Corrected!

I just saw an email from our officer at USCIS saying the corrected approval is in the mail.

God is soooooooo good! Now if only we could get some updated info on our sweet girl.....prayer time! :)

Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

I800 Approval - Fast Forward/Rewind

I800 approval 11/23....received 11/27.......realized the wrong name was on the approval 11/28. As of today we are still waiting on a response from the USCIS. Our case worker/officer is the only one who can correct it. We have left several messages....spoken to several other people there....and have received no response from our actual case worker. No one seems to know if she has been at work this week. Frustrated. Tired. Going to bed hoping for good news tomorrow!

Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

Tri-State Quizzing and Birthdays

I spent Friday and Saturday coaching our teen quizzers from church at Tri-State down at MVNU.

After a bit of a rough round robin Friday night, these four won first place in the Experienced Silver Division. Anna, Stephone, Katie, and Elizabeth went undefeated! And, they were a blast to coach! Although we were all a bit disappointed to only make the Silver Division, everyone left with some big study goals for Thanksgiving break. (Right guys??)

Happy First Birthday Sweet Eme! Wish we could be celebrating with you! Keeping our fingers crossed that we will be celebrating Chinese New Year together!

Some of the quizzers enjoying cupcakes in honor of Eme's birthday.

Katie and I before she started feeling "green" on Saturday. She quizzed amazingly considering how the trip ended!


Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

Care Package to Eme

We received an email from Ann at Red Threads this morning that Eme's care package is on its way. We sent her the birthday care pkg so in addition to the bear and letter (the candies are for her nannies), she will receive a fresh cake from the local bakery. Very sad that we will not be celebrating her 1st birthday, but we are confident she is celebrating it with those in China who love her. We will be there soon! Hopefully her nannies will use the camera to take pictures of her celebration.

Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

Pink

After starting this adoption journey for our little girl four years ago, tonight we finally bought the prettiest light pink paint for her room. What a long time coming! Gabby has been working on Eme's room since last Saturday and thinks he will be done tomorrow. We still need to paint the trim and get carpet - but then we can get to decorating! My wonderful friend Brooke is letting us have her little girl Claire's bedding, and I am so excited to see how the room will turn out. I may have to recruit my decorating buddies...but having their help makes it so much more fun. Will be posting pics as we make progress. Still crazily hoping to travel in December...or realistically January. I asked John tonight when he thought we would leave for China, he said December 27th. I said January 13th. I hope he is right.

Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

LOA ~ LOA ~ LOA ~ LOA

We were shocked to find out yesterday that our agency received our LOA! It was such a quick turn around - we were expecting to receive it hopefully by Thanksgiving. There are still many steps to go through before we actually get to China. But, I am praying that maybe we could travel before the end of the year (that would be God moving mountains!). More realistically, if we do not run into any unexpected delays, we should go sometime in January. Isn't that exciting???!!!

John is looking at potential flights right now. It seems so unreal. We are coming sweet Eme!

Beyond Blessed! ~ Erin

I should be sleeping...

Yes, it is election night. And, since I've been home tonight, I haven't looked at anything election related! Instead I am scouring the forums at Chinaadopttalk to see what is happening with the other lovely folks over there who are in the long wait with me for their kiddos.

Maybe I should give myself a time limit for how long I can surf.......hmmmm....but who would enforce this? Ha ha ha!