Updated Pictures of Peyton Received!

We received our final travel packet from CCAI today. One of the first things Darren looked for was how much money we would need for our in-China travel and miscellaneous fees; the first thing I looked for was the itinerary, which would indicate "Gotcha Day" - the day we would get our little girl! The difference between me and Darren, I guess!

Anyhow... We learned that we still needed a butt-load of money to pay for our in-China expenses (which I totally expected) and that "Gotcha Day" would be Monday, September 6th! I could not stop shaking for a good hour over FINALLY knowing the day our little girl would be placed in our arms. I think my nerves and the range of emotions were just a little overwhelming! Darren was happy to learn our "Gotcha Day" as well, but he was fixed on the amount of money we still needed. Totally Darren though - he cracks me up, but this is what we've been saving for!

We also had our Travel Conference Call with CCAI. After going through the packet, learning about "Gotcha Day" and sitting through the conference call, I was a little stressed out because we still don't have the one final piece of paper that we need to ensure everything goes through without a hitch - our amended immigration approval, which indicates we are allowed to adopt a child over the age of 3. We sent it off in the middle of July, and we still don't have it back.

As I drove home, I was praying our updated document would be in the mail, and I was SO disappointed when I got the mail and discovered it still hadn't arrived. When I got inside the house, I was pretty bummed and thought I'd log into my e-mail, wondering if anything good would be there.....

Much to my excitement, I saw an e-mail entitled "Sun Bao Yan" which is Peyton's Chinese name. I thought it would be another e-mail from CCAI with more paperwork or something like that. Well, it was from CCAI, but when I opened it, I discovered it contained updated pictures and measurements! Tears immediately welled up in my eyes and trickled down my cheeks as I called Darren. He couldn't believe it either. We remembered being told we may or may not receive another update on her before we traveled, but we hadn't even thought about it and just assumed we probably wouldn't be getting one, so this was very exciting for us. We were both in disbelief over the changes in her updated pictures compared to the pictures from when we received her file.

She looks so big! And with her hair still being so short and being dressed like a little boy, she does look different, but look deep into her eyes and check out that smile of hers - she's adorable, precious, and she just melts my heart.

Darren said, "We have to girl her up!" and, "And why did she get so big?!" I said, "I know!" and, "Don't worry. I have lots of pink clothes and girlie bows and headbands ready to go!" We're so excited.

Here are the updated pictures we received!