Last week we received immigration approval from the US Immigration office in Chicago!  Now the race is on to get state seals for our documents and then it will be sent to the consulate in Washington DC.  Once they are done with it there, it will be sent to Beijing to the China Center for Adoption Affairs and we will receive a log in date.  Approximately three months from then we will receive our LOA and approximately four weeks after that we will receive travel approval from China and we can begin to make travel plans to bring Bailey home.  We are hopeful that we will have her home to celebrate July 4th!

We are starting to prepare things here at home for Bailey's arrival!  A few weeks ago we set up two little white twin beds in Brea's room and put Brea and Bailey's new bedding on their beds.  Brea is getting really excited and any time anyone sits on Bailey's bed, she is quick to let them know whos bed they are sitting on...too cute!  Brooke spent one of her snow days last week decorating white letters to put over Brea and Bailey's beds that spell out their names.  Danny and I have a nice little list of projects that we wanted to complete while we still have just one toddler running around the house and over the last two weeks we have managed to knock out several of those projects!  Some might call it nesting...I prefer to call it "finger print proofing the walls" since most of our projects have involved painting over Brea's fingerprints with satin finish paint. 

We have also been blessed with the opportunity to send Bailey a care package through a couple that is going to Cina to adopt their son from the same orphanage that is responsible for Bailey's care.  In the package there is an outfit, socks, a baby proof photo album with photos of our family and home, a security blanket, a disposable camera, lollipops, Smarties, Jasmine tea and chocolates for the foster family and a letter thanking them for caring for and loving our precious daughter.  It is our hope that they will show Bailey the photo album so she can become familiar with our faces.  She has probably never seen westerners before and lets face it...we do have big noses and funny looking hair compared to what Bailey is use to seeing! 

Yes, it is beginning to feel like this is really going to happen...we are really going to be the parents of four beautiful children!!!  I have to laugh when I think about the plans Danny and I had for our lives seventeen years ago when we met.  We both thought we would have careers, a house, two kids and a cat and dog.  Afterall, that is the American dream, right?  Never did I think that I would be a stay at home mom and never could I have imagined that God would bless us with four children...two biological and two through the miracle of adoption!   I'm always amazed at how much better God's plans for us are than the plans we make for ourselves!

Please join us in praying for Bailey as she waits for her mommy and daddy to come for her.  Please pray that God will prepare her for the transition to our family and that she will remain healthy.  Also, please pray for the foster mother that has cared for Bailey since she was seven months old.  I cannot imagine the heart break that she will experience in letting this child go and I pray that the Lord will comfort her and give her a sense of peace that Bailey is going to be loved and cared for.