Packed and Ready

The time has finally arrived and we are packed and ready. After many of months of anticipation we are ready to set out on an adventure of a life time to bring Aaron home.  Although we are so ready, our hearts are very torn having to leave our other 3 here. We would really appreciated your prayers tomorrow as we meet my mom with the kids, for safe travel and a peace that we know can only come from the Prince of Peace.

Below is our itinerary while in China as well as some prayer ideas :)

9/12 - Kids to mom - Safe travel and peace for ALL of us

9/13 - 5:30am flight from Albuq to San Francisco then on to Beijing - Safe travel and rest while we fly

9/14 - Arrive in Beijing (remember they are 14 hours ahead!) Aaron and his foster family will pick us up! -  Pray that Aaron will be comfortable and not afraid when we meet

9/14-9/18 Staying with Foster Family in Beijiing - Peaceful hearts as we get to know Aaron and begin transition                                                                

9/18 - Fly to Nanchang and Aaron will "officially" be ours - Gotcha Day :) - Please pray for Foster Family when we leave, Aaron's heart, safe travel & smooth process with paperwork                                                                                            

9/18-9/23 Many official meetings during the week - Safety and clarity, smooth process with Chinese officials, bonding with Aaron  
                 
9/23 - Fly to Guangzhou  - Safe travel

9/23-9/29 In Guangzhou completing paperwork - Safety and continued bonding with Aaron

9/29 - Train to Hong Kong - Safe travel

9/30 - Fly HOME!! YEAH!  - Safe flight and for Aaron to have peaceful travel

And please keep Averi, Nathan, and Connor covered in your prayers daily - peace in their hearts and a calm spirit, safety and to have a good time while we are away.

I plan to be blogging frequently and posting pictures - so stay tuned! Thank you for your continued prayers and support - God is so good and he is ever faithful. 

We are on our way, sweet boy!

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 :) 

Vacation and Raffle

This week we are on vacation visiting Ryan's family in Las Vegas, Nevada.  During our time here we drew the winners for our beef raffle!  Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the raffle and especially to Mikael and Jamie, Rancher's Best Beef, for donating the 1/4 beef.  The kids drew the tickets and the winner was.......Roney Bisio!! Roney was very excited :)
While we have been here I've had some new feelings regarding our Aaron I thought I would share.  We have really just been spending time with family and hanging out in the pool - because it is SO hot here!  But doing all these things as a family, I really find myself "missing" Aaron, and wishing he was here with us NOW.  Then I thought - can you really miss someone you haven't even officially met?  So I guess it is not really a "missing" but a "longing".  Funny how our minds work - at least mine - I so want him here with us on vacation making memories with us.  Then I am reminded that our Father's timing is perfect - not mine.  I guess it is similiar to the feeling that we have when we are expecting a birth child and so want that baby to hurry up and get out here!  We are ready to start our lives with them - NOW :)  Those "adoption birth pains" are starting :)
We should be getting our final papers from immigration with in a week or so.  Then the quick cascade of papers through the final adoption phase in China will begin.  It looks as though we will be flying out to China the beginning to middle of September - time is flying by - that is only 2 months away!!  It make take me that long to figure out what I need to pack! :)
Anyway, thank you again for your continued prayers and support.  Please keep Aaron lifted up in prayer that God prepares his heart for changes coming into his little life and that Aaron will have an amazing peace when he meets us.  Also, for our hearts as we prepare our home and lives for his arrival.

WE GOT IT!!!!

Today was the day!!! Holt called this afternoon with exciting news that the letter from China (LOA) had arrived!! Praise God that His hand has been on our paperwork all the way in China! God is so good :)  We were also told today that is looks like September travel to China for us - 3 more months! We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  This weekend we are going to double check our paperwork which will hopefully be overnighted to immigration on Monday - then a (hopefully) 2-3 week wait on those documents....more waiting, but not as long!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  Please continue to lift Aaron up during this time of transition for him as well as for our 3 kiddos here waiting with us. :) Love you all!

Blessings~

New Update!

We were thrilled to get an update from Biejing today!  There was a short letter from Aaron's foster mom and 6 new pictures! He is really growing! Below you can see the new pics of the little cutie!
Anyway, I wanted to give an update on where we are at right now in the whole process.  As of right now, we are waiting for a coveted letter from China.  We are hoping and praying to get this letter towards the middle or end of this month (pray for asap!).  Our agency estimates us flying to China about 3 months from the time we get this letter.  As soon as we get the letter, we then send in about 11 pages of paperwork to United States Immigration Services (and we have these papers filled out and ready to go!).  After we get word back from immigration we will start looking towards travel! Yeah!!
About 3 weeks ago we sent a really neat book to Aaron.  My grandma and mom found this book that recorded our voices reading the book to him, so he gets to hear our voices!  Ryan and I each read a page, and then each of the kids read a page, and then we read one page all together.  So, he should have received the book by now, but they didn't mention it in the letter... Ryan and I laugh and wonder if the "talking book" is driving them crazy with our voices going off everytime the book is opened! They may have hid it!
Anyway, we really appreciate all of your prayers and support.  In the letter from Aaron's foster mom, she said that their family is going to be traveling back to the United States for a few weeks.  While they are gone Aaron will be at Ping An Foster Home.  Please keep him in your prayers as his life begins to go through so many changes.  We are praying that God surrounds him in His love and wraps His everloving arms around our boy until we can have him in our arms.
Blessings~