Merry Christmas

Sweet Little Max

I can't believe that it has been 130 days since we saw your face for the first time. We knew the minute that we saw you that you were the little boy that God had called us to love. It is hard to believe we could fall in love so fast with a little boy's face that we saw in a picture that was miles away. We look at your picture all the time dreaming of what it will be like when we meet you. Our love for you has grown in our heart and we can't wait to hold you in our arms. We wish you could be with us this Christmas. Our family of 5 just doesn't seem complete without you. It is hard knowing that you are in an orphanage half a world away waiting for us to come. We trust that God is watching over you until we have you in our arms. It won't be long sweet boy. This mommy's heart is about to explode knowing that in 23 days we will have you in our arms. You will know what it feels like have a mom and dad. You will no longer be an orphan, you will be our son! Hold on little man we will be there soon!

Merry Christmas!

Love

Mom


(Pause the music at the bottom of the blog to listen to this song)

We Have A CA

It is hard to believe that the timeline on the side of the blog was empty months ago. Now it is completely full. The day we have been waiting for. The day we meet our son is right around the corner. Our agency has confirmed a CA (consulate appointment) on January 25.

Our tickets to China and back home with Max are booked!!!

We will be leaving for China on January 12. That is 3 weeks from today!

We will be arriving in Beijing the 13th.

We have Orientation with Holt on the 15th.

We fly to Jinan on the 16th.

The 17th is GOTTCHA DAY!!! We will see Max and hold our him in our arms for the first time. This is the day we have been waiting for. I have tears just thinking about how amazing this day will be.

The 21st we fly to Guangzhou.

The 25 is our CA.

The 27th we pick up Max's Visa and take a train to Hong Kong.

The 28th we board a plane to bring our son home.

It Is Official

To get the TA (travel approval) email was so exciting but to have it in hand feels nothing short of amazing. It again makes it even more real. We will be traveling to China soon to bring our son home.

It looks so official. Wait it should look official after the process it took to get here. The hours of paperwork, the money spent, the waiting .... it is all worth it. There is an end in sight, what an amazing feeling.

On December 7 China approved our request to come and get Max. I have to say it is the best Christmas present we could have received.

Hold on sweet boy we will have you in our arms soon!

The Two Letter We Have Been Waiting For

We have our

TA

We got an e-mail at 4:55 today from our agency that said "We are pleased to let you know that your travel approval has arrived and we are working on your travel schedule." Our agency is requesting a Consulate appointment so when they have confirmed a date we will be booking our flights to China. I just can't believe that in 3 - 4 weeks we could be on a plane to meet our little boy.

I have been on cloud nine since we received the news. Alexa and I were making cookies and I kept asking her what ingredient we had just put in the bowl and how much. Good thing she was on top of things or her Reindeer cookies would not have turned out. She asked me why I kept leaping in the air. She said, "Moms don't usually do that!" I would agree but it is not every day that the final piece of paperwork comes through on the journey to your son! She asked me if I was going to act like this for the rest of the month.

Stay tuned for travel dates. We hope to know by the end of the week.

Almost There

Our Visa's to enter China are in hand so the last thing we need is our TA in our hands so we can make our reservations. I found out last week that we are on the line. We need to get our TA soon in order to try to squeeze into our agency's January travel group. Our agency stops travel the last 2 weeks of January and first 2 weeks of February because of the Chinese New Year. So if we don't travel in early January we will be pushed back a number of weeks. We are praying and hoping we hear from China this week. Pray with us that our paperwork would come quickly but that we would trust in his perfect timing as we anticipate the journey to our son.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

7 Days Down

I have heard and read from numerous people that Article 5 and TA are the hardest wait in the process. I feel like things have moved fast even in the waiting during our process. We had some long waits and unexpected life events that caused our Dossier to take longer than expected. Even with that the wait seemed to go fast. But now I know what people are talking about. Last night I said to Eric "This TA is taking forever but I can't believe it is Friday tomorrow!" Yes, I said it all in the same breath and he looked at me like I was crazy. So yes the weeks still fly but for some reason the TA count seems to stand still. I know it is the anticipation of finally having a date and knowing when we will be on a plane to get our little boy. In this process and in all the WAITING for the next step God continues to reveal his plan and his timing. Max and our love for him has been born in our hearts already so it is hard to imagine what if things had moved faster or slower but instead we rest that God had the perfect little boy planned for us and his hand continues to guide each step of our paperwork to bring him home. So in our anxiousness we rest in his timing for us to travel to get our little boy. Our agency said to plan on about 3 week for our TA. We have 7 days down, we are 7 days closer to the day we board the plane to China.