We have the brown envelope!!!

I was at rehearsal last night and when Gary showed up he handed me this envelope. I thought it was something from the IRS or whatever. I was talking to my Senior Company about their upcoming Christmas show. I took the envelope and then read the front and the word "adoption" caught my eye and then it all sank in, and I totally freaked out. The girls thought I was nuts. I yelled," the brown envelope!!!" The girls had no idea what we were excited about but when they found out they were just as excited as we were.

All the girls huddled around us and I read the letters inside out loud. It was really nice to see their reactions and see that they were so excited for us. I love my girls that I teach, they are just like family to Gary and myself. We've always said that we have about 200+ children. They call us both Mama & Papa Bear. It was nice to share that moment with them. The girls are constantly asking me how the adoption is going and all sorts of questions about her and her room etc. I had a solo class with one of my students just this week and I've had this student in classes since she was 3 years old and she is 12 now. She was asking about the adoption and wanted to know everything, it was nice how interested she was and excited she was for Gary and myself. Love my girls!!!

The brown envelope is from the the foreign service of the USA, US Consulate General Guangzhou, ( the envelope came from Washington D.C.). The documents inside are from Guangzhou, China though. It does say "official business" on the front of the envelope. It really just means that all the parties and agencies involved in the adoption have been officially notified and you are still WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we are just waiting for the referral from the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs). We do have a case number now. I just looked at the date on the paperwork inside and the letters were dated August 31, 2007 from China, and we are just getting them now. Now you can see why the wait is so long, it takes a little while to get things through the proper channels and then back to us. So, we're STILL WAITING!!!!

But, we're excited!!! Another thing to check off our list. We have a dry erase board in our office with a checklist and the only thing up there was the brown envelope. Now we replace that with a referral. We also need to get our vaccinations and such. But another step forward to Avery...YEA!!!!!!!!!!

Cheer for us!!!
Love to all
~Alli & Gary