I800 Approval

We received confirmation today that our I800s were approved yesterday on my grandmother's birthday.  My grandmother is in heaven with my mom but hopefully they are rejoicing with us.

The only thing that could have made this day better is if our tax refund would have showed up as approved.  Hopefully soon.

Time for more photos of the boys.  These are from their second birthday.  I saw these soon after their second birthday.  I think an advocate sent them a cake and got an update.  At the time we had just received our LOA for Alyssa.  Even at that time I dreamed of bringing them home.  Who would have guessed that a little over a year later we would be getting ready to bring them home.

Edited to add:  I was scrolling back through the blog and saw that I had posted these photos previously.  Lucky you, you get to see them again.

I800 Approval Almost

Our officer looked over our I800 application today and saw no problems.  Since we are reusing our I800a from Alyssa she has to send it on to one more person to review.  She said she would get it back tomorrow and mail it out Friday.

This and That

Last documents sent off to Washington D.C. to be authenicated. Normally we would already have finished but with Dallas not going we needed to do a Power of Attorney or 6. Better too many than not enough.

Our officer said to call tomorrow afternoon for an update on our I800. Hopefully that means approval and we can move to the next step. May 16 is still a possibility at this point. We need to have completed the next 3 steps(or 2 depending on how you count) by April 12 for this to happen.

We are in the process of relocating the 4 youngest kids. All of them are changing rooms. The house is a disaster right now. All of their beds are in their new rooms but all their clothes,toys,books, etc. are not. Once completed we can move on to the boys' room. Still a long ways to go but we are getting there.

Another Secret Pal Gift

This gift was from another secret pal in a different group.  It is so precious!  Praying it brings me the good luck I need to make my new plan come true.  Shhh...the new plan is to leave May 16.  I know it is a little optimistic but I truly believe it can happen.  If not then I make a new plan.  Either way I love my new pin.  Jacob is the red ladybug and Caleb is the black ladybug.

Secret Pal

Yesterday I received a gift from one of my Secret Pals.  I love it! The plan is to wear it until the boys come home.  There is a heart for each boy.

Happy Birthday, Gracie Mei!

Today is Grace's eighth birthday.  We have been counting down the days for weeks.  We woke up this morning full of excitement.   Then it hit, Grace's stomach starting hurting.  She said she felt okay and wanted to go to school.  Even though I knew better I let her.  A few hours later I got the call that she had thrown up.  Another Braxton down.  Everyone except Nicholas has had some version of this virus.  But poor Grace sick on her birthday.  Since picking her up from school she has had a few good hours but mostly wants to just lay down.  I promised her tomorrow we would have a spectacular day if she felt better.  We would pretend tomorrow is her birthday.  She doesn't even feel like blowing out her candles and having cake tonight.  So let's pray that tomorrow is a better day.

                                     Grace before she started feeling bad.

          The awesome cake that Zachary made that we will enjoy tomorrow.

One of the Best Text Messages Ever

The letter the I800 applications wrote to the lockbox must have worked.  Guess what we received today!  Our stress has definitely lessened.   Moving on now....