Sweet Face

We got an exciting surprise today - new photos. There are two that basically look alike but this one shows her bum through those split pants. :) Too cute. Look at that sweet face!! I can't wait to squeeze her!!! Do you think I'll ever put her down?

Travel Approval

We are approved by China to travel! Wahoo! We got the approval on Monday and then by Tuesday morning, our US Consulate date was set for October 20. We are leaving on October 6 (from home around 7:30AM) and will arrive in Hong Kong on October 7 at 7:20PM - yikes! We will travel to Gracie Lin's province on the morning of the 9th and we will have her in our arms that very day!! :) Lots of details to come together for the in between days but then we will fly home on October 22 - leaving HK early that morning and arrive at our home airport at 5:30PM. Welcome home baby Gracie!! We can't wait!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE LIN

Our precious baby girl turned one today on the other side of the world! What a hard day for Mommy not to be celebrating with her! I was emotional all day and felt like I missed her even though we have never met! I wondered if her caregiver was celebrating her day and what her birth mom's thoughts were on this big day for her/our little one! We celebrated with a cupcake, which was a huge deal to Carter. He shopped with me and didn't like any pitstops we had to make that delayed our picking up that cupcake! We sang and made a little video for Gracie to hear later on. I think when she gets home, we'll have to have the smash cake! :)

USPS to China

Today Carter and I took Gracie Lin's package to the USPS to ship to China. Below is a picture of the contents. I have had the snuggle blanket for months and the last two weeks, I have carried it around with me A LOT! I put it in a plastic bag for shipment so that when she gets it, hopefully it will still smell like me. I pray that it gives her a little comfort when she is placed in my arms and I smell a little familiar. My friend Shannon gave me this soft sweet fragrance called 'wish' when we went to get Carter because babies sense of smell is so strong. Months later after I hadn't worn it for a long time, I put it on. Parker walked by me and said, 'it smells like getting Carter!' I guess the sense of smell in relation to memory really is strong! :) We hope to get some photos back on the disposable camera I included but there is no guarantee that her care giver will use it. We understand that she likes rattles so I switched out a toy I had selected for the little duck ring in the photo which has a rattle inside. The photo book with her picture in the cover includes photos of her new Mommy, Daddy, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.