We leave in 6 days!

Well the last 36 hours have been intense to say the least!  We had a crazy crazy time booking our airline tickets. The ones we had on hold we lost and all of the prices went through the roof.  It is now going to be 2 days of traveling on each end to even get us a halfway decent ticket, but it is what it is and I am trying not to dwell on it. Apparently you need to be a brain surgeon to book tickets to China... Whoa!   That said our plans are still not done as there is an error in one of the tickets that I found as we were having the travel agent book them at lightening speed as the tickets prices kept skyrocketing every time she would try to get one for us, flights are full and the Chinese new Year is soon and it is only a week till we fly = huge headache.  I wont know until Monday if the tickets are fixed but they must get fixed as Luke cant fly alone from Chicago the JFK.....

That said we had an unexpected snow storm this morning and my son had a wrestling tournament so it was a nice side track from the Chaos of yesterday!  It is still snowing lightly and it looks beautiful outside.  Tomorrow Aaron goes back to college for his Second semester at Valley Forge Christian and I am praying for him that he can buckle down and focus and enjoy his second semester.  He is very happy at college and loves the school!

Our preliminary itinerary is:
Drive up to New York on Thursday stay over night in hotel
Leave JFK Friday Arrive in Beijing Saturday
Stay over night in Beijing
Fly from Beijing to Jinan on Sunday(short flight Thank God)
Sorta nuts but that is what has to happen to get us to our sons province and doing tickets last minute was not easy.

I am off to make a few more lists and try and get organized as I can!  Off to get the suitcases packed and let the weighing of the bags begin ( no more then 44 lbs for in China flights).  I will put the rest of our itinerary on here later, it isnt set in stone yet so not posting it.

Test

This is a test to see if I can post from my yahoo email while I am away and post pictures at the same time, so all of you that arent in China with me can keep up on our journey!

Hopefully this is a photo of Luke we got in April from our first update, he is oh so handsome! He looks talllllll too!

Were going to China!

Just in case you have lived under a rock and didnt know what is going on in our lives!!! ""WE ARE BRINGING HOME OUR EVER SO HANDSOME LITTLE MAN, LUKE XINHAI, FROM CHINA SOON!!!!"


We are going to be leaving hopefully next week Friday, that is the day I have tickets on hold for until I hear from our in China agent any different that is when we plan to go! I cant believe we are going to see our son, finally! How I am going to control myself to not squeeze him so hard with hugs and smother him from head to toe with kisses I have no idea!!!! Of course I know, know, know I will cry.. That is just me! Wont be able to control that with all the will power in the world combined!  


We feel so blessed and cannot believe that many years ago in China  a little boy was born and that the Lord, our God, knew his future parents lived many many thousands of miles away and that we wouldn't meet for years, but knew that all would be well and that this little boy would be such a blessing in our lives before he even ever physically touches are home. 


I know that this is not going to be an easy journey and it will be full of challenges as it already has been so. But I also know that this little boy is going to bless so many with is presence.  I cannot wait to meet him and have the opportunity to get to see his sweet face and start to try and see his personality!  We got an update of measurements today and our son has grown!  Luke is now 4'6" and weighs 68 lbs if everything converted correctly.  Tommy is bummed they are no longer the same size but excited his older brother might look like an older brother ahah, if that makes sense!  I am hoping to figure out shoe sizes by the measurement they gave me but am not sure how to do that! I can see his foot is about an inch and a half bigger then Tommy's by how they measured it. 


We are getting all of our clothes for the trip laid out and just keep starring at the luggage over and over again. It still feels so surreal, but the fact that I have broke out in tears (tears of utter joy) uncontrollably several times over the last few days is signs that it is truly happening! I want to go shout from the roof tops but will settle for shouting on my blog instead!

As soon as we know our plans we will put a few of the details on here!  Luke hold on big guy, your mommy and daddy are coming oh so soon! I am wondering if he knows and how he will handle the anxiety that I am sure will accompany the moment when he is ushered into our arms and out of the orphanage! 


more details to come soon!  WE ARE GOING TO CHINA SOON!!!!!!!! LUKE HERE WE COME!!!!

CA!

We will be traveling to get our son in 10 days from now! We leave January 14t....We got our CA today and it is for Jan 26th at 9:30am. We are so excited and now my head is literally spinning with all that needs to be done. This is when I wish I didnt work so I could work continually on things but it will get done. Off to the races... Luke we are coming soon!!!

