Yesterday was our Consulate Appointment, the very last step of the journey.  It use to be that your appointment was one morning and then the swearing ceremony was the next day.  They have now changed it things so your appointment is in the morning and the swearing ceremony is that afternoon.  It is so nice to know that the only thing we are waiting for now is the actual visa in her passport which will be ready tomorrow afternoon.  It is so hard to believe that we only have two full days in China and then we start the very long journey home.

Sophia has bloomed so much over the last week.  She hardly resembles the scared little girl placed in my arms on Nov. 22nd.  She is so much more adventurous, sometimes more than mom is comfortable with.  As we layed down for a nap today she started beating me up and laughing, really laughing.  That isn't something we had heard before and never even a small chuckle unless we had put forth a lot of effort to get it.  She is in to everything, just like she should be at her age.  Last week so was afraid of everything and now she wants to check things out.  She recognizes her American name and seems to understand most of what we tell her.  She still doesn't babble or baby talk and I haven't heard the word mama but I know one day she will just start flowing with so much to tell us.

I feel so blessed to be her mama.

All is well with the three of us in GZ and with the family at home.  So glad that we were able to leave home before all the snow came.  It has delayed the delivery of the tshirts and hoodies so I only imagine it would have delayed our departure.

A brief run down of what we have been up to the last few days.  On Wednesday we visited the police station to apply for Sophia's passport and it was ready on Thursday afternoon just as Grace had hoped!  On Thursday we visited the Liu Hua Lake Park, it was beautiful, so many flowers and all perfectly groomed.  On Friday we visited the Yue Xiu Park, it's absolutely huge and is on a mountain.  Sophia decided to start walking when we are in public at the park.  She is one strong little girl, I couldn't believe she could walk up the hills the way she did.

Saturday was Sophia's visa medical appointment.  All went fairly well until the shot part, she had to get six shots, two of which are elective at home.  It was torcherous and I was very upset with the manner that it is done but I am so thankfull that the children being adopted won't have to go through this much longer.  The only thing that went through my head was thank you so much Mr. President that you didn't see fit to get your signature on that bill immediately upon passing.  If only those of power in our government had to endure what we then maybe it wouldn't not have happened.Sophia has ran a little bit of a fever but is really doing very well after the shots.  I feel so lucky that she hasn't had an adverse reaction, all our prayers are being answered.

Sophia and mommy are hanging out in the room this morning while Nani is going with our new travel group to the zoo.  Sophia has had some sneezes and a runny nose the last two days so we are having a quiet morning.  We will have to take another trip to Shamian this afternoon for laundry so a little down time is good.  Tomorrow morning our visa paperwork is turned in and the swearing ceremony is tomorrow afternoon.  We are now on the down hill of the trip.

Sorry that we have not been posting regularly.  Our internet connection can be quite slow so it is not always working fast enough for VPN or for Skype.

Yesterday was our finalization day and it was another busy day at the CAB office.  All 40 families arrived again at the same time and got into line, or at least our guides did.  Grace is a dream at all of this stuff.  She has us sit down and wait while she does all the worrying and scurrying.  With the final day of the Asian Games being friday the passport office is closed so we might not be able to get Sophia's passport before our Consulate Appointment on Monday.  Grace was trying to get an urgent urgent passport instead of an urgent passport so it could be ready on Thursday.  She also had a backup plan and put a call into the Consulate about turning in the passport at the swearing in ceremony on Monday afternoon.  She is confident that either way we will be fine, I had full confidence that she would get it all worked out though.  No stressing by me, Grace did enough for both of us.  What a fantastic adoption guide!

Today was our passport photo visit at the police station.  Again all 40 families were there at the same time and again Grace got us in and out as fast as can be.  Sophia has been very tight lipped up until noon today when Nani took a walk to the pool to read for a while.  All the sudden she started running and playing and giving a little half smile.  I just couldn't believe it and of course the camera was with Nani so I couldn't even document it.  She also started taking her bottle again today, she just needs time to digest all of the changes going on.

