Where we're going

Lots of people have been asking us where we are going in China and if it's close to Sarah Grace's orphanage. Here's a map of China to give you an idea.

China is roughly the size of the United States. We will start in Beijing (arriving on Jan 18) in the northeastern part of China. We will be there for the weekend sightseeing and trying to adjust to the 13-hour time difference.

Monday morning the 21st, we will go to Guangzhou in the far south (Guangzhou was formerly known as Canton. It's a port city). The weather is lush and tropical. We are hoping for mid-upper 70s! We will stay there until we head home on the 30th. When we adopted Sarah Grace, we ended our trip in Guangzhou so we've been before and we're looking forward to seeing it again. It was the favorite city of both Andy & Aunt Karen last time. Being in Guangzhou for 9 days, we hope to have a nice leisurely visit with lots of time to explore the city. I'm hoping to get brave and try the subway this time. My other goals are to see the Toy Market (a 6-story mall filled with nothing but toys) and the Pearl Market. Caroline's orphanage is about 45 minutes west of Guangzhou in Foshan and we hope to visit the orphanage.

Sarah Grace was in Chongqing, closer to central China on the Yangtze River (This is where China recently built the 3 Gorges Dam).

9 days and counting!

Definite Travel Plans

We're going to China!!!

We have airline tickets. We are leaving in 12 days to meet our precious daughter. Here is our itinerary:

Jan 17 - Leave at 8:45 am. We will fly to Chicago and direct to Beijing.
Jan 18- Arrive in Beijing at 4 pm (China time). Total flight time: 14 hours, 45 minutes.
Jan 19-20 Tour in Beijing
Jan 21 - Fly to Guangdong and meet Caroline. We will have custody of her that day.
Jan 22-29 - Sightseeing, official meetings, etc.
Jan 30- Fly home and land in Indianapolis at 8:06 pm on Wednesday evening!

Our hearts are full of joy as we count down the days!

What a Happy Christmas

We had a fun Christmas. We had good time with family, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, Sarah Grace got the "pretend tools" that she had been hoping for and a Dora tent (plus plenty of other gifts from our generous extended family), and last but not least, WE GOT OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL!! We got the call today, the 27th. Our agency is closed for Christmas, but they had a few people in the office and they made the calls today. What a pleasant surprise. We didn't think we would hear news until they reopened next week.

It looks like we will leave either Jan 17 or Jan 24. Either way, we will meet our daughter in less than one month. It's finally happening. The suitcases have been just about packed for 2 months now so the days between now and departure shouldn't be too hectic (we hope!). I'm ready to go!

Big Sister

Sarah Grace is ready to meet her little sister. She spends much of her day talking about "Baby Xiao Xin." Last Tuesday, we got Chinese for dinner. Sarah Grace opened her fortune cookie and "read" her fortune cookie to us. She announced, "It says: If you have a little sister, you should pray for her." What a great fortune!

At this point, depending on when our TA arrives, we hope to leave for China either Jan 10, 17 or 24. We hope not a day later. We should know something when our agency opens on Jan 2 after the Christmas holidays.

LOA!!!

Our agency received our Letter of Acceptance yesterday! We will receive it by Fed-Ex today, sign it and overnight it back to the agency. I hope the snow doesn't cause a Fed Ex delay!

Then we wait for our Travel Approval (TA). It should arrive in 2-4 weeks. Our agency anticipates that we will travel mid-January.

We waited 154 days for our LOA (normal wait is 90-120 days) so we are hoping for a speedy TA. We want to get to China!

We are rejoicing at our house! Thank you God for sustaining us during the wait.

And still more waiting. . .

The wait has obviously grown much longer than we ever anticipated. Our agency is inquiring to China on our behalf to find out about the delay. Every time frame we hoped for (Home in Oct, Home for Thanksgiving, Home For Christmas, Home in 2007) has passed. So at this point, we just want to travel sometime. Our hearts are breaking every day as we think of Caroline in an orphanage instead of with her family. God is holding us close during this trial and His mercies are new every morning. We long for our family to be together. Please pray for our endurance and Caroline's protection during this time.

Thankful at Thanksgiving

With a continued delay in our paperwork, it is highly unlikely that Caroline will be home with us for Christmas. Despite this disappointment, our family still has much to thank God for as we approach Thanksgiving. We are thankful for:

- 2 precious daughters, one here and one in China
- a trip to China to look forward to in the new year
- a supportive extended family who is as excited to meet Caroline as we are
- friends who are interested in our adoption, pray for us and continually ask
how the process is going
- a church family that ministers to us often during this trial of waiting
- the anticipation of watching our two girls play together soon
- a faithful God who walks this trial with us and renews us daily

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am
helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."
Psalm 28:7

I hope to post with good news about travel very soon!