Thank you Amber!!

A BIG thanks to my good friend and world traveller Amber C. who loaned us her extra large suitcases. She gave me so many good tips for travelling abroad,stuff that I NEVER would have thought of.(yes, Bert I ended that sentence with w/ a preposition). Amber is only 19 and has her bachellor degree, has already been to Japan(she went with an ambassador program) and lived in Africa for 3 mos. She is one super cool chick!!! And she also bought Sophie her very first coat. It is just gorgeous and I know Sophie is going to look beautiful! Thank you Amber we love you!

Starting to pack

Well yesterday Bert and I offically started packing. We sealed stuff into space saving bags, ziplock bagged liquids and argued about what we should and shouldnt take. I have eliminated A LOT of the clothes I wanted to take for Sophie...and I am probably still taking too much. I am planning on buying a lot of stuff in China. Anyway here is our itinerary for now.
12/3 Take kids to grandparents(Knoxville, Tn)
12/4 Bert and I come home from my parents(Happy Birthday, Mom)
12/5 LAST MINUTE packing
12/6 Flight leaves
12/7 Arrive Beijing 9:00pm
12/8 Beijing
12/9 Fly to Chengdu
12/10 Shop for Sophie stuff
12/11 GOTCHA DAY
12/15 Fly to GZ
12/16 Sophies Medical
12/18 Consulate appt.
12/20 FLY HOME. As of right now our flight will not be getting in until 10pm the night of the 20th. There is an earlier flight we are going to TRY and catch out of Detroit and be home by 4:00pm instead of 10pm. Those of you who told me you were coming to the airport please do not feel obligated, I know that first flight is late and it is a weeknight so if you cant make it DO NOT worry about it. I am sure we are going to be very exhausted and not be able to tell who is and who isnt there. Please remember that Sophie needs to bond with her family first, i.e mom, dad, brothers and sister. It is very important to me that her siblings get to her first. I know we have a lot of adjustments in our future and I am looking forward to them even though I know some of them may be just a bit tiring!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. My "pink dragonnettes" I love you so much and ya'll have been such a blessing and support I treasure your friendship(and none of ya'll have a choice you have to be at the airport) just kidding!!

The tree is up

We had a great weekend with friends and family decorating the tree. I lured my oldest brother over with promises of food and hunting..and then made him get out all my Christmas decorations..hee hee. Works everytime. Tyler, Micah, Elizabeth, Kristin, Makenzie and Noah ALL did a great job decorating. Thanks for your help.

a hunting we will go, a hunting we will go...

Bert took the boys hunting this weekend and Tyler killed his first deer!! He was soooo excited. My brother Frank took them to his hunting club. I am so glad they were able to go. Thank you Uncle Frank!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!

We have sooo much to be thankful for. God has blessed us so richly...how could we ever thank Him enough.?. Bart and Laura invited us over for Thanksgiving...and we had a wonderful time of food and fellowship. (too much food). We love Bart and Laura and their kids so much and we are sooo thanksful for the relationship we have with them.

Quilt from Grannie

Today we received a beautiful quilt from Berts mom. It is just the sweetest thing. Notice all the Dear God, comments. Thank you so much Grannie and "Aunt" Jennie we know a lot of love went into this precious blanket!

We have a Consulate Appointment!!

It is official. We have CA of the 18th which means we will be leaving Birmingham on Dec 6th headed to China. We will get Sophie on Dec 10th or 11th. I will post our flight itinerary once we get it. WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooo

Our TA IS HERE!!!

We just got the call that our TA has arrived. Thank you Jesus!!! We wont know our travel dates until Tuesday or Wednesday but at least it is here. We are hoping for a CA of the 11th or 18th. Most likely it will be the 18th which means we would leave Dec 6th...which is 16 days from today!!

Update

Just a quick update. Our SW called this morning and said our TA was mailed today!!! We shall see..... Hopefully we will have some for sure travel dates next week.

International Adoption = Roller Coaster Ride of a lifetime

Well TA has still not come. This is not good news. For those of you who I told we would possible be leaving the day before Thanksgiving that is definately not happening. Now our estimated travel date is Dec 6th. Our CA would be Dec 18th and we would hopefully be home by the 20th. But at this point I honestly dont know. I dont know why it is taking so long. I do know we are very distressed. Please keep us in your prayers that we will hear some good news quick.

New pictures

Yes...we just got 2 new pics of Sophie..no size updates yet. Oh I love her so much..cant wait to hold her~!

Almost there...

Ok..sorry I havent posted about our TA but there is still nothing definate. I hope to post some really good news on Monday. Does it seem I am always waiting for Monday or is that just me? I have been contacted by the 4 other families we will be travelling with and they are all just as anxious as we are for that TA. I hopefully today will have some updated pictures of Sophie. Our facilitator in China went to our province to interview a guide and said she would try and get us some updated info and pictures...Of course I will post them right away!!

Meet Emma Claire

Tonight I had my monthly meeting with my "China friends"..we had a blast at Jim n Nicks. We had the pleasure of meeting Lisa's 13 mos old daughter Emma Claire. They came home from China in Sept. I am telling you Lisa has a prodigy on her hands. Emma is SOOOOO smart. And she is sooo sweet. She let me hold her. She is gorgeous and has the sweetest disposition. I am so happy for Lisa and her family and the blessing that Emma is in their lives.
You will also notice Dr. Mintz is missing from our photos..she wasnt able to make it this time...we missed you Kim...and Robin too!! :)Our meetings arent the same without the whole crew!!

At the beach

We are at the beach house for the weekend. Going home tomorrow. Bart and Laura came with us for the weekend. The kids have had a blast and it has been very relaxing!! I am so hoping we will hear something about the TA's tomorrow.

retail therapy

matching sister outfits


First Christmas ornament
First monogrammed outfit

Not so good news

We heard from our SW this morning and she told us we would NOT be travelling until Dec. I cannot tell you how upset we are. I have been crying off and on all day and Bert doesnt even want to talk about it. This month is going to seem so long. We never thought even for a second we would not be travelling until December. I know this is all in Gods hands and once we have her we wont remember how hard the wait was and all those other things well meaning people say but today it just STINKS. Waiting is hard. Especially when you have seen that picture and you know your baby possibly needs surgery you just want to get to her. We have had her picture since she was 11 mos old. At this point we hope to get her while she is still 17mos old. It just depends on when in December we travel. Please keep us in your prayers...we are still trusting God for a miracle that we can somehow get her the end of Novemebr..or very first of December.