ABC's.......

I have been hearing some very sweet stories about Max from various people, so I decided I needed to sit down and share them.

Someone else who is adopting from Harmony House, where Max lives, received a video of some of the orphans from there. Our little Max is on the video and in it, he is singing his ABC's in English! Someone has been working with him. Now only if they'd help him to be fluent before we get there!! We have got to get better with our Mandarin!

We heard another story from the woman who is the administrator at Harmony House. She said that all the nannies were so happy to hear that we had received our Final Approval to adopt Max. They are so happy to know that he will soon have his family. She also shared that when Max sees our picture he always says "Mom and Dad come to pick me up." He's been asking when we are coming to get him, and when he sees an airplane he says that he will go to America to find his mom and dad, and that he'll fly there. So sweet!!!! Lily (the administrator) said that Max was so happy to hear that we would be there soon.

Lastly, a friend who knows Max (and played an integral role in us being matched up with him) shared a story that Lisa Bentley (wife of John) told her. In my friend Gretchen's words:

When I had driven Lisa to her hotel, I asked how Max was doing and she shared this story.

Shortly after Max got his prosthetic foot, Lisa had stopped by to visit the kids. Max was so excited to show Lisa his new foot, that he was dancing and kicking so show her how he could 'move' and 'groove'. He did one last kick with his new foot, and it came off and went flying through the air. Max thought it was so funny, he dropped to the floor and laughed and laughed.

As soon as I read that, it confirmed for me how perfectly Max will fit in to our family. I would have laughed hysterically had I seen it and I loved knowing that laughing was his first response. I know in my heart that God created him perfectly for us...he is our son. I'm so thankful that God has beautifully ordained us to be together.

I've been smiling like this since I heard.......

We got our Letter of Approval today!!!!!!!!!

We received it after only 10 weeks of waiting. The average wait time used to be 12-17 weeks, so China is getting faster. Jason and I feared that it might take much longer to get it because of the Olympics, but our fears were unfounded! God is so good!

Our Letter of Approval comes from the Chinese government agency, giving the us formal approval to adopt Max. We will receive the letter in the mail tomorrow, sign it, confirming that we still want to adopt Max, then overnight it back to our agency. They will in turn send it to China. We will then wait for our Travel Approval. This is China's permission for us to enter the country. Our time frame for traveling to get him is anywhere from 5-8 weeks from now. But we FINALLY have a time frame to shoot for!

We are beyond thrilled! We have so much to do before we leave. We have been working on his room, so as soon as it is finished, I'll post pictures.

Please continue to pray for us. The faster we get our TA, the faster we can go. Please continue to pray that God would prepare Max's heart for the coming changes. Pray that we would receive our TA in record time! Pray that I would be patient as we wait for it. Pray that we would have safe travel to and from China. PRAISE God for all that He has done in this adoption journey thus far.

Our Latest Care Package

We received some pictures of Max opening up our latest care package. We are praying that it is the last one we will send. Our desire is that his next gift will be us! I am so hopeful that my next blog entry will be sharing the joyful news that we have received our Letter Of Approval. Above all though, I pray for God's will to be done. I want Max to be home with us so very much, but truly desire for everything to happen in God's timing. He has been so good to us thus far, I trust Him
(and continue to pray for a miracle!).

Look at that smile!!!

More pictures to add to his photo album of us.

He is looking at a picture of us-Jason is holding

a picture of him.

My very favorite picture-him kissing us!!!

We'll be there soon baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Madeline and Max

From the beginning of our adoption process, we have talked to the girls about everything that was going on. Abby always understood what was going on, but we knew that Madeline really didn't. 3 weeks ago we moved Madeline into Abby's room so that we could start working on Max's room (Madeline's old room). We started calling it Max's room so that Madeline would understand the change. We also show the girls pictures of Max all the time and talk about him. Madeline usually just sucks her thumb and nods....I was never sure what she was thinking.

Yesterday Madeline and I were in my bedroom. The computer was on with the wallpaper showing. Our wallpaper is a big picture of Max. Madeline looked at it and said, "Mac, Mac!" It took me a second, but I realized that she recognized the picture and was saying "Max." My heart jumped with joy as Madeline was calling out her brother's name, over and over. She was excited to see the picture of him. Then today as I was rocking her before her naptime, she said, "Abby play in Max's room." She totally gets it! I was so pumped to hear her say that. She is really beginning to understand that there is someone else in our family. I simply cannot wait for the girls to meet their brother.

Log In Date

We finally got our log in date for our dossier last week. Our dossier was hand delivered to the CCAA on June 11-but up until last week, we didn't have an official log in date. I breathed a sigh of relief to receive our LID because then we knew for sure that our dossier was being processed, not just sitting on a desk or something.

We are on week 8 of our wait. We are REALLY HOPING to get our letter of approval in the next few weeks. If that happens, it is feasible that we could travel in September. Please pray for us! Pray that God would work another miracle and that we would get our LOA before we even expect it. We want to be with our son so much! We have been working on his room-which makes me even more anxious to have him home. I do take comfort in the fact that our Father knows exactly when I will be holding my sweet son......

I'll post pictures of Max's room as soon as we get it finished.