It is a Girl........and 20 days to Abigail

"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved". Romans 10:1

My heart's desire is that all my family and friends might be saved. Well, after several months of eagerly waiting, Melissa had her second ultrasound and we know know what our grandchild will be..........a girl!! We are elated and thrilled to be anticipating the birth of our first granddaughter. John's mother, Lorene, is also very excited to be a great grandmother to another great- granddaughter. After so many years of just having boys, we are adding two girls to the family within months of each other. Isn't God great!! Melissa continues to have a smooth and healthy pregnancy and we thank God for that. Our prayer and hope is to visit them shortly after the baby is born. It is going to be REALLY hard to return home and leave our granddaughter behind. Wouldn't it be great if they came home for Christmas so we can celebrate our first Christmas with Abigail and our oldest son, his wife and their daughter? I am including a picture of the latest ultrasound. Our granddaughter is growing!

Well, another week has been wrapped up and the days seem longer than usual.......the wait makes each day go by slowly. I truly try to stay busy at home and at a work but my mind is never far away from March 19th when we board the plane to China. We received our monthly update for Abigail. Her nanny wrote, "Abigail has enjoyed learning how to make dumplings, but she loves to eat them even more. She has a great appetite; she eats plenty everyday. She has been talking and asking questions non-stop due to her good mood". My ears will never see rest again as Shane is also quite the talker! The picture came with the update. Check out that hair! Isn't is gorgeous. I have packed plenty of hair accessories as it is obvious that her nannies work with it every day.

Shane is eagerly anticipating his 4th birthday and meeting his sister. He says "Abigail" so sweetly. I have noticed that he has become a little more clingly lately and while I think he is looking forward to having a little sister, he is aware that he will be sharing mommy and daddy soon. Jeremy is home for the weekend and I am glad! I always love seeing my children and spending time with them. He will be home for Spring break the week before we leave for China so it will be great to spend time with him before we leave.

And the Drama Continues......26 Days and Counting.....

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose " Romans 8:28

My life is many things but boring it is not. I have been busy working on travel plans, packing, and my usual day to day things. I received an e-mail from Ky (our agency) on Wednesday and was at work when I read it. I must tell you that I about fell out of my chair. She forwarded me an e-mail from Mr. Li (the coordinator) in China which stated that Abigail's orphanage was thinking about sending her and another child from New Day back to the the orphanage in early March. Chinese orphanages are very different than what Abigail has been used to for the past 3 years. She has been at New Day since she was 23 days old. She is treated liked a little princess. All the children are well taken care and loved by their nannies and the American folks that are there dedicating their lives to the children. I was shocked and very concerned for her to have to face leaving the only home that she has known for over 3 years, whisked away to a place she does not know, separated from the nannies that she loves, and then two weeks later taken from there and handed to strangers that she has only seen in a photo album that we sent her. I immediately e-mailed Ky back and asked her if we could do anything to stop this. I, then, e-mailed friends and family and asked them to start praying with us regarding this situation. I e-mailed Karen at New Day also. Long story, short, she will be staying at New Day until we arrive there to pick her up. Praise the Lord!!! And a huge, huge "thank you" to Karen as I know that it was her intervention that spared my little girl from this additional trauma in her life. I just can't say enough about what she and the other folks at New Day do for the children. For those that are not familiar with New Day, this is their web-site http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster/. The web-site is currently under construction but there are lots of pictures and even videos of my little sweetie pie.

So, I thanked the Lord, Karen, my agency, and breathed a sigh of relief. We were back on track and counting down the days! Sometimes the Lord gives us trials. I fear that I fail Him so many times when tested. On Friday, I received another e-mail from Ky. She had previously asked me to send her our airline itineraries as Mr. Li will be with us for most of the trip and he would book on the same flights we are on. Well........I booked our flight home for April 1st as our Consulate appointment is March 31st. I should have booked it for April 2nd as we won't get Abigail's Visa until sometime on April 1st, probably in the afternoon. To change our flights it is going to cost us at least $1,250. I have asked Ky if she can change our consulate appointment to a day sooner and she will try but the big issue is her Visa medical exam that needs to be done and it is scheduled for Monday, March 30th. We are trusting in the Lord to work this one out also. This adoption journey has been quite a journey but I know that when I hold my little girl in my arms for the first time, I will forget all the nightmares with the paperwork, delays, etc.

