Oh my!

You are so big! I cannot believe how much you have grown. I am so excited that you look healthy, a little sad that I am missing you grow, but completely thrilled that we get to come get you soon! You have fun until we get you! It won't be long.

7 weeks from today!

i can't believe we are coming to get you in 7 weeks. it feels like and eternity and yet the idea that i will be able to hold you so soon makes my tummy crazy! i am in awe of God's miracle. i know that someday you will ask questions as to why your parents in China were not able to keep you and you will always grieve that loss, but there is not a shadow of a doubt that God created you to be in our family and to be our daughter. he has confirmed that through this miracle of a journey and i am so grateful. i am grateful because it has made my know, that i know, that i know, that i know you were meant to be our daughter. and to think i get to hug and kiss on you in just a few WEEKS is beyond words.

we are getting ready to come and get you! our packing list is already a page long, trying to think of everything you will need. i wonder what you will want to eat? will you like cheerios? what toys should we bring? will you like the bath? will you like me? so many questions and just thinking about it makes me excited!

i love you already. i know that it will take time for you to love me. but no matter what you do and how you feel, i will love you. and i can't wait until i get to whisper that in your sweet ear. and though you will not understand, maybe you will sense that now...you have a family, you have a mommy and a daddy, you have a grammy and a pops, a grandma and an aunt chrissy. you have more love than you could even imagine.

we can't wait to see you!

China or Bust!!!!

well. i really don't know what to say. seriously, i am about speechless. God has moved beyond our imagination and WE ARE GOING TO CHINA IN JULY!!!!!

yep, that's right! we were praying for a miracle that we could travel quickly and go in july and he has made it happen! we received a call this morning from our agency that we had received our final bit of paperwork from china and we should be travelling around july 10.

eric and i are down in corolla for the week so we have been celebrating all day! we are so excited!!!!! it is almost unfathomable that in january, while staring at 5 years until we would meet our little girl, we felt led to pray for a miracle that she would be here this year. AND SHE IS GOING TO BE HERE IN JULY!!!!! we are standing in awe of God's amazing miracle that has happened right before our eyes.

and i think i have actually forgotten to tell you in all of the excitement of the last few weeks, but two more things to add to our miracle list...1)lydia has been in foster care since last june which is an exponentially better situation than an orphanage. and 2)we received updated measurements a couple of weeks ago and she has jumped (since she has been in foster care) from less than 1st percentile to 15 - 20th percentile in her height, weight, and head circumference!

so that's our miracle story! we are so excited and CAN'T WAIT for you all to meet her!

here we come!

i am speechless. i thought we wouldn't see you until september. but in my heart i hoped it would be july. i really hoped...and prayed. i knew daddy didn't have any trips this summer for a reason! i knew that God could do miracle! and he has. we are coming to get you in july!

we talked to aunt chrissy today because she was keeping the other kids. daddy and i are in corolla getting a little vacation. when we talked to aunt chrissy, she said we should check our voicemail. so we did and guess what...we are going to china! you are really going to get to be our daughter! i can't even eat i am so excited. i never thought this day would come. it seemed like forever...and now it seems like it went by so fast.

we are coming for you peanut. we really are. hang in there, it won't be long. get lots of love from your family in China. i know they are taking good care of you. pretty soon, you will be with your forever family, and we will never let you go.

Mother's Day

i am thinking about you today peanut. i can't wait until next year when we get to celebrate together. you are already my daughter, whether you are in china or here, but next year it will be extra sweet to hold you in my arms.

have lots of fun today. it won't be too long before we see you. maybe in a few months...

i love you and am so glad to be your mommy.

earthquakes and packages!

I wanted to let you all know that Lydia is safe and sound. Lots of you have asked about her and how fun it has been to have so many people already loving on our little girl! She is from Guangzhou which is in the very southern part of China, about 60 miles from Hong Kong – a long way from the earthquake action. So she is running around without a care in the world!

We have received pre-approval from China, which is the second to last piece of paperwork that we need before traveling. This came 10 days after our referral which was miraculously fast (am I even surprised?) We are now waiting for the Letter of Approval which says we can TRAVEL!!! We really have no idea how long this is going to take – could be a month, could be several months. Because China just transferred to a new online system, there is no precedent for the timelines. So…we wait and pray and know that God’s timing is perfect! And if there were ever a situation to believe that God could do the miraculous, it is with our Lydia!

Part of the joy of receiving pre-approval is that we can now send her things in the mail. So we packaged up some fun things and sent them her way. It was exciting especially for the kids (well, I was pretty excited too!) and they are now constantly asking when she is going to come! We sent her a blanket, a little dress, some shoes, 2 disposable cameras which we will get when we pick her up, some candy and nuts for her foster family, an Asian rag doll, and lots of pictures of us. We have been told that her transition will be made a lot easier if she is prepared by her foster family for adoption. So hopefully, once they get our box, they will begin to show her our pictures and teach her “Mama” and “Daddy” (I’m told they at least know those 2 English words). The more she is familiar with our faces, the more comfortable she will be when she is in our arms for the first time.

Today we went down to the beach with the kids. Eric’s sister was with us and took some pictures of our family. I couldn’t help but think that someone was missing. It wasn’t really our whole family. And then as I looked around at all the “normal” families I thought, I wonder what this will be like when Lydia comes? How many stares are we going to get? How many dumb questions like, “Is she your real daughter?” What is it going to be like to have a little girl who looks so different than us? How is she going to react to looking like she doesn’t belong? We know how much we love her and how much God has orchestrated events to place her in our family, but how do we communicate that to her? How do we raise to her to believe, despite all of the unknowns and why’s of her past, that she is our daughter; and God’s plan for her, from the beginning of time, was to be with our family?

These are the questions we find ourselves talking about now. It is no longer the anticipation of who she will be, what she will look like, when she will come. We are now thinking how in the world do we do this? This adoption thing is huge, it is lifelong, parts of it are very heavy, it is a situation that will take all the wisdom God can give us (as if just regular parenting wasn’t enough!) But…we are loving the adventure! We can’t wait until we hold her sweet little self in our arms. And almost as much as we anticipate that moment, we look forward to that first time we can share her with you all. God has done a miracle and we absolutely can’t wait to shout it from the mountain tops with the proof right there in our arms!

Lots of love,
Ashleigh