LOA has arrived

Our LOA has arrived!!!!!!!  I do not like to over use exclamation points in my writing, but this is one time where I am super excited and I want everyone to know how excited I am.  This was the information we have been waiting for and it is the most variable portion of this part of the adoption process.  The LOA is our letter of acceptance.  It means China has decided we can adopt our baby girl ,Lian Xiaoping (soon to be Grace Evelyn), officially.  It is the last major step in the process.  From this point, we know we will be waiting 10-14 weeks to go and retrieve our daughter.  To say we are thrilled is an understatement.  We officially waited 90 days to hear back from China, which is completely acceptable according to our adoption agency, but we were still so anxious to hear, we were pretty sure something was wrong, and something had happened.  Just last night, Mike spent some extra time praying for me and my anxious heart, and also that we would hear soon.  Praise God for hearing our plea and delivering our paperwork today.  God is amazing and His timing is perfect.  We were in Coeur d'Alene this morning practicing open water swims for the triathlons Mike and I are training for, so I left my phone in the car.  And like I said, I was not expecting to hear anything, so when I flipped on my phone and saw the email, it was a sudden, unexpected rush of emotions.  I was sitting their crying for joy, knowing what a huge hurdle we had just cleared.  I was actually pouting this morning, knowing we are heading to Seattle for the weekend, and having planned to get some things for Ainsley and Grace's room if we had received our LOA.  Since we hadn't, I wasn't going to start getting the room ready yet.  I was bummed, because when we were planning our trip back in May, I was sure we would have our LOA by then.  When I looked at the calendar this morning and realized it hadn't happened yet, I was just pouty.  So thankful it was today God made it happen.  So, hopefully in 10 to 14 weeks, you will get to meet the newest Kelly. :)
We finished out our great vacation visiting the Evergreen Air Museum and OMSI.  It was such a blessing to get to spend so much time with my sister and her fun family.  We had time to relax and enjoy each other.  The long car rides took their toll, and the kids were ready to be done by the time we got home on Saturday night.  We did stop on the way home at Maltnomah Falls and we walked to the first bridge.  Even packed with people, I always feel so relaxed at the falls.

Sunday was such a hot day, we took our boat out on Lake Coeur d'Alene.  We had such a fun time.
The kids are all big enough to enjoy the boat.  We swam off the side and enjoyed the wind in our hair racing all over the lake.  We stopped for ice cream cones in a little town along the lake.  Wyatt wanted to ride in the tube the whole time.  He just hung out there, even when the boat was stopped.  He was so cute.

He talked his little sister into going for a ride, and he talked Holden into riding quite a bit with him, but he loved it the most.  He really wanted to try water skiing, but I wasn't extremely comfortable teaching him in such a busy lake.  We will have to take him to one of the quieter lakes around here.  What a fun day.  We didn't even notice the 100 degree day.  It was neat to see all my kids hanging out and enjoying each other.

In the end, 3 of the 4 were hanging out in the bow of the boat with me.  Ainsley managed to fall asleep even though the water was pretty rough and we were hitting some major bumps.  It was fun to have my 4 year old baby fall asleep on my lap.  She is so sweet.  I think big brother fell asleep in the back as well.  There is just something about a boat.