WE'RE GOING TO CHINA

Yes, the day has finally arrived. We are going to China! We leave this coming Saturday, 12/10. I apologize it has been so long since my last post, but I have been put through quite a whirlwind these past few months. In mid-October we bought and moved in to our new home. Unfortunately, we started remodeling at the same time by having a see-through fireplace put in to our family and living rooms (will never move and remodel at the same time again). During this time we combined two households with my my in-laws moving in,  and one week after we moved in, my father passed away so Phil and I had to take an emergency flight out to NY for his illness and subsequent funeral.

During that time, I received the Letter Seeking Confirmation or Letter of Approval from China and immediately got Senator Maria Cantwell involved to help expedite immigration and the U.S. embassy in Guangzhou for the Article 5. What normally takes about a month to six weeks took only one week due to the Senator's assistance.

The Travel approval took three weeks, which is normal for China. However, Phil and I were biting our nails as he was required by his company commander to give him a full itinerary by this past Friday in order for the military to clear Phil to leave for China by the 11th. Because China is a communist country, Phil was required to go through exhaustive training and had a rather difficult approval process for them to allow him to leave the country. We have been told that China will most likely have someone follow us at all times and most likely even go through our things when we leave the hotel due to his affiliation with the military. Thus, the required training the military put him through.

However, the dates that we gave the military were tentative since we had not yet received the travel approval from China. Thus, we prayed the U.S. embassy would give us the 19th appointment for the children's Visas and Passports. In order to help guarantee the 19th, I also emailed the Guangzhou U.S. Embassy explaining once again why we were expediting due to Joshua's illness and Phil's military conflict, and asked if they could ensure we get the embassy appointment on the 19th. Later that evening (Thursday) we received an email from them confirming that we did, indeed, get the 19th appointment. Once I read the email, Phil and I both jumped up and embraced with a cheer and a few high-fives. That was probably the greatest email we had received throughout this entire process. We were down to the 11th hour with Phil's military conflict. After we settled down from our celebration, I spent the entire night booking our tickets so Phil would have an itinerary to take to the commander early Friday morning.

These past six weeks have been jam packed full of excitement and a lot of stress. It has been mixed with joyous events and very sad moments between buying our home, and saying goodbye to my beloved father. However, we are finally now one week from flying to China. As I look at the clock while typing this, I realize that exactly one week from this moment, we will finally be holding Joshua and MaeLynn in our arms. We pick them up on Monday, 12/12, at 2:30 PM which is exactly one week from this moment.

I also contemplate our entire adoption time line for Joshua and MaeLynn. We started all this May 20 and will be home with our children December 21. This total process has taken exactly 7 months and a day, less than a pregnancy, though, it has not been without it's stresses. But, now that we are finally ready to go, tickets purchased, hotels reserved and packing waiting to happen, all this work is now of the past and we are finally in the "enjoy the moment" mode.

Since China does not allow Facebook or Blogs to be accessed, I will have to update the Blog once we return. Again, I apologize for taking so long to update all of you on our exciting adventure. I hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you all enjoy this festive holiday season. What an amazing Christmas present, to be back home with all SIX children to enjoy our Christmas holiday. God bless us Everyone!!