I spent the morning finalizing the packing of Shane and Abigail's clothes. What an exhausting task as there is so much to pack for the little ones! Beijing's weather is like our weather in Virginia, Urumqi is colder (today's temperature was 21 degrees, yikes!) and it was over 80 degrees in Guangzhou today. So.......I have to pack heavy winter clothes and light summer clothes. Shane is a true Mongolian and likes the cold so he will need to dress lightly in Guangzhou.

Mandy is getting excited about the trip and counting down the days with us. Shane acts excited but I can tell he is nervous as he has been very clingy to being home lately. He will turn 4 while we are in China and at New Day. I think it is nice that he will be celebrating his 4th birthday with the people that took so wonderful care of him from the time he was 7 months old until we brought him home at 19 months old. I need to start planning his birthday party for the weekend before we leave for China! He wants a Superman party this year.

I snapped a couple of pictures with new digital camera of Jeremy and Shane and am including them. I need a memory card so I can really take pictures!!

TA is Official and Travel Plans are Being Made!!!

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness..." 2 Corinthians 12:9

You all may remember that our LOA back to China was re-routed and delayed in getting back to the CCAA. Well it seems that our paperwork just has a way of going around the world before getting to its destination. Long story, short, our travel approval finally arrived in the Adoption Agency's office on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Ky immediately requested our Consulate appointment. This is done electronically and for those of you not familiar with international adoptions, it is one of the last things you do in China and it has to take place prior to your adopted child being issued a Visa so she can come to America! Well, our consulate appointment is made and it is March 31st. We leave for Beijing on Thursday, March 19th. We will spend two days at New Day. I can''t tell you how excited we are to be able to visit New Day again, to see all the staff and children, and most of all meet our daughter!!! I say "meet our daughter" but we did see her briefly in late 2006 when we visited New Day during our trip to bring Shane home. She was asleep in her crib and was sleeping on her stomach so I only got to see her little dark head as her body was snuggled under the covers. I truly had to idea as I looked upon the sleeping child that over 2 years later, we would be bringing her home to join our family. Isn't God wonderful!!

Back to our travel plans, we will leave New Day on Sunday, March 22nd and Abigail will travel with us to Urumqi which is located in the Xinjiang Province. This is where she was abandoned and this is where the official adoption has to take place. We will stay in Urumqi until Saturday, March 28th and then we will fly to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a lot like Florida in that it typically has warm and balmy temperatures. We enjoyed Guangzhou on our last trip. We will fly home on Wednesday, April 1st. Our flight gets in after 11:00 p.m. so we will be exhausted. We will be flying from Charlottesville this time as United has some pretty good airfare prices right now and it will be a big plus to be only 20 minutes from home once we land.

New Day is updating their web-site so they have not posted new pictures of Abigail and the other children lately. However, I have been given the blog addresses of several of the American workers at New Day and their blogs have pictures of her so I have been able to "see her" this week. The picture included is her attending a birthday party for Sarah and all the girls dressed up for it. Abigail was not happy because each girl was given a present to give to Sarah and she thought the present was hers to keep.

I am including a picture of Mandy's Senior portrait. Isn't she a lovely young lady? Did I mention that she will be traveling to China with us? She is forgoing her Senior trip for school to take the trip with us. I truly hope that she enjoys it. I am including several pictures of Kelsey's homecoming which took place last Friday night. She turned over her Princess crown to someone as she was Homecoming Princess last year.

