So much to celebrate!!!
What an awesome week this has been! Wednesday night, Georgianne went into labor and Thursday afternoon we welcomed Matthew Taylor (7lbs 7oz, 20 inches long) into the world! He is SO precious and our family is so excited he is finally here!! On the same day, in fact while Georgianne was in hard labor, Joel and I were frantically trying to get to Lexington to sign or LOA - which finally arrived. This official Chinese Document is what we have been waiting for, as it is a very important step in our adoption of Naomi. We also found out we will likely be traveling in November!!
Today Nate had a morning soccer game, and we then spent the day here at the house.....cleaning (had to get done), playing outside, and hanging with Joel.....much needed family time.
Tomorrow, my cousin is throwing me a family shower for Naomi....and I so thankful and excited to see everyone (and eat yummy Chinese food). God is so good.....and this weekend has been a time of celebration and anticipation for us!!
This picture (above) is the ultimate expression of the excitement our family feels right now.....more to come from our annual Hubers Trip.....
Our New Nephew!!!
Matthew Taylor "Matt" Bradbury
was born today at 3:27pm, weighing in a 7'7"
he was 20 inches long
We love you Taylor, Georgianne and Baby Matt
Guess what we got today??????
We got a call this morning from our agency that our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) has arrived!. After scrambling to figure out logistics, we hopped in the car and headed to Lexington to sign the document. It was then express mailed back to China today. Now we wait for a TA (Travel Acceptance). Once we receive that document, we will travel approximately 2 weeks later. According to our agency, it is possible that we will be traveling November 13-26....adopting Naomi on the 15th or 16th. WOW...much sooner than we had thought. We are thankful and excited!! Thank you for your prayers and love through our journey. We look forward to the day Naomi is in our arms!.
Praise God!!
Lots to Celebrate......
Tomorrow, September 24, we celebrate Joel's birthday and Nate's "Gotcha Day". 4 Years ago, I surprised Joel with the news that we were going to officially adopt Nate on his birthday! What a fun day that was, very exciting for our family. Though we were there for Nate's birth (thus, his official "gotcha day" is his birthday), we also celebrate his adoption day....September 24. We have our annual family trip to Huber's this week to celebrate and eat yummy food.
We are so thankful for our little guy. He has been such a blessing in our lives. He is growing up so fast!! Hard to believe he is 4 1/2!! He is playing soccer this fall and is very much looking forward to going to China to get his baby sister.
We are continuing to wait patiently on the paperwork needed to proceed with our travel plans. It is looking more and more like we may travel in December or January.
Have a blessed week!
What a Weekend!!!!!
We have had very busy - with an exciting twist of an ending - weekend!! Saturday was full of activites - Nate had a soccer game early in the morning. We ran (rode fast) from there to Joel's football game. From there, we went to the Middletown parade (which Nate thoroughly enjoyed). We topped the day off with Evangeline's 1st birthday party. Whew!! It was busy, but all fun stuff!
Sunday, we enjoyed being a part of our friend's Minister Ordination service, then came home to a HUGE wind storm (Ike). We spent a few hours cleaning up and then rigged an extension cord from our neighbors house to ours until we get our electricity back. (Thanks you Ms. Taylor) What would I do without my computer???? This is my sanity, as sad as that is.....
We are thankful to be safe from any major damage. A few of our neighbors sustained damage to their cars and lost a few rather large trees. Other than that, life is good.....
We continue to wait to receive our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China so we can proceed with our travel acceptance and then make our travel arrangements.
The waiting Process....
We talked to our agency at length today regarding best and worse case scenarios, in regards to our travel dates to China. From what we understand, we could be waiting up to 4-6 more weeks for the paperwork necessary for us to book our flights (8 weeks from receiving those papers)...thus potentially another 14 weeks before we go.....which would put us into January before we travel (given Christmas, New Years, etc). Best case scenario is that the US Consulate in China reviews our paperwork and the need for us to travel before the new year and makes an acception for us to travel sooner (early December-ish).
Originally we were hoping and praying for a November travel time, but we are now realizing that it might even be next year. As you can imagine, we are trying to come to grips with this potential reality. We are surrendering this to the Lord, as HE knows tomorrow. HE knows how much we love Naomi, as HE loves her even more......so we trust and as we wait, we ask that you join us in prayer that this current process would run smooth and that the US Consulate would find mercy on our case and allow us to travel before Christmas.
Thank you for joining us in this wonderful journey to bring our Naomi home.
Life is Good....
We had an awesome weekend, spending time with family and friends, and enjoying Joel being off work an extra day! Nate loves it when his daddy is off work and they get to play all day. We are hoping and praying to hear from China this week, to receive our "LOA" (Letter of Approval) for Naomi. Typically this has been taking anywhere from 1 week to 1 month......please join us in prayer as our journey gets closer and closer to bringing our daughter home....
