WeChat

Soooo, I have something AWESOME I have been anxious to share!!!!!!  I wasn't sure if we could share about it, so I haven't told you all...until NOW!

Several weeks ago, a fellow adoptive Mom mentioned she got to WeChat (video call) her child waiting in the same orphanage is our LongLong.  I was so intrigued and wondered how WE could get to do this.  She gave us the name of the person who could arrange it, but explained she had to BEG to be able to do it, and even then they wouldn't allow it until they were almost on the last step of the adoption process.  I decided to do everything I could to convince them to allow us to WeChat LongLong!!  Since this mom said it would take some time to persuade them, we decided to email the contact early and maybe by the time we were almost on the final step, they would be convinced to let us talk to her.

We contacted the man,and not 6 hours later he replied asking if we wanted to talk to her in 2 days time.  My heart stopped.  I was in SHOCK!  Could I seriously talk to my daughter in a matter of days?  After waiting YEARS, and thinking it would still be MONTHS before hearing that sweet voice, could I really be hearing her, talking to her, in 48 hours?  I was out of state, visiting family, so we arranged for a time and day when I would be back in town with Brik.  I cut my visit short, leaving the very next day so I could get home and we could plan together what to say to LongLong.  (Yes, when you have waited over 2 years, you plan at least a few key points to touch on when you are going to talk to your little girl for the first time).  I was so nervous for the next two days, I could hardly sleep.  What would I say?  How should we act?  Who should be in on this conversation?  Just Mom and Dad, or should we let our 4 other kids be there, too?  Do we introduce ourselves as "Mom" and "Dad"?  SO many questions and uncertainties.

Finally, the day and time arrived and for the first time in this life, we talked in real time to our precious, beautiful, perfect little girl.  She was amazing.  It was amazing.  We asked her questions she never answered (typical for a phone call with a 5 year old, right?!  HA HA!)  We introduced her to us, and we let each of the kids, one at a time, say "Ni hao".  She was very excited that there was a baby whose name means "flower"!  And when we told her we would call again, she said "Yeah yeah yeah!"  We told her we were so sorry, but it would still be a little while longer before we could come pick her up.  We told her we wanted to come RIGHT NOW, but it would take a little longer before we could come for her.  She told us again and again, "I will wait for you".  Oh my heart.  And when it was time to hang up, she told us "Wo ye ai ni!  Wan an!"  I love you, too!  Good night.  I thought I would die.

And now, I can't stop thinking of her...um, even more than before.  Her voice.  Her face.  Everything.  She is so real now.  And I need her.  I need her right here with me.

We have another conversation scheduled for Sunday!!  And I cannot wait.  I just.  Cannot.  Wait.

This is a picture of the computer playing the video of our conversation.  

How confusing is that?!  

HA HA!  Suffice it to say, this is right after the conversation began. 

First of all, I need to apologize for not blogging sooner!  Life has been CRAZY!  But I hope to be better about updating this blog, so thaks for hanging around and being patient.

Secondly, I let my son use my account to create his own blog and now my screen name is Spicy Banana.  So, there is that. #momlife hahahaha!

Okay, now for the real reazon you are here!
Things are suddenly moving very quickly with LongLong's adoption.  (Okay, woah, WOAH!  "QUICKLY" compared to how they have moved the past 2 years!!  It is still a long process, so don't go making "Welcome , LongLong" posters quite yet. Hahaha!!)  The simplest way to describe it is to say there are 17 "steps" on our little adoption infograph, and we just crossed out step 10!!  Woohoo!!

Okay, I really want to post more, but Lylok has been sick for the past 6 days and I need to get some sleep, so I am ending this here with the promise of more.later :)

Finally, AN UPDATE!

Where has the time gone?

I am sure you are wondering if we dropped off the face of the earth!  The answer is, no!  We didn't :)  I just have not used the computer in a while, and updating the blog from my phone proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated (I wrote three blog updates and each was erased!  I finally gave up!).

