The Day We've Been Waiting For!

Today was a great day!

We got up early and went to breakfast. IHOP has a special Dr. Seuss breakfast right now. They have "Whooville Pancakes" and "Green Eggs and Ham". Connor was pretty excited about it. He took in his Horton toy and his Green Eggs and Ham book and was ready to eat!

After breakfast we headed to Cades Cove for the day. We had so much fun exploring and looking for deer and bears. Connor had fun collecting "nature stuff" like rocks, leaves, and tree bark (yes, he's all boy!). Everytime I go up there, I am amazed at how beautiful and peaceful everything is, and so thankful that there is still some of God's creation that has escaped being bulldozed for a shopping mall.

We had to run around a bit after the mountains, so we didn't get home until 9. I thought we'd already had a good day until Greg came up the driveway with the mail as I was getting Connor out of the car in the garage. After almost 4 months of waiting, we received pretty much the most important piece of our adoption (other than our referral of course), our I-71H. For those of you who do not know what that is, here is a quote from an international adoption site:

"The I-71H is officially called the, “Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Procession of an Orphan Petition”. When prospective parents are waiting for any bit of news about how their adoption is moving forward, there are few things better than the I-71H. In a process that at times can seems as though it is grinding to a hault, the I71H is welcome news."

I screamed very loud and possibly woke the entire neighborhood up! This means we're approved by the U.S. to bring Claire home and our dossier can go to Taiwan! God is good!