Finally waiting for the LAST step!

A lot has happened since I last posted.  We got the pdf we needed for our agency so that they could have their in-China rep. drop off our Article 5.  We waited the standard two weeks and our Article 5 has officially been picked up by our agency rep. and couriered to the CCCWA where we will wait for the infamous Travel Approval (TA).  This can take 1-4 weeks, but it seems to be about 2-3 weeks right now.   Once we are issued TA, we wait a couple days to set a consulate appointment date and then once we have that we can book our trip!  Very last minute and expensive of course, but very exciting!

We had a rummage sale over Memorial Day weekend!  I owe the biggest thanks ever to my mom- she was amazing!  She helped price things with me all week, she helped watch the kids and get them off to school that Friday, and she helped run the sale all weekend and pack things up every day.  Couldn't have done it without her!  And a huge thanks to so many friends- I don't want to forget anyone...you all know who you are!  Thank you for your donation of items for our sale, for baked goods, for your time helping us get set-up, organized, or pricing, and to the wonderful friends who just made a donation out of the kindness of their hearts.  We are blessed.  Between Friday and Saturday and half a day Sunday (after church)....minus a few hours of a rainstorm Saturday morning, we made about $1,000!  Not bad!
Enough to pay for our visas, which we mailed out for on Saturday and should have back in a little over a week or so.   It should also help us cover another piece of the astronomical travel costs as well.

Tonight we went to a concert in a local park- our local school for the deaf's SIGN SONG Dance Team.  It was a lot of fun (minus chasing after the little who were antsy).   The kids were amazing.  I kept thinking about Lena maybe having that opportunity some day!   We got to practice a little signing- some vocabulary and some finger spelling of our names.  I learned some more that I had been wondering about from a friend of a friend's daughter.  :)   The deaf community here is so united and supportive- I loved witnessing that and look forward to future events WITH our daughter!  Pictures to come.

Now to get Lena's closet totally ready and to preparing for our trip- for leaving 4 of our kiddos to packing for myself, Rick, Evan, and Lena.   A lot to do, but it will all come together!  Come on TA! :)