Confidence

When we were in China, Keely slept between us in a King size bed.  Since we were coming home to a Queen size bed I was determined that she was going to sleep in her crib and that she has.  Over the last couple of weeks she had a few rough nights so we ended up putting her in our bed and she would settle right down.

When she has gone to bed or for a nap I have layed on the bed; while she was in the crib; until she had gone to sleep.  Poor little thing sticks her little hand out of the crib constantly to hold my hand until she falls asleep.  It makes me wonder who's little hand she held in the crib beside her and are they wondering where she went? 

So yesterday for her nap I decided to try and get some stuff done after I put her in the crib, she was not happy that I wasn't laying down holding her hand, but I kept going in reassuring her that mommy was not too far away.  After a little bit of a cry she went to sleep and then the mama's guilt and questioning whether I should have done that appeared.  So today I tried again and told her mama was just going to be right out here and low and behold there wasn't a peep and within 5 or 10 minutes she was asleep in the same position I had put her in.  YAY!  I am really hoping it isn't her feeling abandoned and neglected that I wasn't going to get her anyways, but that she is confident her mama will be there when she wakes.

Beach Time Reflection

Sometimes you just have to wonder what is going on in that little head.  Deep thoughts at the Beach!

Waiting for the waves to come, she actually loves going in the ocean.

Brrrr, there's the wave!

Kids.....Say What They Hear!

So on Friday I took miss Keely to visit Isaiah at school during his lunch break.  The kids were all out on the playground, so we headed out to find my boy.  We instantly were surrounded by kids wanting to meet Keely.  They all thought she was pretty cute. 

That was all fine and dandy, Miss K was a bit overwhelmed but was pretty happy to see the familiar face of her bro.  After the initial meeting and greeting, one of the kids gave up their swing so Keely could have a turn, so we pushed her slowly while about 8 kids sat in front of her on the ground.   Then all of a sudden one kid says, "How Much?  I want one!"  Me a bit shocked said "Well she's not for sale!"  Then another little boy says, "Yeah, they already bought her!" 

So that is where I left that conversation with 9yr olds, but it amazes me that people would tell their kids that we "bought" her!!!!  REALLY? 

I am going to be a bit patient about this because unless you have gone through IA, seen all of the different people that are involved from both countries, and the paperwork that obviously has to go through a lot of areas to get to where it is going, then I guess it would look like we just picked up went to China and payed for a baby.  Sometimes though common sense should just prevail, shouldn't it??

What A Year!

This past year has definitely been one for the books.  I home-schooled my boys for Gr. 4 and 7, got our referral for our daughter, started a job, quit my job a week later, spent two weeks of the summer in China where we met our daughter for the first time, arrived home with just enough time to relax a bit before starting school shopping. (Yes they are headed back to public school) and we are adjusting to life with a toddler and having 3 kids. 

So the day after tomorrow the boys are headed back to school and it will be just Keely and I.  I must say these boys are a great help and I am going to miss them when they go back. It is wonderful being able to get them to watch her while I shower, go to the bathroom alone or just play with her for a few minutes while I get something done.  They are such great big brothers!

A week or so ago we went to Magic Mountain water park for the day, the kids had a great time.  Keely loves the water!  She even goes in the ocean without so much as a shiver! Brrrr 

Keely & Friends

Here are some pics of some of the new friends that Keely has made in her short three weeks home:

Sage & Keely

Oskar & Keely

Kallie & Keely

Ryan & Keely

Keely with the boys & Zoey at the beach!  Poor kid has no attention! lol

     

Things We've Learned So Far!

She Adores Her Brothers!

She Hasn't Quite Got the Concept of Gentle with the Cats yet!

She Loves To Hold Someone's Hand while in Her Stroller.

She is Loving Daddy More Each Day!

She Likes The Beach Sitting Down!

She Likes Hangin With The Boys

She Likes To Sit on the 4-Wheeler in Her Tutu Dress!

She is a Very Good Sleeper!

She Lets You Know When She is NOT Impressed!

This Says It All!

She Is One HAPPY Girl!  

There has been many changes for all of us these last few weeks, but for one little girl, the changes that she has been through, are far greater than any of us will ever know.  She has left the only place she has known for the past two years of her life; familiar faces, smells, foods, friends and toys.  She was passed to strangers, has flown to the other side of the world; which has absolutely no comparison to where she came from; and has amazed us all with her strength and the ability to attach, love, adjust and fit in with our family.  God has truly shown his mighty works in every step of this journey to our daughter.  We are very thankful to Him for giving us this treasure.

