Birthday party for LeLe

(This was actually written June 8th)
June 6 was the 7th birthday for LeLe (Aleah).  We used a service in China that our agency had suggested and sent her a birthday party.  This consisted of a cake, fruit and drinks.  The orphanage sent us pictures and a short video.  We sent her a picture of the girls holding a sign that said Happy Birthday in Chinese.  I have been a little sad to have missed another one of her birthdays, but we will not miss any more.
 

   This process just keeps dragging on.  Yesterday ( June 7)
our dossier (the collection of documents about us including our home study and immigration approval) arrived back to our agency from the Chinese embassy in Houston.  I was hoping it would be sent to China yesterday, but I guess they didn't have time and now China has a 3 day holiday for the Dragon Boat festival or something so the agency that receives the dossier and sends us our permission to go get her will be closed until Thursday.
The average wait time for travel approval once the dossier is sent is about 4 months so we should get that about mid-October and probably travel around the first of November.

Getting closer

We are getting very close to traveling to get Aleah.  We were told today that our travel approval arrived from China.  Now that our agency has that, they can make an appointment at the American consulate in Guangzhou for us and once we have the appointment we can make plane reservations.  We are really hoping to be able to leave on November 7 and be back home about November 21 or 22 but November 14th would be okay too.  If we don't get either of those days we can't leave until December 5th.  Just praying for God's perfect timing.  I have so much to do before we go that it is a bit overwhelming.  I got an update on Aleah and they say that she is very happy to have a family.  I asked her a few questions about herself and found out that she prefers dresses over pants and would like to take dance class.  Her favorite colors are red, white and black.  She is about the same size as Alaina but maybe a little taller and thinner if their measurements were accurate.  Here are the latest pictures.

walking to school

Waiting