the night before last. It looks so good. Thanks Aunt Amency for all the help. Last night Marty and I with the help of Jerome and Richard completed the room by adding the bedding, curtains, toy box and table and chairs to the room. It is adorable.

Many of you know that Marty and I collect crosses and have huge cross wall going up the stairway of the house. It has over 170 crosses on it now and we had to carry the mattresses up the stairway with out breaking a cross. I did remove about thirty for safety precautions and believe it or not we did not break one!!! It was funny watching the guys dodge them each step. Atleast I was amused.

Paperwork

We mailed off some more paperwork yesterday. I sent it overnight so the agency should get it today. As soon as we hear from China in regards to our Dossier we can finalize the paperwork by getting our VISA's and schedule the flight. YEAH!!!

Everything is in China's hands now. Please pray that they review our files quickly so we can get our son soon.

Shopping

I went shopping today for the first time for Kaegan. I loved it. I found so many cute things. It was hard not to go overboard. Plus I am having to guess at his sizes so I setteled on 2T's and hoping that they fit. I haven't purchased shoes yet. Everyone has said that he will be between a 5 and 7. I will probably buy 6 or 7 just in case. I would rather them be to big rather than small. Anyway, that is all the news for the day.

Met with agency again!

Yesterday, I forgot to blog about our meeting with the local agency. Marty and I met with the local agency to complete one more form for the adoption. This was necessary because of his special need. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and that was it. We are now waiting on the International adoption physician to contact us to have a phone interview about his medical records. This is a requirement. Hopefully this will be completed by Monday.

Conference Call

We had the conference call with the agency today. It was very good information about handling situations once we receive him. We discussed things like attachment, bonding and sleep. It really made us think a lot but the bottom line is that lots of love and kindness will fix these issues.

We also learned that we are approximately 7-11 weeks from traveling. That puts us traveling before or around Thanksgiving. We are so excited. That is much sooner than we expected.

We have an appointment by phone set with an International Adoption Physician that is recommended by the agency for next week. It is required to have them look at his records and give us a report. We also have another appointment with the local agency. Because of the special need that Kaegan has we must fill out more paperwork for the state. Both should not be big issues. We have 2 weeks to complete the paperwork and I think we can have it done by next Friday. Atleast that is my goal.

I asked the agency if I could blog his picture and they said NO! Not until he becomes ours. Marty asked if we would receive more than 2 pictures and her response was, "you will take the 3rd. " Crazy huh! We asked about his size for clothing and shoes but learned that we will not receive anymore information than we already have. So we will go by the growth charts.

Anyway, Marty and I will travel to Chicago this weekend for business so please keep us in your prayers. I will continue to blog when we get new news.

Registered for Preschool

Isn't this crazy!!! I registered Kaegan for preschool today. He will be 3 next year and everyone has said it is time to register so I did. Eastwood Baptist is where he will attend preschool. Yeah! That means I have less than a year to make sure he knows English, which he should because that is what they teach in the orphanage, and potty train him. Fun!!

We received the information packet in the mail today and have looked over it. We have to contact an International adoption physician and get his overview of the medical documents received from China. We also have more papers to sign and notarize. Marty and I worked on several of the items already. I hope to have the packet in the mail by the end of next week.

There are no knew pictures of Kaegan yet. I will find out tomorrow if I can post his picture. We have a conference call at 11:30 with the agency. We hope to have many questions answered.