New Photos and Measurements of our lil' man

How stinkin' cute is he?!?!?

It amazes me how many photos we have been blessed with. Our handsome guy knows we are coming for us now. Hoping his party cake and care package get to him this week. In just about 6 weeks we hope to be on our way to scoop him up!

Catching Up On The Past Few Weeks

So many things to catch up on since my last blog post.  I'm starting to think I'm not a very good blogger.  Since receiving LOA on July 30th we received our visas in the mail and our I800 approval on August 14th and then we were cabled by the NVC on August 23rd.  Now we await our Article 5 and TA (Travel Approval) and then make the CA (Consulate Appointment) which allows us to schedule our flights!  We are probably going to have a "Gotcha Day" of October 15th and a CA on October 23rd, but we won't know for sure until around September 19th.  Once we have our CA we can purchase those airline tickets!!!  

While wading through the I800 and DS-230 paperwork and then waiting for approvals, the summer break has ended and I went back to work on August 13th.  Our students started back this week on August 20th.  The weekend in between was jam packed with birthday celebration for Emmy as she turned double digits on Sunday!  To say it's been a busy couple of weeks would be an understatement.  So here it is Friday and I'm exhausted, but overall it was a pretty good first week of school.    

So let's get caught up a bit on the adoption stuff... 

Let's see... 

  

So this is Emmy helping Daddy with the knockout spray on the new wall forthe doorway that Daddy built.  This room used to be the "man cave".  Now it will be the "boy cave".  LOL   What is really cool, is I have photos of Sarah helping paint Emmy's room when I was pregnant with her and now we have Emmy helping with Ian's room.  She's "paying it forward"... LOVE IT!!!!

This is the finished doorway... YAY Jeff! Nice work!

Next came the inside of the room.  Daddy and the girls took the painting on.  Mommy chose the color and off they went! Great job! 

Now it was Mommy's turn!  Decorating time!  Simplicity is said to be best for children coming from an orphanage.  Too much stimulation is not good for them and can be overwhelming.  

This room doesn't have a closet since it was really supposed to be a "den".  So... we found this great wardrobe unit and some cute "wallies" to make it more kid friendly.  It does the trick! 

Can't wait to see him sitting in that bean bag chair!  The rocker in the corner was my father's when he was a toddler, then it was mine, then Sarah's, then Emmy's and now... Ian's.  

  

This wonderful array of goodies was received from my Secret Pal, Sheryl as she was up in the air on her way to get her little girl!  What a wonderful bunch of little boy stuff!!  And it's all the first things for him.  The shirt and pants are his very first outfit!

This is a photo of my cyber-friend Beth who I met via a BAAS (Bay Area Adoption Services) Yahoo group.  She was with our Ian last week when she was there adopting her little girl, Joy.  Joy is the sweetheart in pink sitting next to her mama.  Beth had the opportunity to tour the orphanage and met our lil' man!!  She said he was shy but did come sit on her lap.  He's so adorable!! We have been so fortunate to have received so many photos from people who have visited and seen our son over the past 6 months of this process.  No one else has had as close contact with him as Beth did last week, but they have taken photos just the same and shared them with the adopting parents if they know who they are.  Beth actually was able to give him a kiss and  tell him that his mama loves him very much!  I'm so blessed!  And now he knows!  He knows he has a family who loves him and is coming to get him soon!

Now that we are only about 7 weeks away from traveling, we are finally allowed to contact Ian, so I wrote him a letter and sent it to a sweet girl in Ch*na to put together a care package to send to him.  I ordered a "Forever Family Celebration Package" and added some things to it.  It includes a letter from us translated into Ch*nese, a silk photo album with about 20 photos of us and our home and even Gracie, a big fresh cake, a red bag to hold his new treasures in, a book, a stuffed mama panda holding a baby panda, and a camera for the orphanage to take some daily photos for us.  I had also ordered a cool truck and three stuffed balls but they couldn't get them.  They substituted a puzzle and musical phone, but I questioned whether or not they would be too babyish for a 5-1/2 year old and to my surprise, the rep went back out shopping today and bought him some trucks instead!  

I was so surprised, and so happy!  We were told he likes trucks and balls and his favorite color is red.  I think he will like these!!! 

This is the camera for the orphanage to take photos for us over the next weeks.  Then, if all goes well, they should give it to us on "Gotcha Day" to have developed!  

This is the photo album.  It has photos of us and Gracie, his room, our house, etc.  My understanding is that his facility takes good care in preparing the children to meet their parents and he will hopefully recognize us when we meet on October 15th!

This is the bag for him to put his treasures into.

Wow!!!  I really WAS behind in my blogging!!  There has been a lot going on since we received our LOA on July 30th!  I think I better stay on top of this better.  Thanks for visiting!

Love & Blessings, 
Georgia