Travel





Approval

Little sister here we come. Please continue praying that God will work out the details of our timing. Our agency called to announce that they received our TA on Tuesday, April 27. We hoped to join the group leaving today and are packed and ready. However, God has a different idea, for reasons we don't begin to understand. We will be joining the next travel group leaving May 20th. That will have us returning on June 3rd-THE DAY OF GRADUATION! We are requesting to come home a day early and will survive on God's strength if this works out! I have much to do in the next few weeks, but it will not get here soon enough.

Asking for your prayers...

So today has been one of those days!

After spending a rather eventful day administering TAKS(our state assessment) I got a phone call from Tia's school. It seems her brother forgot to pick her up today. UGH! As I quickly ran out the door to get her, I was a little worried, because this isn't like him, I tried calling all of my guys and no one answered! What! Was something going on that they failed to tell me? Finally, I found out that Brandon was just delayed getting out of school due to a different schedule. Whew! Glad all was ok!

Now, for the LONG awaited moment.....

I FINALLY got the call we had been waiting for!

Yes, we got the call from Kristen at AWAA that our TA came today! Yippee! I was elated!

Until....

I was told that the next travel date is May 20, not May 13th.

Which means...
we wouldn't be back in time for graduation.
I began to cry and explain to her how important this is and we just can't miss it!
This is my baby boy!

I asked if there was ANY way possible for us to go May 13th. She told me there would not be a group going then. I then asked if there was ANY way possible for us to go this week....Yes, in two days! She wouldn't have to book flights since David works for the airline and we will be flying standby(yes, as crazy as that seems, all the way around the globe!). Kristen probably thought this was the craziest thing she had ever heard of, but I promised I could pack quickly. She said she would see what she could do and get back with me. That was late in the afternoon, and I haven't heard back yet. I'm sure she will call in the morning.

Please PRAY that there is some way, any way, we can make it this week.

I won't be going to bed tonight until I am packed and ready!
I really don't know that I can sleep tonight anyway!

I know God is in control and He will work out the details, but I also know how important it is to have prayer warriors petitioning for us.

Just as a added bit of info, during our state testing teachers aren't allowed to do ANYTHING. Well, no one said I couldn't dwell on scripture while I was "actively monitoring!" So the scripture the Lord gave me today was none other than:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do NOT let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

Keep in mind this scripture came BEFORE the craziness began for the day. Do you think HE knew what I would need? Now, accepting those words of peace is much harder than saying them, so tonight I will pack, prepare, pray and ponder on peace!

Please pray with us and hopefully follow our journey SOON!

Desires of our heart

Thank you to each of you that have been praying for our travel. After speaking with Kristen at AWAA today, we found out that we will not be traveling next week. Those words came with such mixed emotions today. Yes, I am sad that it will be longer until we meet our little girl, but I also know that it isn't all about me. God hears the desires of our hearts and in this household, He has many hearts with which to work! Our sweet daughter, Tia, has been looking forward to camp with her daddy going as a sponsor all school year. She was going to have to miss this and now she gets to go. Brandon was planning to go with us, but fly home alone early so that he wouldn't miss his Sr. prom and now he doesn't have to do this. Our only concern now is the fact that our May date has us returning VERY close to graduation! We have no doubt that He will work out the details and continue to hear the desires of our hearts....not to miss the graduation of our baby boy! We know our little Lia is in good hands right now and have been pleased with all we have heard about the orphanage and her nannies. We are looking forward to following along on the blogs of our original travel group and then they can follow us as we travel on His planned travel.

Just as the desires of my heart are to wrap my arms around my little girl,
my heart has broken the past few days for a
few other families as they
watch their babies go through heart surgery.

If you have time PLEASE stop by these blogs and add these
sweet families to your prayer list.

Jiliang and Christi

Still W*A*I*T*I*N*G.....

No TA yet

If we have it by Friday, hopefully, we can still travel next week. That leaves two more days and I know God's timing is perfect. So, even if we don't get it in the next two days, I know He has a better plan.

