Back to School, Lily's 3rd Birthday and Adoption Update!

For those of you who are still out there, we are still here! It has been a month since I last posted, and boy has it been a busy one. I wanted to give you a quick update and let you know we are still alive! Two of the sweetest little faces in the world! I'm so glad they have each other!


First Day of School for Jackson and Riley! This year, Jackson and Riley are going to a new school! They were really excited, and Lily just had to have a backpack like her brother and sister! I returned to teaching this year, and one of the perks is that Jackson and Riley now ride the bus in the afternoons from their school to mine. They think this is the most exciting thing in the world- apparently they have been waiting their whole lives to get to ride a school bus! Jackson started 5th grade and Riley started 2nd grade. I can't believe how quickly time flies! Notice Lily has her blanket and also a lunchbox. Lunch is served at her daycare, but she had to have her lunchbox in the picture- even though she doesn't actually take it to school!

On August 20, Lily turned 3 years old! We planned a pool party, but right before it was time to party, it began to sprinkle rain, so we quickly moved everything into the garage. After the kids played for a bit, the rain stopped and we were able to move the party back outside. THANK GOODNESS!

Lily has recently learned to pedal her tricycle, and she is really proud.

She's a big Dora fan!

WATERMELON AND BIG SMILES!

The cake

Lily had been practicing the birthday song and how to blow out her candles all day- she was super excited about that part.

And she enjoyed her cake too!

I cannot believe that Lily has been with us for only half of her life. She came home at 18 months, and it seems like she has been with us forever! We are so blessed to be her family.

On another note, we sent our Dossier (compilation of TONS of paperwork) to China on August 16th. This past Friday, I received confirmation from our social worker that our Log in Date (LID) was August 26. For those of you not living in "adoption land", what this means is that we are now logged in to China's system and eligible to receive a referral at any time. We expect a new list of available children to come out this Monday night, and we have our fingers crossed that our son will be on that list. We are so excited! It may not be our month, only God knows, but we are ready to move forward in this process. If we are matched, we will likely receive "the call" on Tuesday morning. I will keep you posted!

Blessings-

Meredith