Why is This Girl So Excited?

Is it because she's going to see The Wiggles tomorrow at Sprint Center?

Well, it's actually because she loves playing with her train set and posing for photos, but she is SUPER EXCITED, as Kai-lan would say, to see a concert this weekend. She's also going to meet some new friends -- daughters of family friends who are coming over for lunch tomorrow -- so this is going to be a full Saturday for Lillian.

DTC and other bites of alphabet soup

We were officially DTC on July 17 -- that is, "Dossier To China." Now we await LOA, which is basically when the China Center for Adoption Affairs sends us a letter requesting us to confirm our decision to adopt. Typically the wait between the DTC and LOA (when a child has already been referred) is at least 8 weeks, and for some families it's much longer. So far most things have gone faster than we might have expected, or at least no slower. We pray that keeps up!

In the meantime, this week we received our updated I-797C from USCIS. That form is basically a pre-approval from the US of the final paperwork we will need to bring Rachel Guanglan home with us.

After we receive our LOA, it will be another 6-8 weeks to travel approval, so we're likely looking at late fall or winter as the most likely travel time.

LOI for Rachel!

In adoption-speak, LOI stands for Letter of Intent. The Bruffett family filed one this week for a little sister for Lillian.

Pending approvals, we have been matched with a sweetheart from Xi'An in Shaanxi Province. We plan to name her Rachel Guanglan Bruffett. It will be several months before the point in the process where we get to travel and finally meet her. But we're excited to share the news. Lillian broke the news to her teachers and classmates this week too and is proud to be a big sister-to-be.

Day at the Zoo

We're on staycation this week, and yesterday we visited the Kansas City Zoo. Lillian took her camera and got some good shots (the first two of the gibbon and the tortoises are hers; she likes taking frames with preset borders). We're going to Worlds of Fun tomorrow.

If You Like CNY, Who Says it Has to End?

On Saturday, the Bruffetts went to our adoption agency's annual family get-together honoring the Chinese New Year. It traditionally comes well after the Spring Festival is over, and this year's gathering was a little later than usual, but Lillian was very happy to get to wear her CNY outfit again. She participated in a kung fu demonstration and was in a modified dragon dance. A Kansas City, Mo., restaurant, Kin Lin, again provided the food, this time free of charge. The money raised at the event was therefore able to be contributed to Holt's special needs adoption fund.

Lillian's Photoblog, 3rd Edition

Lillian has been taking photos every few days. One of these Mommy took (Lillian wanted to put it on the internet anyway), but the rest are hers.

Chinese New Year's Eve

We had a family Chinese New Year's Eve dinner tonight, celebrating with dumplings, steamed buns and tea leaf eggs. The dumplings and buns were store-bought, but Lillian helped prepare them by arranging them in the steamer. The tea leaf eggs were an experiment Kari tried that turned out pretty well. I used a variation of this recipe. One key is to use black soy sauce (laochau) as well as the more commonly available soy sauce you can find in typical grocery stores. The black soy sauce is generally only available at Asian grocers that have a large Chinese import section. The Korean grocer closest to us doesn't carry it, but one in Overland Park does.

Lillian wore a new dress -- one we'd actually bought in China last year but saved for CNY this year. She also received a traditional red envelope with money (in her case, coins for her piggy bank) and a small Chinese fan.

Gotcha Day

Can't believe it's been one year since we met Lillian in person! Yesterday was the anniversary of the day we met; today is the anniversary of her adoption. What a year it's been!

Lillian's "portraits"

Here are more of Lillian's photos from last week. She and Grandpa had fun photographing each other!

Slumber Party!

Lillian had a sleepover at Lauren and Jaylen's house last night. Then, in the morning, she celebrated the Austin family Christmas with Grandpa, Grammie, Aunt Megan, Uncle Rich, Uncle Adam, Aunt Victoria, Mommy, Daddy, and her two first cousins. (Uncle Adam got the tickle treatment, as pictured here!)

We have one more extended family gathering next weekend -- Lillian is going to think that Christmas never ends around here!