Today we found out that our adoption agency received our Article 5 last Thursday, January 21! This is very exciting as it means China has gone through all of our paper work with a fine tooth comb and we are paper ready in their eyes:) There is only *one* thing that is left to do and that is for China to grant the travel approval (TA) saying we can travel to China and bring our baby girl home!! We have *tentative* travel dates and we would arrive in Gabriella's province on February 28 and she would be placed in our arms on March 1. We also found out today that one of the families in our travel group will also be going to Taiyuan to adopt their three year old little boy from the same orphanage ~ and ~ they are half Chinese so they may also speak some Chinese!! We know they are from California and we feel it would be a total blessing to be able to travel with another family to Gabriella's province ~ this is something that is VERY rare in China adoption!!! Please feel free to pray for that TA to come very soon:) There is a possibility the TA may not arrive until the middle of February and we would then fly out the next week ~ as I'm someone who likes to have a game plan this would be slightly challenging ~ however we know God is in control and we are trying sooooo hard to rest in that:) One thing we know for sure is that we will have her in our arms in March and for that we are very thankful:)
January 21 was a busy day in a lot of ways. In this picture you see Jayda, my niece who could pass as a sister to Nicholas and Daniel our oldest. My mom, or as she is also affectionately known as Grammie is also in this picture. Grammie was on her way to work Thursday morning when she slipped on ice on her front porch and fell to the driveway. The fall was not good. She was out in the freezing rain, snow and ice and called 911 from her cell phone as she couldn't get up. She broke her left leg in 8 places. In addition to the eight breaks one of her leg bones lodged itself into another leg bone at two separate places; one an inch and a half and the other three inches. After four hours of surgery, thirteen screws and two metal plates she is now starting the healing process. She will need to be in rehab for several weeks however we know beyond a shadow of a doubt she will be just as active as she was before this all happened. As many of you know I can always find the silver lining in any cloud. I reminded Grammie that I will be off for several weeks on FMLA and can bring her new granddaughter over for frequent visits ~ this did put a smile on her face....it was either that or the morphine:)
The boys are very happy in this picture as they received a PS3 from Grandpa and Grandma for Christmas. Jordan, who is in the solid red sweater also ended up starting January off with a bang. On Saturday night, January 9th Jordan was driving home from Steak & Sh*ke after playing in the high school basketball game. The entire team went out to celebrate and he had a great time. At 11:00pm the phone rang and Daniel answered. He had a very funny look on his face and said something is wrong with Jordan and handed me the phone. At this time Daniel went into high gear ~ and if you know Daniel he pretty much only moves at one speed so this was unusual. Daniel was out in my SUV, with it started and in gear waiting for Curtis and I to get out there ~ he wanted to make sure his little brother was ok and was anxious to get to him:) I won't go into details in regard to the phone call, if you know us well you've probably already heard about it, let's just say Jordan was coming around a curve in the neighborhood and hit a big patch of ice. He did a 360, took out a mailbox, landed in the driveway and hit a parked car in the driveway. Jordan is ok....the mailbox , car and his SUV ~ well, there are pictures of his Envoy below so you can see the damage. Jordan was pretty much in shock when it all happened and we worked through it reassuring him that the important thing was that no one was injured. Daniel reminded him that when he had a wreck in the truck and did a lot of damage that we sat and ate crab rangoon as he had just picked up Chinese for dinner....vehicles and mailboxes can be repaired ~ as long as my family is healthy and safe that is all that is important:) There is a cute twist to this story. The sweet girl who lived at the house that Jordan took out her mailbox and part of her car ~ well, she had asked Nicholas, Jordan's younger brother, for Jordan's phone number earlier in the week. Jordan ended up taking her out to a movie on Sunday afternoon to apologize and they have been sharing rides to school ever since while their vehicles get repaired:)
Here are a few of the places the Envoy isn't feeling too good. I do hope they give it a bath before they give it back to us as it was much cleaner when we gave it to them to repair:)
