Breathless!

Well, one more day to go! I feel as though I'm on a roller coaster - you know, where you're at the crest of the first hill???? I notice I keep catching my breath!

The past few days I have had bouts of crying. Crying for missing my peers in school, crying in anticipating the moment I'm holding Mary, crying with a heart of thanksgiving and appreciation for the amazing husband God has given me. I don't ever think I can say enough, how good God is and what a wonderfu and unique life He has designed for me. Whenever I used to hear the phrase, "God has a plan for your life" it seemed so trite and simple. I finally get it in my forties! And what a plan, indeed!!!!

Robert & I decided NOT to take the computer - QUIT THROWING THINGS ALREADY!!! LOL! I am in a search to find a "Guest Blogger" for my site. I know I can email from China (Some reports have been that people are not able to get to their blogs as China's firewalls and systems are very sophisticated in their censorhip!) so IF one of my buddies is up to the task, they can copy and paste from my email and keep you up to date. Pictures will have to come later unless there is a breakthrough there as well.

We have actually managed to pack 2 bags for check in and 2 overstuffed carry-ons!!!! Woo-Hoo! We'll see how that works out later!

We appreciate everyone's prayers, CONTINUED prayers, support and enthusiasm for our journey to not only bring our daughter home, but to meet her as well! I will try to post one last time before we go to the airport tomorrow morning - hopefully to introduce you to my "guest blogger"!

April Showers......or really....CELEBRATIONS!

Wow - what a month! Only 9 more days 'til I leave for China to pick up baby girl!!!! Well, school is winding down and while I won't get to go to my pinning OR graduation, it is a celebration for me anyway because I've worked hard for this! So here's a big shout out to most of my peers in this picture - ROCK ON! (ok - guess which one is me?!?!?!??!
So NEXT - some of my closest friends threw Robert & I a "China Send-Off party!" It was AWESOME! Mostly, because as we get closer to leaving, there have been numerous preparations, distractions and stressors that have kicked our butt! So it was really, REALLY cool to just hang out with our friends, chill, grill out and open up some gifts for Mary!!!!! This particular group of friends, we call "NO FEAR". We are like-minded in that when it comes to issues that are not pleasant, or questions of spiritual nature based on God's word and just issues we face personally and collectively; we have faith and confidence and NO FEAR in our desire to receive and search for truth in every circumstance, uphold what is right and honorable in God's eyes, live life passionately and AUTHENTICALLY as we all are a work in progress. We lift each other up, and it's just.....awesome. So here are a couple of pictures of our party hosted by one of the most generous and awesome couples around, Renee and Shorty Hunt! THEY ROCK! They are hilarious too - shoot, ALL of "NO FEAR" are!!!!
Check out Mary's first stadium chair - awwwwwww!!!! THEN - I go to see my niece, TONI who is getting married May 9th. Can't attend the wedding so she had a bachelorette party. The SAME night, my nephew Chris (Toni's big brother) had his Senior Prom and it was also the Sandi's FIRST prom! (Toni and Chris' little sister - BTW, my sister has 2 more!!! Mallori and Kendall! Anyway, it was one night of major celebrations. At Toni's party, we all wore crazy wigs and makeup and went to dinner - FUN! THEN - Toni, Mallori, Lori and I went and CRASHED THE PROM!!!! SOOOOOO much fun! We stayed long enough to dance a couple of dances with the young whipper snappers, make a scene and scoot out FAST! Chris dressed really funky but Sandi just looked beautiful! (Sandi is the ONLY one without a wig and I have green hair and my sister Lori has the wild pink wig! Toni's got the "MACY GRAY DO" and Mallori is the cute neon wig!) So here's some pics of how we like to have crazy, fun - without going to jail!!!!LOL! It was an incredible weekend of awesome memories, great times and celebrations. I can't WAIT for Mary to join in!!!!!

Oh yeah - here we go!

Yesterday afternoon Robert & I sat in on a 2 hour conference call to go over the itinerary - Did I say ITINERARY?!?!??! Oh Yes - I did!!!!! (You can check out the sidebar, uh-huh!)
Anyway, very, VERY interesting, 30 families in this travel group!!!! WOO-HOO, Travel group 133!!!!! I think only 3, maybe 4? families headed to Hefei City to get our children. I can't believe how close I am and every hour that goes by is really taking my breath away as the reality of being united with this amazing little face I've been staring at for over 5 months WILL BE IN MY ARMS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Life is awesome, even with the stressors, tears and heartaches, it just makes for a great novel, you know?!??!?! With a totally rockin' ending! Jesus totally rocks, and ROCKS MY WORLD and what a great and awesome friend He is! ( ok, - do I just overuse the word, 'rock' ?!?!? Does it really matter? LOL) Well - off to try to study Renal disorders and Hematology - oh yeah, and pack........and clean house.....and get everything in order..........ROCK ON - MARY- HERE WE COME!

Got the Consulate Appointment!!!

WOOOOO---HOOOOOOO!!!!
Well, our Consulate appointment is set for May 13, 2008 in Guangzhou China!!! We leave May 1st at 8:40am CST and come home May 15th with Mary in our arms!!!
Waiting to get the itinerary but for now - things are narrowing down to reality and we're both beside ourselves! It also looks like a 15 hour flight to and from Beijing but what they hey?!?!??! It's the closest to labor pains I'll get so party on - let's go get baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!