Boy Clothes!

I have never had the pleasure of shoppig for little boy clothes - my family seems to have skipped the "Y" chromosome alltogether and we have girls.  As fun as this is for me, I think Matthew is going to appreciate this more than me.  No ribbons, tutus, plastic slippers, barettes, skirts, tights, princess dresses, or refusing to wear any color other than pink.  :o)

I picked up Elliott's first outfit today while Madeline and I went shopping during Charlotte's preschool morning.  Of course I gravitated toward an outfit that Matthew would appreciate most - one that looks just like his!  I set them together and surprised him with this when he came home from work today.

The waiting game

Yesterday Madeline and I made a trip to the local post office with "the" stack of paperwork - six months of hard work - and mailed it to AGCI in Portland.  Tiffany will look it all over, make sure all of our i's are dotted and our t's are crossed, then send it in for translation and authentication at the Chinese consulate in Chicago.  From there it goes to China.  And we wait for China to look at it and approve it, and send us our official acceptance letter.  I've been told that this could take anywhere beween one month and three months from the time they receive it.  And then there's this, that, and the other that we have to file with both the USA and China after we receive that approval letter.  Our hopes for travel in June are gone; the earliest possibility would be late July, but most likely it would be August or September.  I'd be lying if I said that pushing that timeline back didn't break my heart.  Traveling during the summer would be so perfect with Matt having the summer off from his teaching job, and we would have such fun together as a family of five getting to know (and attach to!) each other with Lake Michigan nearby and a farm full of fun things to do right at home. 

I rest easy in knowing that my work at this point is done, but the "Type A" that lives inside me is screaming at the loss of control at this point in the process.  Today I pray that there will be no hang-ups, no delays, and that Elliott is safe and happy today.

One step closer!

..... although sometimes it feels like we're crawling!

We received our I-797 approval in the mail today!  It is the last piece of paper we are chasing down and we are now ready to group all of the paperwork together and send it in.  Tomorrow I will make a visit to the post office and send our HUGE stack of paperwork to our adoption agency in Oregon.  They will verify that all of the pieces are in place, and then forward it all to the Chinese consulate in Chicago, Illinois.  They will look through it, verify it and then it all goes as a group to China, where it will be reviewed and approved over the next couple of months.  After I visit the post office tomorrow, we wait.  And waiting is going to be the hardest part!

Madeline's "Little Brother" announcement

Matthew had asked Madeline to draw a Beresford family photo to bring with him to work (he teaches pre-K) to add to his students' drawings of their families.  This is what she came up with.  It makes my heart so happy!