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!

Care Package to Miss Lila

I am trying to force myself out of my depressed state so we are sending Lila a care package. The orphange doesn't know you're child will be adopted until they get word of the TA(travel approval)which us usually only 2 weeks before you pick them up!When you think about it that is not alot of time to prepare them for total strangers swooping in and taking them away from everything and everyone they have ever known. Poor girl that sounds super scarey to me!!! So I made a little photo album of us, the boys, the house, her room... just the basics for her to know she will soon have a family.My agecny even sent us the Chinese character for many words so I glued them on the pics we sent Mother, Father, etc... The little stuffed frog we are sending is from who else but Aunt Theresa. This frog was Lila's first gift and oh is he cuddley so I thought he was just perfect for her to snuggle.We also sent a disposable camera for her nannies to take pics of her unitl we pick her up! Any pics would be great to create her extra special baby book/ life book. She also has some sidewalk chalk via Gigi from Christmas and a sweet little sundress that I hope fits because we really are only guessing her size. Still no word on LOA, but it has to happen sometime right!

Lila at 14 months!

Well another person shared more pics from Jiangzhang SWI January 2007. Lila would have been 14 mos when these were taken. She is the one dressed in blue w/ ballons, all the kids wear many, many layers of clothes. It seems that all things are alright at her orphange from what I hear(you never know really) so I take comfort in that. Still haven;t hear about my LOA but rumor has it that TA's(travel annoucements) should arrive later this week so maybe my LOA hitched a ride. So I will post as soon as I hear anything and call Scott!

Earthquake hits China!!!!

I woke up this morning to discover a major earthquake hit in Sichuan Province. This quake had a magnitude of 7.8 and could be felt all the way in Bejing over 900 miles away. Needless to say I am terrifed for Lila. She is in Shaanxi Provnice which is just north east of Sichuan.I have not heard any reports on the the state of the orphanges and will be praying for good news. I need to get my girl home and need to know she is safe. Please pray for all of China and our little Lila! You can look on the map to the left and see where these provinces are located.

UPDATE:
My agency, CCAI, posted an update about the quake. Their rep in China doesn't think that any of the orphanges suffered an structural/major damage. They will be able to get more info tomorrow due to the 12hr time differnce. I am feeling better but pray for all those who have lost family members.

Not looking good

Well I broke down and called my agency to pick their brains about when my LOA would arrive and I didn't get the response I wanted. They said just because CCAA"corrected the problem" doesn't mean that they sent my LOA. Uhm... To me that is the only way to correct their mistake,but obviously CCAA doesn't see it that way! The agency said it could be tomorrow or next month there is no way for them to know and they can't ask about my case again for a while. No one wants to upset the apple cart, but I for one am very upset. My little girl will have to sit in that orphange longer because someone made an "oversight". Still trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel; this has been one hell of a journey!!! I just need to see my daughter home with her brothers and until that happens I will not be truly at peace. So everyone put those hands togther and pray for a miracle(and my sanity)!!!!

New Pics of Lila

I received an e-mail this morning from someone in my Baoji Babies
Yahoo Group that picked up her son from the same SWI as Lila.
So I looked at her photo album and behold I think that is really
our girl back in November 2007 she must have just turned 2! See what you think!
She is the small one in the middle wearing a dress.

A little Hiccup

Well I made it through the worst 5 days of this whole adoption process so far. I received word from Sarah (agency Rep) yesterday regarding my absent Letter of Adoption(LOA) and here it is:

Hope you had a great weekend! Happily, our rep in China WAS able to speakto the CCAA about your case last night, and the CCAA confirmed it was a mere oversight - nothing is wrong with your file. The rep indicated that the CCAA "corrected the mistake today." I don't know what that means in terms of a timeline for your letter - hopefully ASAP!! We'll let you know whatever else we hear. Hang in there!!

I am taking this as a positive answer and hope to recieve my LOA by the end of the week. If that doesn't happen atleast I know they are aware of thier mistake and my dossier has no problems. I can't wait to get this step out of the way and start focusing on the final phase, TRAVEL to our daughter. Not that traveling to China without my boys doesn't cause so serious anxiety, but there is no other way to bring our little Lila home!

Trip to Luray Caverns

We took the boys to Luray Caverns on Sunday. This had to be the most beautiful day of the year so far so we packed a lunch and headed to Luray, Va. It took about an hour to get to the caverns a perfect Sunday drive.The caverns were in Jake's words "Amazing". We enjoyed our mile walk 164ft underground. This picture doesn't show how beautiful this really was. This is the mirror imageof the ceiling reflected off of 8 inches of water. When you're looking at it you can't even tell there is any water it looks like glass.There are so many things to do around here we are going to start making the effort to see what we can while we're living here in the Mountain State!Our next stop will be the Musem of Natural History in D.C.

And now the WAIT!!!

So now that we have our PA we have to wait for our LOA(letter of acceptance) to get our TA for we can travel to China and pick up our little Lila. Now that sounds easy enough, but I will be the first to say it is not easy. Yesterday almost everyone with the same PA date as ours recieved there LOA already(which is unheard of). Needless to say I am feeling a bit down about this and unfortunatley CCAA(China Adoption Affairs)office is closed until Tuesday. My agency has already contacted their rep in China to inquire about our LOA, but assures me not to worry that we were not the only ones who didn't get one. Still that doesn't make me feel any better because if we had gotten one yesterday our little Lila would be home in about 5-8 weeks. So once again I wait and try to realize that a couple of months isn't that long in the scheme of things but hurts my heart none the less. Sorry so down but this is the hardes part so far!! Hang on Lila we will bring you home soon!!