28 DAYS!!!

Yes that is how many days we have been waiting for our LOA(Letter of Acceptance). It is hard to believe it has been that long already but with the end of school activities, I can see how it has gone so quickly. Today is the last day of school for the kids and summer begins, I am excited to slow down the pace and just enjoy time with the kids, but that would mean the wait will seem to slow down too....don't like that idea, guess I will just have to keep us all busy having fun right?

In the past week the wait has started to get harder. I have a little bit of paperwork to complete for when our LOA arrives and this week we went through Olivia's room getting things ready for Sophia so we are all set there. There is always more reading to do and we are going to start as a family learning some Chinese so that will be fun. Oh! I have to tell you all of how wonderful God is to provide! We have been looking for someone to help us out in our discipleship group in watching our kids starting in July( there are 7 with 3 more coming through adoption in the next several months). Well God has provided a wonderful lady who is Chinese and speaks Mandarin! I could not believe it. I had been thinking about trying to find someone in our area that spoke Mandarin so that when we run into communication problems with Sophia, there would be someone to call. It was on my list of things to do but to be truthful, I did not know if I would every get that one finished, I guess God knows that I will need the help and is already providing! Not only do I have someone to contact, but she will be someone we will meet regularly with at least one a week! And in the mean time we can practice our chinese on her - God is so good.

Another reason why the wait seems so long is that I have not received any new information on Sophia. We have a set of pictures from November, her original medical information and updated measurements in March. We sent a care package in April but we have not received any information back from her foster family. I keep staring at the same pictures trying to picture what she will look like when she is not posing for pictures. I don't even know if we will get more information before we travel but I know that all things are in God's hands and He knows best.

I did get a pick me up though a few weeks ago....

This is the necklace that I orders from www.jiayindesigns.com. It is custom made in China by a missionay's wife and is Sophia's chinese name - Xin Yan which means "Precious Beauty" so fitting. I have been wearing it a lot( when I don't have grunge cloths on) and will be wearing it in China all the time. I hope it will mean something special to Sophia.

So for now I will get back to planning a fun summer. Enjoy the time!