We took laundry to Shamian Island tonight and ate at Lucy's, it was wonderful to have some of the familiar.  As much as I really like being around real China at our hotel in the city sometimes it gets a little overwhelming with it all.  It was nice to be able to stroll a bit and have some western type food.  We also did a little shopping at my favorite store, Jenny's and then stopped at the WS for some ice cream before catching a taxi back to the hotel.  The taxi was a bit of an adventure as the driver took us to the Holiday Inn City Center instead of Shifu.  The ride ended up being just as long or longer than if we had walked.  Oh well, we saw some new areas and also saw where the Garden Hotel was.  No wonder so many love it, it was in a beautiful area.

Once we got back to the hotel we got our jammies on and Sophia started being a total nut!  She really let her guard down and was getting wild and crazy.  She has a spunky little personality and I can't wait to see more of it unfold.

Tomorrow we are going to a park to stroll for a while and then Grace will be picking up our final provincial documents.  We have finished the provincial part of the adoption so now we wait for the US side of things to get wrapped up.  Unfortunately, I don't have a good pictures of Sophia as she wouldn't let Nani take any.

Sophia!

Started off the post with pictures.  The first picture is of our time at the registration office shortly after we met, the second is back in the hotel and the third is M and E at the airport before I took off.

Today has been a long emotional day.  We had trouble sleeping last night so we have pretty much been up since 1am with a little nap in the wee morning.  At the CAB or registration office their were 40 families there and it was crazy and emotional.  Children crying everywhere.  Sophia was on major overload so we got out of there as quickly as possible.  She hadn't eaten for 7 hours or so we were told so she was starved and grieving.  By the time my mom and Grace ran into the Carrefour and got some formula S and I had begun to get to know each other and she no longer wants anything to do with anyone else.

Her cry is very heart breaking and it took quite a while to get her down tonight.  You could tell she was absolutely exhausted but couldn't get to sleep.  She is finally down and I am exhausted too.  I am so tired I can't really articulate how the day went.  I hope to be more coherant tomorrow after our final appointment at the CAB.

We're here!

We made it in last night without any troubles!  We had a nice long layover in Seattle, before the long hop over the pond.  Only slept a couple of hours which has helped a lot with us getting set in our new time zone.  I have to say if you want a nice inexpensive flight to China, Hainan Air is the way to go.  I felt like we were in first class except for the size of our seats.  Food was wonderful, service perfect and then when we were getting ready to land they came to let us know that we had a very tight connection in Beijing to GZ and that they had arranged for ground assistance to get us to our next terminal.  We had a little over an hour to get through customs, get our bags, change terminals and make our next connection.  We got off the plane and had someone meet us, take us to customs and got them to open up special lines for those of us with tight connections, arranged for a van to drive us to our next terminal, had our bags retagged and taken to a special counter to make it to the next plane.  Breezed through the security check point to have another agent waiting for us to then help us run through the terminal to our gate.  We made it and the flight attendants were nice and not even acting upset with us for making the departure late.  It amazed me at how much each person was kind and courteous in their part of the transfer.  I really think we could use some lessons on customer service.  This has been my best trip to China so far.

Landed in GZ about 15 min late and Grace was waiting for us.  We got checked into our hotel, Holiday Inn Shifu.  We are on an executive floor and our room is wonderful.  Huge bathroom and the bedroom area has tons of room.  I think we will be very comfy here for two weeks.  It's about double the size of the rooms at the White Swan.  We are right in a street market area.  We spent a couple hours this morning walking the market to see what we want to buy.  Found some of the cutest shoes for the girls.  Still looking for stuff for the little guys.  E really wants a DS but I think that is something he will have to wait for!

We meet up with Grace in a couple hours to exchange money at the bank and do a little paperwork.  She is so on top of things and so nice.  Tomorrow is Sophia day!

And we are off!!!!

Leaving first thing in the morning for China.  Please keep my husband and kiddos in your prayers.  This will be a rough couple of days as they transition to being without mom.  I know they will do great but prayer can't hurt.

For those of you waiting for your bringing Sophia home goodies the printer should be shipping them tomorrow so they should be sent on to you by the end of next week.  Thank you for all your help to bring our little girl home.

Talk to you again from China!

Today our church prayed for our family to send us off to China with prayer warriors behind us during both services.  It feels so wonderful to know that we have so many prayers supporting us through this journey. The next three weeks will be very busy and will have some trial but in the end the seperation and grief (Sophia's grief) will be so worth it as we have Sophia home.