~Home Sweet Home~

Well we've officially been home 5 days now and Keely is doing extremely well.  In China she slept between Chris and I basically because she was stuck to me like glue and I didn't want to stress her out with another separation of putting her in the crib.  Also, we had a King size bed.  But knowing we were coming home to a Queen size bed and she is an extremely rough sleeper, I was determined that she was going to sleep in her own crib.  So the first night home she went in her crib in our room without so much as a whimper and has continued to nap and sleep in her crib.  I lay down on our bed until she falls asleep since she freaks if she thinks I am leaving the room.

The last few days she has been warming up to daddy more and more.  I had him bath her on Monday night; since she loves the bath now; and when I came home from the store, she was all in her pj's in dad's arms waiting at the door happy as can be.  The next day she reached up to him to pick her up.  So relieved it was starting to take a toll on him and me.

She seems to be pretty relaxed when we are home so we have been laying pretty low.  She loves her brothers and is learning how to be gentle with the cats.  Overall, I think things have gone smoothly.  Don't get me wrong, this has been one of the hardest things we have ever done and may ever will be.  We all have some adjusting to do, but looking back on how things have fallen into place I know this little girl was hand picked for our family.  Here are some pics from our first few days home.

Recap!

I feel a little overwhelmed that I couldn't update my blog while in Beijing, so just so I don't forget everything that happened I am going to recap our last week in China.  Just bear with me, this may be a bit long.

Friday, July 29:  Our flight was delayed because of a storm in Beijing, but our guide was able to switch us to an earlier flight, so we weren't actually too far behind schedule.

Keely for some reason in the airport started chasing a random Chinese lady and wrapped her arms around her legs.  Then proceeded to scream as daddy went to  get her. This was the first and only time that she did this.  It was scary and sad to not know what she was thinking.  She did sooo good on the flight.  It was around 2hrs and she didn't mind at all.


Finally arrived at the Presidential Plaza Hotel in Beijing around 7:30pm.  Met our new friends from NS in the lobby with their new sweet daughter Kyah, talked for a minute then headed to our room for room service and an early night.

Saturday, July 30:  Went to breakfast then had to go to Yulin's room to do more paperwork, visa pictures, etc.  Then we had a group photo in the hotel lobby before heading to the Beijing Zoo.

The guide said there was a extra stroller if anyone needed one, so I decided to see if miss Keely would go in one.  At this point my arms were pretty much wore out.  Thankfully she sat in it and actually thought it was kind of fun.  She had to have a hold of my hand as we walked though, which was fine with me.

We seen the pandas, but there were so many people you basically just wanted to keep walking to get to a less congested area.  The rest of the zoo was pretty much like other zoos, maybe a bit busier.

Sunday, July 31:  Today we went to the Jade Factory and the Great Wall, I had to pretty much continually remind myself that I was actually there.  It was amazing, HOT, and steep.  We actually took the less steep way, but it was still a lot of steps, uphill with a 2yr old.  We only went a up a bit, Chris and some others went a bit further.  It was just too hard to carry her up, but at least I can say I walked on the Great Wall of China.  Keely had her first taste of ice cream today, it doesn't seem like she likes cold things yet.

Monday, August 1:  Chris and one of the other couples husband, spent 8hrs today at US Immigration trying to get Visa's for our girls to basically walk through the airport in the States.  Cass and I went this morning to a market across the street and I bought a stroller.  Soo  excited that she will go in it.  Chris missed going to the Summer Palace with us.  The Summer Palace was beautiful, but it was sooo crowded and hot that it makes it so hard to really savor and appreciate the beauty of it all.

Tuesday, August 2:  Today we went to the Silk Factory to see how hard all of those little silk worms work.  It is really amazing to see how much goes into making silk products.  I realized that making a rag quilt is a lot less work than making one made of silk. lol

We then went to the Pearl Market to do some shopping.  There are corridors, stands and rooms everywhere with workers trying to get you to buy something from their section.  If there was something I wanted, I left the wheeling and dealing up to Chris.  He was pretty tough on bargaining, but he got most everything for the price he wanted.  A very interested spot, I just wish we had of had more time there and I could have got the kids school shopping done for a fraction of the cost here.

We went to an acrobatic show tonight at a theater.  Keely did really well sitting through the whole thing and we were able to keep her awake until we got back to the hotel.  She has been going to Cassidy a bit more the last few days and she is fine with dad picking her up as long as he is playing with her and throwing her up in the air.

