One Week!

Yes...the day has finally arrived!  One week from today we will be meeting Lucy for the first time!  Sunday, December 6th is the day that she will be brought to our hotel by some of her orphanage workers!  What a wonderful day that will be!!!  We are a bit disappointed that we will not be able to travel to her actual orphanage so that we can see where she has spent the first 11 months of her life.  But word has it that they are not allowing anyone to the orphanages due to H1N1.

Below is our itinerary.  We leave in 3 days!   Please keep all of us in your prayers.

Dec 3 (Th):  Arrive in Beijing 3PM their time (3am our time)

Dec 4-Dec 5 (Fri-Sat):  Tours to the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Forbidden City

Dec 6 (Sun):  LUCY DAY!!!  Fly from Beijing to Nanchung(a.m.)  Receive Lucy at hotel (p.m)

Dec 7 (Mon):  Go to Civil Affairs Bureau to complete adoption registration (Jiangxi Province)

Dec 8-Dec 10 (Tu-Th):  Tours and free time, plus some paperwork stuff

Dec 11 (Fri):  Fly from Nanchung to Guangzhou

Dec 12: (Sat): Visa and medical exam for Lucy

Dec 13(Sun):  Tours and free time

Dec 14(Mon):  More visa stuff for Lucy

Dec 15(Tues): Group oath taken at U.S. Consulate

Dec 16(Weds): Receive Visa for Lucy at Consulate

Dec 17(Thu):  Fly Guangzhou to Beijing (10am-1pm) Fly Beijing to Newark (dep 5pm)

HOME!!! Cincinnati!!   10:30 pm on the 17th.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Travel Approval!!!

Yes!!! It is official!!!  We have out dates for travel!  We will be leaving December 2 and returning December 17th.   What a blessing that we will be home with our girl in time to celebrate Christmas and her birthday. We have not gotten all of our inter-country travel arrangements yet, but are hoping to get those tomorrow.   We will fly into Beijing first and then fly to the province Lucy is in (Jiangxi) a few days after that.  Our Consulate appointment in Guangzhou is December 14th. This is when it becomes official that Lucy is our daughter! 

My life has been ruled by one list after another the past week or so;  I imagine it is only going to get worse.   It just seems like there is so much to do.  I am questioning how this could be, considering we have had 4 years to prepare! The picture above is some of the items that we sent to Lucy; we have been informed that she should have received everything by now.  You will notice the letter that we wrote for her (translated into Mandarin), as well as a pillow that was made with our picture on it.  It comforts me to know that maybe as I write, this pillow is laying by her side as she awakes from her nights sleep.

We will be going to NY next week to spend Thanksgiving with Brian's family.  When we return, we will be leaving three days after that.  How busy and exciting life is going to be for us! I can't wait!  Thank you for all the prayers.

Just Waiting....

I thought I should post an update, as I know many of you are curious and have been asking.  And as the title of this post suggests, we are (again) just waiting.  The photo is Brian on Halloween.   We loved sitting by the fire and thinking about how next year at this time Lucy will be with us.

Throughout the years, I have always thought this time in the journey (when we had received official confirmation of our Lucy and were just waiting to travel) would be very difficult for me.  Knowing my personality and demeanor, I really should be anxious...but I am not.  For some reason, I feel strangely calm.  I attribute this to the many prayers that I know Brian, Lucy and I are receiving.  Don't get me wrong, we think about Lucy constantly and I probably dream about her every night.  I get tearful when I think about that moment when she will be placed in our arms forever.  But I trust that God is looking over her, and that keeps me at peace.  So thank you for all of your prayers.

We have sent  a package to Lucy. It has new jammies, stuffed animals, a blanket, a camera (that hopefully workers will take pictures on for us), and a letter from Brian and I.  The business we used to do this (Red Thread) will also be getting us updated photos and information on our girl.  So hopefully I can share those with you soon.   We also have located Lucy's "finding ad" and have someone sending that to us.  This is the posting in the paper seeking Lucy's biological parents. This process has to occur before they can deem a child abandoned.  This will be the youngest photo of Lucy that we will probably ever have.  So I hope to share that with you soon as well.

We have our Visas and are now just waiting on approval from China to be able to travel. The approval should come in the next 2-3 weeks and then we would travel 2-3 weeks after that.  We will continue to keep you posted....