Birthday pictures!

We got some awesome birthday pictures of Le Le.  I thought I would post the best one!  There is another picture of her with her friends sharing some cake.  So great! 

Where are we in the process?  We are waiting for our LOA, or Letter Seeking Confirmation.  It's basically our formal approval from China. It averages 50 days, but can take 35 and can take 100.  As soon as we get this letter, we have about 75 days to travel.  This letter will determine whether we travel in November or January.  It's all pretty exciting.  Please pray that we receive this letter sooner rather than later. 

I have been yard sailing to fill her closet with clothes. A few wonderful people have given me their hand me downs.  I can tell you that it's very strange to see pink clothes in the closet! 

As always I have some prayer requests:
1.  We heard back from another grant, which we were denied.  We are still waiting on three, and one is a matching grant.  If we get that grant, than basically all donations are doubled up to a certain point.  It would be wonderful to get atleast one more grant.  We still have over 15000 to pay towards this adoption. 
2.  There is a possibility of Le Le having palate surgery in China.  We would much rather wait for her to get here to have this surgery, so please pray they opt to wait since they know she is being adopted.
3. That the Lord would be preparing her heart for this HUGE life change. 
4.  And the BIGGIE..that our LOA would arrive quickly!

Thank you for the continued love and support. 

Steff

Haircut

Guess who needs a haircut?

Brian thinks I'm just practicing...

Steff

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Le Le(actually we learned they call you jhen jhen),

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Today you are a year old!  I hope you enjoyed your cake and presents.  I can't tell you how much it saddens me to miss your first birthday!  Lord willing, this will be your last birthday without us.  We're coming soon!

We love you...Mommy, Daddy, C and R squared. 

Some updates

We are still waiting for our Log In Date..although I am guessing it's around June 29th or so.  Now, we wait for our Letter Seeking Confirmation, or LOA.  That could take 30-90 days, the average being 60 days. 

We received a grant from Annie's Forever Families for $2,000. This is a huge praise as it will be directly applied to our agency fee.

We also received an anonymous gift in our church mailbox.  I don't know if the person/family reads this but we wanted to thank you.  Our family prayed for you over dinner tonight and I pray that God would bless you in abundance for your generosity.  Truly, thank you!

We are still waiting for three other grant decisions, please pray for that.  We have over 15K still left to pay towards this adoption. 

A family traveling to the orphange where Le Le is, took some pictures of her.  They said she is loved, happy and healthy.  Thank you Lord for watching over her until we can get there. 

Le Le's birthday is in 12 days, and I'm preparing to send a small cake to her.  It deeply saddens me that I cannot be there.  In her honor, I decided to post a picture of Le Le.  It's not going to be up long so look now!

Introducing our Daughter:  To be named, now called Le Le, almost 1 year old:

Steff