Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Baby

We were so hoping to be able to celebrate Lily's birthday with her. She turned two on December 17th. We were in OH celebrating Christmas with Rob's Dad and family, so at least I wasn't home depressed; I was too busy to be depressed. Then on Christmas Day, we were back in OH to visit Rob's Mom and family. There they surprised us with a tremendous gift. Rob's Mom, with the a-okay from all her children, gave all the money she would have used to purchase presents for the adults to us toward the adoption. In addition, all the grandchildren made paper lilies out of their handprints and straws to make a beautiful vase of flowers, and in each flower, the adult sibblings stuck in the cash they would have used for the sibbling gift exchange (which we thought was cancelled....we were deceived!) In all, we were given $1770 towards the adoption!

We were so overwhelmed and humbled...and completely grateful. How can we ever repay this great kindness? We can't. I pray that I can be as big of a blessing to others as they have been to us.

We're getting closer to our goal, but we're still quite a ways off. We really could get our travel approval any day now.

I'm starting to get the nesting urge...and I'm also feeling a little panicky. And excited. It's quite the rush.

Keep posted. Hopefully there will be some action around here soon!

Blessings,
Jody

P.S. I did shop a little at an "After Christmas" sale and picked up a Cabbage Patch doll for Lily for 50% off. She is Asian, and her birthday is in December, just like Lily's. And of course she is adopted. I think I'll save it for her first Birthday with us. We haven't really bought much for her, as most of our funds are directed at getting her home, so this was a treat for me to get this special doll for her.

Every day brings us closer to Lily

We received our Log-In-Date (LID) for our dossier: 10/28. That is good news. Our dossier did not get lost in the mail. It has been translated into Chinese and is waiting on someone's desk pile for the right person to read it and then sign our travel approval letter. The average wait from LID to Travel Approval is 73 days, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. It's much too late for us to travel in December. This is to give you, dear reader, and idea of what we're waiting for and when we might expect to travel.

I had a portrait fundraiser last month and raised about $1100. Thank-you, Lord! It was a whole lot of work, and we still have a ways to go, but every dollar helps! Also, I have some adorable antique pictures of my boys to cherish as well. I may have another similar fundraiser in the spring to cover some of Lily's medical expenses. The pictures all turned out really cute, and I think everyone who participated was glad to have done so.

We've applied to several grants, but we haven't received any word on any of them yet.

This is just a shortie to let you all know where where we are.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Blessings,
Jody