IT'S HERE!!!

I went to the mailbox today, mentally counting the weeks we had been waiting for our Immigration paperwork (I171h) to arrive from Detroit. Our social worker had told me to expect another four weeks. Much to my shock and delight, the much coveted piece of paper was on the top of the stack of mail when I opened the mailbox! Woohoo! I faxed it to our adoption agency and am hoping our paperwork will be sent to China very soon. Once it is sent, we will have approximately a four month wait to travel to get Zoey.

Some of you have been asking about our trip to Boston. I'm sorry I haven't updated you yet. We awakened this morning to the sound of SaraGrace vomiting and she continued to do so for hours--so I have gotten nothing done today. I am praying that the rest of the family doesn't get sick, since Jeff will be out of town for the rest of the week. argh....

The trip...it went well. Jake was a trouper--although was a bit scared of the loud plane noise. He was completely terrified on the first flight home, but Jeff was holding him and he ended up just shutting down and falling asleep to avoid his fear. He very much enjoyed being an 'only child' for a few days and we had fun spoiling him!

We found some homes that would work for our family--although the prices are double what they are here. We knew that ahead of time, since we had looked at quite a few online. We had a great realtor who was very friendly and had lined up a lot of homes to look at. I love looking at houses so it wasn't too hard for me to enjoy myself. I had expected a lot of raised eyebrows when people heard about our family size, but not once did we experience that. In fact, some told me they wish they had chosen to have more children and said how blessed we were. Well, that was refreshing!

I love American history and it was really cool to be seeing road signs to places I had read about so many times. The scenery is beautiful...lots of trees, rocks, etc. But wow...it was COLD! The first two days we were there it was 61 degrees and rainy. I was freezing! The last day, it was 91 degrees. Go figure.




We had enough time before our flight on Saturday, to drive to Newport beach so that we could see the ocean. Jeff put Jake's feet in the frigid water and Jake wasn't too sure if he liked it, but at least he can now say that he's been in the Atlantic ocean!



"DAD! LOOK AT THAT CRAZY GUY IN THE FREEZING WATER, STANDING ON A WEIRD LOOKING BOARD."

God hasn't been too clear about whether or not we are supposed to move to the Boston area, so we are just continuing to pray and seek Him about it. We'll keep you posted.