Video

We are trying to figure out how to post video to our website. Joseph made a short video for Michael. Hopefully, this will work.

Update with Picture

Above is a picture we received with an update on Michael today. The update said the following:

1. eating: three meals a day with good appetite.


2. development: walk without support.


3. can pick up blocks from a cup.


4. language: can imitate others.


5. personality: shy, and an introvert


6. had surgery on Nov.2007 to repair cleft lip.

I had to laugh at the good appetite. He looks very happy and healthy. He weighs 31 lbs. and is 31" tall.

We did not receive any news on our travel dates today. We are still hoping to hear something by the end of this week.

Happy Memorial Day!

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. We do not have any new news to report. Hopefully, we will get our travel acceptance this week. Then, we will be able to find out our exact travel dates. We will let you all know when we find something out.

Baby Shower

Earthquake update

Many people have called and emailed us since the earthquake in the Sichuan province of China. We want to let everyone know that Michael is okay. He is approximately 700 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake. That is approximately the distance between Richmond, VA and Birmingham, Alabama. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Please keep the Chinese people in your prayers. If you would like to help the victims of the earthquake, the following are two reputable organizations that have set up funds.

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/earthquake.cfm
http://www.halfthesky.org/journal/?p=88

This week

This past week was very busy. Last Saturday, our church gave us a baby shower. It was wonderful. It was a cook out at the pavilion which they decorated with baby Winnie the Pooh characters. They had a Winnie the Pooh cake for us. The bottom layer was a sheet cake. The top layer was Winnie the Pooh. We were able to save the top of the cake to use for Michael's first birthday home with us. We received so many wonderful gifts, but the greatest gift is knowing what a wonderful church family we have. They really went out of their way to make us feel special. (I will post pictures when I have them. Bill's uncle, David, took them for us.)

Monday was a very stressful day. Our LOA was supposed to arrive by UPS early AM delivery. Bill left work early to pick it up at the house and bring it to my office, because we had to sign it and send it to our agency overnight early AM delivery. It has to be to them by Tuesday morning. If it was late, we would hold up 14 other families. When Bill arrived at the house, the package was not there. After many frantic phone calls, we found out that early AM delivery to our zip code is anywhere between 9 a.m.- 7 p.m.! Bill waited and waited. He was on the porch with his keys in hand when the UPS truck came around the corner. He met the UPS man at the end of the driveway. I think he may have hugged him if he wasn't in such a hurry to meet me. We ended up meeting at Kinko's. We signed, copied, and Fed Exed the package.

The rest of the week went pretty smoothly. We spent today working on Michael's room. It is almost done. I will post pictures when we have it finished. I also worked on packing for our trip. We are packing somethings early, so we don't have to rush when we get the call telling us when we are going to China.

I am going to try to update the blog at least once a week. When we are in China, I will try to update it daily or as much as possible.

LOA!!! WOOHOO!!!

Today was a very good day! We received a call from our social worker. Our letter of acceptance (LOA) has arrived from China. This letter pretty much says that we can definitely adopt Michael. Our agency is sending it to us. We have to sign it and send it back to them. Then, they will send it to China.

The next step is to receive our travel invitation (TA). When our agency receives this, they can request an appointment at the consulate in Guangzhou. Then, we will know exactly when we will travel. We are expecting to travel within 6-8 weeks.

Hopefully, we will be able to spend Michael's second birthday with him on July 1st.