Justin's Band

When I first saw Justin march with the band in August of his freshman year, I didn't ever want him to be finished.  But here we are, almost finished with his junior marching season already.  I am so, so proud of him and so proud of our Eaglecrest Raptor Regiment Marching Band!

Junior band photo.  He is co-leader of the trombone section.

The trombone section!

This photo taken by another band parent during one of the halftime shows.  I am always busy getting video!

This year the marching band got overcoats for the cold games.  It's a good thing, since there have been several cold ones this year!

EHS Raptor Regiment Marching Band halftime show

Justin auditioned for several honor bands this fall.  He got into both the Cherry Creek School District Honor Band and also the Colorado State University Honor Band, for which he had his name on the school marquee!  He'll be spending a weekend at CSU in Fort Collins with four other boys from his school in December.  So proud!

Justin had concerts with both the Wind Ensemble and Jazz 2 in October.  See videos below!

EHS Wind Ensemble

"Bonnie Blue March"

"Soundtrack"

EHS Jazz 2

"Main Street News"

"Baby Elephant Walk"

"Dark Side of the Blues"

Sam's Freshman Football

Samuel worked very hard at conditioning and practice every day through the summer and fall.  He did not get a lot of playing time, but he gained discipline and knowledge of the game.  We are very proud of him.

Varsity, JV, and freshman football teams. 
Sam is in the second row, left side, wearing number 36.

His official football photo.  He only wore this jersey for the photo, I think.  His actual number was 47.

Now he is 47!

Jim did chains for most of the home games.

LOA Signed!

We received our Letter of Approval from China on October 25, after 32 days.  That is the shortest it's been for us.  Caylie's was 35 days, and Sam's 53.  But it still was a little more than the current average.  But anyway, it came, it's been signed, and it was sent with our I800 paperwork to USCIS.  We were approved by them to adopt a non-specific child in the I800a process, and now we will be approved to bring our Rylee home. 
Here is Jim, signing the LOA, after we drove up to AAC - our agency - in a snowstorm.  We wanted to save a few days instead of having it sent to us and then sending it back.  But it turned out that FedEx did not pick it up later that day because of the very snowstorm we drove in.  Ugh!  Please continue to pray for us, that we'd trust in God's sovereignty over the timing of this process and our travel, for the financing of it all, and for Rylee's heart, as she learns that she will be adopted and have a new family.  I had a photo album sent to her, which she should be getting soon.

New Rylee Photos!

Since we are in our LOA wait, I asked our agency if we could request an update on Rylee from her orphanage. 
Today we got new photos! It looks like she is doing really well, and that her orphanage is one of the better ones.  I am very glad to see that, although no orphanage could ever take the place of a family.  These new images of our sweet girl make me want to go get her even more!  Come on, LOA!

Rylee LiFen, we love you lots already.

  We pray for you every day. 

 And we can't wait to have you home. 

💗💜💙💚💛

Holiday shirts!

Our dossier was logged in to China's system on September 23.  We are now on Day 28 of our wait for Letter of Approval (LOA).  Hopefully it will come soon this week or next!  

In the meantime, we've launched another shirt campaign.  These cute shirts make great Christmas gifts while supporting adoption at the same time!  They will ship the first week of November.  Several different styles, including hoodies, and several colors, as well.  Thank you for your prayers for us and for your support!

Click here:  Altman Adoption Shirts - Holiday Edition