He already knows that we will be flying stand-by and how the flights look!

He already knows the date of prom and graduation.

He already knows that I have a substitute teacher ready NEXT week.

But, most importantly, He already knows when our daughter will be ready to come home much better than we do!

Thank you for your prayers as we try to PATIENTLY wait!

After the major earthquake that hit China today, our family quickly took notice of a map, something we might not have done a couple of years ago. We wanted to know exactly where the area was and how close to our little girl! How can you love a child and be so concerned about their safety before you have ever met them? My only answer is: God! He has softened our hearts and given us a love that is not something we would have ever imagined or planned on our own. This map clearly shows in hot pink the area bordering Tibet where the quake hit. I do not believe it affected the area where we will be heading soon, and from what I read it is almost 1200 miles away. Our tenative plans are to fly into Beijing where we will spend a few days and then fly to Lia's province in Zhejiang, south of Beijing. After that we will head to Guangzhou to do paperwork and finalize her adoption, if I have my information correct. We will then head to Hong Kong and fly from there to Narita, Japan. From Narita we will fly to Chicago and finally back to Dallas where our little girl will be introduced to the rest of her forever family! Today we are praying for those with devastation in an already hurting area and thanking HIM for His hand of protection upon our little one.

A quick turnaround

After emailing our agency today I found out that we can get our TA all the way up until April 23rd and still be able to travel on April 29! I sure am praying we get it this week though! Wow! How will I get it all together? Fortunately, over the past almost 21 years we have learned to adapt as last minute travelers, although we haven't ever tried to fly internationally! This will definitely be a new experience for all of us. If our TA doesn't come in time, we will be traveling on May 6th or May 13th. I know God's timing is perfect and He wants to take away our anxiety, but in my "momma" mode the idea of my son traveling all the way home from another country alone makes me a bit nervous! Brandon's senior prom is May 8th and he said he IS going to Ch*na and he IS going to prom. We told him his only option would be to fly home early all alone and that is what he wants to do. If we try to wait until the May 13th travel group I am concerned that we may not make it back before graduation and that is much more important in my view. So yeah, if you want to offer up some prayers for God's peace and PERFECT timing I would love it!

Here are just a few pictures of my baby boy turned graduate- how did that happen so quickly?

A small update

As we have waited and waited it seems like so long for this adoption to go through, now we find out that we should hopefully be getting our TA(travel approval) any day and then will likely be leaving by the end of the month. That is just three weeks from now and as much as we are ready to hurry and go, I have much to do before we go. Having a graduate this year makes things even more crazy. I am so glad my God is a god of order and details, because I am afraid there are some details I just may forget in the busyness. In the past, when families got the TA it was about a month or so until they traveled. Now that it is taking so long between getting our RA and TA the agency is trying to get families to their children as quickly as possible, thus the quick turnaround. Unfortunately, travel arrangements can not be made until the TA comes back from the CCAA(China Center for Adoption Affairs). There will be a group going the end of this month so we are hoping to go then. We don't know who all we will be traveling with, but have met one family, The Seacott's, and will probably travel with them and look forward to all of the other families we will meet as they also bring home their children.

Many months ago, I displayed a picture of the bedding I wanted to purchase for our little Lia. I had a method to my madness and it has come together beautifully I think. Since her room attaches to Tia's room I really wanted the rooms to coordinate, but I wanted to use ladybugs and red and black ladybugs would not work. Consequently, I googled pink ladybugs and found her bedding. My sweet mother made the curtains and the nice blanket at the end of the bed. We may revise the curtains a little, but until then, here it is, just waiting this darling little girl to fill it with love:

Now does this look like a girl with a CHD(congenital heart defect)? I don't think so, and I am praying that God has healed her in His perfect way already! These two precious pictures came straight from a sweet lady that adopted her daughter from the same orphanage as our sweetie. She is also a volunteer for Love Without Boundaries and you can click on the link to take you to the article where these pictures came from. If you don't know about LWB, please take the time to see what an amazing work they do!