- 20 months waiting since we began our adoption process
- 39 months (3 years, 3 months) since we began the process of adding
to our family
Wow - January has been a big month!!
It began with me driving to pick up this gorgeous monogram decoration to hang on the wall above Emma's bed. Our Emma Reid McGinnis will be home before we know it!
Any good paint job begins with preparation of the walls and LOTS AND LOTS of blue painter's tape.
I selected a beautiful medium grey. Depending on the time of day (with no window treatments), it's a beautiful blue grey. Brian was so excited that I decided to paint our daughter's room blue! I remain hopeful that it will actually look grey once the window treatments are installed and the room is completely furnished.
Here's a quick glimpse of the built-in wall in progress - with her bed in place. Our girl has a pink trundle bed. :)
In preparation for a little celebration before Emma's arrival, I made a registry at Target. It was a surreal experience. When I walked up to the counter and told the attendant that I'd like to make a gift registry, she was a little surprised as she looked right at my non-pregnant belly. To which I replied "I look pretty good to be 26 weeks pregnant with a toddler, right?" Then I explained that we are adopting a 2 year old girl this spring. She was happy to help as I created Emma's Adoption Registry.
On Sunday night January 26th, I was turning lights off and putting away a few things before bed. I found this ladybug walking around near the kitchen. I'm always amazed by the presence of ladybug's in our house - especially in such cold times. Ladybugs are viewed as a Chinese symbol of good luck. (I saw one crawling by my foot while pumping gas in October - just before we learned our transfer was completed in order to match with Emma!) So I made sure to photograph this little ladybug hoping it might be a sweet reminder that our process was moving along.
To my surprise the next day, our sweet social worker Karisa called on Monday afternoon to let me know they'd seen movement in our status in the database - Matched Reviewed! EXCITEMENT!! That status means our Letter of Acceptance would soon arrive from China - leaving just before Chinese New Year and all the governmental closures! (When our actual LOA arrived, it was dated January 26th - sweet little ladybug!)
So work continued on Emma's room while we waited.
While Brian did this . . . .
My dad and I did this . . . .
And then we had a snow day or two . . . .
And a date night with Chinese dinner out before attending Shen Yun - a Chinese dance performance at the Blumenthal. Here are the fortunes we found in our fortune cookies:
And then the construction and painting continued - the accent wall in Emma's room.
And this might have happened yesterday! I chased the FedEx delivery man back to his truck to take his photo with our Letter of Acceptance from China. He was happy to take an extra minute to hear how important that package was for our family. Thank You!
And today this document was sent overnight back to our agency with a stack of paperwork. China officially recognizes us as being matched with Emma.
Finally having this letter means we are so much closer to our baby girl. After a 65 day wait for the LOA, we are so happy to be one step closer to travel. We have been told that we are now 2-3 months from travel - friends - that is 8-12 weeks away!! This is really (finally) happening!
Thank you for following our journey and supporting us. Our story is really just beginning . . .
