19 more days...

Our travel dates got changed-now we're not leaving until the 29th. We were a little disappointed about not getting to travel with some of the people in our group, but I guess we just need to remember to trust God's timing. There's a reason for this-we just might never know about it.

I hate waiting. 19 more days-it's closer than we've ever been, but it still seems so far away. I just want him to be here, in our house... He's my brother and I want him home.

My mom has been starting to get James' room ready. The plethora of little boy clothes and playthings is almost alien to me. With my father being the only male in this household, we don't see much of those!

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It's funny how different some of these kids look from their referral photos. Little kids change so fast... It makes me wonder if we'll recognize James. Even the three photos we have of him are vastly different from one another.

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That's all, for now, folks...


Ali

James, your family is anxiously waiting too!

Time for this little boy to come home...He looks sad in this photo which is his passport photo. We are all dreaming of little James now- I think all of us here have had dreams- and some pretty goofy! We are getting his room ready and as we hear he loves cars, we are going for a car theme. Mike wants to run a train around the top of his room on a shelf! WOW- I have seen it done in a restaurant, but in our home-cool dream big and if that works, I have some other projects for him as well! Counting the days in anticipation of our journey to meet James and bring him into his family!

TA! We're going to China!!!

We got "the call"! The exciting third in the series of "calls"! So funny, the phone rang and I said to Claire I wonder if it is America World...Claire went over to the phone and started screaming! I had a little trouble hearing at first with the excitement, but Kristen said she had good news! Our tentative dates are October 23- November 7! Wow that is so quick...I knew it was coming, but that is a little over three weeks away! I have been feeling so unbelievably thankful with God's blessing lately on this whole journey. He has met us every step of the way and has poured down His presence in so many parts of this journey. We are pretty certain He has even made it possible for all of us to go to China. I remember when we first starting praying about adoption and the financial cost of it seemed impossible. I remember when we really believed God was calling us to this, stepping out in it and having the faith that God would provide. It shouldn't amaze me that He has provided everything we need..but it still does. How great is our God!

Where is James...

James is in an orphanage in Beijing and I have seen some photos of the orphanage recently and wanted to show them. It appears to be a pretty large facility and cares for children of all ages. James has probably received our care package in the last few days. After you receive your approval you are allowed to send a package. Our orphanage currently doesn't allow much to be sent, but we were able to send a translated letter, photo album, and a disposable camera. It was fun to compose the letter to him and tell him how excited we are to have him in our family. I had to remember I was writing what would be read to a three year old. I was also able to send 20 photos of his new family and some activities. I did send one of the snowstorm and hope it doesn't scare him because actually all of that snow started to scare me! It will be great to have him familiar with us. The disposable camera will record him in his environment now. Those photos will be precious and I cannot wait to see them. I hope to have some photos of him with his nannies who I know love him very much. That will be so great to have because it will probably be the only photos I have of James in China. The first photo is of the neighborhood outside the orphanage. The days are getting long sometimes as I just want to bring him home! I pray each day his heart is being prepared for this big transition into our family and all the changes ahead. I know our hearts are being prepared as we wait and dream of the days ahead.

RA APPROVAL!!!!!!!

WOW! We received our official approval from the CCAA to adopt Lu Sitong (James Sitong) today! We can officially share his photo! It was great and of course unexpected, even though we were on day 87 of waiting! I was at my sisters painting and helping her get her house ready to sell. First off let me say I have been in search of 3 year olds just to see how big they are what they do and say...cause it has been a while! Funny I never came across a three year old until today! A friend of Coll's stopped by with twin boys who had just turned three and so I got a glimpse of that age again...of course it made me have such longing to get James home! What a gift to receive the call from our agency right after that with those thoughts of James fresh in my mind! So we are absolutely thrilled. I called Mike and shared the news and we decided to pick up Chinese and I didn't tell the girls. Ali saw the chopsticks and place mats in the dining room and went kind of wild following me around asking what was up! Claire just couldn't understand why we were eating in the dining room with chopsticks and place mats when I had said we were having leftover pizza! Mike came home and brought out the food and it was a wonderful celebration and we are so incredibly blessed and thankful to God for this precious gift! We are filled with joy, anticipation, thankfulness...What an exciting day and now on to the flurry of things to do in the weeks ahead!

Olympics

WOW! Lisa sent some great photos of the opening ceremony and has had a great time in Beijing working on the Olympics. She is looking forward to some time off to relax after working very hard for such a long time! We can't wait until she arrives home. It has been almost surreal to watch these Olympics and think of our son in Beijing and the fact that we should be actually going sometime in fall...who would've thought!

NC Vacation...Luna Pops!

We had a wonderful vacation in sunny North Carolina! Our weather was so beautiful everyday and it was just so great to have family time. We ate a lot of shrimp and the highlight of the trip for most was Ali catching a shark! We were fishing off the pier and as we were buying the bait there was a big poster of all the different fish. I said if anyone catches a shark I'll pay them $20...I guess money is a great motivator for some of us! I was originally worried about taking the trip because I thought we may be traveling to China shortly after, but that doesn't look like it is going to happen. Before vacation I went on a frenzy of painting...I was feeling like if there was anything I wanted done I better get it done now, because once our little James is home I won't be doing any of those projects! I painted both the girls rooms, the kitchen, and the family room. I am feeling like I don't want to see another paint brush for a long time!