SHE'S OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's official!!! She is OURS!!! China said yes and our agency received our LOA TODAY!!!!!! We can now tell you all about her:) Gabriella Graces' Chinese name is Sun Wenhao. She is residing in foster care in Taiyuan City and has a WONDERFUL foster family!!! When she was born she was 6 lbs and 6 oz and was 18 inches long ~ such a perfect size for a little girl!!! Our agency is projecting we will travel late January or early February ~ I can tell you I will be working all of Christmas break to complete my next to last MSN class in hopes of having it done before we travel!!! Our family is BEYOND excited ~ I believe the only thing left we need to get is a rocking chair for her bedroom ~ then, the most important of all... is bringing her HOME to her forever family!!!!

One year ago today & 2 months waiting for our LOA

One year ago today this beautiful little girl had her picture taken as she was being prepared to be placed in China's adoption program. A year ago at this time we knew God had asked us to start our paper work earlier than we had planned, and though we didn't understand why and to some degree questioned His timing, we followed His calling and began the paper work. Little did we know He had already chosen the perfect little girl half way around the world to be our daughter. We have now been waiting two months for our LOA. Today we heard from our adoption agency and they said they are now expecting it any day!! They are also sending out a packet with all of our travel information, VISA info among other things...it's beginning to happen we are actually starting to prepare for our trip to China to bring our daughter home to her forever family:) All of Gabriella's important dates have come on family birthdays. We accepted Gabriella's referral on Jordan's 16th birthday. We received our I 800 A approval from the USCIS to adopt Gabriella on July 10, her 2nd birthday. The log in date for our dossier in China's system was September 17, our niece Jayda's birthday. We have three birthdays coming up in our family in the next three weeks so if I were to bet, we will have our LOA very, very soon!!!

Finding Nemo...

As many of you know we had an empty place in our hearts and home that could only be filled with a very special kitty. While we spent a few days looking at kittens, when we opened the picture of this very special little guy we all had a feeling he just may be the one:) We took a drive w-a-y out into the country and met a very nice family. They had two kittens left and this little guy just happened to be their favorite...we can easily see why. On the way home we were trying to come up with a name for him. A few names were mentioned and then out of the clear blue sky Daniel said "I've got it! We've found Nemo". That was it ~ the entire family began to laugh and agree that yes indeed, we have found Nemo:) Nemo spent his first evening at home cuddled up in our jackets and blankets sitting around a bon fire ~ he took turns sleeping and then purring. We can say we think he is just purrrrfect!

Nicholas comes home every day after school and holds Nemo. He did this with our other kitty as well and now he likes to be held like a baby ~ can you tell the animals are just a little spoiled at our house?



Nemo heard something about the boys like to play football...he likes watching out the window and occasionally meows to get their attention. They will stop playing and say hi to Nemo and bring him outside for a little play time:)

Let's just say this takes the phrase of "the cat chasing the mouse" to a totally different level.

I believe I have a very cute, playful and lovable new study buddy:)

The first couple of nights Nemo was home he slept on some blankets in our bathroom. He has the most precious little meow. Bailey, our golden retriever, kept pacing at the door wanting in. He and Nemo had done well together earlier in the day so we opened the door. Within 5 minutes the meowing stopped and the above picture shows why ~ when Nemo is sleepy he will go find Bailey and cuddle up for his nap. Bailey lays with him until Nemo wakes up and wants to play ~ I have to say I don't think the humans in our family are the only ones who love Nemo:)

Are you ready for some football?

The boys took advantage of an absolutely beautiful fall weekend we had with football being their sport of choice.

Nicholas has quite the arm on him and was voted to be the quarterback...he said something about wanting to change his name to Peyton for the afternoon:)

Bailey always has to get in on the fun when football is being played, he can actually "pass" it back to the boys with his nose.

Jordan and Daniel are just a little bit competitive when it comes to sports...

yet still at the age of 16 and 18 enjoy playing together:)