Care package, LOA, and a name!

Well, things have been pretty crazy around here since my last post.  Lots of good news to pass along, so here goes:

First, after we received our Pre-Approval from China, we were allowed to send a care package to our girl.  It was a lot of fun putting it together.  We were instructed to keep it to the size of a small shoebox so that it would pass through customs. We couldn't fit a whole lot in it, but we did the best we could.  It  gave me my first opportunity to shop for my daughter!!  I bought her a dress and some PJs.  It was very surreal to be back in the baby girl clothing section.  Our girl is tiny.  Very tiny.  Heartbreakingly tiny.  At 2 1/2 she only weighs 18 pounds, which puts her in 6-12 month clothing.  As I picked out those tiny outfits I couldn't help but feel anxious to get her home and get some much needed good nutrition in her.  We also included a lovey, a photo album to introduce her to our family, and lollipops for her friends in the orphanage and the nannies.  We just hope and pray it makes it to her!

The next piece of good news is that last week we received our LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter) from China!! THIS IS HUGE, PEOPLE!! So huge and COMPLETELY unexpected.  All of my adoptive friends reading this understand how huge this is.  We were given a timeline of anywhere from 30-100+ days that we could possibly wait for this letter (and I know of several people who have waited over 100 days).  We received ours in 14 DAYS.  This is such a blessing.  Our LOA arrived in the mail Monday and we were thrilled to sign it and send it back to our agency.

When we accepted our referral, we were told to expect to travel in 4-7 months.  We figured we would be in China sometime in the fall.  Now, with our LOA arriving so quickly, we are being told to expect to travel in about 10-14 weeks.  This is great news, but it does have us in a bit of a panic!!!   Our summer plans may get completely messed up, but that is fine with us.  We just want to get our girl as soon as possible.  After sending back our LOA, we submitted some required paperwork to immigration.  Right now, we are waiting on our approval, which we expect in 2-4 weeks.

Our last piece of fun news is we have decided on a name for our daughter!  We actually have known what her first name would be for a while, the hold up has been her middle name.  We went back and forth about whether or not to keep any of her Chinese name given to her in the orphanage (which is VERY difficult to pronounce).  We ultimately decided we want to name her in the same way we have named all of our other children:  with a family name.  My children, in their first and/or middle names, carry the names of my father, Rob's father, Rob's mother, and my grandfather.  All people we love and admire.  One person is missing from that list, and that is my mother, whose name is Patricia.  So, our daughter's name will be....

Vivian Patricia 

Sorry, I just couldn't resist a chance to put her cute picture up again!  The kids are excited because Vivian was their first choice, and they want to call her "Vivi".  

Ok, that is all for now!! Stay tuned .. things are finally getting interesting!!