One step at a time....

Here's some more good news - I got the call from immigration today that our request to switch our Addendum 3 form from an infant girl to an older boy has been granted! It was processed today. So happy and thankful!!

After this form, the next immigration form to process will be "requesting a specific child". That one takes longer to process according to our agency. Our guess is maybe a month or so.

Just for fun, here is our silly daughter eating a stick of butter (she didn't really eat it) that I have been meaning to post by now. Cracks me up.

More pictures

Here are the rest of the updated pictures of our adorable (in my biased opinion) son. The one on the bottom is from late November, a couple of weeks ago. He is getting so big. The rest of them are from August of this year. I'll keep this post short and sweet. Goodbye for now.

Super excited for Santa

Yesterday, we took Ms. sassafras to see Santa himself in the flesh. Oh, and of course, his lovely wife, Mrs. Claus. We were standing in line and Ms. sassafras was literally jumping up and down in anticipation. She was very professional about things - it was all business, you know. Old Saint Nick asked, "What is your name?" She told him. And then he whispered something in her ear. She whispered back, "An easy bake oven, what else, Ma?" Too cute. Motherbird gave her a few more suggestions and he concluded by giving her a goody bag and of course a candy cane. She was just thrilled. I could feel the positive energy pouring out of her. She told us that she loves Santa SO much. And now that she met him, she will REALLY listen to mommy and daddy so that she's sure to get a visit by the jolly fat man on Christmas Eve. Okay, so I believe that. For about ten minutes...

Oh well, we love her to death anyway.

At three years old, she continues to amaze me at the comprehension and processing in that small sized brain. She asked me why we celebrate Christmas. I told her it was the day Jesus was born and He is our Savior. You know, that book that we read every night. "Yes, mommy, I know now." Sweet child.

An update and excited parents!!!

On Monday, November 30th, we got an update on our son! We were thrilled to get more information and pictures. He is in first grade primary school, just what we were hoping. The main language in Guangzhou is Cantonese, and in the schools he is taught Mandarin. With our sister-in-law going on the trip, she will be able to converse with big brudder in Mandarin, which is such a blessing. And daddy and myself need to start learning some Mandarin too!

Oh, and he likes fish (yay - just like his dad) and meat and chili peppers! Motherbird really needs to work on her cooking skills. Hmmm, another thing to add to the list. I think I am going to be very grateful for Chinese take out! He doesn't like green vegetables, hehe. He likes to kick balls which is great, since he will be entering a family that is MAJORLY sports dominated on the male side. He also knows that he is in the adoption program and waiting to be adopted. We will send a care package soon with match box cars (amongst other things that I need to figure out - any suggestions are appreciated) and a photo album describing his new family and surroundings which will also be written in Chinese so that his foster parents can read it to him. One more thing - he likes things that he has never seen before or played before. It looks like we have an adventurous boy on our hands!

Here are a couple of the pics that we received. This has been an amazing process. Best of all, we are able to change this little boy's life. And isn't that what life is all about?

It's official!!!

We received final approval from the CCAA on Monday, November 16th! This is moving so fast! Thank you Lord for this beautiful boy! It almost feels like a dream that we are getting a son. We have a lot of be thankful for this holiday season.

Ms. sassafras is obsessed with Rudolph (and his lit up nose, of course) and cannot wait for Christmas. I know - let's get through Thanksgiving first. I agree. It is so cute though, and she found out about the ol' naughty and nice list from Santa. Oh yeah, all of us moms know to put that into our bag of tricks to encourage good behavior....

Okay, I won't keep you in suspense any longer....

And.....

Here he is.......

Sweet boy. We CANNOT wait to meet you!!!!!

drumroll please.....

So, time has passed, and I am happy to report that Miss sassafras is fever free! Yes, we are excited too. An ill child makes Motherbird very worried. And I am happy to report that the virus was not spread at all throughout the house.

This upcoming Thursday will mark the three week point since we have gotten pre-approval on our son, who Miss sassafras calls "Big brudder". Our social worker told us that a final approval is generally received within three to five weeks, so hopefully it won't be long. We can't wait to see an updated picture and get Big brudder's measurements so that we can start getting him some clothes to wear. So exciting!

It's that time of year...

Well, the virus bug has offically hit the household. Miss sassafras woke up yesterday morning with a temperature of 101 after having had some mild cold symptoms since last Thursday. And she had been doing so well keeping healthy, really since the early summer. Thankfully, her fever broke early this morning and we will just monitor her to make sure that she continues to be on the mend. Funny how she acts just like our pediatrician at home doctoring all of the babies, and then when we got to the office this afternoon, it was nothing but drama. Crocodile tears. Can't blame the child - I don't like people looking in my ears or down my throat either. The good news is it's probably not H1N1 based on her symptoms. The pediatrician did say that the H1N1 virus is vicious - some of her patients have had temperatures of 105 degrees, not easily responding to fever reducing medications. Very scary.

One great thing is that we told the pediatrician about her big brother, and she was so excited and said that she would accept him as a patient after I prompted the question. I don't think she is accepting new patients, so that is a huge blessing. We just love that woman for the way she is with all of the children, and of course, her intelligence.

So now we just have to pray that daddy and myself don't get sick next, as I am hearing stories of these illnesses traveling to each member of the family. Time will tell.

We have a son and some fall fun

So I'm jumping into this blogging thing to follow our second adoption journey and the day to day life of our spunky 3 year old daughter, who I'll call Miss sassafras.

We are so excited to announce our referral for our second child - a boy! He is from Guangzhou, China, and he just turned 7 years old in September. Our request was submitted to China electronically on October 25, 2009. We were over the moon to get the pre-approval on October 29,2009. We hope to have a final approval by Thanksgiving, and hope to travel to China in March of 2010. We knew instantly that God had completed our family.

So yesterday, it was a beautiful day in the midwest. The tree lined view from my kitchen window showed a beautiful display of golden yellow leaves peacefully falling to the ground. Miss sassafras was able to play in the leaves, and she absolutely loved it! She was throwing the leaves all around, and daddy even thought to put the plastic slide in the mix of the pile for some extra fun. Good times.