TA and travel dates

     Well we finally received our official dates to travel this morning.  I am a mix of emotion because we will be with Ariana very soon, but sad because it isn't as soon as it could be.  Of 5 dates sent for the consulate to schedule our appointment, they chose the latest one.  We will be traveling to China on October 7th, and returning on the 20th. I waited a little while today to post because I needed time to let my emotions subside a little.  I cannot believe that finally after all this time I will get to see her in person, to hold her and get to know her and her us.  It doesn't quite feel real yet, I guess because 3 and a half weeks feel like forever.  I know that is ridiculous because we have waited this long... but it feels soooooooo far away.  I think about her all the time, what she is doing, if she is happy, if she is safe, I wonder if they really show her the book we sent with pictures of our family in it. 3 weeks... that is all, just 3 weeks... after all the longing and wondering and praying and working (and worrying lol) 3 weeks until I see her, until I touch her hand for the first time and kiss her cheeks... 3 weeks until I can hold her and let her know she will be loved forever.  To show her she is someones daughter and sister and grandchild, someones niece and cousin and teach her what all that means.  I cant breathe for thinking about the moment we land and she sets foot on American soil and becomes a US citizen. 

God thank you for these blessings, for this beautiful life you hand crafted to be a part of our family, thank you for getting us through every moment of this journey, and thank you for teaching me you will be there everyday as this journey really begins here at home.  Thank you for each of my children, for those I can hold now and for those yet to come... I am truly blessed. 

I still have so much to do, packing is now on hold, at least our stuff,  but David had plans to build her bed, when we thought we were leaving earlier we picked one out to buy, now we are back to building :) I can do more to her room, I had settled on good enough but now I have a little more time to prepare.  I guess I need to check the list again and see what is left to do... :)

Keep us in your prayers and we prepare to go, and as we travel, I will update more on our plans as we make them....sorry for the rambling.
  Me

AMAZED

All I can say is God is beautiful and faithful and loves us so much. He has shown Himself so faithful throughout this process. As u know from the last update we had a God sized problem, YES I SAID HAD :) God has answered our prayers once again. We received a donation today that covers the balance we needed. God blessed some very special people, who in turn blessed our family. Through their faithfulness and generosity we are able to bring our daughter home. I wish I could write beautiful words that would display how grateful we are. Words that could give back to them some small part of what they have given. I feel so humbled and completely unworthy... sigh

I set out a challenge early on in this blog. I asked ppl to follow along on our journey, to watch God do miracles. To be here and see that He could take what little we had to offer and turn it into a God sized dream. My prayer has been that as you ride out this story with us your heart is shaken so to the core that you have to move, you have to do something. I challenged you to watch and see that if God can do what seemed impossible for our family, that you would take your own leap of faith. Don't wait until it feels right or you reach a certain place, these babies, and children and teenagers need us now! If God is drawing you to move... Then do like we did, Look to Him and say," Ok God, We are stepping out, but you have to do this because we can't" every time things have gotten hard I have had to tell Him that again. God still does miracles, He will be faithful and be with you every step of the way...

To the precious ones who gave to us... Again we say thank you, words cannot express our gratitude. Every attempt to say thank you feels so feeble and weak. I pray God bless you beyond your wildest dreams...

For everyone who has prayed and cried and held us... Thank you... God is writing Ariana's story her legacy and each of you are a part of it.

When I lay eyes on my baby for the first time, and as I am blessed to watch her grow, I will remember each of you and how you each in your own way helped bring her home.

Now we wait again, as long as our TA arrives by wednesday (it is waiting for one last signature and predicted to arrive Monday or Tuesday ) then we leave the 16th to bring her home... HOME!!!!

Thank you God for your faithfulness, for holding us and guiding us and loving us, for making our dreams come true... I am so unworthy of your love, yet so very grateful to have it. :)

Humbled beyond words, Kathy
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Disappointment... the ups and downs of adoption

This process is full of ups and downs, highs and lows... today is a low.  We found out today the grant we were told we got, isn't really ours... so we still need the final 5 thousand.  I am truly feeling so many things, frustration, anger, fear, exhaustion, and faith mixed together.  We also believe we will have our TA in a few days.  This puts us in the middle of a God sized problem.  We will be traveling in just a couple weeks if all goes correctly. We are choosing at this point to believe and trust that God is faithful, that this work HE started He will complete.  Please pray for us, for comfort and peace, and that God show us how to get the money we need. 

Thanks guys...

Me

Waiting... and waiting... not so patiently

Hey blog friends...

