LOA!!!!!!!!!

Our agency informed us yesterday to let us know that we have our LOA (letter of approval), also known as LSC (letter seeking confirmation). We got it from Fed Ex today, and of course checked off the box that of course we still want to adopt Josiah!!! So after signing the form, making some copies, gathering all the documents that I have been filling out this past weeks, I went to Fed Ex and sent more paperwork back to our agency and to immigration. Now we wait for another round of immigration approval (which involves many steps that I don't understand yet) and then we wait for travel approval from China. All that should take around 2 months. So travel in January is looking highly likely! We are so excited, and can't believe that Josiah could be home playing with his brother and sisters in around 3 months.

We are also seriously considering bring Joel with us for this adoption trip. So please pray for God's wisdom in this decision.

Here's some pictures from October of the kids:

Olivia's first pony ride - she loved it, of course!


It's so hard to choose!


And even after choosing, none of these pumpkins in this picture are actually the ones that we went home with! I think they changed their mind at least twice after this picture.


Enjoying the last warm days of Fall

No news, but a new picture!

No LOA yet. We are on day 68 of our wait. Some people have been getting their LOA after 60 days, but some have waited over 100 days. We are hoping it will come really soon, but have no idea how long it will be. We were pleasantly surprised to get this new picture of Josiah from a friend. I think it was taken in September, so it is the most recent picture of him that we have.

We did hear back from Gift of Adoption, and we were awarded a grant to go towards adoption expenses. This is a huge praise. Thank you, God, for providing!!!

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

Today is Josiah's 2nd birthday. We are sad that we can't be with him on his birthday, but looking forward to celebrating his 3rd birthday and all years after that. He got a cake today and a little care package from us.

Also, I want to thank all of you who supported my fundraising effort. I finished the Portland Marathon yesterday. It was lots of fun. I'm super sore today, but still able to SLOWLY keep up with the kids.

Here's a picture of the care package we had sent to Josiah for his birthday.