Our Lydia's big day!

Today was Lydia's 8th birthday and her baptism day! We are so proud of our cute, happy, lovely, darling, sweet, loving, adorable and wonderful little girl. She is such a blessing to our family!

No I am not trying to strangle her - I'm not sure what I am doing

Tickets Purchased!

We bought our tickets for China yesterday. I was hoping that because we were purchasing the tickets so far out that we would get a slamming deal. Well, apparently July is the most expensive time of year to travel to China, so no money savings there. Oh well, I'm so thankful we have tickets and all the approvals we need in order to get to China.

We used JC Travel for those of you interested. I had a couple of recommended agents battle it out - coming up with the best deal for us. JC Travel was so much cheaper than anyone else - by $500. And just before she purchased our tickets, she found them even cheaper - thank you!

Now we just wait!

US Consulate Appointment Confirmed!

This was the last piece of big news we needed! The only thing we are working on now is purchasing our tickets. (Let's hope that means cheaper.) Here is what our trip looks like:

July 3-6 - Tour Beijing
July 6 - Fly to Zhengzhou
July 7 - GOTCHA DAY!!!
July 12- Fly to Guangzhou
July 16 - US Consulate Appointment
July 17 - Hong Kong
July 19 - Fly Home!!!!

We are so excited to bring Sarah home. Seven more weeks ... seven more weeks!

By the way we had to officially name our little Ying Ying. As many of you know we have chosen to name her SARAH HELEN. We have named all of our daughters from female ancestors on both sides of the family. Our little Ying Ying will be no different. Sarah is a family name from Rick's side of the family and Helen is after my beloved grandma. Her name makes us smile! We did not officially keep John's Chinese name of Zhe Nan, and we will not officially keep Ying Ying either. The reason for this is so that we keep within the traditions we have set for all our children. We do honor their Chinese names, and even have a baby for both of them that we call "baby Zhe Nan" for John and "baby Ying Ying" for Sarah.

Travel Approval!!!!!

Oh yeah baby!  We have travel approval!!! They told us that we could be in China by the middle of June, but we asked if we could postpone until the very first of July. We will see what they say, but with Rick's work schedule being so intense in June, delaying our trip 1-2 weeks seems to make sense. We asked for a "Gotcha Day" of July 7. Our adoption agency said that we should know within 2-3 business days.

We met a new family online who just adopted from Sarah's orphanage and made a visit to see Sarah and her friends. So not only did we get Travel Approval, but I have a few new pictures to share. Our little girl seems to grow SO much each time I see her. I wonder if she has any clue that her life is about to change forever. The picture with her nanny makes me so happy. She really does seem to be loved and cared for.

Here is what the little update said: "Your Ying Ying is adorable, and so social! "