Wednesday, August 3:  Today we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Yet again very beautiful buildings, amazing history, but very crowded and extremely hot.  Keely had her first taste of Popsicle today, she was a bit confused what to do with it.  Eventually it was melting so much we had to throw it out.

Tonight they had a farewell China/ Bday party for all of the families and children.  We ate and there was a little magic show.  They also had a cake for everyone and all of the children were given beautiful scrolls with their Chinese names on them.  Keely I think was a bit over stimulated at the party.  She was a bit crazy and it scared me a bit, I will admit.  Wondered how we were going to travel on a 13hr plain ride with a hyper 2yr old, but we were in survival mode so we would do what we needed to.

Thursday, August 4:  This morning we had our last breakfast at the Presidential Plaza, got packed up and ready to leave for the airport at around 12:30.  All of the families except for one were leaving today, so we all went to the airport together then headed on our separate ways for home. 

Our flight from Beijing to Newark, NJ actually seemed to be shorter than the flight we took to Beijing originally.   Keely did amazingly well the whole journey home.  She is a very good little traveler.

We finally arrived in Moncton around 9:30-10 Thursday night.  Nana, Grandpa, Noah and Zay were at the airport waiting for us. Keely seemed to recognize her new brothers, since we had been showing her pics.  That night at the hotel, she really took to her brothers.  I was very thankful, because I was a bit nervous of how she would react to them.

Friday, August 5th:  Finally after a long journey, we arrived home to meet a little welcoming committee as we drove off the ferry.  It is hard to believe after all of the paperwork, waiting and prayers that we are actually home with our little girl.

Let the next half of our journey begin............

Blessed!!

Well the last few days with our new little girl have been pretty amazing.  Since we are first time adopters, I really had no idea what to expect so I figured I would expect the worst and it would have to be better than that.  But all of my anxiety and fears of it going terribly wrong, so far have been overshadowed by a attaching little girl who each day makes steps to show us that she trusts us and wants to be with only us. 

Yesterday we went to the Yellow Crane Tower, and this was the first time that she would actually get down to walk and hold my hand.  Otherwise it was baby clingon!  She also; since there were tons of steps; would let daddy take her hand so we could help her down the stairs.  She also, calls him BaBa which is super cute, but doesn't want him to take her yet.  She will hand him things and wants him to open food for her.  If I say "go give it to Baba or Dada", she already knows what I am saying and will take it to him.

Today we went to the Museum, and she would get down and sit on the floor and just look at me.  I would say come on get up and she would put her hand up for help.  She even let go of my hand and walked in front of me for a couple of seconds.  It wasn't long though and she turned around and wanted to be picked up again.  She played a bit more freely in the room today and is definitely being more interactive with Cass and Daddy.

She hasn't been eating a lot at meals, and had a little meltdown at supper last night.  We are managing to keep her eating snacks and drinking a lot, but it is so hard to know what she will eat.  She puts stuff in her mouth, chews it and then spits it out, so hopefully when we get home we can get her eating some healthy stuff.

She also has been sleeping about 10hrs at night.  She only will fall asleep if she is laying on top of me though.  She goes into instant panic mode if she thinks I am going anywhere.  We have a King size bed here, so I am not sure how our little Queen bed is going to do when we are home. 

Tomorrow we head back to Beijing, which we are actually really excited about, here in Wuhan the streets are literally packed and you basically risk life and limb if you leave your hotel room.  So from about 9:30 to 11:30 we are with our guide and then she drops us off to spend the rest of the day in our hotel room.  We are staying at the White Rose Hotel and it is a bit out of our league.  If you even go near one of the elevators, a bell boy is there to push the button for you, if you enter onto another floor there are about 5 people standing wondering what you would like.  The food is not good at all(we have spent a fortune on trying to find something on the menu edible, even the American Hamburger didn't taste like meat), so at this point we are dehydrating and starving and a 5 Star hotel in Wuhan. lol

So overall, things are going well with our new little princess, she is very smart and is like a little Molly Made.  I was eating one of her cookies as she was drinking a milk box and she put out her hand for my garbage and took it and her empty milk box to the bathroom and put it in the garbage.  Too cute.  Tomorrow will be her first plane ride, but I am sure she will do fine as long as she can sit on my lap the whole time.

Thank you to all who have been praying for us on this journey.  God has definitely been in every detail and we are very thankful and blessed for the many answered prayers.

