Update on the adoption and the horn

So sorry that it has taken me awhile to update on the adoption! Since we got the call we have been knee deep in paperwork plus we went to San Francisco in the middle of all of that. Crazy! Here is what is going on so far. On Monday of this week we mailed back our official acceptance paperwork for Adiah. This was electronically sent to China yesterday. This was called our Letter Of Intent(LOI). What we were told is that we now wait anywhere from 2-5months before we get what is called an RA(referral acceptance, I think). Once we receive the RA then we wait anywhere from 2-6 weeks for TA(travel approval). After that its just a matter of getting the trip planned through our adoption agency. So we would love for you to join us in praying for the "unheard of"! God is so big and his timing is so perfect! Lets all pray that she comes home soon! While we are waiting for all of those approvals to come in we are also working on updating our home study and fingerprints. Did you know fingerprints expire? Things that make you go hmmm?!?!? Updating our home study consists of, you guessed it, more paperwork. We also all had to go for another physical. I'd like to give a shout out to our family practice dr. who saw ALL 5 of us at one time to do our physicals. Not an easy feat! You're the best Dr. Simms! Hopefully we will have all that paperwork finished and mailed this Monday and wait for our social worker to contact us. Now...for the important stuff!! Adiah!!

I'm trying to remember what I wrote in my first post about her. Forgive me if I repeat myself. Adiah Hope is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. The pictures we have of her are from when she was 8 months old. When we receive our RA I will be able to post her pictures online. Until then let me tell you what she looks like! She looks very chubby in these pictures. She is wearing all orange which is hilarious because she DOES look quite a bit like a pumpkin. We were able to get some updated measurements of her just 2 days ago. She has definitely thinned out as far as the data shows. She is living in an orphanage and they are doing the best they can with what they have. But the fact is...she is really small for her age. She is now 15 months and weighs about 17lbs. Its good but the sooner we can get her home and "fatten" her up the better! Another reason to pray for her to get here quickly!

The kids are SO excited about their little sister! Ridge keeps saying "I can't believe I'm a big brother!". Its precious! They also pray that Adiah and their cousin, Hannah, will get here soon. Actually they pray that Hannah will be "discovered" soon! Its cute! Oh, Hannah is the name of my sister and brother-in-law's baby that they are going to adopt from China. They don't know who she is yet but know she is coming! Soon!

On another note, Ridgedon had a small accident at school yesterday. Apparently he was being the class helper and throwing trash away and when he bent down he caught the corner of the file cabinet right between the eyes! Yowch! They called me at 2:40 to come get him and by 4:30 he had 3 stitches! He was so brave! But not at all thrilled about the way he looked! I took a picture of him right after the stitches were put in. He was smiling because he hadn't seen himself yet. When he did see...he cried! Sadness!! But he is doing better today. Swollen but better! I'll leave you with a picture of my son and his horn!