What they thought

We sent a letter to the orphanage through Lady bugs n love and asked the orphanage what the girls' reaction to their "family" was.  We sent pictures of all of us, and I just wondered whether they cried.....were happy.......sad.....nervous, when they saw them, and KNEW they had a family coming???  I also asked "how" they would tell Wren.  With her having NO language except body language and gestures....how do you get adoption across??  I do know that her orphanage is very active in adoption, so they see a lot of kids leave with their families.  But????   This is the reply I received today.  But still no pictures of my little cricket, Iley.  

Hi Judy,

The message from the orphanage below:

Both children were very happy when they saw their family’s pictures. Big smiles. Da Yu is very smart. She now helps feed younger children on her own. She watches people’s lips when we talk. We point the pictures and tell her who this is and who that is over and over, she will understand.

Still no pictures yet.

Angela

Hoping for an updated picture of our little Iley XiaoKui soon!!

Valentine's Day

Shermans party:
Notice how BIG Sherman is compared to the rest of his class! He kind of towers over them.  Good thing he is such a ......gentle giant. 

Here he is so pleased with his loot!

He insisted that I wait till he got home from school to make his cupcakes!  So he stirred them up, and filled the cupcake liners.......and I iced and sprinkled.....and he put in the picks, and candy hearts.  He loves to mess cook in the kitchen.  He really did a great job, other than the mess.  I almost forgot to get a picture.  Here are the 3 that were left over.

Harrison's party was MUCH less organized.  The kids bring treats, and only the teachers are there.  Sherman let me leave for just a couple of minutes to run upstairs and snap a couple of pictures.  I was supposed to be at HIS party!  I better enjoy it while I can....won't be long till they won't want Mom there.

 Happy Valentines Day to my "little" boys:)  I've got to quit calling them that!  It used to by the "big boys" and the "little boys"....Now maybe it should be the younger boys, and the "little girls"?? Ya think??:)

Sorry about the poor quality of pictures!  I need a crash course in photography!  and a new camera.

Room Update

I finally got the bookcase and bins painted.  Here they are before we filled it with books.

And here it is after it's filled......and over flowing.

And here is the closet:)  Little more pink than the last resident.  (This used to be Ash's room, He was the one boy that told me..."mom don't ever buy me a pink shirt, cause I won't wear it")

Wren Again:)

Another family visiting the orphanage sent these pictures and wrote:

Got to hold sweet Dayu's hand today...but just for a moment :)  She was all smiles, but didn't want too much attention when she was eating. I took one pic of her at lunch and then as I was walking out was gonna take another and she shook her head "no". I think she was like, enough already :)  When I put out my hand to her in the hall way, she responded with a touch and a smile but then pulled back a little. So she may be shy around strangers (which is understandable) but I bet it won't take long for her to warm up! Such a sweet smile!! See pics attached! :)  These are three of the sweetest words to a waiting parent:)

Wren's Cake Pictures!

We received these pictures of Wren this morning.  They just celebrated her birthday because of the Chinese New Year Celebrations going on there.  The country literally almost shuts down during this time!  Crazy! We are hoping to get Iley's from her foster family soon.  They always take a little longer.
 

I'm thinking if these tiles are 12" tall.......she is about 39-40" tall:)  (at least with shoes on).

I800 Approval!

We got our I800 Approval!!  YAY!  One step closer.  For those of you......like me......who all this paperwork completely confuses.....here is a person who understands its' version.

Once you know that your I800 application has been approved, you are ready to move on to the National Visa Center!

After approving your file, your officer will mail your approval to the National Visa Center by 2nd Day UPS Air. However, the approval isn't always mailed out the same day it's approved, so applications can take up seven days to arrive at NVC. Upon receiving your approval, the National Visa Center (NVC) will enter your information into their computer system.

Within 1-3 business days, the NVC will "cable" (basically emailing/sending electronically) your file to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. This is approval of your visa petition.

Upon doing this, the NVC will then mail you a letter stating that your petition has been forwarded to the Embassy. Your agency needs this NVC letter in order to proceed with your adoption! Unfortunately, this letter can take up to a few weeks to arrive in the mail. So instead, ask the NVC to email you the letter as a .pdf attachment.

So of course I emailed them right away, requesting this pdf attachment.........now we wait again to hear from that.  This is one big HURRY UP.....and wait........HURRY UP.........and wait process!  :(  Can we just HURRY ALREADY!  sigh...

More Pictures of Wren

Here are a few more pictures of Wren from the same lady that took the last one with her in it.  She is home and settled, at least partly, and sent me these extra pictures!  Thank you Gretchen!!  The visiting parents have a very limited time at the orphanage, and are trying to take pictures of all of the kids for the waiting parents, while asking about their own child.  It is chaos! and a sacrifice! and we are SO grateful to each of the parents who take the time to do this for us!  I hope we are able to do the same for those still waiting when we go.

Now what is this look for???  She can't hear him, so it can't be "would you please be quiet"  Maybe it's a "quit touching me" look!  Or maybe she's just practicing for her big brothers. Ha Ha!