It is Fall Y'all!

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I've finally came to admit it as much as I really hate to....

It is Fall!

The weather is cooler and the sky is filled with large fall clouds.  Leaves are starting to change and fall off of trees. I do not like it one bit.

For those of you who know me know I am 100% a summer girl.  I LOVE summer! I love everything about it; swimming on hot summer days, going to water slide parks, watching the kids catch fireflies, the longer days and cookouts. It is my favorite time of the year.

If I had it my way it would be summer all year round.  I always tell Jeff that I need to live someplace tropical but he quickly reminds me how much I dislike bugs and tells me how much bigger they are in tropical areas then I quickly change my mind.

BUT this year I am actually looking forward to Fall...Why you may be wondering?  Well, because as time marches by and seasons change we are getting closer and closer to Meiya.  Each passing day brings us a day closer to our precious little girl half way around this big beautiful world God created!

So I say Welcome Fall!!!  Hurry up Winter! (Yes, I just said that) We are ready to get on that big plane and travel to our daughter and bring her home.

Officially waiting!

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Today we found out we have LID!

LID was on 9/5/12.

For those not familiar with adoption acronyms LID stands for Logged In Date!  This means that Ch*na has our Dossier and they have logged it in their system.  Now we are officially waiting for official approval from Ch*na to adopt Meiya!  This approval is called LOA =Letter of Acceptance.  This is the BIG wait!  This is the BIG document from Ch*na that can take several weeks to months to get. Most people travel about 3 months AFTER they get LOA!  So you can see why we are praying for a FAST LOA!  We know it is all in God's perfect timing and we are trusting in Him during our wait to see us through.  In the meantime we will continue to fund raise, nest and prepare for our new daughter!

Days waiting for LOA!

Goat Milk Soap Fundraiser!

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We are excited to get the opportunity to sell Goat Milk Soap from Goat Milk Stuff as our fundraiser!  This is an amazing family owned and operated business in Indiana.  This hard working family, the Jonas family, has been featured on the Today Show-

and 

in

O magazine (p.66 January 2012)

The soaps are nice sizes at minimum weight of 4.5 oz.

To read the Benefits of Goat Milk Soap click here.

"These bars of goat milk soap are handmade by the Jonas Family. Every bar contains an ounce of raw goat milk fresh from their farm. This gives each and every bar a creamy goodness your skin will love. The goat milk soap bars are hand cut to weigh between 5 and 6 ounces and are cured for a minimum 6 weeks. Every piece is unique in appearance, size, and color. Your soap will come in a 4" x 6" cotton bag that is hand-stamped with the scent. This cotton bag is friendlier to the environment than plastic and lets your soap breathe. 

You will love these sweet smelling, long lasting, bubbly bars of soap." - Jonas Family

These soaps rinse clean, leaving your skin clean, silky smooth and very soft!  They have become quite popular lately and they make excellent gifts for anyone for any occasion.

Ingredients: Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, soy bean oil; Natural color, Fragrance.

There are 10 different soaps to choose from with our fundraiser -

1. Black Raspberry - sweet raspberry scent softened with a hint of vanilla.
2. Clean Cotton - smells like fresh laundered cotton.  A very clean scent.
3. Honeysuckle - a truly beautiful honeysuckle scent with a hint of jasmine.
4. Lavender - a truly relaxing scent made with lavender essential oils. Lavender is my favorite scent! One of the best sellers! 
5. Luv Spell - a lovely feminine scent that smells of citrus and florals.
6. Nautical - a masculine scent that women love.
7. Oatmeal, Milk & Honey - a very clean and warm fragrance that pulls you in with the sweetness of honey. Makes your skin feel soft and smooth. I LOVE this one!!!
8. Ocean - a beautiful bar of soap swirled with different shades of blue and white.  This amazingly clean scent appeals to both men and women.
9. Pink Sugary - a wonderful sweetness, the hints of vanilla actually turn the bar a deep shade of brown. Very popular scent!
10. Purity - unscented, no added fragrance. Perfect for those with allergy prone, sensitive skin. Gentle enough for babies.

*For those of you who live nearby us we have sample's of the soaps available for you to smell. 

ORDERING - 

You will order your soap directly through me and when our fundraiser is over I will place the order.  The orders will then be shipped to me then when they come in I will sort them and get them to you as soon as possible.
If you live near me I will deliver them to you (no shipping cost).  
If you do not live in my area then we will ship your soap to you (with shipping cost)

*ALL Soaps are $6 we get $3 of that for each bar sold.

 They will be shipped USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail to those who do not live in our area.  

Shipping Charges - (for those who do not live in our area)  

• (1-6 Soaps) $5.35 includes delivery confirmation. 
• (7-12 Soaps) Shipping is $11.35 includes delivery confirmation. 

*Shipping prices are based on the current USPS Flat Rate Box prices from the USPS.

Please include the cost of shipping with your order(ONLY IF you will need it shipped to you)as well as your complete home address.

