OUR FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED!!!

We recieved our consulate appointment (CA) yesterday. So, as it stands we will fly out Thursday, August 14th from Detroit arriving in Guangzhou at 11p on Friday the 15th. We have a two hour layover in Tokyo. No word yet on when we will "get" Bree, but I imagine it will be Sunday the 17th. Our CA isn't until the 27th and our oath is the 28th. We fly back on Friday August 29th arriving Detroit at 1:45p. The girls don't have school that day for the holiday weekend, so they will be able to come to the airport to meet us. The pieces are falling into place. I will post our exact itinerary when it becomes available to me from our agency. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts!
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me." Matthew 18:15

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!!!!

The phone call came today from our agencies travel department-we have gotten travel approval. Our agency has applied for our Consulate appointment (CA) and that takes from 1-6 business days. Tentative travel is from 8/15-8/30. We will fly directly into Guangzhou (GZ)where the American consulate is (as opposed to Hong Kong). We will stay there the entire trip since Bree is from a city in the same province as GZ. This will also shorten our trip a bit and save a little money. Unfortuately, we will miss the girls first day of school (which is 8/20) but they seem to be OK with that. Can't book our flights until after our CA is known, but they said Detroit had a flight straight to Toykyo and then onto GZ- its only 20 some hours!! Going will be fine-on return lets hope Bree has her fathers ability to fall asleep once the plane pulls away from the tarmac! We are so blessed that my mom is coming along with us-she hasn't missed any of my girls arrivals! Praise our Lord God in the Highest.

Weekly Update

We received new pictures and measurements on Bree today from our agency. Her feet have grown 2 cm since April! Good thing we have held out on buying her shoes! We learned that she can speak three word sentences and even knows how to say "I Love You" in English. That is a phrase she will hear plenty of times once we get her in our arms. They also stated she can take steps with support or by holding onto things. Her favorite food is yogurt!
Our friends from Florida adopting Myah from the same orphanage are leaving August 9th for China-they were able to secure a spot earlier due to a family backing out of their travel plans. We pray for them as they prepare to embark on this wonderful adventure.
God Bless Tracy

Weekly Update

Almost two weeks since LOA. If it weren't for the Olympics, we would be expecting TA in the next two weeks. But, with the uncertainty of China allowing us to travel during this time, we expect TA end of August. However, our agency hasn't been told that we cannot travel d/t the Olympics, so this could be construed as good news. In any event, we are trying to be prepared if we were to get "the call". I have pretty much packed for Bree, our agency gives us a detailed list which is helpful. I am sending out our VISA paperwork this week and should recieve them next week. Now comes the time to prepare for our absence where Brynn and Brooke are concerned. Fortunately, they will be in the very good hands of their Mema.
We have been trying to pack in fun for them before we leave. We did the American Girl extravaganza in Chicago last weekend. This weekend we did Cedar Point and Great Wolf Waterpark. Brooke was finally tall enough to ride some big rides! And, she learned to ride without training wheels this week. Bree will definitely have her share of hand me down trikes, bikes and scooters. Brynn continues to master swimming and exclaimed she is now "fearless" at waterparks. This week we will do an overnight at Sauder Farmpark and then I need a rest!!
God Bless Tracy

He is directing our journey

The last 24 hours have been exciting and frantic both. I downloaded another 19 page set of papers last pm which need to be completed in 5-7 days and of course all the pages need to be notarized! I waited most of the day at my office waiting for the FedEx man to appear with my LOA document. By one o'clock I became nervous and called my agency who got online for me and tracked the letter for me. It was still sitting at the FedEx facility three exits down the road from my office, but they wouldn't give me a local number to call (saying it was unpublished!) So, as my headache was turning into a migraine, and my prayers were coming by the dozens,my trustworthy PSC (Kim, who answers my phones for me)got on the horn and called the 1-800 FedEx number and worked her usual wonders to persuade them to radio the courrier (by now my letter was on a truck!)and notify him that this document was time-sensitive and needed to be sent back by 3pm (when we were to leave for Chicago) Whewwww-it arrived a little after 2p.m. During all this time, I secured the arrangement of documents to be emailed to me regarding our Chinese VISA's, faxed all my companion documents to my mother for her to complete, started filling out some of the 19 pages and oh yeah saw 15 patients! Now, I sit in a hotel in South Bend, IN typing this as the girls and Doug swim and as I continue to praise God for all he has done and shown us with this adoption. May God be Blessed Tracy

LOA IS FINALLY HERE!!!

Wow- The day finally came- we recieved notice from our agency today that we have been granted a Letter of Acceptance (LOA). Our emotions are all over-elation, fright and a little freaking out! Our agency is sending an overnight package that we must sign and FedEx immediately back. They are saying to expect travel in 4-8 weeks, however, because of the Olympics, other agencies are saying 4 weeks to get people in and out. We need to seriously start packing just in case.
And to add icing on the cake...we recieved 5 more pictures of Bree today. She definitely does not seem to appreciate having her picture taken (no smiles this round) but hopefully we will change that! My friend Rina and her family, whose daughter Myah is BFF with Bree, also got LOA today. How awesome it would be to travel at least some leg of the trip together, especially for Myah and Bree. Check out her blog http://www.shpiruk.blogspot.com.
Rina is the techno-wizard behind my blog. Basically, I post and she designs! Luv ya Rina.