Today we found out that our adoption agency received our Article 5 last Thursday, January 21! This is very exciting as it means China has gone through all of our paper work with a fine tooth comb and we are paper ready in their eyes:) There is only *one* thing that is left to do and that is for China to grant the travel approval (TA) saying we can travel to China and bring our baby girl home!! We have *tentative* travel dates and we would arrive in Gabriella's province on February 28 and she would be placed in our arms on March 1. We also found out today that one of the families in our travel group will also be going to Taiyuan to adopt their three year old little boy from the same orphanage ~ and ~ they are half Chinese so they may also speak some Chinese!! We know they are from California and we feel it would be a total blessing to be able to travel with another family to Gabriella's province ~ this is something that is VERY rare in China adoption!!! Please feel free to pray for that TA to come very soon:) There is a possibility the TA may not arrive until the middle of February and we would then fly out the next week ~ as I'm someone who likes to have a game plan this would be slightly challenging ~ however we know God is in control and we are trying sooooo hard to rest in that:) One thing we know for sure is that we will have her in our arms in March and for that we are very thankful:)
January 21 was a busy day in a lot of ways. In this picture you see Jayda, my niece who could pass as a sister to Nicholas and Daniel our oldest. My mom, or as she is also affectionately known as Grammie is also in this picture. Grammie was on her way to work Thursday morning when she slipped on ice on her front porch and fell to the driveway. The fall was not good. She was out in the freezing rain, snow and ice and called 911 from her cell phone as she couldn't get up. She broke her left leg in 8 places. In addition to the eight breaks one of her leg bones lodged itself into another leg bone at two separate places; one an inch and a half and the other three inches. After four hours of surgery, thirteen screws and two metal plates she is now starting the healing process. She will need to be in rehab for several weeks however we know beyond a shadow of a doubt she will be just as active as she was before this all happened. As many of you know I can always find the silver lining in any cloud. I reminded Grammie that I will be off for several weeks on FMLA and can bring her new granddaughter over for frequent visits ~ this did put a smile on her face....it was either that or the morphine:)
The boys are very happy in this picture as they received a PS3 from Grandpa and Grandma for Christmas. Jordan, who is in the solid red sweater also ended up starting January off with a bang. On Saturday night, January 9th Jordan was driving home from Steak & Sh*ke after playing in the high school basketball game. The entire team went out to celebrate and he had a great time. At 11:00pm the phone rang and Daniel answered. He had a very funny look on his face and said something is wrong with Jordan and handed me the phone. At this time Daniel went into high gear ~ and if you know Daniel he pretty much only moves at one speed so this was unusual. Daniel was out in my SUV, with it started and in gear waiting for Curtis and I to get out there ~ he wanted to make sure his little brother was ok and was anxious to get to him:) I won't go into details in regard to the phone call, if you know us well you've probably already heard about it, let's just say Jordan was coming around a curve in the neighborhood and hit a big patch of ice. He did a 360, took out a mailbox, landed in the driveway and hit a parked car in the driveway. Jordan is ok....the mailbox , car and his SUV ~ well, there are pictures of his Envoy below so you can see the damage. Jordan was pretty much in shock when it all happened and we worked through it reassuring him that the important thing was that no one was injured. Daniel reminded him that when he had a wreck in the truck and did a lot of damage that we sat and ate crab rangoon as he had just picked up Chinese for dinner....vehicles and mailboxes can be repaired ~ as long as my family is healthy and safe that is all that is important:) There is a cute twist to this story. The sweet girl who lived at the house that Jordan took out her mailbox and part of her car ~ well, she had asked Nicholas, Jordan's younger brother, for Jordan's phone number earlier in the week. Jordan ended up taking her out to a movie on Sunday afternoon to apologize and they have been sharing rides to school ever since while their vehicles get repaired:)
Here are a few of the places the Envoy isn't feeling too good. I do hope they give it a bath before they give it back to us as it was much cleaner when we gave it to them to repair:)
