LOA!!!

Monday Yu Ping from our adoption agency called to tell me that our LOA (Letter of Approval, or Letter of Seeking Confirmation) came in from China! I was told not to even expect it until we hit at least 2 months of waiting after receiving our referral. We haven't even waited a whole month! Wow! She told us that we should be traveling to bring Allegra home in 3 months! Oh my goodness! 3 months! Did I say "Oh my goodness!!!"

And today I went to Babies r Us and registered for my baby shower. Not sure when that will be yet...but it was so much fun!

In other news...my Mom and Dad's trailer and truck caught on fire today. :-(. Thank goodness that no one was hurt! Sad though, so many wonederful memories!

I also included some of the Santa Train pics that we took when we went last Saturday together! We had a wonderful time! It's too bad that Sean fell while holding Gavin as we were leaving and now Gavin says that he never wants to go there again. But I'm sure by next year he'll be over it. I dunno that kid doesn't seem to ever forget anything! :-)

Until next time :-)

Our cooking instructions etc...

Okay so I have had a few people ask me for the recipes for the 7 hours of cooking Sean and I did last week. Here it is: http://once-a-monthcooking.com/includes/MenuSampler.pdf (we just doubled...or tripled everything to make it 2 weeks worth of meals.)

So far we have had the: Penne with Cream Sauce and Sausage (5 stars!)
South of the Border Ground Beef and Corn Pie (5 stars!) next time we are going to put this into a soft tortilla to eat it.
Country Style Ribs (1 star) (I think the red wine that it sits in all day in the crock pot is not my flavor)
Pineapple Burgers (4 stars!) I think the pineapple once frozen becomes flavorless. I would just add the pineapple slices on right before eating them next time. Otherwise these are great!

Enjoy everyone! And hey, let me know what you all think!!

Until next time :-)

Cooked for 7 hours!

Sean and I decided to try to cook 2 weeks worth of food and freeze it so that we could have "home cookin'" every night at home instead of eating out so much. So, yesterday we spend the entire afternoon cooking! We started at 3:15 and ended at 10:15 or so. Gavin spent some time with my Mom so that we could put all of our concentration in the kitchen. We had so much fun! Even though we were tired beyond belief, (and my back was in a ton of pain) and slept better than we have slept in a long time, I can't wait to cook again in 2 weeks with Sean!

Nothing new about Allegra. Just that we received a huge packet of more paperwork and forms to fill out. We are still hearing the "5-8" month time frame for traveling to China. It seems like right now people are traveling around 5 months...so we are sure hoping for that!

Until next time :-)

Another pic of Allegra

OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!

HERE SHE IS!!!

ALLEGRA BAITAO MORAN

DOB: 1/4/2009

Lives in Guangzhou

She has had her bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate repaired.

We are in love!!!!!!!!!!!

Referral on Monday!!!

I just found out that we will be matched with our daughter this Monday evening! Then we will have 72 hours to take her information to our doctor and then to email our all important "Letter of Intent" to our agency to so they can send it immediately to China.

Oh my goodness! I can't believe this is really happening! I don't know how I am going to be able to get any sleep until then! Next time I post I'll be posting on here, I'll be posting her picture!!!

Until Next Time! :-)

Halloween and Gotcha Day 2010

We had a wonderful Halloween. Gavin and his buddy Gabriel went trick-or-treating. It wasn't too chilly outside so that was really nice. The kids got tons of candy and had so much fun!

Then we all came back to our house and the boys played trains. Then I opened my birthday gifts, and we played wii. It was a great birthday!

Then the next day (Gotcha Day) we celebrated by putting up our Christmas tree (I know...it's a little bit early...but we like it that way). We had a great evening. I can't believe that Gavin has been home for 3 years already! Time sure flies! It was so fun to see Gavin putting ornaments (or as he was calling them "instruments") on the tree. (I especially love that Gavin is wearing his halloween shirt while putting ornaments on the tree)

On the adoption front:

2 weeks or so we'll have our referral!!

Until next time :-)

LID!!!

China has officially logged our dossier in (on October 21st, even though we just found out today)! Which means, when the next list of waiting children comes out in November (usually around the 20th of each month) we WILL be matched with our little girl! I am over the moon!!

I also just had to include some super cute pics of Gavin and Daddy putting up Halloween lights. They had so much fun! I can't wait to see her face!

