LOA...Again

After 21 long, agonizing days, today I got the call we had been waiting for. Our LOA has finally made it's way from Ch*na to our Agency in Colorado. 

They emailed us the LOA so we can get it sent on for the next step. 

We happily checked "We Accept", signed on the dotted line, and off it went. 

So does this mean we're going to Ch*na? 

Not yet. 

Now we wait for immigration approval. But for today, the LOA is enough. Ch*na says yes, Zi Shu will be our daughter!!!

For your enjoyment, out takes of trying to get the LOA pictures.

It is impossible to get these 3 boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time. 

Soon it will be 4!! I can't wait!!

Christmas 2013. No Tears Required.

Time for a post where you don't have to worry if I need an intervention...

We had lots of Christmas celebrations. We have so much to celebrate! The little boys are the perfect age for the Magic that is Christmas.
Just this morning Quincy told me he had heard the reindeer on the roof. He also said they would rather drive a kid around than Santa, because Santa doesn't feed them enough and makes them work on Christmas Eve.

We started with Jason's side of our family. What I should have taken pictures of was the fabulous food Meredith made. Seriously, my sister in law can cook! Not only that, she happily brings this huge spread of food to my house without making me feel like a loser! Meredith is the BEST!!

After multiple attempts, this was the best we could get of the boys with Nanny & Papa.

Dex is getting ready to start basketball. Perfect! 

I'm pretty sure this was when they saw their Disney Infinity from Nanny & Papa. 

Meredith (& Jon but we all know its always the wife) give the coolest gifts. Gabe was THRILLED with his money Tree! 

Q was equally thrilled with his 2 boxes of Krispy Kremes. He LOVES donuts! 

The big Diel Christmas. Almost all the Diel greatgrandkids. 

Christmas with Todd.

Even before we adopted our kids, I have always said blood is not what makes a family. I am the mother to 3 perfect examples, but for me, Todd was the original perfect example. 

Todd got the boys fighting robots. They're hilarious.

  
Even Cookie the Elf wants Penelope to come home!

Christmas Eve was at my Mom and Dad's. Every year my dad suggest we have prime rib and every year my sisters and I insist on more traditional Christmas food-Chicken Tacos!!

 

Coop & Jack reading the Christmas story before we opened gifts.

 
We had shirts made for Zi Shu.

Santa found his was to Homestead Drive. The boys had a great time opening gifts. 

Nabi tablets. Good Morning, Red Bird. 

Q was thrilled with his Easy Bake Oven! 

You know its not going to make much when the recipe is "add one teaspoon of water and stir"

What a great Christmas! We are truly Blessed.

And Still, We Wait

I wish I has something better to say.

Today is day 18 of waiting for our LOA to arrive from Ch*na. We know we have the approval, the "Letter of Acceptance" shows up in the computer system, but for whatever reason it has not made it to the US yet.

I have tried to be patient. 

I really, really have. I have tried to wait well. 

This week though, during the most wonderful time of the year, I pretty much lost it. I have cried. I have cried the ugly cry. The one where your mascara is totally gone. The one where it's not the Diel Blotch any more because it's just all red. The one where you have a sick, sick headache. The one I don't anyone to ever, ever see because this is NOT the type of attention I want.

Over the last 18 days, I have asked my agency nicely. I have cried on the phone to them. I have yelled at them. I have left a voice mail that I am sure they played at their Christmas party because I sounded so ridiculous. I have written eloquent, well thought out, research based emails that would make any Diel Girl proud.

Each time, my agency has answered me with kindness and understanding that I probably don't deserve, but each time, the answer is the same. They can't control the Ch*nese Government.

Today, we did get a glimmer of hope. Ch*na has acknowledged to our agency that they have not generated our LOA yet. They told our agency they would get it in the mail today, which would have been during the night last night. I would like to think it could arrive by Monday, but that would be really fast. If it doesn't arrive Monday, we are looking at Thursday at the earliest due to the New Years holiday.

I do not want to be negative, but I do want to be honest. When Penelope reads this someday, I want her to know the truth. This is hard. So, so hard. I hate knowing that if it wasn't for this stupid piece of paper, we would probably waiting for Travel Approval right now.
 As hard as it is, I know she is worth EVERY SINGLE TEAR. She deserves a mama who will cry for her. One who loves her so much that she can hardly think clearly for missing her.
She is worth every second of this wretched, wretched wait.

So for now, we wait. We wait and we pray that next week brings better things that bring us closer to our girl.

Merry Christmas!

I received the best gift I could have possibly asked for this week, pictures of our girl! Another mama got to visit her son's orphanage. When she got home last week, she emailed me the most precious pictures!

I have no words so I'm going to let this speak for itself....

Merry Christmas Everyone

May 2014 bring this precious girl home where she belongs!

Hurry Up & Wait

Back to waiting. Today is day 11 of the wait for the hard copy of our LOA. We know we have the approval, but nothing else can happen until the physical paper arrives from China. I expected it to be here by Monday. I'm not gonna lie, this has me nervous. Every day it doesn't arrive pushes travel further and further out.
My agency has been so patient with my daily emails and phone calls. They continue to reassure me that this is still within the normal time frame.

They disagreed with me when I suggested that our LOA had likely fallen between the seats of some Chinese guy's delivery truck. They do not think he threw it away to avoid anyone finding out that he had spilled noodles on it. They think it is quite doubtful that the delivery man has a pet monkey that ate my LOA. They also doubt that the LOA has been delayed because it is on the desk of someone who has gotten distracted because she is planning a Disney trip.
I did indeed propose each of the previous scenarios to my agency. So I hope today is the day. The adorable new car seat cover isn't near as good as getting our LOA but it was a momentary distraction.

These boys are busy busy all the time so they help keep my mind off obsessing too much.

In the mean time, we've had lots going on so this is picture heavy....

My work surprised me with a shower for Penelope! I don't have pictures from the shower but I got to bring the AMAZING cake home-we ate the matching cupcakes at work. The boys loved it! Quincy was super excited when we cut into Barbie's cake skirt and found her legs.

 

So many gifts and donations for her orphanage. I am truly blessed to work with such great people!

Sunday was the kids Christmas program at church. Dexter has gotten so much better this year! In the past, it involved bribes/threats just to get him to go up. Now he sings so well and loves it! 

Quincy was a little bit shy but happy to be standing by Ashlyn, he loves her!! 

The Sonshine Kiddies Choir got new jingle bells!!

We went to the mall to see Santa. Per Quincy "That don't look like Santa. That looks like just some guy."

In the end, Quinn decided not to take a chance, he went ahead and told him what he wants for Christmas-Easy Bake Oven. Dex said he wants a basketball.

Gabe played nice for the picture :). 

 Look who has a stocking! Todd has gotten all of our kids these stockings. I was beyond thrilled when he brought me Penelope's!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

The boys lasted about 10 minutes in the snow... 

Dexter had his kindergarten Christmas program at Ste. Marie.

He did great!  

We went to Joe's afterwards with Nanny and Papa. Mam and Bamp didn't get to come. I had given my mom stomach flu so bad that she ended up in the ER. Sorry Mam... 

Cookie, our Elf on the Shelf, finally made his way back to Homestead Drive. 

Apparently, Santa sends him a little later if the mom had pneumonia and is generally a crazy person waiting on her daughter to come home from China....

                                                                           

Last Friday I got to visit Quinn's Pre-K class. We made Gingerbread houses. Or-Quincy dipped candy and cereal in frosting and ate it

The boys wore their Christmas Mickey shirts to school today. We all wore these at Disney last year at Christmas. Wish we were there now!