Thursday, April 18, 2013

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!!




12 comments:

  1. I am completely in tears reading this. So happy for you. You deserve this fast LOA more than anyone. Can't wait to meet that precious little girl.

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  2. Oh my gosh, this is SO exciting!! What a beautiful name you've picked for her. She has the most precious little face!! Where did you get the little dolly you sent in her care package? It's adorable!
    So happy that things are happening so quickly for you :)

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  3. Vivian "Vivi" was my first choice for our daughter until I realized every other female in the extended family had names that started with L. She became Lyvia "Lyvi" instead. Still love the spunky name! Best of luck on your journey!

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  4. 14 days!!!!!!???? That is amazing!!! I mean, seriously amazing!!! I'm SO excited for you guys! Vivian Patricia is adorable and perfect! I can't believe she is 18 lbs... That makes me so sad, but shows very well that God knows exactly what he is doing. He wants you guys to bring that girly home already!! Praying it all continues to move at warp speed! ;)

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  5. How exciting it all happened so quickly! She's adorable and very fitting of her name!

    KK

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  6. Great great great you have LOA already!!! Back in 2009 we mailed 2 care pkgs 2 different ways and 1 got to our girl and 1 did not. What I did was I made exact duplicates and kept at home so when she came home she got her care pkg that did not make it to her anyways. Love her name and am soooooooooooooooo happy for you! Enjoy!
    Kelly

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  7. So much fun getting to send her a care package!
    And I love love love her name!

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  8. Wow, of all the blogs I have read, you have the fastest timeline from LOI to gotcha day that I have seen! How did you get through everything so fast? You have a beautiful family. May God bless you all!

    Jacqueline
    www.jaxchronicles.com
    Mom to 18 month old girl waiting in China (LOI 8-1-13)

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    Replies
    1. Jacqueline, I think everything happened fast for us because we spent 6 months LID waiting for a referral. Best of luck to you!

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  9. Wow, your LOA sure came fast! At any rate, this is so touching. Vivian is really fortunate to be with your beautiful family, and vice versa. I think you deserve each other.

    Dave Borrell

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    ReplyDelete

 
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