LOA

This has been the best week ever! The whole entire wait for the boy has been hard. I know too much now, and I just want him home! My heart has been half way in China for too long, and I'm tired. I want all of my littles to be together in one place. Our LOA wait has been hard, because the time frame is so wonky. 2-30 weeks. That's forever. It was narrowed down to 2-4 months for someone in our particular situation, but that was still FOREVER! I wanted him home before he turned two. You shouldn't turn 2 in an orphanage. You should have a party. and cake. and presents.  I have been praying for that since we got matched. Please let us be home before he turns 2! With the 2-4 month wait, and friends on FB that have waited that long and longer, I was loosing faith. Earlier this week, we received a great gift, an update!

Fluffy hair!! Is he not the cutest ever??? He climbs, he talks, he sings, he plays, he laughs. We are in LOVE! We have been waiting for this update for 3 months! I thought that this was a tender mercy helping me to be patient for another couple of months. I was crying to my sister last night that if we didn't get our LOA tomorrow (today) that I didn't think we would be home before his birthday. We all prayed so much last night that it would come, and it came, after 31 days. We're going to China in November. We're going to be a forever family!

 Sisters!!

 A brother??

 A playmate and best friend.

 Still has the best bed head ever!

We are so super completely and totally excited.

10 months

10 months ago

today

 Chicken has spent 2 of the last three weeks traveling and she has been a trooper to say the least! We spent a week at the ocean and baby girl was in heaven. Sand, water, more sand, more water.  It was a dream vacation for her.

 We all loved it.

 She still will not use her hands to put things into her mouth (except for shoes. Shoes go straight to her mouth). So when you want to taste the sand, just bend on in and take a bite. Tasty.

 She chased after and loved the waves.

 We celebrated our LID for the boy! 7-22-13! Next stop LOA.

 We came home with enough time to do some laundry pack a totally different wardrobe and head south for a week on the river. I have done river trips with all of my babies and I don't remember thinking a thing of it. A 7 year hiatus of not having a little baby on the river turned me into a paranoid mama. I was a mess before the trip. How was I going to keep her happy in her life jacket all day, keep her fed, hydrated, happy, rested, not sun burned .......

 She styled it. As usual. She LOVED it! I mean look at that face! That is the expression of true love. I tell you this girl and the camera don't get along. I don't know what it is! She will be so happy and smiley and giggling and I'll whip out my camera, BAM! Dead dog serious. Just like that.

 She went from crawling about 50% of the time to walking about 90% of the time.

 More sand, more water, and rapids! She would laugh and giggle all the way through the rapids. She'd take a big splash to the face, and crack right up about it. amazing.

 A fourth river rat was born.

 She took two long naps on the boat every day. She'd go through rapids, water fights, lots of happy chatter, and sleep through it all. She in every way is our girl.

The boy. Oh how we want our little man home. The one document that we are waiting on right now, has about a 2-30 week wait.  Somewhere in that range. Oh dread. We got Emily's in 21 days. That would be in 3 days. I'm counting on it, praying for it, and anything else I can think of.  Everything is on hold until we get it. When we receive it, we will travel in about 12 weeks. Still no update on him. That is the hardest part. Not knowing. I just want my baby home.