IT IS HERE!!!

So much fuss for this one piece of paper. Yup, it came in the mail this morning. This is the paper we have been waiting for. Four months of waiting for this single piece of paper. Can you believe it? No more wasting time now. On to the next phase.... waiting for immigration (USCIS) to clear Lily as being suitable for adoption under the new U.S. Hague rules. I sent off those forms to immigration late today after a long day of gathering all the appropriate forms, photocopies, signatures, numerous phone calls to USCIS, HAS and to M.W. What a long, tedious day. Thank you M.W. for making this difficult process a little easier. It is nice to have a friend that can understand every frustration and emotion that this process brings on. Now we wait again............

ImageChef.com Flower Text

We got the call today from our agency! Our LOA has arrived! Better late than never, right? One more step down. A few more to go. Probably about 2-3 months before the rest of the paperwork is done before we can travel. My prediction is September. Please, please let my prediction be right. We are one step closer to our little Lily. Off to celebrate.............

Day 500

Today marks 500 days since we started this adoption process. 500 days! If you would have asked me this time last year where we would be in this process it certainly would not be where we are now. I never imagined it would take this long. We were anticipating 9-12 months start to finish. Obviously we are way,way beyond that. I know we are not alone in the waiting. Other families are waiting just as long or longer. I just want our LOA so we can proceed. Day 108 for LOA now. Very frustrating! I would love to know China's reasoning why some LOAs take 45 days and others take 140 days. No one seems to know. The joke around our house is that Lily will be in high school before we can get her. We have to joke or else I would have been in the loony bin a long time ago.

100 CLUB

OK. Can you believe it? Day 100 waiting for LOSC/LOA. We are not very happy around here. This is a club we did not want to join. I call it the 100 and still waiting club. What is the darn hold up?