What Mia thinks about all of this

I haven't shared this yet, but I'd like to talk about how Mia has been with the news of the adoption. When we first asked her months ago if she would like another brother or sister, she said "no." We asked her on other occasions to which she replied "no." Then one day I asked her if she would like another sissy or ge ge (older brother) to which she perked up and said "yes." One day my mom asked her if she would like a big ge ge or a little ge ge. I told my mom that ge ge is only used for big brothers. She asked me how to say little brother in Chinese, and I said I think it's xiao de. Mia exclaimed, "Xiao de?! Ugh," and threw herself in the floor. It was quit hilarious. Well, she is getting a xiao de, though he is only one month younger than her. I'm sure she will let him know that she's the oldest.

She is now ready to be the big sister. She has pretended to talk to him several times on her play phone. One day she told him, "We will come get you soon. It won't be long in the day."

She talks about him a lot. She even offered to share her room with him, before she knew he would be getting his own room. I'm sure there will be some jealousy and problems with sharing as with most siblings, but I believe Mia will be a great big sister to Yangkang.

Mia will be traveling to China with us for Yangkang. She has never spent the night away from me since her adoption in July 2012, and doing so would not be good at this time. She still often wakes in the night crying for me. 

A few people have shown concern over her going back to China, as if she wouldn't be safe there or that she could even be taken away from us. She is an American citizen and will be traveling with a US Passport, and as such, she is protected by the US government just as Brent and I are.

My concerns with taking Mia back to China are that she may grieve all over again, or that it will be hard with Yangkang at first, which will be hard on Mia as well.  

As for now Mia is ready to go get her little brother. She doesn't understand why we have to wait. I don’t understand it either sometimes, but I do believe in God’s perfect timing.

We are coming up on 60 days that we have been waiting for our LOA (letter of approval) from China. We are hoping to have it by Oct. 1. There is a holiday in China that is observed Oct. 1-7, and government offices will be closed during that time. Sometimes, they make a big push to get things out the door just before a holiday, and it seems that Mondays are often busy days for adoption related work in China. So, maybe we will here something by Tuesday here. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much though.

Earlier this week I requested a form from our adoption agency for a grant application. One of the questions that it asked the agency was projected travel date. We were a little bummed when we saw their response, Jan. 22, 2015. We really want to travel before Christmas. The sooner we get LOA, the more that becomes possible; hoping and praying.

                                                                LORI