"You're mine, little one!"

Over the past few months of waiting, I've been lurking on several advocacy websites such as www.rainbowkids.com.    Weeks ago, there was a sweet little boy that kept catching my eye.  I would check about every day to see if his precious little face was still listed but I didn't want to get "attached" or even hopeful about his picture.  After all, we couldn't be matched yet anyway, so what's the point of torturing myself, right?

Then, on Father's Day, we found out that our agency was able to match kiddos again!  * happy dance*  The very next day I was on the phone with the agency that had that sweet little face listed on Rainbow Kids and asked them if they would transfer his file to our agency.  Within 10 minutes, they emailed his file for us to review.   The next day, we called our agency and the listing agency and said we were willing to accept him!     Two days later, I got the call at 9:20pm from our case worker that he had, in fact, been released to the shared list and our agency locked him in specifically for our family *another happy dance*    Whew!  What a whirlwind!     Then, we waited....for China to give us the "thumbs up" or not.  

Well, today we finally got the long-awaited news we have been waiting for.  Drumroll, please!    

Meet our new SON! 

Isn't he too stinkin' cute?   Wanna see another one?  Awww, come on, you know you want to!

The moment I saw this photo come off the printer, I actually said outloud

"You're mine, little one!"    

 This is Liu Nian and his birthday is October 6, 2009.  He's from the Henan Province and he will be 3 years old this October.   Liu Nian (pronounced Loo NEE-IN) was abandoned at 11 days old.  He has a (repaired) cleft lip unrepaired cleft palate. 

That night we read and prayed over his file, I fell asleep with a peace like I've never had.   It was a COMPLETELY different feeling than last time, I just can't explain it. 

I know you're wondering..when do we get him?  What's next?  What will we name him?  

Well, the answer to question #1:   We don't know.  I am hopeful that we will get him home before Christmas, but please, please keep praying!   As we all know by now, anything can happen.  However, we also know that our God is bigger than any hoops we have to hurdle through!  

In regards to question #2:  We are still waiting for our formal and "official" Letter of Approval (LOA).  Not sure when that will get here but when it does, we'll start another round of paperchasing with the U.S. Dept of Immigration. 

As far as question #3:  Well, you'll just have to come back another day to find out, now won't ya?