First Days Together

Here are a few pics of the last few days.  Things are going very well, she has become my permanent attachment and will barely let me put her down for a second.  We signed paperwork today and we were nervous about her seeing her orphanage worker again.  When he walked in she turned her head and snuggled in as close to me as she could possibly get.  Then when we went to have a pic with him she didn't want to be even close to him, so I am assuming that is a positive!  We are supposed to be going to see the Yellow Crane Tower today, but it is raining so I am not sure.  It may help though if we go to have it a bit cooler, especially me trying to carry a 2yr old up 9 flights of stairs. :op

 

Gotcha Day!!

 

More to come, we have been up since 3AM, waiting in the very crowded Beijing airport for 10hrs and finally got to our girl around 5:30.  She was a bit upset at first and literally sat on me like you see in the pic for about an hour.  It didn't take her too long to come around though and now she is sound asleep, so who knows what the night will bring.  She is so sweet and happy, she wouldn't eat much other than cheerios and drank some water so hopefully tomorrow we can get her to eat more.  More updates and pics hopefully tomorrow!  Off to bed!

Drum and Bell Tower Tour!

Today, we got up and actually made it to the western style breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Chris was very excited about eggs, bacon, sausage and toast.  He thought he should eat a fair amount to hold him off for awhile.lol

Bell Tower

Drum Tower with 69 steep steps to the top in a lot of heat!

Then we went with some of the group on a 15 min walk to the Drum and Bell Towers.  They were pretty amazing.  We went on rickshaws through the oldest village in Beijing that surrounds the Towers.  Most of the families that live there have been there for generations.  We went to visit at a Kung Fu Master's house and had Jasmine tea with him.  They are so friendly and welcoming.  He showed Chris a few moves with his swords, and got him to do a Kung Fu pose.  It may become his new hobby who knows.

We also did a bit of shopping today, but it was sooo hot that for most of the afternoon we came back to the hotel and had a nap before supper.  Tomorrow is the BIG DAY, I am not sure how much sleep I am going to get tonight, but I at least need to try.  We have to get up at 4am, be at the airport at 5am and our flight leaves for Wuhan around 7am.  It is around a 2hr flight and we will meet Keely for the first time at around 2:30 pm local time.  So for those folks back home you will be in dreamland because it will be like 3:30am.  So maybe when you awake we will have had time to post some pics.........if not they will be added soon!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we add our daughter to our family!! 

Adventures in China

Well today was our second day in China, we left our Island on Wed, July 20, flew out of Moncton at 6:30am, landed in Newark Airport in New Jersey and flew to Beijing from there at 12:05pm.  We had a 13hr and 40min flight to Beijing. Our guide Fay met us at the airport and we arrived at our hotel at 3:30 in the afternoon, very tired and ready for showers.

We went to a local supermarket to get some bottled water and snacks, lets just say the variety of foods and the way they are handled are very different from what we are used to.  With the heat, and the other smells around, it doesn't take long to kind of loose your appetite.   We then met up with another family from NS whom have done this twice before and are back for their third daughter.  They were headed to go eat supper, but we were just ready to go to bed, so that is how we ended our 1st day in China.

Today we met the others in the lobby at 9am and left to go on a little walking tour.  We walked to The Temple of the Earth park.  There were lots of people dancing, little kids in their split pants(if you don't know what split pants are it is when toddlers and babies have a split in their pants from front to back without a diaper  So they just do their duty wherever they want!)  There was a live band playing, and lots of interested locals in the couple with the two adopted daughters.  It is such a different way of life here and just because there is a crosswalk doesn't mean that you really dare cross because bikes, and cars definitely don't care if you are an inch away from them, they just honk and you have to get out of their way very very quickly.

We ate dumplings and noodles at lunch with chopsticks and drank Chinese Pepsi.  At supper we went with Yulin, her daughter and the other family and had a variety of different dishes. (Chris figures the Peanut Butter we brought is going to get used a fair amount in the next two weeks. )  The heat here is unbelievable, you walk out of the hotel and it is like a blanket of heat consumes you almost making it hard to breath, and that is with no sun, just smog of fog.  The people here are very calm and friendly, we feel very safe walking around Beijing.

Tomorrow we are headed to do some more sight seeing, and visit some local homes to see how they live.  In 2 more sleeps we will be getting on a plain and going to Wuhan to meet our girl.  Then the real adventure will begin!  I will hopefully be able to journal each day so I don't miss or forget anything of this awesome journey.  Trying to savor every moment, even the smells in the streets that can turn your stomach in an instant. (Well I could do without that part.)

