Another adoption milestone!

We reached another milestone toward bringing Kimi home! Today, we received an email from our immigration officer, informing us we had received Provisional Approval. (Yes, there are a LOT of approvals to be obtained with international adoption!) Now we wait on word from the National Visa Center.

We also mailed a care package to Kimi this evening. The package contains a small doll, a warm, winter Chinese outfit, a disposable camera (for the orphanage to take photos of Kimi and others around her), candy for the nannies, a small photo album containing photos of our home, her room, her bed, and her new family, a translated letter telling her about our family (that will, hopefully, be read to her), and a soft, pink, little, cuddly "blankie" with the stuffed head of a monkey in the center that has a push-button on the underside. When the button is pressed, it is Mike, me and Elizabeth saying the following in Mandarin (yes-we practiced a LOT): "I am your daddy." (Mike) "I am your mama." (Me) "I am your sister." (Elizabeth) "We love you!" (The three of us). It will, most likely, take a couple of weeks for her to actually receive it. This way, she will hopefully learn she is getting a family soon; and she will know what we look like and sound like and that she is already loved. I even slept with the little blankie for a week, so she might be able to tell what her new mama smells like :-) !

Finally, we should be receiving OUR Chinese visas on Monday from the courier in Chicago. So, everything is falling into place: just like when we traveled to China to bring home Elizabeth. God surely wants this child to have a home, a family, and, most importantly, to have the opportunity to know how much He loves her!