Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual excursion to the pumpkin patch.  The girls each picked out a pumpkin and a couple for the front porch.  We went on the pirate boat ride and they played in the play houses and had a blast!

While we were talking to the owners JL started yelling, I hurried over to see what the problem was and she excitedly told me that she had found a baby pumpkin for her baby brother.  She was standing guard over it, to make sure that no one else grabbed it.  The girls are looking forward to giving Craig his pumpkin :)

We received a video of Craig today.  A lady shows off the things he can do (sit, pick up an object, etc.).  I've been concerned about the 18 hour flight home with him but after the video am less worried.  He seems very mellow and loved playing with the little box he was given. 

Update!

We got an update today!!!  The medical information we received in our referral was pretty outdated and there were some contradictions.  Our agency had asked for more information and we just got the answers from Craig's orphanage.  It sounds like he is developing really well and able to crawl, sit, and babble.  It's wonderful to hear that he is healthy and progressing.  It sounds like we may be getting new pictures too, I've been checking email all day hoping to get a new glimpse of him :)

DTC 10/12/12

DTC stands for Documents To China.  We're incredibly thankful for a wonderful agency that would respond to frantic emails in minutes, to a friend of a friend that let us stop by and use her as a notary after several banks wouldn't notarize a certain kind of document, and encouragement from friends and family!

The next step is receiving our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China.  This could take anywhere from 30 to 110 days, although a lot of them come around 60 days.  I would love to have it by Christmas :)

JanaLynn and I rearranged and cleaned Craig's room last week and scrounged up all the baby toys we could find.  Alaina reminds JL that it is no longer her room and JL seems to be making the adjustment.  The other day she wondered when it would be her room again, when I told her it might never be hers she was a little disappointed.  Although, once she heard about the polka dots we are painting on her and Alaina's walls she was easily reconciled. 

 I'm working on getting Craig's room ready for him.  We get to send a photo album and I would like a photo or two of his room in it.  We'll see if I can make that happen though.  I'm vacillating on paint colors and planning an airplane quilt.  JL is pretty sure that he would love orange walls, although I'm doubting that would go over as well as she thinks ;)

Alaina and I were talking today about where Craig is living now and she asked if she came from China when she was a baby. 

Introducing Craig!

With young children you are always talking about the next big thing. The next celebration, birthday party, sleepover. They measure time by events, not by days and months. 

Some things that we wait for have a set date like Christmas and birthdays. Other things have tentative wait times. You know you are getting closer and that it is inevitable, but you can't make a paper chain and count how many days are left until the "big day". I have a harder time with the second kind of waiting. It isn't concrete enough for me, I can't plan and schedule it day by day and as a result I am surprised when it actually happens.  

Right now our family is in waiting mode. We waited for a home study, for immigration approval, and for a referral. And, much to my surprise, each of those things has happened! We now have a son waiting for us in China, and we couldn't be more excited to go get him!!! We want to be able to hold him and know that he is well taken care of and protected. We're looking forward to telling him that we love him. We're counting down the days until we can be together as a family. But for now we wait; for our Dossier to go to China, for China to approve us, for visas and further immigration approval. I know that it will all happen someday. But "someday" still seems very far away.

There is another kind of waiting that I think about often. There is no specific date, but it is also inevitable. I know that some day I will be in Heaven praising God for His amazing grace, power, and love. I am looking forward to that time with great anticipation! I pray that I will be able to communicate the excitement for this day with our children and that they will be looking forward to meeting Christ with the same childlike enthusiasm as they have when waiting for Christmas :)

Here are some pictures of our son, Craig Wood.  Can't help but smile when I see them.