WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!

The last approval we needed has been granted!

We are going to China!  WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!

When we got the email I started laughing, then crying, then sobbing.

Earlier this week I was so down.  On Good Friday I started missing my mom something fierce. I've cried and prayed and talked to her all week.  A few days ago we put up a hummingbird feeder, one of Mom's favorite things.  My mom loved hummingbirds and cardinals, red birds she called them. One morning a "red bird" landed on the hook and sat there for the longest time.  It was like God was reminding me that He hasn't forgotten me.

So after the Travel Approval was granted, the Consulate appointment was set and it was time to buy plane tickets! 

Yesterday they were purchased along with a few other plans made. 

If you'd like to follow along on our journey an outline of our itinerary is below. 

My Dad comes to Houston 4/19 to stay with the kids.  Doug and I leave Houston 4/22 and travel to Beijing where we will meet up with our group and tour the city.
 On 4/26 we leave Beijing and head to Zhengzhou in the Henan Province where we will meet up with our children on Monday 4/27. We will be in the province that week until we travel to Guangzhou for our Consulate appointment on 5/7.  At that appointment our adoption will be final.  We will leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong on 5/8 and then on 5/9 we will tour Hong Kong Disney. Finally on Mother's Day 5/10 we will do a little time travel and leave Asia at 5:25am and arrive home 14 hours later at 9:20am. 

 Here's a map of China if you want to follow along. (Beijing, Zhengzhou, and Guangzhou are pretty much in a line from North to South)

China is 14 hours ahead of CST.  So pretty much if we are awake, ya'll are sleeping and vice versa!  We will try to be available on Facetime or WeChat.  We will be updating our family and hopefully they can keep ya'll updated throughout our trip.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for all who are praying... we still need it!  We still have some in-country plans to make and we need to pack! Wow... my head is spinning! Thank you for joining us on our journey!