We are DTC!!!

I've been doing the happy dance all afternoon! Today is the last day of school and as I was cleaning up my kindergarten classroom, I got a call on my cell phone. I figured it was one of the kids, but it was our agency telling us we are DTC (documents to China) today!
WOOO HOOOO!!!! I am so excited!
I tried to call Dave and my mom but nobody answered. So I started telling the teachers at school our good news!
And now the other side of the wait begins... hoping for a speedy process in China!

Sarah is 14 months old!

Sarah's foster mom wrote this update:

My how time flies; it is May already!

Sarah Mei is making progress every day. On May 2, I took Sarah Mei back to my mom's where she met a lot of people. She seemed very curious about them. Soon she started to talk to them in her baby talk and smiled at everyone. Everybody liked her and she got along well with the other kids too. She was clapping her hands expressing her happiness to be with them.

She is also quite alert to her surroundings and loves to explore new things. When it is dark, I will turn on the light. As the glow creates shadows on the walls, she will go to the shadow and try to figure out what it is. She is very bright and smart and can understand almost every word I say. When I call her name, she knows to look into my eyes. Every time you look at her she gives you one of her big, beautiful smiles. Sarah also eats well and looks very good and healthy. She is a delight to everyone around her.

Moose on the Loose

You know you live in the middle of nowhere when moose vist your town on a regular basis. We went to visit Grandma and Grandad over Memorial Day and took this photo of a moose near their home.

Birthday Boy!!

Evan is eleven! To celebrate, he had a "late night" birthday party with a group of friends. Evan is an easy going, sensitive boy. He is a loyal friend who excels academically, helps his brothers, and loves sports. Our second born son was a preemie baby. He was born 5 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs, 5 oz (not too small for a preemie!). He had to be on oxygen for a couple of weeks. I remember being consumed with worry about his health, but he has no chronic health issues and is a such a joy to our family!

Happy birthday, Evan! We love you like crazy!

Beautiful Sarah!!

Today I got a great surprise when I checked my email! Sarah has received our package and is wearing a pink dress I sent earlier AND the yellow shirt/shorts that I just sent! It was fun to see her with her gifts and in some of the clothes we have sent! And she's not wearing a snow suit, so we got to see her arms and legs, too! :)

Her sweet face always melts my heart. She is looking more and more like a little girl and less like a baby. And her hair is getting long! I better start taking a toddler hair care class from some of my friends who have daughters! I'm completely clueless-- maybe I could manage a pony tail!

She's a little smaller than we had imagined. She weighed almost 20 pounds at one year. I'm thinking she must be walking well and burning off lots of energy!

Happy Day!

Now if we can just get that dossier sent off! We are told it should be any day now (we had a paperwork glitch last week. :( This has delayed us about two weeks. :( : (

Can't control it, so I have been praying for things to pick up speed!

In the meantime, I've been banging my head against the wall...

Care Package #3

Here is what I squeezed in the latest care package for Sarah.
So far, shopping for little girl clothes has been the highlight of the long wait! I got her three shirts, a pair of shorts and two capri-length pants. I have decided to send simple outfits for the remainder of the wait. It was fun buying dresses and tights, but since I will probably never see Sarah wearing the dresses, I decided it's probably more practical to send everyday clothes from now on.
I also sent a Fisher Price musical toy, a book, and a Love a Lot Care Bear. The candy is for New Day staff and kids to share.
The thing I stress about the most each time I send a package is what to send her foster family. I have sent lotions and Easter candy in previous packages, and I was a little stumped as to what to send this time. I wanted to send something more personal, and came up with the idea to send something from the western United States (where we live).
I found this Yellowstone book (all pictures) in Barnes and Noble, and not only are the photographs beautiful, they also have Mandarin subtitles. So that sealed the deal for me! I attached a family picture inside the cover and wrote a short note of gratitude to the foster family. Hopefully they will enjoy this book and be able to share it with family and friends

This is the flat rate box I used. It was a tight fit, but I managed to get everything in! The package will arrive at New Day (in Beijing) in about two weeks, so that's not too bad! And then I'll get new pictures of Sarah with her gifts! Yippee!