TA CAME TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was interpreting in my 7th period Math class and I had been waiting with baited breath for a phone call or an email for something to say that TA is here or not!  I heard my phone vibrate and got so excited I couldn't breath!  My student and I just kept looking at each other laughing, as I told him that my phone was vibrating and was hoping it was my Adoption Agency with good news!  The teacher took a breath and I ran to my phone and saw it was my adoption agency phone number and they left a voice-mail.  As soon as the teacher took another breather I asked her if she didn't mind but I needed to leave the room for a minute so I could check my message. She is well aware of what we have been waiting for and told me to run out of the room down the hall a bit to get service and call.  I called and got the news we have been so waiting for!  I have never been so excited to hear Lydia say " We got something in the mail for you today!!!!"  of-course being the crying fool I am.... I burst into tears and couldn't speak for a minute!  They are putting in for Possible CA on 1/25/, 1/26, 2/22, 2/23 and 3/1   I am of course praying for 1/25  or 1/26 I should know within 24-48 which of those China has approved!  4others from my agency all got TA too!  I am now praying for my sweet sister Daleea to get hers so we can be in Jinan together to get our babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Praise the Lord for miracles now I just need a few more miracles before we can go! Greedy aren't I?  We need the 25th or 26th and we need the rest of our funds!!!! SO excited to know that by Wednesday at the latest I will know which day we will finally behold our new son!!


I will post CA as soon as I know it! Thank you Lord for helping us through this whole process and we pray for your loving hand to guide Luke's heart to comfort so that he will not be full of fear when he sees us and he will KNOW that we are his parents and that he is loved and so safe!  Going to celebrate with my hubby and kids and try to come down off cloud 9 and then start some serious praying!!!


It is not as impressive as it is in real life, but this what we have been waiting for!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I am waiting for Tomorrow.... it is only a day away!!!!!!

Tomorrow is day 14 of our TA wait and the rumored day of the landing of the TA's in America!! I  am praying hard we get ours tomorrow or this week at the last and then that we can get a CA (Consulate Appointment) on the day we are hoping for!  We are still heavily relying on the Lord and our Faith for the rest of this journey.  I certainly wish money was not an issue but unfortunately with Tom not being able to find work and me working at a school for a special services (lowest paid around) we just don't make a ton.  We are praying for Gods provisions and we know that HE has this all worked out!  I am praying to be able to post that we have our TA tomorrow.  Then I will have to submit 5 CA dates and then we wait to see which one the Chinese Consulate approves us for (there are a specific number of appointments and since my guy is not an infant my CA must be on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and we are hoping to get one before Chinese New Year.)  I am asking for the dates of 1/25, 1/26 (with us leaving 2 Fridays before that on 1/14 or 1/15) then 1/18, 1/19 (with us leaving 2 weeks before on 1/7 yes this Friday I am hoping to leave the 14th as this Friday will be nuts but I will do it if I have to!) then I am asking for the 1st possible CA after Chinese New Year and that is 2/22 (with us leaving on 2/11)   Please pray for our family as we have a lot of over come right now.  As one friend said we are trying to part the red sea with the Egyptians behind us.. Oh Lord we need your help!


Thank you for your prayers and I am praying I have some news soon!
Tracy

Day 14 of our TA wait is Monday

Well guys Monday  is day 14 of our TA wait and we are praying so hard that it comes in this week! Tom and I have been working like mad on the house since my break started and we are trying to get the rooms all organized and ready to go! We have been cleaning house too! Why not organize and get rid of things we don't need and De-clutter while we are in cleaning mode and Luke isn't here yet.  We have Luke's suitcase all packed and ready to go and we have everything we need ready except our clothes. So we are totally into getting ready mode. I have contacted a travel agent about our tickets to China and gave her some possible dates we are hoping to travel. Got some prices for different options. I am now trying to get in touch with the travel agent that our adoption agency has us use for our in China flight and our hotels, guides and any in China transportation needed. I have not been able to get in touch with them but realized my Comcast is not allowing some emails from China to go through, some are coming through and some aren't. So I emailed from my yahoo and we shall see what happens. I am making lists for my father and mother in law for when they fly in from Texas to watch the kids. Tommy has a TON of wrestling the 2 weeks we are hoping to be away (he has a ton for the next 3 months so it wouldnt matter when we went) but I am making a list of what times and places he needs to be at! Also a list of all the normal everday things that need to happen to make our house run and get our kids where they need to be.  Sure hope they knew what they were getting into when they said they would come stay with the kids when we go away! So excited for what is to come! Please pray with us that we receive our travel assignment (TA) this week and that the Good Lord will help to provide the funding needed to bring our son home!
I will surely be updating as soon as I have news of our TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!