So I don't really have any "news" I just thought I would let you know what we have been doing.  We have no idea what size our daughter really is, we got some random numbers that look like somebody took a USA chart for average child size and picked the middle numbers.  It however would make her big for her age.  So either she is smaller and someone was "saving face" or she is older than they told us.  In the mean time we have been trying to buy all the things we need for our trip.  Including lots of medicine to bring with us.  I haven't shopped for children's meds in YEARS lol.  So it was amusing, standing in the isle in Target with my mother trying to figure out which ones to buy.  Vitamins took the longest, I have no idea what she will be willing to take, she may run away screaming about these crazy Americans shoving all this stuff down her. :) We are bringing so much and we have to try and get it into two suitcases or pay for an extra bag.  I am strongly considering this because she will need one coming home as well... or maybe it could be a small one David could carry on... who knows.  I am going nuts, idk if I posted about this before but the nesting thing is driving me nuts. I never really had a strong desire to "nest" when I was pregnant, maybe because I am a planner and got things done pretty early.  This time however, the process has kept me from planning as I would like so I HAVE to get everything done NOW! It is crazy... (my poor family has to deal with me).

I have been reading a lot about China and trying to prepare for every scenario (ha..ha).  Funny thing is, I am most concerned about planning my potty trips so I NEVER have to use a squatty potty! If you haven't seen them, look up Chinese toilets, then you will understand my horror! My poor child may have ever used a western toilet, so teaching her that will be interesting.  We still have not gotten an official update, which means we don't know if she got our package or not.  I hope she did, and I pray her foster mother is showing her the book everyday.  Please be praying for her that she be able to transition without trauma.  This is tough for any child but our baby doesn't have someone telling her everyday that she is going to live with her forever family.  In her mind, she is home, no one has communicated to her otherwise. :(  My heart aches for her and how scary it could be, but I know we serve a great big God who can calm her fears and help her bond to me quickly... (yes and David too) but mostly me...lol  This little girl has captured the heart of so many already, I cannot wait until you guys can all meet her...

Destin has an ortho appointment today so I better get some stuff done before then... Oh and pray our TA (travel approval) arrives today, if so we will be able to leave around the 16th!!! If not it could be another couple months due to a Chinese holiday and a couple trade fairs. PRAY PEOPLE!!!!!

Love.... Me

Awesome God

Ok so we had to call our adoption agency today to ask about a statement we recieved that didn't make sense.  When we got a response we were shocked to see we had recieved another grant.  This is the kind of grant given for a specific child, not "to" a family.  God is so amazing, He knew exactly what we needed.  We now have eveything we need to complete our trip and bring our baby girl home!  I cannot tell you how amazing God is... I am so in awe, and so humbled.  We are so undeserving of His blessings...

.... sigh... God you are so beautiful, so amazing...

Article 5

We got the official word, our article 5 was recieved yesterday! This just means travel approval is coming in just a couple weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ummmm we need to get visas.... Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo very excited!!!!! Now I must make a packing list... ok, what that really means is I have to consolidate all the small list I have everywhere, and make a master packing list!

Information, Accurate or just saving face?

Ok so we got a tiny update on Ariana, it included height, weight, head circumference, and chest circumference.  No shoe size, which we really need, or this poor baby will go barefoot until we can hit the local Walmart type store, and who knows what we will find there. :) Anyway I was trying to figure out what sizes she will wear by this information.  What I found was some of the measurements put her in a 4t, which is good because most of the clothes I bought are 4t, but some of the numbers don't make any sense at all.  So while searching and trying to figure it out I remembered an article I read recently.  It talks about Chinese culture, and how important it is to "save face".  Basically they don't want to be embarrassed in public, or seem they don't know things, so if asked a question to which they don't know the answer, they will make one up.  I read about families being led on wild goose chases by following directions from people on the street in China.  So each person they asked didn't really know the answer, and they made up directions.  This is so funny to me... I don't know why.  I guess I imagine some Lucy type comedy where she and Ethel are running in circles around a foreign country, while a little old Chinese man sits laughing at them as they pass by.  I know, the movies in my head are only amusing to me. Soooo... back to the point, I am now wondering if these numbers were given to "save face"?  She lives in a foster home so I know it isn't as easy to get her information.  I guess we will have to wait and see... waiting... is... not... something... I ... do... well .... grrrr... I guess God knew this about me and figured it would be a good life lesson. Ur... ummm... thanks God. 0:)

We are still waiting for the infamous TA or travel approval.  This part is so much harder than I imagined.  Like I just started the last month of pregnancy, and I know how long I have to wait, but I have no exact day yet,  I feel the nesting thing coming on.  I have to get her room completely ready... or I may go insane.  Ok so I exaggerate, but I am going nuts inside... I can't wait but I know I have to, and I can't rush it.  So I guess what I am saying is pray for my poor family because I may drive them crazy for the next month or so (any maybe for my readers, because I make no promises about the qualiy of posts you may see).