Cade's Visa came today!

Cade's Visa came today, so once I get the new money to take, we'll be all set for Saturday!
Thank you, Lord!

Testing Email Posting and Our CA Appointment

First, I apologize for leaving everyone hanging. I've been in panic mode since I found out last Thursday that we will be leaving on Saturday, September 4th. So much to do!!!
Our Consulate appointment is September 14th.  Several people wrote to their congressman and got the US Consulate in Guangzhou to open up more September appointments, so that people could travel in September, rather than when the Chinese holidays begin at the end of September through November. We'll be flying straight to Shanghai. We'll leave Louisville at 6:00am September 4th, go through Chicago, and arrive in Shanghai at 1:55pm on Sunday,September 5th. Our "gotcha" day or "forever family" day will be Monday, September 6th!  I'm working on a way to update the blog everyday with posts and pictures, since blogs are blocked in China.

Please pray for Raeanna.  Even though it's an orphanage, it's all she knows.  She is being prepared for us, but we're still strangers to her, who look and talk differently. I can only imagine how frightening it must be to be handed to people you've never met that are so different from the people you know.

I'm trying to send this post through email to see if it works, so bear with me.  I'm going to try to update later in the week, also.

Thanks so much for the prayers.

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!We got the call today! It happened!!!! Mama and Daddy are coming to get you, little baby girl!!!!!
The travel guy is wanting us to go with a group leaving September 2nd!  Wow!! He will be letting me know in the morning if he can get the Consulate Appointment for those dates or not.  We also have to get Cade's visa back in time, which the guy doing that was not very promising.  Please pray that if it's God's will for us to go then, that everything will go smoothly, and we'll get the visa for Cade.
I'll update tomorrow, when I have more details! Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!!!!

Praying for TA and CA

Just a quick update here! 
We're really hoping to get our Travel Approval on Monday!  Most of them are coming at 2 weeks from Article 5. The most time I've seen in the past month or so has been 3 weeks.  Please pray with us that once we get TA, we can get our Consulate Appointment, or CA, in Guangzhou on Sept 20th or 21st.  Then we could leave for China on September 9th. CAs are filling up fast.  Many people are sending letters to Senators and Representatives, asking them to work on getting the Consulate to open up more CA appointments.  We really want to go in September. October gets much more expensive because of holidays, not to mention, our child has waited long enough for her Mama and Daddy!

Cade is going with us!  We're so excited about that!

Please pray with us! 

While We Wait!

School has started back for Cade.  He started classes last Wednesday. He has a tough schedule.  He's taking Adv. English, Physics, Adv. Chemistry, AP World History, French, and Algebra II.  Brett left yesterday to go back to Mississippi. We spent Saturday night in Nashville, and he left from there.  He was going to a leadership conference or retreat or something like that near Petal, MS, and then on to Mississippi College to begin his junior year. He'll move in the dorm on Sunday.  Katey is at home a day or two here and there, between meetings and parties for the grad students. Her classes start next week.

We've been debating about taking Cade to China with us. He would miss 12 days of class time.  Considering his schedule, that's a lot of important instruction time.  On the other hand,  he'll learn so much about China and his little sister's birth country, not to mention, it'll be a trip of a lifetime for him. So, I'm going to talk to the school.  If they'll excuse the trip and count it as educational, he'll go.  If not, I guess he won't. I worry that something could come up unexpectedly to keep the grandparents from being able to come, since it's not much notice, so it'll relieve that worry, plus we would like to have him with us.  I wish all 3 of them could go, but Katey and Brett cannot miss their classes. I know Brett would love to go, if he could.

There's so much to get done.  I'm not finished with Raeanna's room. I want to do a will, since we'll be traveling overseas. There are many odds and ends that I need to take care of before we leave.

Please pray that the orphanage is preparing Raeanna for the changes that are about to take place.  As far as orphanages go, it's about the best one in China from all accounts.  They do seem to prepare the children well for their new families. The children's needs appear to be met. However, it's still an orphanage, and there is no way that each child can get the nurturing and affection that children need to flourish. Please pray that we can make up for the lack of love she has experienced in her early years, and teach her about the love of Christ.
I'm sure there will be grief, because she has lived at the orphanage since she was a little over a year old, so it's all she knows. In her paperwork, it says she is closest to her caregiver, which has probably changed a few times.  Grief and disappointment can't be new feelings for her. It is my prayer that God prepares her for us and us for her, and that He gives us the wisdom we need to show her love and make her feel secure in her new forever family. Pray that she attaches to us and us to her, and that she has a smooth transition into our family.

ARTICLE 5!!! Officially Waiting for Travel Approval!!!!

The good people at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou sent me an email saying that our Article 5 was picked up by our facilitator!!! Hopefully, he sent it straight to the people who issue TA. Now, we are officially waiting for the Chinese government to issue travel approval so we can go get Raeanna and bring her home!!! It won't be much longer now!!! TAs have been coming to people in about 2 weeks lately, so I hope ours does too! Less than that would be even better! Then, our agency will make our appointment with the consulate in Guangzhou, and the trip will be scheduled around that appointment.

I better get busy! I'm trying to get my house ready. It's kind of like nesting! haha  Most of the things we'll need to take for travel have been bought. Her car seat is ready. We have our visas ready for travel in our passports. I'm working on her room. We won't know how many gifts we have to buy for the directors and officials until a week or so before travel, when the agency tells us. There are still many things left to do, but who cares?! I'd leave tomorrow if I could!

Yet Another Delay!!!

I want some good news to post!!!!!
Our Article 5 was supposed to be picked up August 5th. It was not. I don't know why.  I emailed the Consulate in Guangzhou to confirm that it was picked up, and they wrote me back in just a few minutes to say that they were sorry, but it was not picked up by our facilitator and that no one called or emailed them the reason why. They said to please contact my agency. I had already done that, but had not gotten a response. I emailed the agency again, and got a response this morning, saying it would be picked up Monday, but there was no explanation.  I don't understand why things aren't done when they are supposed to be done, because 2 days can cost weeks in traveling. All of this has lost us 2 weeks, which pushes us later traveling by an amount of time that only God knows. Not only does it take us that much longer to get our daughter, but the closer we get to the Chinese holidays in October, the higher the hotels cost, like 3 times as much.

I'm really happy for those people who have moved faster. I think it's wonderful that their children are getting to be with their forever families sooner.  I will admit, however, that it frustrates me that people whose LIDs were over a month after mine, got their LOAs on the same day as me, and now they are either in China or leaving within a week.  I know this to be the case with several families because there were so many who got their LOAs on 6/7/10 like us.  Of course, there are also those families who are running into snags of all kinds, like us, or worse.  It upsets me most for the children.

I mailed Raeanna another little care package yesterday.  She's probably given up on us ever coming, so I wanted her to know we haven't forgotten her. This one had another photo book of our family with pictures of her included. It also had a couple of small toys, and some fruit snacks, animal crackers, and fruit candies for the children and the caretakers.

If they do indeed pick up our Article 5 on Monday, we will hopefully get TA within 2-3 weeks.  It'll take another couple of weeks to arrange flights, consulate appointment, and in-country travel and hotels. Of course,  I'm going to have everything ready on my side of it to leave that day! Many people have gotten TAs within 2 weeks. Maybe the last step will be our fast one! Please pray for a speedy TA! Please pray for Bob also, as he's getting nervous about being gone from his company that long and on short notice.