Wow, finally get to update!!!

Boy, I cannot believe how long it has been since I had a chance to update my blog!!
Wedding season is finally coming to a close for the year, and I am now able to get back into a routine of being a Mommy and Wife.... Yea God!!!! I love being a wedding planner, but it sure does take it out of you.

We still have no more news on Leah and are waiting for our RA on about day 74 now. Please God let us get RA by the end of Nov.!!! With His hand on things, anything can happen, we are praying to be in China by the end of the year. That is our prayer.

I have LOADS of pictures that I have taken so I will start uploading some.
We have some from Vacation in CO, some from Halloween, and just some odds and ends. We have been so busy, but with my sprained ankle, it is very difficult to get anything done around the house. I am wanting so badly to get Bekah's big girl room done, but I can't do anything like that right now. Please pray for a speedy recovery for my ankle!!!
Enjoy the pictures...



Our little Alligator!!!

Bekah and her BFFs

Dancing Queen!!

Our little Princess!!!

Loving the Pumpking Patch!

Love you girls and miss you soooo! We need a FULL group shot next year.

We miss our Chatty Sisters ssoooooo much!!!!!!

Bekah's first time in a big girl bed!!! She LOVED it!

I could get used to that view every night. I LOVE CO!!!

Boy does someone love her some smores!!!

Bekah loved riding on Uncle Geoffs tractor with Daddy in CO

UPDATE ON LEAH!!!!!!

What a great morning!!!! I woke up to an email from Angela with Lady Bugs N love. It is a wonderful company that calls your orphanage while you wait and gets updated photos and information on your child. What a blessing and a gift they are!!!! We were able to ask 10 questions and we got 2 updated photos. We had NO recent info on Leah, and our agency won't ask for it until we get RA, which is the official referral acceptance. Lady bugs n love will call when you have PA, pre approval! So, I am going to copy the email I got today with the questions we asked and her answers. It was really hard to think about questions to ask, and I did it in a hurry a little bit so we would hear back as soon as possible, so here they are!!! I will post pictures as soon as we get RA! Hopefully within 2 months.
Just got another email from Angela while I am entering this... I had asked her about the tainted formula and she is going to call the orphanage and let me know if they had any of it! Wow, she is really amazing!!! Neat Neat lady...
Love Dawn

1. Does she crawl on her own?

Yes.

2. Is she walking, or at least learning too?

Yes, she is learning to walk.

3. What does she eat other than a baby bottle, such as any solid food?

She also eats rice, noodle, various of vegetable and snack, etc.

4. Has she had one nanny take care of her since she has been there that she has bonded to?

She’s been in the orphanage always. Her nanny’s name is Li Man Qin.

5. Can you tell us if she is a light or heavy sleeper?

She sleeps pretty heavy.

6. Does she sleep in her own crib or share?

She sleeps in her own crib.

7. What is her personality like?

She is fairly extroverted, active and restless.

8. Has she been in this same orphanage her whole life?

Yes.

9. Does she have a favorite lullaby, and if so, what is the name of it?

She loves to listen to music. No certain lullaby.

10. Is she attached to any other children at the orphanage and if so how old are they?

She has a close friend whose name is Hong Yun Ting. She is 14 months old.

11. Her updated measurements:

Height: 74cm; Weight: 9kg; Head: 43.3cm; Chest: 43cm; Foot: 12cm; Teeth: upper 2, lower 2.

12. Two pictures are attached. She is a happy girl!!!

What we have been up to...

Finale for the Labor Day fireworks... wish I could have captured how truly beautiful they were!

The fireworks were awesome!!!

Wish these turned out better, they seem so far away here!! Not such a good photographer for this!!! :-(

City view from my parents house before the Labor Day fireworks. We will be able to watch them from here! ;-)

Playing in the dirt at Nana and Grandpa's house with her cousins...

Enjoying the water park...

Bekah loves to mow the lawn with Daddy!

One of my favorite pictures!!! They do love each other...

Thank you Mr. Matt for letting me drive!!! ;-)

Someone loves boating and her Bff's Mommy, Miss Melissa!

Bffs have to make sure each other are safe!!

Having lunch at the pier restaurant. Two Peas in a Pod!!!

Loving our friends boat with her BFF!!

Hey everyone!!!
Soooo much has been going on over the past month or so. I have been extremely busy with weddings and we have been keeping busy as a family to try and help the wait time for Leah to go by... I have a horrible feeling we may not be able to get her home before the end of the year, but if God wants her to be home with us by then, she will be. So, I pray that He wants her home with us before Christmas, just like Bekah!!! We are getting so excited, but still sooooo much to do. We are leaving for vacation this Sat. yeah!!! and we are getting our basement finished, so that has consumed me, along with all the painting we are having to do! (needed to cut costs somewhere!) So, needless to say, the summer is flying by and I am ready for fall!

One exciting thing, a family with our agency is traveling right now and had their Gotcha Day yesterday... BUT the cool thing is their daughter is at Leah's orphanage... SO, if they are allowed to visit the orphanage they are going to see if they can "check in" on her for us!!! PLLLLLEASE Lord let them lay eyes on her so they can report great things back to us!

I have lots of photos to add, so here it goes (I should really be painting), they are long overdue.
Love to you all and many blessings!

We have a REFERRAL!!!!!!!!

