We have sent everything in for our 1-800A (immigration paperwork). Now, we are waiting on our approval notice from them. After that, we will be getting our travel approval from China. In the meantime, we will be applying for our Visas. I am sure by now they have told Sophie that she has a family. They say they usually tell the children after the LOA has been sent and ours has been for two weeks now. However, I don't know how much she understands since she is only two years old. But, we did send her a photo album of us, so hopefully that will help her understand that we will be her forever family. Now, we are just working on raising the funds so that we can go get her. They won't let us get her until we pay them in full. We are still doing fundraisers. The Flip Flop 2 Adopt fundraiser is over and raised enough to pay for our Visas. But, we still lack the total adoption fee. We have applied for an adoption loan, but that is still pending so we dont know for sure if we have it. If we do get it, we still have the travel costs to raise, which is about $5,000 each. We will have a fundraiser tonight at Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt in Southaven from 7pm to 9pm. We have another one there on May 28. Also, we are having a Matilda Jane Trunk Show at our house on Tuesday, April 30 from 5 to 7. We may have a fundraiser at Lost Pizza Co. soon. Our church is having a basketball tournament fundraiser for us. It will be a Saturday sometime in May and it will be $45 for each team to join. I will give out more information on this fundraiser at our church as soon as I get the information.
This is the hardest and longest wait yet! Knowing who Sophie is and knowing that we can't get her quite yet is killing us. It is like being past your due date when you're pregnant...you are just ready and can't stand it!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Fast Forward
Well, I know I just blogged yesterday, but we just received some awesome news!
Yesterday after I blogged, I had to take my son to be registered for kindergarten, so I guess I didn't hear my phone ring. Then, after the registration I saw this text from my husband "Holt just called, they said that they have received our LOA!" What?!? (I just blogged to everyone that we had 4 to 6 weeks.) We were expecting to have a little longer for this time frame. But, the 4 to 6 weeks wait turned into only 2 weeks and 2 days. Don't get me wrong I am very excited, but I am kinda stressed about the financial part. I thought we had a good 6 weeks to come up with the money, now we need it sooner. Because we haven't really had any luck with our recent fundraisers. Just over the weekend, I was stressing about coming up with a lot of money in 6 weeks, and I even prayed to God "If you still want us to continue with this adoption, since it seems like the financial part has kinda brought us to a stop, please give me a sign to continue if that is in your plans". And the next morning, I ran into a woman from China and Dustin gave me the news about the LOA. So, I guess that was a "yes" from God. For some reason, we are just in fast forward mode. Even the lady at our adoption agency said she didn't know what it was, but it seems that China is processing our paperwork at super speed. I guess someone is ready for Sophie to hurry up and come home to her forever family. We are ready also!! So, this means (with us getting our LOA now) that we will be traveling very soon. They told us to start looking at travel dates around June 21 or July 5. So, my wish about wanting Sophie before her birthday, which is in August, has come true! But, we have to give the agency a big chuck of money before they even let us travel. So, now the only thing that is holding us back is the financial part. We will be probably eating a lot of roman noodles. Please if anyone has any creative fundraiser ideas, let us know. Sophie is ready to come home!
Yesterday after I blogged, I had to take my son to be registered for kindergarten, so I guess I didn't hear my phone ring. Then, after the registration I saw this text from my husband "Holt just called, they said that they have received our LOA!" What?!? (I just blogged to everyone that we had 4 to 6 weeks.) We were expecting to have a little longer for this time frame. But, the 4 to 6 weeks wait turned into only 2 weeks and 2 days. Don't get me wrong I am very excited, but I am kinda stressed about the financial part. I thought we had a good 6 weeks to come up with the money, now we need it sooner. Because we haven't really had any luck with our recent fundraisers. Just over the weekend, I was stressing about coming up with a lot of money in 6 weeks, and I even prayed to God "If you still want us to continue with this adoption, since it seems like the financial part has kinda brought us to a stop, please give me a sign to continue if that is in your plans". And the next morning, I ran into a woman from China and Dustin gave me the news about the LOA. So, I guess that was a "yes" from God. For some reason, we are just in fast forward mode. Even the lady at our adoption agency said she didn't know what it was, but it seems that China is processing our paperwork at super speed. I guess someone is ready for Sophie to hurry up and come home to her forever family. We are ready also!! So, this means (with us getting our LOA now) that we will be traveling very soon. They told us to start looking at travel dates around June 21 or July 5. So, my wish about wanting Sophie before her birthday, which is in August, has come true! But, we have to give the agency a big chuck of money before they even let us travel. So, now the only thing that is holding us back is the financial part. We will be probably eating a lot of roman noodles. Please if anyone has any creative fundraiser ideas, let us know. Sophie is ready to come home!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
All we need now is Sophie
Well, a lot has happened since our match in February. We were told that it would take 3 months to get our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China and 3 months after that to travel to bring Sophie home. Well, two weeks ago, I received an email from our adoption agency that said things were moving faster than what they had anticipated, and we should be receiving our LOA in four to six weeks instead of three months. The good news is that we could be traveling sooner than we thought to get Sophie. The bad news is that we have shorter time to come up with the money. We will be having many fundraisers to help us get this financial part behind us for we can go get our little Sophie.
Upcoming Fundraisers:
Also, we are still collecting soda cans. I have a really good friend that will be having a Bunko Baby night to help us raise money. This will probably be some time in May, I will give you more information about this fundraiser at a later date. If you have any fundraising ideas, let us know, we need all the help we can get.
Enough with the money talk. Over Spring Break, we finished Sophie's room. We let David Ryan pick out his sister's paint color for her room. He picked pink. So, we painted two walls pink and the other two walls a light green. Sophie's room theme is Minnie Mouse. There are some pictures below of her room. All we need now is Sophie.
David Ryan is starting to understand more about the adoption. I think having the room all fixed up helps. He will show you Sophie's room, tell you that Sophie is in China, tell you that you have to get on an airplane to get her, and that she is crying for him.
We also recently sent Sophie a photo album of us, her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, and cousins, friends, her "home", and her Minnie Mouse room. The caregivers will show Sophie this picture album to help prepare her for the transition.
Before Pictures ( Sophie's room was once our storage room)
After Pictures (Sophie Wei's Minnie Mouse Room)
Upcoming Fundraisers:
March 25- April 8: we are selling flip flops from Flip Flop 2 Adopt
April 17 from 7pm to 9pm: we are having a fundraiser at OrangeLeaf Frozen Yogurt in Southaven off of Getwell Road by Desoto Central Schools.
April 30: at my house from 5pm to 7pm, I am having a Matilda Jane trunk show.
Also, we are still collecting soda cans. I have a really good friend that will be having a Bunko Baby night to help us raise money. This will probably be some time in May, I will give you more information about this fundraiser at a later date. If you have any fundraising ideas, let us know, we need all the help we can get.
Enough with the money talk. Over Spring Break, we finished Sophie's room. We let David Ryan pick out his sister's paint color for her room. He picked pink. So, we painted two walls pink and the other two walls a light green. Sophie's room theme is Minnie Mouse. There are some pictures below of her room. All we need now is Sophie.
David Ryan is starting to understand more about the adoption. I think having the room all fixed up helps. He will show you Sophie's room, tell you that Sophie is in China, tell you that you have to get on an airplane to get her, and that she is crying for him.
We also recently sent Sophie a photo album of us, her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, and cousins, friends, her "home", and her Minnie Mouse room. The caregivers will show Sophie this picture album to help prepare her for the transition.
Before Pictures ( Sophie's room was once our storage room)
After Pictures (Sophie Wei's Minnie Mouse Room)
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