Lots of packing and organizing still in progress.  Also praying on the final funds needed for Sophia's adoption.  Please keep us in your prayers.

One week!

Can you believe exactly one week from today I will be sitting on a plane on my way to our baby girl!

I am just amazed at how quickly time is flying by, so much to do until I leave.

We are still $3700 away from the funds needed.  If you would like to donate to our Sophia fund you can use the Chip In button on the right.

Hoodies, tees and hats have been ordered and will be here before the end of the month.  If they come in while I am gone my beautiful sisters are helping out and will get them in the mail to you.  Thank you so much for your help, support and prayers to bring Sophia home.

Featured Family!

We are one of the featured families this week at We Are Grafted In.  I love this site, we can freely share information with fellow believers.  There are some adoption support forums out there that really limit our sharing of faith.  I am so appreciative of Kelly for starting this site.  Not only does she allow us to share our faith but we also get to post our fundraisers and she has guest bloggers.  Hop on over and take a look at my fellow featured families and get to know the site.

Less than two weeks...

until Sophia is in my arms and part of her forever family.  Praise Jesus!

Thank you to everyone who has donated, prayed, advertised, prayed, encouraged, prayed.  You get the theme here!  Prayer is so very powerful and we appreciate every prayer that is said.  As our family prepares to be seperated for two weeks we know that we need your prayers more than ever.  This is going to be so hard on our two little ones who are missing their mom and our normal routine and then of course very hard on daddy who works long days and is doing all he can to help our kids cope while I am away.  Out of all of us I think my end of it will be easier, even with a grieving child and jet lag thrown in.  I could be wrong but I know how attached to our daily life our kids are.  Please keep on praying for us!

Fundraising, WOW!  We are so very close.  Every time I start to get discouraged the Lord sends someone my way to encourage.  As we wrap up our final fundraiser the hoodie, tee and military cap pre-sale I know that the Lord will provide.  This who journey has been a journey of learning to trust the Lord to show us that nothing is impossible.  If He gives you the vision he will provide the provision.  Being a human that is so hard to let go but I have learned so much in this journey.  Thank you to everyone who has been here with me.

WINNERS!!!

The drawing took place this morning by three lovely children!  I will post pictures of them tonight, my camera is at gymnastics this morning.  The first person drawn won the grand prize of the netbook.  From there you will get to pick the prize you would like in the order you were drawn.  I will notify you when it is time for you to pick your prize.  Hopefully, we will have all winners notified in the next couple of days.  Without further delay here is the list:

1st  Bonnie B
2nd   Granny
3rd    Sharon B
4th    Anne L
5th    Anni N
6th   Peyton
7th   Carol W
8th   Beverly A
9th   Samantha H
10th Mona A
11th Leslie H
12th Addie T
13th Shannon S
14th Shelly R
15th Uncle Bernie & Aunt Les

Congratulations to all our winners!!!

We appreciate all of your support, prayers and encouragement.

We have our Consulate Appointment too!

I didn't think it would take 48 to 72 hours to find out and sure enough I got word first thing this morning that our CA is Nov. 29th.  Sophia will be in my arms on Nov. 22nd and we will be home around Dec. 2nd.

As long as the wait seems now things are speeding by.  So many things that need to get done.  I just happened to call the bank today to make sure that they ordered our money and I am so glad I did.  The message didn't get passed on to the person that orders money but thank the Lord she was a wonderful nice person and said she would order it today to have next week.  She was such a sweet person and was so excited to be helping us.

Now to get our house organized, the girls room reorganized, bags packed, house cleaned, etc.  I am going to sleep the entire flight to China after all this!

WE HAVE TA!!!!!

Our agency received our Travel Authority letter today and sent in our request for our Consulate Appointment, in the China adoption world this is known as our TA and CA.  We are expecting that I will be leaving around November 18th and would meet Sophia on November 22nd.  This is all tentative at this point as our travel and meeting day are all centered around our CA.  We will find out in the next couple of days our exact CA and will begin to make our travel arrangements and get our bags packed.

Roughly we are about $4000 away from the funds needed for travel.  We really appreciate all who have donated, purchased and are praying for us.  Please help us continue to spread the word about our hoodies, tees, caps and of course the puzzle fundraiser.