Best 4th of July Gift- Pictures from a family I met from the Hangzhou yahoo chat group that were at the orphanage picking up their little boy (they live in Minnesota). We got about 8 photos of her sitting in the little chair you see- they saw her WALK (this may sound ridiculous but we have never seen it written or been told or seen pictures indicating that she CAN walk) in from the outside into the playroom. She's wearing the dress and headband we sent her in a care package :)

We also got pics from of the orphanage but I will save for another post.
The bottom photo is an update photo from our agency, that also came on July 4th.

We got our I-800 approval June 29- it was cabled July 5- now we are waiting on Article 5. That should be less than 10 days from now- and then we are only waiting for Travel Approval! It's getting really close, but the days right now are really slow for me. It was so wonderful to see so many pictures of her- and at the same time it is sort of making me crazy!  I want her HOME. I want her know that she is so close to being loved, hugged, kissed, played with,  EVERYDAY by her forever family. She has spent a short lifetime of being juggled around from birth family to orphanage to hospital to foster family to orphanage again. I cannot wait to hold her!!!!

Thinking we will travel around the time school starts- mid to late August.

Charlie and Edie are getting excited! Charlie has been reluctant about having ANOTHER sister. We had been preparing for a boy and he got attached to a little boy whose file we looked at back in January - but finally told me the other day- "mom, i think we got the right one. she's the one" (which was followed by a high five and a wink) Made my heart smile. Edie is growing like a weed (97% for height) and each time something gets too small she says- "ok, mom. this is kinda small.  let's just save this for my new sister."

The girls' rooms is almost ready- got 2 twin beds set up and new bedding- but alas it's time to forego the green walls and paint them PINK! A friend is coming over Monday to help me choose so I don't end up w/ pepto pink (choosing paint colors is not my strong point- did anyone see our BLUE bathroom at the old house??!!)

That's all for now!

OH- Almost forgot- HER NAME IS ANNIE!! Annie Song Herring
We didn't name her this b/c of John Denver's song- which is my favorite JD song- but it helped make the final decision more fun :)