We Are Off

It's so surreal.  We are heading to the airport in an hour, off to Chicago, and then off to Beijing.  It has been the biggest whirlwind of emotions and planning and packing in the last two weeks.  Are we ready?  Well, we have the paperwork, we have clothes, we have snacks, we have plane tickets and we have hotel reservations.  We have been wanting him for a year now since we accepted his file and saw his face.  I don't know about ready, though.  However, we don't have to be.  God will give us what we need at the time.  We don't have to be ready for his teen years today.  We don't have to have the house ready for everything that makes him comfortable today.  We don't have to know his favorite foods, or what he likes to play or have him signed up for swimming lessons.  We have to be open and trust that God will give us what we need today.  Then tomorrow God will give us what we need then.  Adoption is such a scary and exciting and emotional experience.  Adoption was not God's first plan, but our world is broken and so He helps us make it another plan.

Please pray for our sweet boy.  We have been praying that they are preparing him often and that his heart is as ready as it can be for the biggest event of his life.  He is going to be losing so much and he doesn't really yet know what he will be gaining.  Of course we would so appreciate you praying for our safe travels too.  This is a BIG trip!  We will do our best to blog and post pictures, but we are not sure how the internet will be there.  Just know that God goes before us wherever we go.  So it's all good.  <><

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:25-34

We Are Going To China!!!

Well, we've had a busy week!  So, we got our Article 5 Pick Up on January 8.  Our agency said it would be about 2-3 weeks before we got Travel Approval and then we would travel about 2 weeks later.  However, I started seeing on our LID Facebook page that people were getting Travel Approval last week and Consulate Appointments for the first week of February, so of course I got excited!

Lots of people got their TA last Friday, so I kindly and patiently (ha ha) emailed our agency just to see if they got ours.  Well, they had gotten five TA's but now ours and all of those people got Gotcha Days of February 2.  So, I reluctantly asked if we would find out Monday.  Guess what?  Monday was a holiday, so Tuesday would be the earliest we could hear.  You know how when you ask God to help you practice patience and in His ironic wisdom, He gives you opportunities to practice patience?  :)

So, Tuesday we calmly and totally undistractedly start doing school work.  I may have possibly been watching the clock until it became 8 am on the west coast.  Then 8:30.  Then 9.  Then a little after 11 am our time the phone rings....FROM OREGON!!!  We got our TA and they were going to request at Gotcha day for us for Feburary 2!! I didn't know if that was still even a possibility, so that was so exciting!!  So, we had some forms to fill out and send in, so we got on that.  We did go back to schoolwork, but M was so excited she couldn't concentrate on math, so we illustrated Greek myths and journaled about China.  So I again, totally calmly and patiently asked if we would find out that evening if we got our days.

OH, I totally forgot to mention that we found out one little other bit of information.  China doesn't do any Consulate Appointments the middle two weeks of February, so if we didn't get the February 2 Gotcha Day, we would have to wait three more weeks until February 23.  Now, I know that three weeks doesn't seem like much of a deal, especially after waiting a year after seeing his face, and almost four years since we started the adoption process, BUT when you're this close, three weeks is a lot.  So, yesterday we found out about our TA and we knew that we would find out about our for sure appointment this morning.  OH, did I mention that since they were trying to fit us in before Chinese New Year, if we get this appointment (which would be awesome) we have to fly out NEXT WEEK!!  So, we spent yesterday kind of getting ready since we could leave in a week, but kind of not wanting to get too excited in case we weren't leaving for a month.

SO....to end the suspense, we had an email waiting for us this morning (three emails actually) and WE HAVE A GOTCHA DAY OF FEBRUARY 2 and WE LEAVE NEXT WEEK!!!  AAAAAHHHHH!  We are beyond excited, and trying to plan everything and decide where to even start with preparing everything.  Please pray for our new son, our travel, our planning and everything else that will happen in the next three weeks.  We will keep this posted and then start turning it into a travel blog!!!!    Thank you for everyone's continued support, donations and prayers!!

But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.  Psalm 33:11

And now it's January!

I seriously do not know where the time goes.  Every time I think about blogging it seems like it haven't been that long since I blogged, but then it really has!  We had a very fun Christmas although again it felt like part of our family was missing.  We really thought we would have him here by Christmas, so that was disappointing, but we have to trust in God's perfect timing.  We got to have my sister and niece here, as well as my grandma, so that was so much fun!  Last New Year's Eve we started writing down our predictions for the next year, and looking at what we wrote down last year.  Last year we predicted that we would adopt a little boy.  Last January, we didn't even know his name and now he is woven into our hearts.

Last week, on January 8 we had our Article 5 pick up.  Now we are just waiting on TA (Travel Approval).  It seems like we are SO CLOSE, but kind of crazy that we still don't have a date.  We are at the point where we keep looking at the calendar and gauging everything by our possible trip.  Will we go to another co-op?  How many AWANA's will we miss?  Can I teach my next Sunday school rotation?  Should we start packing now?  I am definitely a planner by nature, so this is blowing all of that out of the water.  If you want to practice a little more "Let Go and Let God", just pursue adoption.  :)

So, in the meantime, I have been working on an ultimate packing list, setting up his room, buying remedies for anything we have heard might be a problem eating and drinking in China, making sure everyone has gloves and coats, learning some more Chinese phrases and praying, praying, praying.  We have felt like he has been a part of our family for almost a year now and we are so ready for him to physically be here.  It's so very exciting and I can't believe that in a month we could be sitting in China as a family of five!!!

 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  John 14:18-19