A Little Bit of Everything

Just warning you~ this post is a little bit of everything and I will probably end up rambling...

First of all, our sweet friend Lucy (who we visited in June) sent us some Half the Sky fortune cookies and they are the best things I have ever tasted. Plus, they are wrapped up all cute with the red thread and all. And of course there's the added bonus of the money raised selling the cookies goes to Half the Sky... which is an amazing organization that is in Chenzhou (as well as many other orphanages)... where AC is from. So yes, the first picture is AnnaClaire holding up the little box. The first cookie we opened had the fortune "Good news will come soon." No, I don't think anything of fortunes but I do have to say that good news would be really nice.

Today is officially our 44th day of waiting for LOA. Yes, I know there are people waiting in the 100s. But there are other people waiting in the teens. We have been waiting 44 days too long and I am just ready to go get my sister! We know China is capable of processing LOA in a week... so why are people waiting 100+ days. I just don't get it. But then again, I don't get a lot of stuff... like why they are only in January 2006 for the NSN referrals. So we continue to wait for that little piece of paper informing us that we can now wait for another little piece of paper. The first 40 days went fast (probably because I was getting ready/on my trip) but now the days are going slowly and I am just anxious for this paper! And once we get that, we still have to wait another month for TA! We were told that our LOA would come faster since our file is logged in as SN only. My question... what does "faster" mean? I wish that China would just send out all the LOAs and TAs and get a big batch of NSN referrals in before the olympics... then they could start fresh and new after the olympics. Wishful thinking... It just kills me that Kate was 15 months old when we got her referral. She's almost 17 months now and we can't even be sure that we will get her at 18 months... I hate that she is growing without her forever family. It was all too familiar with AC, getting her referral at 8 months and now getting her until she was 13 months. I just hate that it's happening again. We are missing out on more of Kate's life than we should have to when we are completely ready to go get her now. I would go to China right now if I could.

That brings me to my next point. For some strange reason, our homestudy is only valid for 0-18 months although our application said 0-2. This means that we have to get home with Kate while she is still 18 months old. She will be 19 months on October 6, so if we won't be home before then, then we will have to have an addendum done. It's not a huge issue, just something extra that we'd rather not deal with/pay for. Plus, it really would be AWESOME if we were able to have Kate at 18 months old... the sooner, the better.

Speaking of the sooner the better... on Tuesday, Dad and Drew roadtripped to DC to get Drew's student visa to go to China. (For those of you who don't know, Drew is doing a semester abroad in Beijing in the fall.) While they were up there, they decided to go on and (try) to get ours. They were able to get them. However, last time we went, our visas were valid for 6 months. Nope, this time they are only valid for 3 months. In other words, we have to be in China before October 22 or else we have to get new visas. So we are risking it, but definitely praying that we will be home by then. We really are hopeful to get Kate sometime in September...

AnnaClaire is doing well. She just cracks me up. On Thursday, she wasn't feeling well at all. She had a fever and threw up for the first time... poor baby. Friday she was a lot better and we did a mall trip. By yesterday, she was 100%. This is the second time she has been sick since we got her... the only other time she has been sick was back in February when she had the croup. She has been a little full of herself lately... I think she knows that something is going on. She really is a sweetheart... and so polite. She never fails to mention her good manners, either. The new room downstairs is on its way to being finished, so pretty soon she will be moving into Drew's old room which means... big girl bed! That should be interesting.

Today, AnnaClaire woke up from her nap with a huge smile informing us that she was ready to go to the pool (Dad had promised her before her nap that he would take her.) Drew and I went with so we had a little half-family pool trip. We had a good time and Boo had a BLAST. She does love the pool. It will be a sad day when it closes for the season.

I cannot believe it's almost August. Where has this summer gone? I start school on the 19th and I am NOT ready for that to happen at ALL. At least it means we are closer to Kate...