CHINA HERE WE COME!

Well it is official that we are going,  the past couple weeks you could say have been a tad bit stressful.  We went from having to decide within an hour whether we wanted to go on July 23rd, to it looking like it was too tight for us to go, to it looking somewhat promising to 95% sure that we were going!

So yesterday we finally booked the tickets because we couldn't  really wait much longer and Yulin thought it would work out, but she still wasn't 100% sure.  So we took are chances anyway and finally tonight; after a lot of stressful and anxious days; we got the 100%!
 YAY, so we head off our island tomorrow, because our flight will leave Moncton early Thursday morning.  Then we will go to New Jersey to Beijing.  Air Canada's flights sky rocketed just within the last week, so we are taking the cheaper route.

We had our one last fundraiser on Saturday.  We did a car wash/ bake sale/ BBQ and made over $2600, so that definitely helps!  The last one we had back in June, was in a downpour/ thunder and lighting storm and we made about $900.

Everyone on our quaint little island have been so generous and supportive of our adoption and we are so thankful we live in such a wonderful community.

Well it is hard to believe that all of the dreaming, planning, waiting and praying for a little girl is finally coming true.  It still hasn't really hit me yet that we actually are doing this, but I am sure once we land in China it will sink in pretty quickly.  Can't wait to get Keely in our arms and kiss those chubby cheeks in 5 DAYS!!

Thanks for following us on our journey, we will keep the updates coming and definitely pics ( Thanks to my lovely photographer niece that is traveling with us!)

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY!

"Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own.

Two years ago today, a young mother chose to give you a life and a future the only way she knew possible.  In hopes that one day you would find your forever family who would love you and take care of you.  

We are very grateful to this woman, because she has given us a daughter, sister, granddaughter and chance to love you as our own.  I know we haven't met you yet, but very soon we will be holding you in our arms.  You probably have received our present we sent you and we hope the nannys take lots of pics of you today and that you love your little raggy blankie.

So soon, very soon you will home baby girl.  We love you and can't wait to get to know you and make up for the two years that we missed.

"Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, but you grew in it." -Fleur Heylinger

* WAITING FOR MEI MEI (Little Sister)

Hopefully we won't be waiting much longer.  We are still waiting to see when our LSC gets to China.  Yulin said her brother has been diligently checking and talking with the lady from CCAA(China Centre of Adoption Affairs) and she said once she has it she will do her best.   The agency has really been trying hard to have this work so we can travel on July 22nd.  So I really hope all of our hard work pays off!

We sent her a good chunk of change today to cover our in China Travel and Accommodations, plus the agency fee, translation fee and Visa application fees.  I feel a bit of relief knowing that at least that part is taken care of, now we just have to worry about flights and the orphanage donation.  Which, might I add the money transfer that I did today pretty much took every last penny that we have saved or received in the last few days.  So what does that mean?  That we need to do as much fundraising as we could possibly do in the last week.  I think this Saturday we will have another car wash/ BBQ and bake sale and see how we do and we are also waiting on another donation, but we have no idea how much to expect.  The funds have never really panicked me and for some strange reason they still aren't.  Maybe it is because I am so panicked over whether we are actually going on the 22nd or not that I haven't had time to stress over the $$.

We are so looking forward to finally holding our girl and getting to know her ON THE 25TH of JULY, that I really don't care how it happens, all I know is that it just needs to happen!!  PUSH!!

Roller-Coasters Are Supposed To Be Fun

Well this past week has definitely be one heck of a roller-coaster ride and not one that I am particularly fond of, but this to shall pass! 

So I am going to make a list; mainly for my own recollection of the things and issues that have arose this past week.
1. Received our Visa Application Form through email.  Had to print it off and fill out, (reminder reread directions before filling in all of the paperwork).
So we needed to print off more copies, to find out that we are out of printer paper and this was at midnight!  So we hopped in the truck to my husbands work to reprint the papers.  Home at 12:30.

2. Get on the first boat Tuesday morning, pick up my son along side of the highway from his grandmother, go to my Dr.s appt about shots, then rush my son over to his orthodontist appt.  We then went to pick up a car seat from my aunts and headed back to the cottage.
I dropped him off and had to rush to Fredericton to get my niece's passport photo, to mail with our passports to FOI.  The Fedex shipments leave at 4 and we arrived at 3:50.  Whew another thing done!  Then I went shopping for things for our trip.