Well, let's get to the "fun" stuff!! :)

The adoption is marching along steadily.  However, we just found out, that simply is not good enough!  From the time we were pre-approved until the time we submit our Dossier can be no longer than 6 months.  I never thought in a million years it would take six months to complete everything...however, here we are in our FOURTH MONTH!  So, it really is crunch time!  I am working "fast and furiously" to get everything done for our dossier.

We have received some updated pictures of our girl, and OH MY GOODNESS, is she a sparkly little one!  In her "old" pictures, she rarely smiled, but in these ones she is all grins!  She has such a happy face that just lights up when she smiles.  We cannot wait to bring that little ray of sunshine in to our home.

We also received some VIDEO of LongLong!  She appears to be very affectionate and not very shy.  We recognize that could be good OR bad, so we are ready and prepared to deal with the challenges that can come.  However, it was so good to see her respond to physical touch!  She really enjoyed being tickled and we got to hear her precious little laugh for the first time!!

In one of the videos, our girl marches herself to the piano in the room, climbs on to the piano bench, removes the piano cover, and starts plunking away on the keys.  I am SO so so excited about this (as you can well imagine!).  I can't wait to start teaching her Suzuki piano (of course, that won't be for a long while, but I can get excited, can't I?!)  .  I am so glad we have a piano in our home!!

So, in case you are still scratching your head wondering, "Okay, so WHEN does she come home?" here is the deal: we don't know for sure :)  BUT...because of paperwork, etc. we MUST have everything done and be on a plane to go get her BY AUGUST 31!!!!!!!!  I know, that is SO SOON!   We had the goal of sometime in October to bring her home.  To now realize it all has to be done and dusted before Sept. 1 is a HUGE stress!  We surely appreciate prayers as we try and complete this faster than fast.

Thank you for your continued love and support!  I promise to try and be better about updating here!  All our love to all of you :)

An update...with nothing cheerful to share.

Hello friends!  I am sorry I have not posted in so long!  We have been busy working on adopting paperwork and getting ready for CHRISTMAS!  How is "Christmas-ing" going at your house?  Do you celebrate Hanukkah?  I hope it was a very nice celebration this year :)

Well, Brik and I went in and got our medical paperwork filled out by our doctor.  Then, we went to the hospital and had our blood drawn.  Once those results were back to the doc. we recruited our (dear, sweet, wonderful!) notary to come to the doctor's office to notarize the paperwork.  She waited with us for about 45 mins before our doctor got a chance to meet with us.  We signed and notarized and the next day, the doctor's office sent them paperwork off!  YAY!  We were so excited!

However, two days ago the adoption agency called to let us know the dates were not done correctly on the paperwork.  So, we have to go BACK and do the whole thing over again.  Pretty disappointing.  But it's not a big deal, so we were still feeling pretty okay.

Next step: DONE!

HELLO, FRIENDS! :)

I am SO EXCITED to post that we TURNED IN OUR HOMESTUDY PAPERWORK!!!!!!  WOOOO HOOOOO!  This is VERY big and VERY exciting!  The homestudy is PILES of paperwork, and I am SO excited we are ALMOST done with it! :)  Turning in this first clump of paperwork is really exciting.  (I bet you never thought you would read the word, "PAPERWORK" so many times in one blog post!  Well, this is only the beginning!  The homestudy step might include piles of paperwork, but I hear the "Dossier" step requires MOUNTAINS of it!)

We had to submit a bunch of blood tests, too.  The other night, Brik and I went in to get the blood drawn.  You all probably know what I WHIMP I am about getting my blood drawn.  So, I made Brik go first.  He donates blood every month or so, so it is no big deal to him.  He sat down in the chair and the phlebotomist just TALKED about drawing his blood, and my head started buzzing and I felt light-headed!  Well, as soon as the fourth vial was full, Mr. Gets-His-Blood-Drawn-Every-Month turned a ghastly whiteish yellow and nearly fainted!  The nurse had to get him some orange juice and he sat there trying not to pass out for a few minutes!  NO WAY!  And SO funny...to me ;)

Then, it was my turn.  Brik had to HOLD MY HAND (no, LITERALLY!  He really was HOLDING MY HAND!)  It hurt SO BADLY!  He tried to distract me by talking about China and my most recent trip there, and I winced and cringed and held his hand so tightly mine turned all red and white...and the whole thing was rather pathetic.

