Moving Along

Just a quick update on the home projects. We officially have a complete office!! Well, except for the ceiling and the final electric (minor details). We have finished painting a cute navy bookshelf for Jack's room. Now it just needs some little airplane details to be completed tomorrow. We have gotten rid of our Goodwill pile (yay!) I have sent our LOA to FTIA, and filled out our VISA forms, and of course a few other forms (kill more trees). I have filed all my lose papers. We have put away some of Jack's clothes. We have a crib (not set up yet).

It's getting there! If we don't sleep for the next 8 weeks I think we might be able to pull this off!

We have the actual LOA in hand!

They did manage to give Eric the LOA!!! Thank God. When he went they said it could be a long time or they might not be able to find it at all. When he made it clear he wasn't leaving until he had the LOA in hand they magically produced it in five minutes. Now we will sign it, fill out some travel papers, and file our visas. This will go back out to Fed Ex (oh God) tomorrow. Wish us luck! I'm hoping we don't have to go through any more mail retrieval!

Umm, where's the LOA?

So, we were supposed to get said LOA from said Fed Ex yesterday, which then became today. However, when it didn't show by 5:00 we called. They said it would be here by 7:00 to which we said, what should we do when it's not?" To which they responded, "Call back". So at 7:00 we called back, and they said it was headed back to the sorting room (for the third time) and would go out tomorrow. To which we said, "we'll pick it up tonight...thank you". They tried to convince us to get it in the morning. Anyway, Eric is at our local Fed Ex office hopefully retrieving our LOA. Sigh, I knew it was going to smoothly. It just better be there or they will have to deal with me and it won't be pretty. Talk about going postal!

One Little Hold Up

Well, the snow has given us one little hold up. Our LOA was supposed to be at our house today, so we could sign it and send it to our agency. Unfortunately ,it appears it is stuck in Erlanger, Ky. due to the storm. I really hope it makes it here tomorrow, so we can get it back to FTIA by Friday (before the weekend)! Ahh the joys of winter. Oh well, at least I got a day off work!

Under Construction

So we're working hard to finish a bunch of projects before Jack comes home. Talk about a kick in the pants. Our house looks like a tornado went through it. We are currently moving our office to the garage. Jack's room will be our where our office currently resides, and the other part of the garage is going to be a play room. In order to get this complete we figure we have to work about around the clock for the next two months!!! Like there's nothing else to do. The good thing about all this snow is that we worked a lot the last two days! Yesterday Eric hung some drywall and worked a bit with my dad's help on the electric downstairs. Thanks dad! Then Jim (our wonderful neighbor) helped Eric move some furniture and drywall. Today, Eric got some more drywall hung, and I moved some more of the office to the basement. We also got the floorboards for Jack's room painted, and have started a large Goodwill pile. We basically have piles of **** everywhere, but at least they're organized piles now. We have posted three pictures: one of the new office, one of the soon to be playroom with the painted floor boards for Jack's room, and one of Jack's soon to be room. Notice the cool maroon wardrobes I scored on Craig's list! We are hoping to have our pizza and paint party with our neighbor's soon! Anyone else is welcome to join the fun. Once the drywall in the playroom is complete we are going to prime it and invite all the kids over to paint it however they want. It should be a good time! Wish us luck! We'll try to update on our progress frequently. It should make you feel good about the state of your house!

Happy Chinese New Year...Our LOA Arrived

We got the most amazing phone call today. We found out that our Letter of Acceptance has arrived. On the Chinese New Year no less! This means we are another step closer to getting Jack home. Now we wait for travel approval (4-6 weeks). Then we make travel plans (3-5) weeks. Looks like Jack will be home in March or April!!! Yah we are so excited. Everything is moving sooo fast. We were told 4 months for LOA and we've waited less than two! We really, really got to get our house ready!

Care Package

Well our care package is officially on its way. We sent a security blanket, two little boy outfits, a pair of slippers, and two disposable cameras. We used a special service to get it there, so they will let us know when it arrives to the actual orphanage! We are hoping they'll take pictures for us and we'll be able to get the cameras back when we get there! I really wish there was someway to send the poor kid some milkshakes!!! We can't wait to fatten him up!

Interesting rumor

So, I was emailing with another woman doing SN through FTIA, and she just got her TA (travel approval). She waited only 2 1/2 months from her PA and will be traveling the end of January. That's really fast. If that were to actually happen for us we would be traveling in March or April not May or June. Hmmm. I guess we really better get cracking on our home projects. Ya know like Jack's room! We shall see. I'm still being told 4 months, so we'll see!