Here We Go!

This will be the last post until.....probably China.

We put the boys to bed and said good bye. Soooooooooo hard. That's the worst (only bad?) part about this whole thing: leaving our boys for 18 days. yikes. Hate it. Gut wrenching, in fact. I've been away from them for 14days---that was HARD. They've been without both of us for a max six days in one stretch. Hopefully business at school (for them) will keep them distracted. We really hope the Skyping helps.

Talk to you from Beijing!

--R

Getting Up Early

The airline wants us there three hours early. (three hours?). Well. Ok. We'll drive over to friends from church who will kindly drive us to the airport. I imagine we'll spend most of that time waiting. We fly to Minneapolis for another long wait--five hours, before we get off the ground for Asia.

--R

My Back

Please pray for me. My back is really tight and hurts a bunch today. I was playing football with the boys last night and I jumped to make an awesome move to evade a defender but when I landed I could feel my whole spinal column kind of jolt down. Anyway.....please pray for some divine intervention. Not the kind of feeling I'd like to have heading into such a big trip.

What do the boys think about sister?

Everyone wants to know what our boys think about all of this. Here's a sample of what they've shared:

"My heart is bursting with love for her and I've only seen her picture!" (J to his teacher)

"When I grow up, I'm going to adopt. There are so many children that need homes!" (N)

"I've always wanted a sister....but I'm not wearing a tutu!" (G)

"I'll go to tea parties!" (N)

"Can she wear this dress on Christmas? I'll wear my suit and we'll match!" (J)

"Waiting is so hard...I wonder if it's easier for M...she doesn't even know she's waiting!" (G)

"She might cry a lot, but I can hug her. I can even pick her up because I'm a big MAN!" (G)

No kidding, in a year and a half, we have not heard ONE negative comment about the adoption, the process, or M....OR one jealous comment about all of the beautiful gifts she's received. I'm sure sin will kick in at some point, but for now it's been so beautiful to see!

TOMORROW!

Ni hau.

We leave tomorrow. Amazing. Absolutely incredible! All the dreaming, praying, hoping and planning is finally coming to a climax. And we're actually pretty ready.

As of last night we are (I'd say) 98% packed. This has to be some kind of record for us. We're much more likely to be in the "packing til the last possible moment" crowd. But we were determined to have it basically done so we could do a little house cleaning and spend a bunch of time with the boys today. Only a few details left to tackle today and we're ready to go.

--R

Zhou Shang Hou (good morning)

We leave the day after tomorrow. (wow)

We are pretty well packed, but there are still plenty of odds and ends to take care of before we can go. We hope to wrap most of those up during the day today so we can devote tonight and tomorrow to the boys. (were really going to miss them and they us) I've been apart from them for 14 days (when I went to Kenya and I believe another time when they were visiting grandparents.) J has not been away from them this long, and of course they've not been apart from BOTH of us for this length of time. It will be hard for all of us--but we all know why we're doing it.

I did a test "skype" with my oldest son last night. I set the laptop up in my office and he used the home computer. Something's wrong with my sound. We'll have to work that bug out today.
--R

Ni Hau

Today we had a Chinese woman come to tutor us before our trip. Huiling spent an hour with us helping us learn basic phrases. If we were adopting an infant we would not have done this. We'll have a guide (through our agency) on the ground with us and available to us at all times. We'll manage the basics of the trip and the adoption proceedings without knowing the language. But we're adopting a little girl who will actually be speaking some Chinese. She'll catch onto English fast, but these first couple of weeks will be at least a little smoother if we can understand and commnicate a few basic words and phrases.

I still can't believe how difficult this language is. We did get a booklet (with audio CDs) months ago from our agency FILLED with words and phrases to help us. It's got the pinyin, english and regular characters. This has helped some, but we were very sketchy. This was helpful today, but we need to practice.

It really is an interesting and beautiful language. I love to listen to others speak it, but I can't stand hearing my self. WOW is it hard. It's got four tones. Hard to explain.

Zai Jian

Praise the Lord!

Today we heard encouraging news from our agency. The director there says that M is doing "better and better" and now only requires a transfusion once per month. They will give her a transfusion on 9/8 so she should be feeling her best when we meet her on 9/11. This is very courteous of the orphanage (to time the transfusion for our travel and M's best comfort) and we feel it confirms what we have been told about this particular orphanage - that the Director and staff truly do care for the children there. The director thinks M will be FINE until we get home and will not need a transfusion while we are in China!

Of course, we will watch her health closely and if she takes an unexpected turn for the worst, we will schedule something in either Changsha or in Guangzhou. Please keep praying that she is completely healed! Thank you!

Ten Day Forecast

We are so close now that we can actually do a ten day weather.com forecast for "Gotcha Day!"
Wow. Close.

BTW--it's supposed to be 93 and sunny in Changsha on 9/11.
Did you know I don't like the heat? Ah, well.

--R

ONE WEEK!

One week from TODAY we'll be on our way. It's hard to believe that the time is finally coming. We're spending the night with my brother and his family, going to the beach tomorrow and RELAXING. I said I didn't want to just sit at home tonight: waiting.

SOON!

--R