I800 Approved!!!

Today was a good GREAT day in the White House!!!  I called USCIS and found out they approved our I800 yesterday!! The I800 is the approval we needed on the US side to approve Olivia Kate as an immediate relative.  This means as soon as we go through customs in the airport when we get home, she will become a US citizen. :-)   We are so close y'all, it's almost hard to believe.  In a couple of weeks this information will go to China and 2 weeks from then it will be picked up from the US Embassy in China and we will only be waiting for China to say "Come get her"!!  Of course with Christmas coming, things could go a litte slower than normal, but I can see the light so I will try to have some patience......

I am so happy it is Christmas, my favorite time of year, and I can enjoy this time with my family (minus 1 precious little girl).  It helps time to go by a little faster as well.  It is hard to think about Olivia being in an orphanage and not having a family to celebrate Jesus with. The only way I can comfort myself is that she doesn't know any different.  This is where she has spent her entire life, this is the only place she knows.  At this point she considers it home.  And yes people this kills me!! I hate that she goes to sleep in a large room full of beds lined up and no one to tuck her in, that she has nothing of her own, the clothes and toys are all shared through out the orphanage.  And, I also know, she's not really waiting for us, she's only 2. 

  I pray daily that God will prepare her little heart for us. I know God is with her and He tucks her in at night and He kisses those sweet cheeks.  This I find the most comfort in!

  When we get her, we will be taking her away from everything she knows, everyone she knows.  She had not asked to leave her "home" and all she finds comfort in, to go with people who look, smell, and talk funny.  Yes this has been compared to as kidapping.  I hate to type this because it is heartbreaking to think she has to go through trauma to come to her family.  So I pray constantly that she will soon realize how much we love her and that we will forever be her mama and baba (daddy in chinese).  I KNOW God has His hand in this, that He has been guiding us and leading us to her.  He has been preparing us for this journey for years.  And I am SO thankful for this AMAZING path He has us on!

 

Today I also FINALLY received the pictures of her with her celebration cake.  I sent her a care package 3 weeks ago, when we got our LOA.  I knew if I sent a cake I would get pictures of her with it, so I have been anxiously waiting for these.  The cake and the hat she is wearing do say Happy Birthday, which is kinda funny, her birthday isn't until February.  :-) Oh well, I still get to see that precious face!

 This is the what the care package looked like, hopefully they are showing her our pictures....

 

I love that look! (and those cheeks!!)

 The cake is about as big as her and she looks really confused...:-)