We are soooooo excited to share that on Sunday (what a super surprise), August 17th we received a referral for a little girl with a repaired cleft lip and palate who is 15 months old. She is in Nanching, Jiangxi Province of China. That is just one province away from Bekah's!!!
Many more steps have to be complete before we get our Travel Approval (TA), so as each of these slowly trickle in I will be sure to update the blog.
I cannot wait to be able to post her picture for everyone to share, but we are not allowed to do this until we get official word from China that we are a good family for her!!! UGH!!! All the waiting.
I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing God is. We are on almost the EXACT same time frame as we were with Bekah. Down to the day of referral and sending in our acceptance, down to the same special need (minus the cleft lip)!!!!! JUST AMAZING how God has such a perfect plan and such a perfect child for each of our families!
I try not to think about her being in an orphanage for too much longer without us, but God will take care of her! She is actually in a "Half the Sky" orphanage which is a true blessing. They take very good care of the children and they provide tools necessary to keep them on target developmentally. My only concern is that they did not state she was crawling yet at the 11 month report, but we are hoping it was just an oversight. A lot of the time children in orphanages though are a little more behind on gross motor skills due to the fact they just don't get that constant one on one time with a foster family. Bekah was in a foster family and it definitely showed. But, one of my good friends assured me that this should be a great orphanage and her daughter came from one, and she was just wonderful when we went as a group to get our kiddos! So, we shall see. No matter what, we could not be happier for the Lord sending us this beautiful gift and I just want to shout from the mountaintop that she is ours, so once we get our PA (pre approval) you will hear me shouting. Until then, praying that God keeps her safe, healthy, happy and loved!!!!! Come on PA!!!! Then hopefully pictures and updated info on her soon!!!!
In His Mighty Grip,
Dawn
(ps. thanks shelley for letting me steal that!!)

Photo shoot spawned by tea party!

This is the one I had to "bribe" her for... ;) read below

Getting a little tired of having all sorts of clothes on, note underneath jacket...

Um, yes, this one is too big but she loved it... size 5, uh not yet!!

Cute without jacket though, not too too bad!

We spilled at the tea party. She always has to clean up!!! I love that, but we shall see how long it lasts!

The doll who started the whole "photo shoot!" This doll plays a crazy Chinese song. But, Beks loves it! It is kind of catchy actually!
\

Someone finally knows where the M&Ms are... sneaky girl...

but so funny!!!

At the birthday playdate with our neighbors! Fun Fun!

AND a birthday play date today!!!
We had such a fun full day today... we went to our neighbors birthday party and then took nana and grandpa to the airport, then had a tea party. Now, Bekah got her doll from China and I asked her if she wanted to wear her dress that we got her that is similar and she said "YES, I am so excited!!!" I was cracking up. She is not big on dress up, so I just went with it. So, after that, we ended up taking all her outfits out for when she is a bigger girl, that we got in China and she tried some of those on. We had so much fun. Although, I had to bribe her for the last picture in the blue, with 2 M&Ms to let mommy get this last shot. Daddy picked this cloak out and I wanted him to get to see her in it. That is just when he came home... he loved it!!! So, they are off to get Chipotle, so while I have a minute I figured I would get a couple pictures up.

Enjoy and I hope everyone has a blessed and wonderful weekend. ~ Dawn

LID!!!!!!! and more pictures...

These little sprinkler mats are adorable... we had a slight malfunction with this one :-(

What a cute little pool . Who doesn't like to drive a boat!!!

Someone loves playing the piano I found out!!!! We may need one soon...

Well, we are sooooooooo excited to announce we received our Log In Date (LID) which means we are officially on the waiting list to receive a referral. It could really come at any time, but only the Lord truly knows when. I have a dream of getting our referral while we are on our vacation in Sept. when we will be with all our chatty sisters and my cousin. That would be so wonderful to share with them there. The joy that overwhelms you is so hard to describe when you first see that child's face and you know it is your child! God is so GOOD!!!!!

We had a play date with our little friend Ava. Bekah just loves "babies" and she is going to be a great big sister!!! I have added some pictures of our time at their house. We had a blast. I just love play dates! Hope everyone is doing well and many blessings to you all. Love, Dawn

Busy Summer!

Pretty girl growing up so fast!

Baking muffins with cousins Sam and Stevie

Somebody loves homemade blueberry "Popsicles"! Yikes!

We have quadrouplets in our family, and we are at their birthday party. We had a lot of fun. Boy, someone is getting used to the water, at least with Daddy!! ;-)

Well, I have to say, between my business (wedding planning), refinishing our basement, and raising a 2 year old (while waiting for our next daughter)... life seems to be a little crazy right now!
We have been busy. So I am sharing a few pictures of our family time, amongst other things... ;-)
We are patiently waiting for even just our LID (log in date). We sent our dossier on June 20, and don't even know when it was logged in yet... ugh! I am sure it is already logged in, I just don't understand why they haven't told our agency when it was yet. Why does everything take so long in China??? Maybe the Olympics are slowing everyone down. I am sure they are looking forward to it!
Nothing too much to say right now, just wanted to upload a few pics and say how stinkin' excited we are to be going to Colorado in Sept. to see my new baby cousin and my Chatty Sisters!!
So, enjoy the photos. I do think Bekah is growing up so fast. She is such a little love bug, but so full of independence right now, it is a bit scary!
I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy and full of blessings from the Lord!