The Graduate!!!!

Last night, our little darling John Caden Stark graduated from Pre-School and he is aspiring to be Lightning McQueen. He was so proud of himself and a very intelligent lady one aisle over just had to tell me how adorable my son was. It appears she is an excellent judge of character. All the kids were so cute and seemed to have a great time. I could not believe how many peolpe showed up for a Pre-School graduation. Cade's teacher said it was well over 200 proably closer to 250! The ceremony was held at the Charles Town Volunteer Fire Station and was packed to the gills. We are so proud of our boy! Jake's last day of school is next Friday, but his Kindergarten class will hold its end of the year program Monday night. I can't wait to see my other gorgeous boy in the spotlight. Jake just loves attention! I will wait until Monday night to brag about Jake.
Now, I will update you on the adoption saga. Our visas should arrive Monday morning via UPS and yes you know what that means....stalking the UPS driver! I also suspect to hear from the agency next week about possible travel dates and maybe find out when our TA might arrive. Oh the excitment is building and alos my anxiety. I am still a bit nervous about leaving my boys but I know they will have fun at Camp Gigi and Pop-Pop! I can not wait until she is home and then maybe I can relax again and become a mother of 3, now that sounds really relaxing doesn't it. I hope we travel in June so Lila will have time to adjust before the Lapp family reunion coming up the end of July. I don't know how you prepare someone for that let alone our 2 yr Chinese beauty. Everyone have a great weekend and I will be back next week!

I Did It Again!!

I just bought Lila the most adorable dress again! Well as I was telling you before about http://redthreadstitches.blogspot.com/ S.O.S auction to bring Mia Hope home. Well I think I have developed a bit of a competitive streak when it comes to these clothes, but look at this adorable dresses... I could not help myself!!! I was so excited to see this little number just begging to come live in Lila's closet. So I gave in and have decided to buy size 2 and 3 and know that she can always wear it in the future! I can not wait to see her wearing these beautiful clothes and running around the house. The little things really make me happy!!

The Long Weekend

Well we were busy this weekend with all kinds of things to do. Friday we met some friends and went to a carnival. The boys had a blast and Cade wanted to win the baby turtles so badly but lucky for Scott we could not get a ball in the bowl. Then Saturday we had some friends over and grilled out some Sea Bass Scott caught a few weeks back. We had a house full of boys 6 and under. It seems like everyone we hang out with has boys; poor Lila will be the only girl! As you can see the kids ate ice cream cones and we all happy!! After we grilled we roasted marshmellows around a campfire in our neighbors, Jim & Kelly's back yard. Our boys thought that was the greatest thing ever. Cade would wave his marshmellow a foot over the flames and call it done! He ate half a bag at least!! The next day I had a bite of a headache from the night before so I stayed behind while Scott took the boys to the race track to experience the local race scene! We are so happy to be outside again!!!

Now I'm Tracking my packages!

I went from stalking to Fed EX man( I guess I should be P.C and say Fed Ex person)to tracking my packages via computer every 30 min to see where they are. We had to apply for our travel visa and you have to send your passports along with the application so one could say that makes me a bit nervous. The thought of loosing our passports at this stage in process would be a real bummer and just might put me in a tailspin. So I continue with my neurotic behavior and try to focus on getting organized.****NO THIS IS NOT LILA****but it is her new outfit! Last night I bought Lila this adorable outfit from a fellow adoptive parent.She sews the most beautiful little clothes to try and raise money to bring her little Mia Hope home; check out her site http://redthreadstitches.blogspot.com/. I could spend a fortune on her clothes, but I still don't know what size to buy. So I bought one of her auction pieces to help raise money. It is a size 3 and I don't think it will fit now ,but there is always next year. Believe me when I do find out Robin(the sewer) better watch out! Please take a look an see if you can help her out! We hope to get our travel visas back in about a week or so given the holiday Monday. This seems so surreal at times after 25 months of waiting and wishing you just get so used to the dream that it's hard to believe it is really coming true!

Stalking the Fed Ex Driver

I spent my morning yesterday stalking the Fed Ex truck for my LOA. Then spent the rest of the afternoon filling out a few forms for my agency's Travel Dept so they have all our info ready to plan the big trip.Cade and I went on a trip to the notary and am happy to report all my paper's are ready to join the holy LOA on it's journey to CCAI(our agency in CO). When CCAI recieves my prescious package it will be ready to travel to China back into the hands of the CCAA where they will hopefully send my TA(travel notice) within a few weeks(less than 3 that would be great)! Now I have all kinds of travel planning to do not to mention my daughter still doesn't have enough clothes so lets hope her medical update is here very soon. I would like to have clothes that actually fit her! So my day today will be spent stalking the Fed Ex driver to pick up my package. I need to physical hand it to him and watch him scan the envelope. I think that called that neurotic behavior. If you need me you can find me glued to my front window for most of the morning today! I will breath easier when CCAI recieves my package tomorrow! Ya Right who am I kidding I will find or invent something to freak me out!

We have changed her name a little!

We have decided to call her Lila AiLing(I-ling)Stark(sounds like Eileen)and just not use Gray as her middle name.It must be destiny to have a daughter already named after my mom! We are working on our final paperwork and they asked for her new English name. I sure hope she likes it!! Keep you posted on our TA!! Here is a pic of my LOA finally in my hands!!! Now time to sign it sent it off!

LOA IS HERE!!!!!

I am so happy to say our LOA is here! My agency will overnight it us and then we sign it and it goes back to China!! The next step is to wait for our TA(travel notice) to get the dates we will go and get that little beauty waiting for us in China. As you all know I have been so upset about the "oversight" and now I really can just enjoy the thought of meeting Lila. I hope they sent me updated medical info on her so I can start the clothes buying( can't wait for that)!! I will keep you informed on the next steps in the rollercoaster of an adoption journey! Thanks for all of you're support throught this it sure is nice to know people are pulling for you!