It's ChinaEve

It's hard to believe that the long journey to Hudson Fuxing is finally coming to an end. 

And as of Sunday afternoon, February 5 (Ch*na time) the next journey begins.

A JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME...TOGETHER...AS A FAMILY!

Praise God for the miracle of Adoption.  We feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to say YES to one of the "least of these".

Really~~ Our hearts are full. 

We leave tomorrow.  Bill and I should arrive in Beijing on Friday night.  We will tour on Saturday.  Then on Sunday we will fly to Hudson's province and that afternoon we will meet our son.

I am going to try to blog while there so follow along if you would like.  I may be totally exhausted emotionally and physically but I will at least post pictures.

Leave us a note if you stop by.  We will certainly appreciate the encouragement!!

YIKES!!!

Yikes!!  In 7 days, we will be leaving for Ch*na!  I can't believe that it's finally here.

My bedroom looks like a bomb went off in it. 

Suitcases everywhere.
Clothes everywhere.
Snacks for Hudson everywhere.

It's a little crazy around here right now. 

But it is OH SO WORTH IT!!

I can't wait to get my hands on this sweet boy!!

It just seems like yesterday that we saw his face for the first time.

yes- I'm aware that he is wearing pink.  I had no control what they put him in.  :o)

And now look how big he is...

Gotta get back to packing...Right now I can't find my bed so I need to get all that stuff in a suitcase if I'm going to sleep in it tonight.

Anyone with advice on travel or tips on what to pack please leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear what you have to say.

So Blessed

This past weekend some of my very sweet and very dear friends gave us a baby shower and just completely blessed us so much!!

I enjoyed getting to see everyone so much.  Even though we all live in this area, lives get busy and sometimes months can go by before I see some of these amazing ladies and get to catch up with them. 

My lovely hosts!!!...Tamara, Mindy, Jen, and Sonia

The decorations were great.  We had a Chinese theme.  Red for Good Fortune and blue for little Hudson.

Big Sister...Sweet Emma and myself among all the yummy Chinese food.
We had pot stickers, chow mein, egg rolls, fortune cookies, etc.....

Emma and I had fun opening gifts.

My friend Debbie (an experienced adoptive mom of 3 and soon to be 5 Chinese children) had decorated this paint can with a Chinese dragon and filled it with all kinds of things we "must have" when traveling to get Hudson.  Great idea and So appreciated!

This is a wishing tree that Chinese families give to new parents when their children are born.  Everyone wrote special wishes for Hudson as he gets older.  I loved this!

It was a special afternoon that I will always remember.

The Long Awaited Phone Call

Can't believe I am just getting to the blog and posting what happened earlier this week......

TA People....TA!!!

Travel Approval!!  Oh Yeah!!  I'm loving those two words!

Bill and I will be leaving the first part of February to go get Hudson. 

My thoughts on Monday after I got the call ranged from....

Yaaaa Hoooo it's finally here!  (pure happiness) 

to...  Yikes...it's finally here!  (a little trepidation)

to...  Can't believe we will be holding him in less than a month!  (full/happy momma's heart)

to...  Yikes...maybe I should have packed a month ago like Sonia told me to!  (little panic)

to...  God, you are so good and faithful to have everything happen in your perfect timing.  (peace)

Now I'm back to a mild panic.

Our plans are to fly to Beijing and tour for a couple of days and then fly to Hudson's province.  (Guizhou)  We should be meeting our little guy on Monday February 6.

Psalm 68:5-6  Father to the fatherless and protector of the widows is God--He places the lonely in families.

Happy Birthday

Someone special celebrated a birthday this past week.

Happy Birthday Bill!!

 Since Bill was overseas during my birthday, we shared a birthday cake and a birthday song.

Happy Birthday To Us!!!

~~We love you Daddy~~

More catching up...

Our family gift to the kids was a TENT!

So Bill...being the rock star that he is and the Bestest Daddy in the Whole World...decides about ummmm...7:30 PM  (as it was already getting dark) to put up the tent in our backyard and camp out with the kids.

It was way after dark when they got the tent up and the sleeping bags out in the tent.

This was the next morning.  Yay~ they survived the night with all the wild animals.  (aka- armadillos, squirrels, feral cats, and opossums)

By 7:30 AM, I was waiting in the warm house waiting for them to emerge.  Nope...no movement.
So I made some hot chocolate and coffee for the campers and brought it out to them.

Yumm...nice and chocolatey!

Hot cuppa Joe

Sleepy Girl. 

This was one of those "wild animals" I was talking about.

Catching up...

I've neglected posting the last couple of weeks. So here are some pictures from our Christmas break.

Right before school let out, the kids had their Piano Christmas Recital.  I love hearing them play.   

When we got home from the recital, we took a quick picture for our Christmas/New Years letter.

Bill left for an overseas trip right before school let out for the holiday break but that didn't stop us from having some fun while he was gone.

One of my dearest friends from South Carolina and her family (minus their girls) came for a quick visit so we surprised the kids with a trip to the new LEG*LAND that just opened near here.


We had perfect weather, small crowds, and just plain ole' fun that day. It was soooo good getting to spend some time with my Amy. Love Her!!

Welcome to Leg*land

Pretzels Anyone??

Amy, Kent, Thomas and Cade

Very Cool Christmas Tree!

Spangenthal's vs. Patrick's
Race to see who can get their emergency vehicle down the track - put out the fire- then race back.

Frantically spraying water on the "fire".

Oh yeah!!!!  Spangenthal's rock.  'Bout gave myself a heartattack pumping that thing but we won!

No caption needed here.

Getting wet!

Having fun!

 What a great time we had with the Patrick's.  It was a great start to our vacation!