Packing

A crazy thing has happened this past week. First on we purchased our airline tickets, and were thrilled that we had a months notice as it saved us around $800 per ticket!! I have started packing, and gathering, and packing some more, and gathering a bit more. It's been so fun to have tiny clothes in the house again, and diapers!! I'm actually so excited for diapers. I got my diaper bag in the mail last week and I love it! The car seat also arrived, and I quite love it as well. It is becoming sooooo very real now. The crazy thing is that I have suddenly become very concerned for her well being. I've always been concerned for her, but not like now. I'm worried that she's going to get hurt or something. I beg Heavenly Father every night to please please please keep her safe until we can get her home.  I have dreams about her almost every night, and I have to look over into her bed and see if she's there, they are so real! They are good dreams, she's with us, and it's so wonderful! I woke up Chloe the other morning and in her still-half-asleep way, she asked "Is baby home?" I told her that she was still in China and she said "Oh! I thought she was home, I had dreams about her all night!" In two and a half weeks, she'll be with us, forever! To say we can't wait is such an understatement!

Just one China girl short, or maybe two.

Travel Approval- TA

We've got it!! We've got travel approval!! However, and this is a big huge however, we will not be traveling to China in a week like everyone else that gets TA because of....

CHINESE NATIONAL DAY!

The entire country shuts down for a week the first week in October, and they can't put our trip together and arrange all of the necessary appointments soon enough to get us there and back before the country closes shop and goes to a week long party!!! I daresay the Chinese know how to celebrate.

So, Happy Birthday Dear China, take care of our girl for one more month.  I believe that a month from now, we will be in China anxious as ever to meet our baby for the first time!

Care Package

No word yet on travel approval.  It's too early to be expected, but we're close. I came across this picture of the care package we sent to our girl.  It's hard to put one together, the regulations are quite strict. It has to fit into a very small box, and it can only contain a few different things in it, etc.  We sent her balloons because every update that we've gotten said that she loved balloons. We also sent a book with big 8 X 10 photos of each of us, and our dog. She needs toys to grab and hang onto, so we had to find some that were cute and would fit. They said no clothes, but it was too cute, and totally cheap, so if it ends up as diaper rags, oh well. I hope the cameras get used, and we will get to catch up on a small portion of her life with the first people that knew and loved her.  We don't know, and may never know if she received it or not, but we hope.  Adoption is about hope in so many many ways.  Hope runs deep on both sides, hers and ours. We are close little girl!