3.  LSC still hadn't arrived anywhere and Yulin is afraid that it will be too tight to fit us in the July 23rd group.  We were a bit stressed over this.

4. Called Gentle path on Thursday morning to see if he knew where it was and he said that Elaine had just received it yesterday and he wouldn't get it until tomorrow. OOOKKKKK  we don't have all that time to wait, so I called Elaine myself and she said if I wanted to come to Fredericton to sign it, then we could.  So Chris came up on the 11 ferry and we headed to Fredericton.  There were some issues with Postal services, but we got it figured out and the letter was mailed Friday.

5. Emailed the agency to see if there anyway to fax or email copies of the letter we just signed to China and that the originals would be there by Tues. or Wed.  So Friday morning Elaine sent the email to them with the info they requested.

6.Saturday morning we wake up and have an email from FOI saying Travel Notes 3 and that there were eight families traveling with the July group.  Including us, so this gave me a glimmer of hope.

7.  Another email stated that they would check on Tuesday or Wed. for our pkg in China and if they found it quickly that Yulin would ask for our Travel Approval to be expedited.  So hears to them finding it quickly.

8.Today Monday, July 11th got an email stating the Purolator tracking # was wrong, so we got a different one that seemed to work I guess. 
Then I get an email from Canada Post stating the pkg that FOI was sending us was going to be delayed for an undetermined amount of time!!!  It's not like we have a lot of time CAnada Post!

So you could say after the last email of something else messing up, I lost it!  There is only so much one can take before you think really, is this how it is.  Paperwork and the Postal Service are the two things right now that are standing in the way of us getting to our daughter who has lived in an orphanage for 2 years of her life.  So ridiculous and unfair, but what can you do other than trust in a God who is SO much BIGGER than any of this nonsense.

We CAN Do This!

You could say today has been a bit stressful trying to figure out what actually needs to be done in order for us to travel in 19 days. 

We currently are awaiting our Letter Seeking Confirmation which was supposed to come today, but didn't.  I just received and email with more paperwork to print off and fill out for our Visa Application and we have to get everything filled out and Fedexed no later than tomorrow!  Whew!

I am headed to the mainland tomorrow for a Dr.'s appt to discuss vaccines and Noah has an Ortho appt., I have to go to Fredericton to get Cassidy's new passport pic for her China Entry Visa, find Fedex before 4 o'clock and at some point I need to fit in picking up a car seat, and try to get items that we need to take with us like.  Are you tired yet?  I know I am and 5:30 am is going to come very early!

All of this is happening so quickly, it is hard to believe that just over a month ago, I was wondering if we would even have a referral this year.  God has done miracles for all of this to happen so swiftly and I am very thankful.  I know in the midst of the stress of planning, packing, waiting and fundraising God has made every part of this process more amazing and such a blessing. 

We're Coming Soon Baby Girl!

I have to remind myself on a daily basis that this will soon have passed and we will have sweet Keely home with her brothers.  All of the planning, paperwork, stress and the running around will be a distant memory.  So I am trying to cherish this time and know it will be so worth it once we hold her little hand and kiss those chubby cheeks!!

CHINA BOUND ON JULY23RD!!

I am still pretty much in shock over this one!  I got home from work yesterday afternoon and had an email from Bob asking if I could call him.  So I did and he said, "China had sent out our Letter Seeking Confirmation and that we should receive it by Monday, and that we could travel in the group at the end of July".......O.K. so that is 3 weeks away???

July 23rd is the date, and when he said that, I couldn't believe it because that is the day that my husband's brother is getting married.  What are the chances of that?  So basically Bob said he would call back in an hour after I talked to Chris, whether we wanted to go with this group or wait until Sept. 14th group.  Of course we want to go,but considering we still have a substantial amount of fundraising to do, the wedding, and flights may be possibly double what we were planning.  Can we do it this soon?

It probably sounds ridiculous to even question going to pick up our daughter sooner than later, but we never expected that it would be this summer that we would travel.  We were told 3 months min. and 5 max.  it will have been less than 2months from the time of referral until we have her in our arms!  Amazing or what?

So all things put aside, we are going to get her!!!!  So we will fly out on Friday, July 22nd and she will be in our arms on Monday, July 25th!!!!!!!  We will return to Canada on Thursday, August 4th and be home on August 5th!

So much to do and so little time, but I know God is in control and I have to trust Him with all of the little details and believe everything will work out great!  Can't wait to meet Princess Keely!  We love you and are coming soon sweet girl!