I will say that since my last post, things have seemed a little more upbeat! The waiting is so hard, but when things start happening, it's like a whirlwind!
The girls and I went to NC for a week and were able to have a mini-vacation with our family at Badin Lake. Craig was able to join us for a couple days since it was the 4th of July weekend. It was great to get away, and just have a little fun. The big girls knee boarded and wake boarded, and even Ava went tubing!!
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| Laura, Ava, and Ellen |
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| Ava, Laura, Rebekah, Elizabeth, and Christine |
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| Pucker up!!! |
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| Elizabeth, Ava and Laura |
In June we were awarded a matching grant with Promise686 and while we were at the lake we got the donations we needed ($3000) to be matched! We were blown away with the generosity and support shown to us and well as the anonymous donations that we received. There are truly some angels out there helping us <3
Also while we were at the lake we were notified that our file was "in review" to be matched and that we should receive our LOA soon! Sure enough, we received our LOA on July 8th, Day 48 of our wait!!! China misspelled Craig's middle name so they will send a corrected version within a couple days. Thankfully this did not hold us up and we were able to send off our I-800 the next day!!
What this means is that we are officially approved from China to adopt Andrew. We are matched to his file! Many people recently have traveled to get their children about 8-9 weeks after they receive their LOA, so we think we may be on our way to get Andrew the second week of September.
We still have about $7600+ to raise if we are all going to travel to China together. We are trying to come up with some back up scenarios of who would travel to get Andrew if we can't raise the money we need. It's not easy to decide who stays and who goes, especially since Ava can't really be separated from me for that long of a period. But I know God will either provide the money we need to all be able to travel, or else He will give us a peace for who needs to travel.
We have been doing a little shopping to buy Andrew some clothes. We had NOTHING up until this point! But now he has enough outfits for everyday in China and a few casual clothes for when he gets home! We still have to buy shoes, but other than that we only have a few odds and ends that we need for him. We bought a car seat for him a few weeks ago, and we've been working on his room! He and Ava will be sharing a room so we had a lot of organizing to do. We are almost done, so I should have pictures soon!
For all my prayer warrior friends, please pray for Andrew's heart. He's in for some really big changes that he will not understand. Please pray that he will feel our love, and not be afraid. Also please continue to pray that we will have the faith we need to carry us through the next few weeks as we try to raise the rest of the money we need.
If you feel led to help us financially in any way, I have donate boxes on the side of my blog (as well as below) where you can donate to Promise686, or to Reece's Rainbow. All donations will receive a tax deductible receipt. Thank you so much for your love and support.
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