LID - July 9th!!!

One step closer for us to be,

we have gotten LID!

Hang on girls

were on our way.

It won't be long

for LOA!

We did receive notice from China that they received ALL our paperwork and have officially logged it in. The date that the Chinese government logged in our paperwork was on July 9th. Why is this so important? Because from July 9 we start the countdown for LOA (Letter Of Acceptance). This usually takes anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months. I thought I had completed all the paperwork that we needed to have completed by the time we receive LOA so I wouldn't be scrambling at the last minute. I completed all the necessary paperwork and sent it to our agency to proofread. It was all okay. Now the Chinese government decided to add a new policy for families traveling after August 1, 2012. The demands were tight so we decided to fill out yet more paperwork and apply for our Visa's before August 1. We sent everything to Denise Hope to hand deliver our Visa's to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago on July 30th. We will see what happens from there. Now I truly believe that all the paperwork is complete until after LOA has been sent in. Why do we have to send in our LOA you ask? So we can be granted travel approval. Sound confusing? No, not at all (yeah right).

We also wanted to share a few more pics of the girls. 

"Anna"

"Mia"

We Sold The Boat and Missed the HS Reunion!

Phil and I were preparing to go to Phil's 35th High School Reunion on Friday when we received a call about a half hour before we were to leave that someone wanted to come and look at the boat. We decided it was more important to take a chance on more money coming into Mia and Anna adoption account. We decided that we would arrive late for the reunion. We went right out and pulled the boat up in the driveway in order to show that it starts. Phil hooked up the water to the motor and went to turn the key only to find out that the batteries were dead. I went to get the extension cord and started to charge up the batteries when he noticed that the gas wasn't getting pumped into the engine. An o-ring had been replaced a week ago and we never tested it to see if it was going to work. Well guess what, as the guy was driving from 30 miles away we decided to call him to let him know that we couldn't get it started. He and his wife decided to come look at it anyway. Once they got here we talked for a while and the guys went back and forth on a price. Once the deal was made they tried hooking it up to their truck only to find out that the wire connections were both "female" and we had to cut off our connection to our truck and give him that one to splice into the boat end of the wire connection. From the time we received the call to the time when the boat was leaving our driveway took about two hours. We started picking up and putting things away when we noticed a part that was needed in order to hook up the water to the motor. Phil grabbed it and went racing down the road to catch them (in his truck). He caught them about 4 miles up the road at the stop sign. We ended up missing the reunion (Phil always wanted to go to a class reunion, but for some reason they never had any reunions officially set up before this one). We are happy the boat sold and we can continue to push forward. Phil's comment about the whole situation was, "God put those people in front of us for a reason. I'm glad we had said yes." I know he was really disappointed in missing his reunion. I also know that a lot of people enjoy seeing him and spending time with him. Maybe they will decide to have one every 5 years instead of every 35 years!  We knew there would be sacrifices and know that the smiling faces in the photos of Mia and Anna will all be worth it!

Our Auction was a success!

Last month we went through our house and anything that wasn't being used on a regular basis or needed for future use was put into an auction. Yes, even the tanning bed went. We sold guns, filing cabinets, desks, letter folder, baseball cards, kerosene heater, peanut dispenser, paper drill, light table, fishing stuff, dog kennel, just to name a few. We had almost 4 pages of items we sold at an auction yesterday. We really did quite well in spite of the temperature being over 100 degrees. It wasn't a surprise when our kerosene heater went for just $10.00. I am not sure what we were thinking! I am not sure what the tanning bed sold for yet, but based on what the heater sold for, I would guess about the same. We had a few people hanging around the filing cabinets the entire day and they were the last of our things to be auctioned off. We couldn't give these things away before the auction! The 4-drawer vertical filing cabinets went for over $100.00 a piece (we had four for sale). You can buy them new for this much. It's always amazing at what you think something is worth and what it actually sells for. Here are a few pictures of what we sold at our auction.