China bound!!!

We are finally leaving! I never thought this day would come but it is here at we leave for china at 1:10 today! We had a great 2 days in Atlanta with the boys and our friends Kara, Justin, and Morgan. We took them to a braves game and to the zoo. Kara and Justin took the boys back for us last night after they dropped us off at a hotel. It was so hard to leave them. I did cry a little. So glad we have FaceTime!! I know they will have fun. Just before they left Wyatt said he wanted to see Mia...that is promising :) Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and for the boys as they travel to Alabama! Also prayers for meme a she just had knee surgery! I hope to update again soon!!

Travel Plans- ALMOST TIME!!

Today I received our passports with the visas. Just in time! Hopefully I can keep up with them this time. They are already packed in our luggage! 

Many have asked what we will do for 2 weeks in China so I thought I would share our itinerary that we were just given!

7/31- leave Atlanta airport at 1:10 pm- flying Korean Air

8/1- arrive in Beijing- stay in Crowne Plaza Beijing

8/2-tour Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

8/3- tour Great Wall

8/4- Travel to Zhengzhou by train- stay in Crowne Plaza Zhengzhou

8/5- WE GET MIA!!!!!!!! Not sure what time but I will update you!

8/6- adoption is finalized- she is ours!

8/9- receive Mia’s passport

8/10- leave for Guangzhou- stay in Marriot China Hotel

8/12- Mia’s physical and visa picture

8/14- consulate appointment

8/15- midnight -we leave for home!!!

8/16- arrive in Atlanta at 11:20 AM

Please pray for us as we leave the boys- they will spend time with Nana and Nanny in Gadsden. Please pray for Mia and her adjustments to her new family.

FINALLY TA

TA- 2 little letters that mean so much in the adoption world! Travel Approval!! We finally have approval from China to come there (not sure what all of those other approvals that we have had were for :) 
So from here we wait on China to give us our consulate appointment to pick up her visa. EVERYTHING depends on this date. The only problem is the consulate's office is closed until sometime next week so we will have to wait until the end of next week to know for sure. But we do know we will either be leaving on July 31- yes a week and a half from now or August 7. We will get her on either July 5 or 12. I am so excited and so nervous. I have so much to do to prepare because I guess 4 years wasn't long enough! :) 
Please pray for these next few weeks and for our safety and the safety of our boys as we leave them with our family. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family who is willing to take care of them but it doesn't make it any easier to leave them. I haven't even left yet and already cried just thinking about it.

Getting there....

Over the past few weeks I have met several people on Facebook who have recently traveled to China or are about to. At different times, 3 of these ladies have contacted me telling me they had pictures of our little Mia and wanted to share them with me. Each of them had tried to adopt her but couldn't get her because her file was not ready yet. These ladies had either met Mia at her orphanage and fallen in love with her or someone had told them about her and how sweet she was. They all said that she has the best personality and loves people which is very comforting since some children in an orphanage are the opposite. One lady went to her orphanage just last week and was going to get pictures of her for me but when she got there they told her that Mia had been moved to a foster home which is usually what happens just before they are adopted. I was disappointed to not get pictures.

Where are we in the process? We are waiting on a piece of paper called article 5 to be picked up in China then we will officially be on our travel approval wait!! We really hope to travel the first or second week of August! It is getting close!! We got our NEW passports in the mail last week and will send off for our visas soon.

Please remember our matching grant from the last post and if you can help we would greatly appreciate it! Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for this trip!