In the end, we stumbled out of there like two war heroes, leaning on one another for support, heads high like we had overcome by great personal strength and will-power.  We disgust me.

And as soon as we stepped outside, I whined, "Brrrr! It is SO COLD!"

I am SO tough.

THANK YOU!!

The auction was a SUCCESS!

Thank you to everyone who donated items to auction, who came and bid, who shared the link...we are just SO THANKFUL!  This little girl could not be coming home without the help of so many people.  It is humbling.  I am so, so thankful.

Okay, enough about MONEY.  Let's talk about the ADOPTION!  What is happening?  EVERYONE wants to know!  It's high time I post an update about that aspect!

*  So, the last we heard from our agency, we are looking at 9-12 months to get little munchkin home.  My personal goal is to have her home before next fall.  So, like, Sept. 2016.

*  We only have about $15,000.00 left to raise.  I am SO THANKFUL for that!  In fact, I have a hard time even expressing how thankful we are.  I am in awe of the kindness others have shown.  Thank you to everyone who has donated.  (Did I just say that, like, three paragraphs ago?  Well, get used to it, because I am going to be saying it a LOT!  I AM SO THANKFUL!)

*  I FINISHED MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY for the home study!  It was, like, 32 pages of essay questions.  I thought I would DIE.  But I finished it!  WOOO HOOO!  My goal is to turn in our first set of paperwork and our first check to the home study agency (different than the adoption agency, FYI) on Tuesday!  Wish me luck! :D

*  We are still undecided about Taiger coming to China with us.  Lots of pros, lots of cons.  Taiger himself goes back and forth about it.  (I think this topic is going to end up having it's own full blog post at some point, so stay tuned...)

*  A VERY GOOD friend of mine asked me randomly if we needed clothes for LongLong.  This was ANOTHER of those "tender mercies"/ "miracle" moments.  I have been so stressed about getting my little girl clothes.  Yet I couldn't tell anyone because it really does sound SO petty to be worried about CLOTHES!  I mean, not that she would go naked!  But I was going to give her hand-me-downs from Taiger and the other boys.  Really, SO not a big deal!!!!!  Only....SO a big deal to a mommy who can't do anything for this little girl a billion miles away, and all I can do is shop for her and give her clothes when she arrives and find things that will be comfy and cozy and soft for her and I have wanted a girl for a thousand years to dress in cute floofy dresses, and yes, this DOES make me shallow, but it is really how I was feeling!  (PHEW!  That feels good to just get it out!)  So, deep down in my shallow, ridiculous heart...I wanted my little girl to have some nice clothes.  Something other than handed down clothes from her big brother.  Well, this sweet friend out of the blue told me her little girl had grown out of her 4t sized clothes and she was going to get rid of them and did I want them.  I almost started crying.  (Yes, over CLOTHES.)  Well, this sweet friend gave me a bag of clothes for my little girl.  And guess what size I think she will be when she arrives here?  4t.  Of course.  And can I just tell you, in that bag was the floofiest, poofiest, PRETTIEST dress I have ever seen?!  And, once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has done something for our adoption!  From donated money to donated clothes and everything in between.  THANK YOU!

Well, that is all for the update.  I think the theme of this post is definitely THANK YOU!  I think that better be the post title :).

Our Adoption Auction begins in FIFTEEN MINUTES!

FIFTEEN MINUTES!  Only FIFTEEN MINUTES until bidding opens!  Put on some comfy clothes, grab a mug of hot chocolate and come SHOP WITH A CAUSE!  

That's right, Emily Gilmore!  All proceeds DO go to LongLong's adoption!  And since ALL of our auction items were DONATED, that means EVERY CENT goes to LongLong's adoption fund!

We have some AH-MAZING items for auction.  You won't want to miss this!  So CLICK HERE to go to our ADOPTION AUCTION facebook page!  The fun is about to begin!