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.

I'm Not Dreaming

All day, I looked at Gracie's photo every few minutes to reassure myself that I'm not dreaming and we are really in the last stage of this adoption process. The five plus years have in some ways kept our lives on hold because we knew that somewhere in China would be a little girl who God had planned to be a part of our family. There were of course, numerous moments of if, will, when questions, frustration and lack of patience! We have all prayed for her and loved her daily. I have felt the 'paper pregnant' feelings that are just like we go thru during pregnancy. The only difference is that this pregnancy lasted over five years.

My cup is running over! When I was a child I always wanted to have three children of my own one day. There were lots of times that I thought that wouldn't be possible and I THINK I accepted that. But God knows the desires of our hearts and now I'm just filled with joy and awe! If you know John's and my story, you have seen God knit this family together in amazing ways since the day we met! The gift He has given us of bringing up three of His sheep is an overwhelming blessing! I can not wait to have our three children together and to see how they interact and bond with one another! It's going to be priceless! :)

The Package

FedEx delivered that package today to John's office carrying our acceptance letter from CCCWA (The China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption). Also, in that package were the two pictures posted below and information about how we can send a package to Gracie Lin. I have collected a few items to send including a sweet lovie, a disposable camera for her care giver to take some more photos and some photos of her family!

Beautiful Girl!

Grace Lin Jing Xiao

Gracie Lin Jingxiao

September 13

Fuzhou City Children's Welfare Institute

Jiangxi Province

At the moment I don't think I can even tell you how we are feeling! For now, we'll just let you soak in those adorable cheeks and sweet lips! In June she weighed about 15 lbs. She goes to bed at 8 and gets up at 5:00am! She is a good eater, likes to be held but we aren't so sure about how well she sleeps. All of this information is about 2 months old. We also know that she is currently in foster care instead of the orphanage. Will post more as we get it! Oh and Jing means 'gifted woman' and Xiao means 'dawn.' From older posts, you all know what Grace is but Lin means 'a family name' and my middle name is Lynn. :) We will most likely call her Gracie Lin.

This morning Carter and I picked up Parker from school, which he did not expect. I told him that Daddy had a surprise lunch time planned for us. Of course, he went down the list of fun places he wanted to go - Chuck E Cheese, Dave & Busters... When we arrived at the CCAI office, he was asking if we were at an apartment or a doctor and by the time he saw the CCAI sign, John was opening his car door. He read the sing out loud and then said, what about lunch? :) We asked, don't you want to see your little sister's face? He just got a big grin on his face.

Once we were inside the office, Chaunda said that she hated to ask us to wait but she had to talk to someone in the Colorado office before giving us he paperwork. What was 10 more minutes after 5 years, but I was about to burst! It was only about 2 minutes later when she came out with the envelope. We all gathered around a little table and Chaunda placed a red folder on the table. She grinned at us and pulled out this picture at which point, I burst into tears! From the moment I looked at Gracie's sweet little face, she felt familiar to me! God has planned her for this family! John was watching me for reaction and had the biggest smile on his face! I looked over at Parker and he jumped up from the table and went back to the toys on the floor. I think he must have been feeling shy about his emotion and wanted some space. Carter just smiled at her photo and said, 'bebe!'