I realize that sometimes I get so focused on updating the blog with general information of what is going on and it seems so focused on Abigail that I forget to talk about Shane. Shane is a unique little boy. When I continue to hear adoption stories from other families, I am always amazed at Shane. He was 19 months old when we met him in the Beijing airport for the first time. Literally within 5 minutes of being alone with us, he seemed to trust me and was only afraid when I wasn't near. He has always been a happy and energetic child. On the mornings that I don't go to work (which is generally every other day), he awakes and we spend 15 -30 minutes snuggling in the bed, talking and giggling. He is always happy and he is quite the talker. On the days that I work, he accepts the fact reluctantly that I will be gone and gives me lots of kisses and hugs before I leave him with his Aunt Susie. The first thing that he always asks me and his dad when we get home from work is "How was work today"? It is the cutest thing to hear him say. His grandfather (my dad) came by for a short visit on Wednesday. Shane always hugs him and never lets him leave without a hug. Daddy isn't the demonstrative type but he is very accepting of Shane's affection for him. Shane will be celebrating his 4th birthday in China as it is March 21st. I think it is neat that he will be celebrating his birthday in his birth country.

I would be remiss not to mention that my mother's birthday was Monday, February 9th. I thought of it often during the month of January and I just knew that it was going to be a rough day for me and my siblings. We made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas but her birthday was "her day". Susie always took her to lunch one day and then I generally would take her on another day and then Sharon would take her shopping and to lunch on a different day. Of course we would also have the traditional birthday party that included everyone in the family. I was off work as Shane had a routine doctor's appointment. Sharon and picked up flowers for her grave and left them with me so after Shane's appointment, I visited her grave and put the flowers on it. I know Susie and Sharon visited it also sometime during the day. I knew my brother would be having a tough day also as he was just as close to my mother as we were. I just did not have the strength to call him as I knew I would be able to be strong for him and I did not want to contribute to his pain. We were so blessed with a loving mother that always put us first. She made so many sacrifices for her children and grandchildren. I make sure to stop every day and just think about her as I don't want to lose my memory of how she looked, how she smelled, and how she laughed. My husband teases me when I sometimes break out in laughter and says that I have the "Pat Hall laugh". Words can't express how excited I am to know that Abigail will be home with me for Mother's Day but at the same time, I dread it as it will by my first Mother's Day without my mother. Oh, mama, do you know how much you are loved and missed?.......

TA is Finally on Its Way and the End to an Exhausting Week

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

It has been quite a week. We had a little snowfall on Tuesday so the boys were able to play out in it for a little while that day. It has been REALLY cold so places that the sun does not shine are still white. John's mother was taken to the hospital last Saturday and it was discovered that she was 100% blocked in one carotid artery and 75% in the other. Her heart was also in A-Fibrillation, meaning that the top part of her heart was beating too fast. They treated her A-Fib and discharged her on Monday and scheduled her to return to the hospital on Wednesday for a procedure in which a stent would be placed in carotid artery to allow blood to flow. Lorene has survived throat cancer, a mild heart attack and a series of TIA's. She is truly a miracle. They could not do the procedure on Wednesday because her heart went back into A-Fib. She was admitted and finally this afternoon, they were able to perform the procedure. It was a tense couple of hours as the risks were high of her throwing a clot and having a stroke. By the grace of God, she survived and is doing well. She is in the intensive care unit but things look good right now. I returned briefly to the office to shut down for the day as I was scheduled to be at work and happened to check my e-mail and had an e-mail from my agency stating that our Travel Approval (TA) was on its way and they should have it in-hand by Monday. Wow! What a great day! Our agency is tentatively looking for us to travel on March 20th. They are a small agency and have a backlog of families to travel due to the slowdown in everyone receiving their TA's. I have to trust that we will travel in the Lord's time but is seems so far away and I so long to bring our daughter home. I'll update next week when we know more. The New Day photographer must be on vacation as they have not updated with pictures this week so I will include pictures that I have collected recently. We are exhausted as we have spent quite a bit of time at the hospital this week and the weather is suppose to be considerably warmer this weekend as may be as high at 60 degrees so we are hoping for a relaxingly and enjoyable weekend!