Our L.O.A came!!!!

Our LOA arrived at our agency yesterday!!!!!  And this morning I am waiting on Fed-Ex to deliver it.  Those 3 letters stand for our Letter Of Acceptance.  This is HUGE.  This is China saying YES, Smith family, you can adopt sweet Emme!!  We waited 59 days...not that I was keeping track (EVERY single calendar in the house was marked..and marked some more!)   And in a LOA celebration, Colter and Libby broke out some costumes and ran around.
         The last picture of Colter pretty much sums up my feelings from last night!!  (his face...not the cow costume....)  WooHoo!!!!

A Boy and His Pumps

My other boys didn't have the opportunities Colter does...He has a vast array of princess shoes to choose from, thanks to his big sis!  He can walk in heels better than his Momma.

Party Time

Yesterday was Carter's 7th birthday!  We had a family party last night.  I can't believe it's been seven years...we had only been in our new house 4 days...and I went into labor right as our power went out.  We had no idea where the box with candles and flashlights was hiding...boxes were everywhere!  We found one candle. One.Tiny.Candle.

We somehow made it to the hospital and two hours later our precious Carter was born!  He is a miracle in so many ways!!  He has the best smile in the world. (But doesn't like to smile for pictures....)

My First Post!

Last weekend I FINALLY took the time to sit down and start our blog, and then it was time to make supper.  I "thought" I would sit down quick after eating and write my first post....but I made two gallons of black cherry Kool-aid (yes, it's RED) and managed to spill it everywhere.  After I cleaned it up I sat down (by myself at the table...everyone had eaten their supper and run away) with my food and a freshly poured Dr. Pepper which I then also managed to spill.  Everywhere.  After cleaning that up and sitting back down to eat....I heard a rustling sound...and looked up and our precious, tiny, sweet, brainless little Yorkie mix had dumped out the garbage and it went EVERYWHERE. (Oh and throw in the fact that this whole adoption process might take over a whole year since we first saw our sweet Emme's face...I had enough)  So no first blog post...I instead layed my head on the table and stared into space  for a while. 

      This is our precious daughter who is waiting for us in China.  The first picture is just from a couple of months ago on her 3rd birthday.  The second is from a year ago when she was at Maria's Big House of Hope.  We are very excited to be adding another blessing to our nest!