LID!!!

We have received the e-mail from FTIA our adoption agency that our dossier has a LID - which in international adoption means "Log In Date"  this is the start of the review process in China.  Our date is 9/1/2010!!!!  Tomorrow we will have been in review for 1-month.  China will be celebrating holidays and all the government offices will be closed, so hopefully once they get back in our dossier will fly through and we will receive our LOA (Letter of Acceptance).

No News on the Adoption Process - But Some on the Wedding Preps

Well since we have no news as far as the paperwork and formal approval from China on our adoption, we thought we would post the latest on Amber's wedding plans.

Amber and Lynda went shopping Saturday and actually found a wedding dress - since we can not post a picture of the actual dress she will be wearing here are a few pictures of the dresses she did not choose:

            

            

                        

Extreme Home Makeover Delayed.

Everyone had still been really busy with tying to figure out potential wedding dates and plans as well as the normal work and school schedules.  The extreme home makeover was delayed this week as we contended with battling a flu.  Kevin was lucky enough to use the flu as an opportunity to drop 8-pounds in one night!!!  We seem to all be feeling better today and hopefully can continue on with completing our home projects.

Still no word on our dossier, it should be logged in by now and hopefully we will be blessed enough to have a speedy LOA from China to start things moving again.

Cam's Room and BIG News!!!

Well today's post was just going to be a post and pictures of Cameron's new room.  Kevin and Cam spent the day laying the floor and putting up the baseboard.  Just a few touch-ups with paint and some caulking and then the furniture will move in this week.  Cameron is so excited and ready for his room that he moved a mattress in and took a well deserved nap!

Now the news - as we are waiting for our new daughter, we got the official word today from Amber (our oldest) when she called us from New York that we will have a new son also.  Amber and Eddie are officially engaged - we are so happy for them and blessed by such a fine man to join our family!

Eddie and Amber

Sept. 2010

Quick Trip to Disneyland While Waiting.

Needing a break from the "Extreme Home Makeover", school, and work - guess what we did?  Of course, a trip to Disneyland, where else would we go to escape the world for a few hours.

This weekend we will finish Cameron's new room - pictures will follow on Sunday.

Enjoy some photos from Disneyland& California Adventure:

To Baba or Not to Baba????

Isn't that an interesting title for this posting?

When we bring Lauren home it will be very easy for her to say mom - since the Chinese word for mom is "MAMA".

Well for those of you who do not know, Amber our oldest is from St. Petersburg, Russia and when she arrived home she called Lynda the Russian word for mother which was "MAMA" and she called me the Russian word for father which was "PAPA".  Amber then called Lynda's mother (her grandmother) "BABA" which is used in Russia for grandmom, and all the grandchildren now use Baba to refer to grandmom.

Now, the dilemma: BABA in Chinese is Daddy! So for the family and children Baba is a slightly older lady who is grandmom - for Lauren she is being taught that Baba is a somewhat younger (good looking) man who is daddy.  ; )

Needless to say we will be transitioning from Baba to Daddy real quick!

Walking with Dinosaurs

Well we took the evening off to spend some time as a family and enjoy ourselves after a busy time working on adoption paperwork and the extreme home makeover.  We went to see Walking with Dinosaurs at the Anaheim Honda Center - here are just some of the photos we took through the evening.  The first is Hannah and Cameron right before the show, Hannah was so excited and kept saying "this is awesome" and "this is great" during the performance. Cameron looks more serious as we were sitting just above the sound and robot control area and he was checking out all the electronic equipment.

One Room Down!!!

Tonight Hannah is sleeping in her new room for the first time!  She was so excited that prior to even her bed time she asked if it was okay if she went to bed.  The new pocket door is installed to Cameron's new room and the wall is about 70% complete - we are hoping for that room to be done by next weekend.

Here are some photos of the finished project and Lynda painting one of Hannah's walls (that's the one that had wallpaper on it - and yes I finished my research paper!).

Good Night!

Second Care Package on the Way

We used Ann at Red Thread again to send a package for Lauren and her nannies.  This time we sent a photo album with pictures of the family and the home. A package of cookies as a thank you for their great care of Lauren. Ann also translated what and who were in each photo along with a note from Lynda to the nannies.

Wallpaper, Chaos, and White Paint.

During the day Lynda and Cameron have been working hard moving furniture and stuff out of Cameron's old room temporarily into the (soon to be new game/tv room), trying to remove some wallpaper, and using lots of white paint to hide the blue paint that covered three of the walls.

The choice for Kevin tonight was to work on a a final research paper for one of his Masters Degree courses or help with removing wallpaper.  (tough decision)