Whew!

We've been knee-deep in paperwork around here, but as you can see from this picture, today was the last of it......................for now. We sent a bunch of it on Monday, and then a bunch more today. Good thing we have an account at the UPS Store! Today, when we walked in, our friend asked me, "Just put it on your tab?" :-))
Now, we will wait for our Travel Approval and then I'm sure there will be more paperwork. All of it just takes us that much closer to our sweet Rosie girl, so we certainly don't mind. We just can't wait to hold her!! We are starting to think about what we will pack, etc. and today we found out our hotels, so we googled them to check it all out. They all look great! And 2 out of 3 of them have a pool, so Tia is excited.
Stay tuned for the next step in this journey...............................!!

LOA!!!!!

We are happy to say that we have received our "Letter of Approval" for going to get Rosie. This means that we are one step closer to having her in our arms. Yippee!!!!! Now, we will wait for our Travel Approval and hopefully that will come as quickly as this did. We are looking at possibly late April or early May for travel. We are SO excited! Tia jumped up and down and gave me the "double High 5" when I told her. I feel like I can't breathe........................what fun this is! :-)) In fact, Tia wants to sign off on this post, so here she is.........................I am soooooooooo excited for Rosie! Love, Tia

Rosie's "Helpers"

I wanted to share a special part of Rosie's journey to us. Many months ago, my dear friend Jaci and her husband Bob sent us a beautiful gift. It was a "Mama doll" from China. Their note to us was that it was their hope that she would help with bringing Rosie to us. We absolutely loved it and put it in a special spot in our bedroom. We knew that she would somehow play a part in getting our sweet Rosie girl. Then, on Valentine's day this year (Rosie's 1st birthday), they sent a big box of chocolate covered fortune cookies, with another note saying that hopefully they would help bring Rosie to us soon. Also, in the meantime, we had won a raffle gift at Chinese New Year that was a beautiful lady bug key chain. And it had been donated by another dear friend, Nita. We were both thrilled when we won it. I placed the key chain in our bedroom, next to the "Mama doll" and we all enjoyed the fortune cookies. It's amazing to think that on the 22nd of February, we got the call for Rosie. I think that all of those little "helpers" really helped! :-))

More fun pics from the last few days!

ROSIE HAS FINALLY BEEN REVEALED!!

We are so incredibly happy and grateful to share with you our sweet Rosie girl. She was born on Valentine's day last year and just turned one. She is so precious. We are all so in love with her and cannot wait to bring her home! We are hoping to travel in May and we are so excited. It will be the trip of a lifetime for all of us.

We received the call on Friday afternoon, February 22nd. I was in the middle of a crazy day, so was completely caught off guard when I looked at my phone and it was our agency's number. She gave me her information and said she would email everything to our home. Mike and I took one look at her and instantly fell in love. We just knew that she was our sweet Rosie that we had waited so long for. The whole next week was busy with phone calls, emails, etc and trying SO hard not to tell anyone. By the end of the week, we were finally able to share our incredible news. I had gotten Tia a "big sister" t-shirt and put it, along with pictures and a note from Rosie, in a beautiful box for her to open. She looked at the picture, then read the letter and looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. We hugged and cried while Mike caught the whole thing on film. You all know Mike and that video camera! :-)) Then she jumped up and down and said, "I can't believe it! I love Rosie!!" It was precious and a moment to cherish forever. From there, we headed straight over to Grama and Papa's to share the news with them. We had letters from Rosie, pictures and pink bibs to present to them. We caught them completely off-guard and they were SO thrilled!! They are just in love with her too, and can't wait until she comes home. The long wait is worth every minute and we couldn't be happier or more grateful to God for this precious, precious gift.

The recent days have been filled with so much love, friendship, support and absolute joy from everyone. We are so touched by everyone's sweet words and happiness for our family. We are floating through life and enjoying every minute of it. We've run out of milk, forgotten to grab the mail, tried to put dirty dishes away from the dishwasher (that I thought I had run) and even sent Tia to school one day without lunch! Good thing she's OK with hot lunch once in a while. :-)) It's just been FUN. God is so good!!

So, enjoy the pictures and I will continue to update so you can all keep up with the journey. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We appreciate it all more than words can say.  All our love ~!