Day 81....no words

So now I am just depressed.  Many Oreos have been consumed in this house in the last few days.  So today is day 81 of our LOA wait.  Konnor's LOA took 70 days and I thought that was bad, but now that we are "in the 80's" it just sucks.  Here is what we know is happening so far.  Our in China coordinator has checked on our status several times and has basically been told that there is nothing wrong with our paperwork and in fact that our LOA was issued about 2 weeks ago.  Ummmmmm, so where is it???  Our agency has not received it so what???  It's lost it limbo land somewhere???  This does NOT give me warm and fuzzies.  Our agency has said they are basically bugging the CCCWA every day to get a status update on us or to see if they will just reissue the LOA since they have not received it, but so far no word.  Maybe it will magically appear today!  Hey, it could happen.  In the meantime I am trying to remind myself that God's plan is greater and that this little bump in the road is necessary for some reason that I just don't know about.  Maybe Owen needs some more time with his Foster Family before coming to us to help him adjust to family life.  Who knows.  I am trying to be patient, but really I am just sick to my stomach.

On a great note.....we did get some updated measurements last Friday and Owen is now 17.6 lbs!!!!!  That is Huge!  He is 14 1/2 months so even at 17 lbs he is still pretty tiny, but that means he has gained about 4 lbs since moving in the his Foster Family which tells me that he is getting more one on one time to help him eat and grow.  He also has 6 teeth right now.  He is getting so big.  We sent a photo album with pictures of us, a blanket and little toy last week through the in China coordinator so hopefully he will be getting that soon and will be seeing pictures of his Mama, Papa and Big Brother Konnor for the first time.

Our Silent Auction on Facebook at www.facebook.com/owenstravelauction is going strong.  We have been so blessed by the generosity of others and have already surpassed our original goal for the auction.  There are still ALOT of items with no bids and I think we will be adding a few more later today so please stop by and check it out.  Auction ends Monday 2/1 at 9 pm cst.  

For now just keep praying.  Mostly for us to have peace that God's timing is perfect and for Owen to be healthy and well cared for while he waits for us to travel.

Thank You

Day 72 : (

So today is Day 72 of our LOA wait.  Needless to say that it seems things have waaaay slowed down since the computer upgrade.  I know they are still working out the bugs in the system so I am trying to be patient, but it is time to get on with getting this little man home so COME ON LOA!!!!!  Praying this is the week we get approval.  The Immigration paperwork that will be the next step is all filled out and just waiting on that beautiful piece of paper from China that says we are approved to proceed with the final steps of Owen's adoption.

In other news we have started a Facebook Page called Owen's Travel Auction.  The auctions starts Tuesday January 20 at 4 pm cst and ends Monday Feb. 2 at 9pm cst.  Rules for the auction are on the page so feel free to check out all the great items.  All proceeds of this auction go towards our travel expenses so BID away!!  Hopefully the next post will be that we have received a special piece of paper from China!

Waiting and waiting and waiting.....

So today is day 65 of our LOA wait : (  It's not totally unexpected since the average wait is around 70 days, but truthfully it is frustrating since I know many families whose paperwork was logged in after ours have already received their LOA.  The other kink in the road is that the last week of December China upgraded their computer systems.  It seems that there is still a lot of information missing from the new systems and agencies are not able to get updates on paperwork status as easily.  Early last week our agency asked their in China coordinator to try to get an update on us and several other families that should have LOA any day, but so far they haven't been able to get an update.  So right now we are just crossing our fingers that one day this week our final LOA magically appears at the agency.  Once we get the final LOA we are looking at roughly 6-8 weeks until we travel, so hopefully we will still be able to travel in March.  Fingers Crossed.

On a fundraiser note....our coffee fundraiser is now closed.  Thank you to everyone who ordered.  We are down to only 27 pieces that need sponsored on our puzzle fundraiser and on the 20th we will launch an online silent auction.  Phew....chugging right along on that front.  We also have started an essential oils fundraiser.  If you purchase from the link below we get a very generous portion of the proceeds.  Thanks for following along.  Hopefully we will have good news this week!!

selah-essential-oils.myshopify.com/?ref=54a3408826d23

It's name time!!!!

First off......Happy New Year Little Man!!!!!  2015 is the year that we become a Forever Family and we can't wait to bring you home!!  So as of a little while ago we are officially down to 48 pieces that need sponsored in our Puzzle Fundraiser, which means........it's name reveal time!!!!!   We have chosen the name Owen for our new son.  We are on day 55 of our LOA wait : ( It seems that people with Log In Dates just days before us are getting their approval so we are keeping fingers crossed that it will come next week.  Happy New Year everyone!!  BIG things are coming in 2015!