And the other night my Mom and Dad and Niece Shayla came over to carve pumpkins with us. Gavin's pumpkin is the cute one with the big happy face. He drew what he wanted on his pumpkin. Also, it is hard to see but the first picture with all of the pumpkins, the little pumpkin on the left is the one that Gavin insisted that we get for his sister. He said that we could bring it in our suitcase and give it to her in China. So cute!! We finished off the evening by drinking hot chocolate and playing games on our wii. Such a great memory! (Isn't the pic of Lucy "playing cards" adorable!)

Until next time!

DTC!

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe we are finally DTC today! Our case manager emailed me this afternoon to let me know that she sent it to China. (Dossier to China) We just need China to officially "log us in" then our adoption agency can match us with our little girl!!! I am deliriously happy!!! This is really happening! 7 years in the waiting!!

Until next time :-)

October!!!

I love October! Gavin and I did a leaf project. We went for a little walk to get some pretty leaves. Gavin had so much fun gluing the leaves to the paper. Sean always does a fantastic job of putting up awesome Halloween decorations and lights outside. I'll post pics when he does. :-)

Until next time :-)

I800A Approved!

Fantastic news! I got an email from our case manager at WACAP saying that she received our I800A approval! She sent it today to San Fransisco for authentication. She said that would take up to 2 weeks then our dossier will be sent to China (DTC)!! I can't believe our dossier will be in China in October!!! Holy Moly I am so excited!!!

Until next time :-)

Gavin's Room!

I just finished painting a mural on Gavin's wall. The lion and monkey characters match his bedspread from Ikea. (I still have to add the veins in the leaves, but that can wait). Gavin said he loved it! He's been asking me to add eyes to that poor lion for days now! :-)

On the Adoption front: I've been informed that our dossier is all ready to go to China as soon as we get our I-800A approval (and that get's authenticated). WOOHOO!!

Until next time :-)

Puyallup Fair!

A couple of days ago we went to the Puyallup Fair. It was Gavin's first time to the fair. We had wonderful weather and we all had a blast. We took my Mom and Dad and my neice Shayla with us. Gavin wouldn't go on any rides unless we went with him, but he sure loved going on the rides. He loved cotton candy. And he was so happy to make a "doo dah bird".

I also included a picture of his first day of preschool. I couldn't get him to crack a smile, but he did have a great first day. He loves preschool!

And on the adoption front: We went to the USCIS office this morning and had our fingerprints done. That is the last thing that we have to do (on our end) before we get our referral!!! Hopefully in a few weeks our dossier will be sent to China!!!

Until next time :-)

I know it's early but...

I'm seeing the Halloween costumes and decorations going up in the stores. We went looking for costumes today and found a whole bunch at the Halloween Store. Gavin picked out a Luigi costume. He looks so adorable!! He does look a bit pregnant with that fake belly!

On the adoption front: Still waiting for our fingerprint appointment from the USCIS! Hopefully we'll get it in the mail this week.

Until next time. :-)

Our 10th Anniversary!

Sean and I went to Seattle for our 10th Anniversary! Our dear friends Mia and Joel gave us a free night to stay at the Hilton. We told the staff that it was our anniversary and they brought us some sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries. That was so nice! It was such a nice room! We went to this great pizza place across the street called "Mod". We also had a great dinner and we even tried sushi. Not impressed! And I'll never try it again. We walked all over Seattle. I actually got a blister on my foot from all of the walking! We had a great time! Gavin stayed with my Mom and Dad. It was nice to have sometime without the kiddo....but I did miss him, and I was very happy to see him today!!

I also threw in some of the pictures from the WACAP (our adoption agency) picnic. Gavin and Owen had a great time! We got to catch up with some of our fellow adoptive parent friends! Gavin had his face painted (he wanted a butterfly) and he wanted me to have mine painted too. :-)

The beautiful sunset picture is from our church picnic out at Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom. It was a gorgeous evening!

New on the adoption front!

We have officially been accepted into the China Waiting Child Program! We paid our first fee to WACAP, and our case manager thinks that we may even have our referral in November! WOOHOO!!

Until next time :-)

At Genie and George's Farm!

Yesterday we went to a birthday party for Sean's cousin Anneliese. We had a great time! Gavin loved running around the HUGE yard. He also, got to get eggs from the chickens, and see their beautiful horses. It was a great evening! We enjoyed spending time with family.

Until next time :-)