LOA!!!!!!!!!

After waiting 38 days from sending in our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt Leila, today we received word that our letter of acceptance (LOA) is on the way.  For those like me who are acronym challenged here is the process we will take to get to our daughter:

LOI - letter of intent that we send via email to China to ask to adopt a child.

PA - An email from China letting us know that they received our LOI and giving us preliminary approval while we wait for them to look at our file.

LOA - Letter of acceptance.  We get this document via mail from China.  It is our official letter that we sign saying we agree to adopt Leila, and it means that China has officially approved us for adoption.

TA - Travel approval is given by China when they have prepared for us to come and complete the China portion of the adoption.

CA - After we get TA our agency will set up a consulate appointment (CA) with the US Consulate in China so we can complete our US adoption and get our visa to bring our daughter home.

Once we have CA our trip to China can be scheduled around that appointment.  Right now we are between LOA and TA - yea!!

Mike and Kelly

Care Package!

We finally got everything together for a care package to send to Leila.  All this stuff along with a couple of extra toys and a disposable camera are going to China to hopefully be given to Leila.  The items include a hat, mittens and blanket to keep her warm, a disposable camera so her care taker can snap some photos of her life in China, a photo album with some photos of some faces we hope she will be meeting soon, a mini buster-like dog toy to help get her used to dogs, a cute little security blanket bear toy, and a bag of chocolates for her care taker.   The blanket and photo album are both Winnie the Pooh.

Putting together the photo album took a long time.  We had to look for photos that make all our family members look happy and friendly.  Hopefully she will look forward to meeting all of us.  We also were sure to put in some photos of the family kids - Masha, Nora Beth, and JB.  We hope the package has safe travels to China and our girl will like her new things.

Mike and Kelly

I had wanted to post sooner, but as you can see we have been quite busy.  Last Saturday began with a good breakfast at our favorite breakfast place.  Then off to Home Depot to rent a floor sander.  That thing is heavy!!  It took until about 8:00 that evening to finally finish the sanding.  We rented the slow sander because this was our first sanding project, and we wanted to use a machine that wouldn't gouge the floor if we forgot to keep moving.  Even though it took a long time, we were very happy with the results.

Also on Saturday, Kimberly came back over and finished painting the big window in Leila's room (above).  Doesn't it look great!  Thanks again for all the help the Avery's have given to us.  

The worst part of the re-doing the wood floor was actually not the long day of sanding, but the long day of cleaning that followed.  First sweeping, then vacuuming, then detail vacuuming, then wiping the remaining dust with a cloth.  Any dust on the floor will show up through the poly, so it was important to get it all.

After Kelly did the cleaning, Mike did an excellent job of laying the poly on.  He managed to find just the right tools to make the job as nice as possible.   We got a poly that didn't require sanding between layers (thank goodness!), but did require adding on layers within 12 hours of the first layer.  Mike had to get up at 3:00 am in the morning to put on the second layer, then a third layer the following day.  Great job Mikey!! 

This weekend, Kelly painted the walls in Leila's room yellow, and Mike finished grouting the tile in the bathroom.  We are loving the results!  We also found a great deal on a sink we love to replace our old sink in the bathroom.  Can't wait to get it installed.  

Well, more later!

Mike and Kelly

Amazing photos

Amanda de Lange is Leila's guardian angel.  She runs an orphanage in China that helps kids that need medical treatment, then puts them into an adoption program.  Leila was never in her orphanage, but Amanda was there when Leila was having her surgery in Shanghai.  Some of her kids shared a room with Leila.  The night that Leila turned blue and had stopped breathing she saved her live by grabbing her and running down the hospital hall with her to find help.  Luckily they were able to get her breathing again.  Amanda was Leila's guardian angel then and is again now by helping me gather information and photos about her time in the hospital.  These are some of the photos I just received this morning from Amanda.  They were sent by the Heinzman family who among others helped care for Leila at the hospital.  You can see why these photos are priceless to me!
Daughter Alli Heinzman with Leila.

Father Chris Heinzman holding Leila.

Mother Marianne Heinzman with Leila.

Daddy Chris and son Jake Heinzman watching over Leila.

Here's the whole Heinzman family holding another baby.  Leila is apparently in the background, I think in the bed to the right.  Thanks so much to the Heinzman family for donating these photos.  I will post some more photos sent by Amanda in the upcoming weeks.  There are no words to thank Amanda for all she has done for our daughter, but in our home we will always honor her as Leila's Guardian Angel.  Thanks for everything Amanda!!

Mike and Kelly

The Construction Zone

Yesterday Kimberly and Nora Beth came back over to help work on the upstairs of the bedroom.  Scott was off work, so he came out too, and together they did an awesome job of getting everything out of the upstairs so we can sand the floor next week.  The unfortunate side effect of taking everything out of your attic is that now our living room looks like this.  Eek!  How on earth did we acquire that much stuff?  Thanks to the Averys for all their help!!!

This photo is of the mural I painted in what will be the new master bedroom in the upstairs of our house.  Even the bricks are painted on.  I'm pretty proud how it turned out.
The walls and ceiling are nearly ready for painting in Leila's room.  Next week we will sand the floors and hopefully get a good start on refinishing them.

This is going to be the master bedroom area.  Our upstairs was one long open area from Leila's room through the master bedroom and into the bathroom.  We've been busy putting in walls to help break things up.

Its the closet that Kelly built.  There was a little mix-up with the door frame and how to install a door.  I called Guppa to help me figure things out a bit better.  Then just to make sure I was doing everything right I started calling Guppa about every hour just to ask him what to do next.   He was very patient with me.  Thanks Dad!

This is the new tile Mike is installing in the bathroom We really like it because it has that natural stone feel which goes well with our southwestern/Mexico theme.

We got a great deal on some marble tile a year or so ago.  This year Mike started to install this tile around the tub/shower area.  Looks great Mikey!!

If any of you wonder what I look like when sitting at the computer writing all of this stuff.  This photo pretty much sums it up.  Feet propped and surrounded by dogs.

I'm exhausted!

Mike and I have just come down stairs in our house.  We have put in a full days work trying to fix up the upstairs of our house.  Mike spent the day laying ceramic tile in the floor of the bathroom, and I spent the day sanding wall mud and doing some painting.  My sister came over and painted the entire ceiling.  She finished up the first coat that Scott, her husband, had done a few weeks ago, and then went on to paint the entire rest of it.  It looks amazing!!  Thanks Kimberly!

We still have lots of work to do up there.  If I can get around to it I will go up and take some photos to post here later tonight.  Its definitely a construction zone up there, but it is coming together.  

One funny story of Mike that happened this week.  He was working out in Raleigh, NC, this past week, and had New Years Day off.  Instead of driving 7 hours home and back just to spend one day at home, he decided to spend his free day in Raleigh.  He wound up going to the Toys R Us store and spent the day there asking questions of all the families with kids that were in the store, and of course showing off Leila's photo to everyone he saw.  He even found another "lady bug", a code word for a girl adopted from China.  Mike said that family was especially helpful to showing him what we would need.  You can't tell that Mike is a wee bit excited can you!

Kelly