When you place your order you will email it to me and pay with my Chip In Button Below or you may mail me a check.  If you live nearby you may pay me with cash.
Please do not pay until you get a confirmation email from me with the total cost and shipping charges unless you live in our area (Martinsburg, Inwood, Hedgesville, Bunker Hill, Charles Town, Harpers Ferry, Winchester, Front Royal, Hagerstown, Chambersburg) .

*Incentive If you live in our area (see above) and help us sell 10 bars of soap we will give you 1 FREE bar of your choice!!!  I have order forms available for you.  Just let me know if you'd like to help.

Our Goal is to sell 100 bars! Thank you for supporting us and helping us bring Meiya home. God Bless You!

FINALLY!

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The day that we've been working on for the last 7 months has finally come!

Today 

we

are

That is correct!  Our Dossier is NOW on its way to China!

Praise the Lord!

Be Still My Heart.....

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This morning we woke up and found the most precious gift.  One that we have been anxiously waiting for.

We got our update on our beautiful, precious daughter, Meiya Lin.

She weighs 21 pounds and she is 31 inches tall.  She is still considered on the small side even for Ch*na's standards.  She now has 12 teeth!  Our baby girl is growing up quickly!

She is too cute!  Check her out dancing and that gorgeous smile! (heart melting here)

And her sense of humor!  RAA! 

She can stand with some help! 

We are overjoyed with this update!  She is absolutely gorgeous. She takes our breath away!  I mean look at her!  Don't you just want to pick her up and hug her? 

Her Jie Jei's Hannah and Hailee keep kissing her pictures and asking us when can we go to China and bring her home.  In God's timing we keep telling them!  It is HARD to wait but we know who is in control of all of this.  We pray that God is preparing her heart for us.  Whispering in her ear about us.  Telling her she has a mama, a baba and two jie jie's who love her and are coming for her soon.

It has been an emotional day for us.  We know our dossier will go to China on Friday and we got our update today!  Praise Him for all His blessings He has given us this week and throughout this adoption.  Please pray for Meiya that she remains healthy and safe and for our adoption. Pray that God protects all of us and our adoption. We appreciate your prayers!

Hallelujah Dossier is on it's way!

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Today was the day we've been waiting for for 7 months now.

7 LONG months of paperwork, waiting, fingerprints, more paperwork and more waiting...

to compile the much anticipated DOSSIER!

THIS is what the Complete Dossier Looks like...

It is made up of 14 documents that have each been Notarized, Sealed by the Secretary of State (in 3 states), Sealed by the Department of State in Washington DC (Hillary Clinton)

 and finally authenticated by the Embassy of China in Washington DC. 

  It is also made up of 3 notarized reference letters (written to CCCWA in Ch*na)by 3 wonderful friends that honored us by writing such beautiful references.  We thank all 3 of you for writing these!  Also included in the final dossier is 6 family pictures, 2 passport photo's each of me and Jeff and a copy of the first page of our passports.  We also had to make and send  a copy of the entire dossier!  After everything was finally put into the Fed Ex box it weighed a whopping....

2.30 Pounds!  That is what 7 months worth of  Adoption paperwork weighs.

Tomorrow morning it will arrive at our agency in California then they will check it over again and then send it to Ch*na!  This is a GIANT step forward in our adoption!  

Now we can sit back and WAIT!  I feel like we've finally hurdled ourselves over that HUGE fence that we've been trying and trying to get over for the last 7 months.  It almost feels like a dream to us.  We can relax a little bit now and keep ourselves busy while we wait this time.  Our stuff is done for now on our side.  Now we wait for a Logged In Date(LID) from the CCCWA. That normally takes anywhere from a week to several weeks. We pray that we get it pretty quick!

After we get our LID we will wait for our Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  The LOA can take anywhere from 1 month to 5 months.   We are praying for and believing in a short LOA wait!

One Step Closer.

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Friday was an exciting day for us because ALL of our documents finally came in from the Secretary of State signed and sealed!  All together we have 14 documents.  Eleven were sealed by West Virginia's Secretary of State, one by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and two by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now they are READY to send to Hilary Clinton, for her seal and to The Embassy of Ch*na for Authentication. 

 This is 6 months of HARD work, a lot of waiting and God moving mountains to get us these forms!  We've hit many roadblocks, had many wrenches thrown in, but God has been there EVERY step of the way moving those mountains and throwing those wrenches out!  He has not let anything stand in our way of bringing our daughter home!  We give all the glory and praise to Him for everything that has been done to get us to this point in our adoption.

Today we overnighted these documents to our courier in DC.  We found out that 5 of them are on the verge of expiring soon.  We have no choice but to expedite them! But that is okay we will do whatever we must to get Meiya home! Nothing will stand in our way!

While we were standing at the counter in the post office today handing those precious documents over to the postal worker I heard a song playing in the background.  This song brought tears to my eyes and it took everything in me to keep myself from bawling like a baby.  The song is "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri.  If you've never heard this song please click the play button below and listen to the words or read along.  

The lyrics are hauntingly beautiful!

According to our courier we should have all 14 of our documents back to us in less than 2 weeks.  After we get them back we will send them to our agency and they will send them to Ch*na!