Nothing Less Than a Miracle

Yesterday we recieved the LOA! It was so exciting! My mom says she couldn't hold back the tears as Karla surprised her with the call. I told you about the detailed Monday I had yesterday, but that was before the rest of the day had begun...

My sister and I got home at about 3:00. We were excited and sat down to chat with my mom at her computer. I updated the blog, then- litterally- the minute I got off of the computer the doorbell rang. A package? My shaking hand signed on the dotted line as the mailman handed me a small package. I immediately noticed the chinese scrawled all over it. The bracelets! I exclaimed as we headed to the living room to open the package.

My mom carefully opened the package and we proudly donned our official Red Thread Bracelets! Now we match Yang Yi! At least we think- there was an extra child's bracelet in the package so our hope is simply that Ann of Red Thread was feeling generous :)

This was exciting in itself! LOA and bracelets in one day! wow! THEN about an hour later my mom recieved an e-mail from China! It was Yang Yi's answers to our questions that we sent her about 2 weeks ago! How wonderful! We were shocked. So much happened in one day! At this point Carli remarked, "At this rate we could get her by Christmas! Heck- tomorrow!"

So as you can see we are very excited. We actually ended up going to Wal-Mart and bought her an outfit and a stuffed animal. :) I love all these beautiful surprises God keeps giving us! This is such a fantastic journey! Hard and long, but good; truly good.

"Life is hard, God is good."

In Him,
Chelsey :)

LOA!!!!!!

It is now day 35 from our PA. Today's Monday. Like every other Monday, the morning was hard, long, and that thought flashes through your head, "Oh my gosh this is only the beginning of the week." My friend and I love to make count-downs. One of our countdowns is the number of Mondays left until a certain anticipated event/break.

Anyways, today started out like every other Monday until about 2nd period. Once again, Carli and I were called to the office to talk to our mom on the phone. We eagerly called my mom. As soon as the dial-tone stopped we heard the word: LOA. I could hear my mom grinning as she spilled out the good news: We've recieved our LOA! Out of the blue! Karla, our social worker, was even surprised! God is good! So much for typical Mondays- today was a day to remember! Carli and I emerged from the office bubbling over with pride as we proceeded to tell the whole school that we got LOA! After only 35 days we got LOA! That is very quick! It hasn't felt quick. I feel like we have been waiting a few months atleast, but its really been just over a month! How exciting! Oh God has perfect timing! Just last Friday I had accepted that things were slowing down. Very exciting. We now have rejeuvenated hope and joy! Thank you all for your prayers! We're very excited!

Glory be to God in the highest! And on earth- peace and goodwill towards men.

In Him,
Chelsey :)

The Tortoise and the Hare

The other day we recieved an e-mail from Ann of Red Thread saying this: "Yang Yi and another girl got their packages today. The were very happy to have the gifts." That was it. It was a little disappointing, but it was enough. I've noticed how much things have slowed down. The past 2 months have been pretty fast paced. We got a referral, new information and pics, sent a carepackage, and are waiting for LOA (Letter of Acceptance) and answers from our questions. Now it seems that things have decelerated back to the typical pace. Now- we're waiting and holding on with patient expectation.

In Him,
Chelsey :)

LID!

Yeah! Praise the Lord! Things seem to be moving along so quickly (lets hope I don't speak too soon!). Today, September 28, 2009, we recieved our log in date! Which means our docier has been logged into the system... in China. Any day now we should recieve our Pre Approval (PA) which means she's basically ours. As informed by my mother, apparently we're supposed to have a count down starting now and ending when we get our LOA (Letter of Acceptance), which means- Yang Yi IS ours! At that point we'd like to send her stuff and get all excited and pick out names, and everything! But until then, we're keeping calm. :) My mom has done tons of research (i.e. reading and averaging other adopting families' blogs) and has come to the conclusion that we are looking at about 3 months until the LOA, and Pre-Approval (PA) should be any day now.

Please continue to pray that things would move smoothly. This whole process has been a bumby road with finances, fingerprints, physicals, and simply the necessity of trusting in God's ultimate plan. Thanks for all your prayer and support! Hopefully I'll be back on here soon with some more good news!

In Him,
Chelsey :)