13 days and counting...

Well, we can't believe the time has really come! Only 13 days from today and we will be on our way to China! There are so many things to do and prepare in the next couple of weeks.  Our tickets are booked and the travel agency in China has almost all of the preparation done and organized on their end.  And the packing has begun!
Averi, Nathan, and Connor are super excited and ready to stay with Granny and all of our family at the ranch as well as with some wonderful friends here in Rio Rancho.  We will be skyping with the kids 2-3 times a weeks while we are away, hoping that will help this mama's heart :(  It is going to be hard to say "see you soon" to my precious kiddos.
We have been blessed to skype with Aaron and his foster family twice and again this coming Saturday.  He knows all of our names and will point to each of us.  His English sounds really good, and he appears to be an active little boy! He is absolutely wonderful! We are so thankful for his foster family for all they have done and continue to do for him and us.
Next week I plan on putting our day to day schedule for our time in China on the blog, with prayer ideas for each day.  We will covet your prayers while we are traveling and in China.  So, if you have a group or some awesome prayer warriors, we would love for you to share the schedule - we can never have too many people praying!
I also plan on updating the blog every day or so to let you know how everything is going along with pictures of Aaron and China. So, if you want to follow along, sign up to recieve blog updates and I think a friend of mine is going to post my updates on my facebook page - I will not have access to facebook while in China. 
It seems so surreal.  We have prayed and talked about this time for over 6 years, and now, in God's time, we are finally going to be bringing our little boy home.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and encouragement :)

More pictures :)

Love that smile! In the picture with his foster mom they are listening to the book we sent:)

Update From China, Getting Close to Travel!

We are finally seeing the light at the end of the long adoption tunnel!  Today we were so excited to get an update on Aaron as well as some information from his foster famly.  Below is a new picture received today:)  This picture was taken at a group foster home he has been staying at while his foster family has been in the United States on vacation. 

I am a little partial to his foster family! I am so excited they are back to China and have him with them again :)  His wonderful foster family has so kindly invited us to stay with them the few days we are in Beijing! We are so excited to be able to meet them and really get to know the wonderful people who have taken such great care of Aaron.  What an absolute blessing from God! Our agency also told me today that we can now correspond with the foster family - I am so excited! I am emailing her TODAY! In the whole scheme of China adoption - we are totally spoiled by our amazing American foster family!

We are in the FINAL waiting period.  So, right now we are waiting for our travel approval from China, which we are praying comes within 2-3 weeks.  At that time, or a day or two after, we will have our travel dates.  It still looks like we should be traveling the middle of September.  Things are really starting to move quickly!  I have actually got the suitcase down and have started a little packing - you would not believe all of the items that are suggested that we take!  I bought some clothes for Aaron the other day, at Old Navy (2 American flag T-shirts to wear home!!), it makes me super excited but also super impatient!!

We aprreciate your continued prayers for Aaron and for us and our kiddos here.  I will post as soon as we know our travel dates, and I plan on blogging while in China so you can all follow along :)