After the adorable drama from the video in my previous post, I found out the other version of the story... the boys told Elon that she could come into their playroom, but because the Man Cave light was on, Elon was convinced that it meant she could not come into that room - even after being told over and over again that she could come in - she is hilarious! 

I am shocked and so very excited that we received our Travel Approval today!  That was much faster then we expected :)  Our agency is trying to get us in with the next travel group which leaves on October 4th...  WHAT??!!  They are working on getting our consulate appointment and if there are still some available, then I will be running around like a crazy woman getting everything packed.  We are thrilled!

The girls room is almost complete. I love how it turned out. So thankful to Beth at Lucy & Co. for her help!

Thought I would give some background on our blog name. Those of you who know Cole, if you are around him long enough, he will give you a nickname. For example, one of Elon's teacher's name is Mrs. Greene - and he was introducing her as "Mrs. Blue" to the new families entering Kindergarten :) (We love you Mrs. Greene!). Well, once Elon was speaking English pretty well, they were having a sweet father-daughter conversation discussing what her nickname should be. Somehow Elon thought that "Fried Rice" would be a good nickname (she loved fried rice at the time) so of course, it stuck. A few months ago she decided that her nickname should now be "Noodle Soup" this is her new FAVORITE food (She even try's to order noodle soup from Pizza Hut!). She decided that Harper should now have the nickname "Fried Rice". I love this girl's humor, she keeps us laughing all the time.

The boys even weighed in their votes of the blog name and "Fried Rice and Noodle Soup" won.

I hope she doesn't start loving "Pig's Feet" or "Chicken Livers" - that wouldn't make for a cute nickname...

Here is another picture of Harper that I found from another mom who had adopted from Shanghai. This was taken in October of last year. This was also the picture that we had taped on our refrigerator before we even decided to move forward with adopting again. We had prayed for her for months. Little did we know that she would be ours.

I just love those checks!

Since I am just getting my blog going I figured I could go back and give a snap shot view of a bit of our process. When I look at it this way it seems like it has flown by!!

Here is a picture of just one batch of paperwork (with my little helper)...


Time to mail off our Dossier!!


Receiving Harper's Referral - Elon was so excited!


Then receiving our Referral Approval (LOA). Elon wanted to see her's too (Elon's is the one on the right and Harper's is on the left).


Now it is time to travel! Can't wait :)

We received an update on our sweet Harper last week when Cole and I were in California having a wonderful (adult only) vacation. With 3 kiddo's, it is hard to get away - but it was so needed. We often find ourselves never taking time for our marriage. A few weeks ago we celebrated our 14 year anniversary by going out to a romantic dinner - table for 5 please (yes, we took the kid's)! Needless to say, we enjoyed our time in California. Saw some beautiful things and just relaxed! So it was just a blessing on our last day that we received an email with new pictures of Harper. She is doing well, it does say that she is shy and quiet (but the same thing was said of Elon, and well, things changed). Can not wait to see what her personality will be. Here are the pictures that we received...

I just love this picture - I would love to find out who the other little girl is and if she has a family waiting for her.


Ok, we sent her a cake to just celebrate that her family is coming soon - she is not turning 6 but I guess they wanted her to have a candle to blow out. This is probably the first time that Harper has had her own cake.


Sharing her cake with her friends. Check out those dimples!!