When are you going?

That is the most asked question, so I will answer:
Sometime between July and October 2009!
I did some obsessive counting after some obsessive statistic analyzing, all very scientific.
The next thing we wait for is our LOA, which is Approval from China. That will be 50-150 days after LID. 50 days would be the shortest someone has ever ever waited that I recall seeing and 145 days is the longest I have ever seen someone wait, and I have only seen one person wait that long. So, if you obessively count (not that I would do that), we are at day of "waiting for LOA" as we like to call it.

After we get our LOA, we then wait for TA, which stands for Travel Approval, meaning a date has been set at the US consulate in China and we know when we will travel. That takes a few weeks to a few months. Then a few weeks later, we will TRAVEL, which is the part we all want to get to!!

So you can see why the answer to "When are you going?" is often, I don't know. Which is usually a cop out but in this case, the absolute truth. Ask me when I WISH we were going. That one is easy!! YESTERDAY!!

PS--don't forget to send me quilt fabric (look 3 posts below for details) Deadline extended to April 13, so you have time!
PSS--my 17 is from Leo Reynolds on Flikr just in case that matters

New pictures already!!

Just got these from our agency today! I am thinking she is more the outdoorsy type and was NOT happy about the Glamour Shots she had to do before. I am so happy to see smiles! And we also got updated measurements. Can you believe she is almost as tall as Lilla but a few pounds lighter. They are only 11 days apart in age (Lilla's birthday is 8/6/04 and Hope/Song's is 8/17/04) and apparently will be the same size too.

Here She Is!!!

We are pleased to present our daughter!

Hope SongYi
Born August 17, 2004
In Guangdong Province, China

We talked about several American names to give her, but this weekend, Mark and I both talked about Hope, a name that has never been on any of our name lists. I just love HOPE--the girl and the word! The Bible is so full of hope, in fact, I’d say it is the thesis of the whole thing.

More details later about how all of this came to be!

She is either missing her right eye or it is very small, according to her papers. We hope (there it is again) she will be able to get a prosthetic eye one day. More on that later too.

We would love to travel in August, but it could be as late as October.

Please pray for us to just trust God. He started this and he is able to finish it and give us everything we need in the meantime! Pray for Hope to be well taken care of until we meet her.

We wait in hope for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
For we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love
rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:20-22

100 Good Wishes Quilt

The top of Lilla's quilt before I put the whole thing together.

Praise God we sent our paperwork (dossier) off to our agency this week and they will be sending it to China Friday!

While we are waiting for our daughter, we are working on a project that we REALLY need your help with. We are creating something called a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." I made one for Lilla. Can’t stop now!

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. Really, it has just become more of a tradition in the adoption community as something to do as you wait so you don’t lose your ever-loving mind.

We love the idea of welcoming our daughter into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes you are all sending her way.

Here is what to do if you would like to participate:

1. Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from old clothing or from a fabric store, or left over from a project. It just needs to be a design and color that you like. Please, not the stretchy knit kind. I found that is harder to work with for an inexperienced quilter like myself.

2. Cut two (2) 8" squares (or anything at least that large, can even be one big piece) from the fabric. This way, I can have room for error and have some extra left over to make a smaller matching doll blanket. Or, you can just get ¼ yard of fabric at the fabric store and I am glad to cut it.

3. Include your "good wish note" on a piece of paper or a notecard. I will attach a small scrap of your fabric to the note and we will place all your wishes in a scrapbook that we will give to the her. Lilla loves looking at her quilt book and remembers who gave which fabric. It is really very special.

*If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than 1 set of scraps if you want.

Ideas for good wishes note:

You can include a poem, Bible verse, short note...Some wishes that come to mind are faith in God, good health, perseverance, compassion, and sense of humor. Do whatever you feel. No pressure! Or just sign your name to a piece of paper if you prefer.

It would be great to get the fabric and notes before April 13 so the quilt can be completed before we go to China.

Thank you!

Katy and Mark

(if you don’t have my address, email me and I will give it to you if I don’t think you are a stalker…)