Any Day Now

Well, here we are.

Our final paperwork was sent to Beijing on Thursday of last week, and now we're in a waiting game.

The final travel approvals have been taking 2-7 days on average lately, and here we are on day 5 and I'm just ready. We are ready to get her and be home and get into our new normal. We've been in this weird state of limbo where we can't make any plans, and instead have to come up with numerous different scenarios depending on when we get travel approval, and when we can leave.

If we don't get approval by tomorrow, leaving around the 6th is pretty much out of the question. Family Days (or Gotcha Days) are only on Mondays, so we would have to scoot our timeline back another week and make plans from there.

Will you pray for our travel approval soon? Will you pray we have patience in the meantime while we have this last period of unknown? I have come to know lots of momma's in process at the same stage as us, and right now we haven't seen a travel approval come since last Thursday... So, there are lots of babies waiting on their mom's and dad's, so a big batch of travel approvals from Beijing in the next day or so would be a very good thing.

I can't wait to update you all the next time with solid dates and timelines! I have piles to pack in my closet right now, but I don't want to jinx myself and put it in a suitcase :)

Isaiah 40:31- "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Where we're at and what we're doing

Oh man. Things are getting REAL, guys.

I literally have tingly wrists at all times, and I'm dropping things like crazy since I'm so totally distracted.

So here's a quick update on where we are:

Our Article 5 (the final documents that need approval) were dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou China on April 6. They are picking them up on the 20th. At the same time, Kris' visa will be picked up on the 25th, and overnighted to us.

Once our Article 5 is picked up, they will overnight it to Beijing. The past few weeks, the CCCWA in Beijing has been issuing TA's (travel approvals) within 1-3 days. We are praying to have travel approval by Monday the 24th.

Once we have travel approval, that means we can go. As soon as we receive TA, we have to request our appointment in the Consulate in Guangzhou for the US to finalize our adoption and issue Caroline's immigration visa.

What all this means, is Lord willing, we will be leaving either April 30th, or May 6th. WHAT?!

Right now we're just praying for no delays. Will you join us in praying that everything will go super smoothly and we get the consulate appointments we want?

In the meantime, I'm over here nesting like a woman who's 38 weeks pregnant. I am cleaning our baseboards, scrubbing our floors, and I truthfully can hardly sit still.

We are SO READY. I'm ready to get her and get home and get to living our normal lives as a family of SIX. SIX! That's a big family!

Anyhow, we have finally gotten to work on getting the house transitioned. Two weeks ago, we started with the Big Boy room. Now Keegan and Bennett are sharing, and they are in paradise. The first time they shared a room, they were TERRIBLE. I mean, they would stay up until 10:30 screaming and jumping. They were just way too little. Now, they like to lay in their beds and chit chat for a bit before falling asleep. They no longer wake each other up at the crack of dawn either, so that's always good.

I mean, it's really cool, right?! A total big kid room!!!

Benny and I worked on the design for this room together for a long time. We roamed around the paint aisles at Lowes and Home Depot, and finally decided on a really light grey for the walls and ceiling, and a navy blue for the wall with the window. He really wanted to keep his red curtains- and I love it.

Then this weekend, we had the pleasure of designing and completing our first GIRL room!! WOO HOO! I mean, boys are super fun and easy, but can we all just agree that it's just not nearly as fun to decorate for and dress them?!

The bed and the nightstand were a hand-me-down from my dad's apartment. The dollhouse was the one that my mom and I built when I was little, but I redecorated it to look like our house now (on the outside). The little grey table was $10 from Ikea, and the curtains and rods are also from Ikea. The initials were from Hobby Lobby, and the little "g" is from Amazon .

 

I had actually bought this quilt years ago when we first started the process of adopting in Michigan from foster care, but we ended up getting pregnant with Smith. I remember sobbing when we had to halt that process. It was almost too much to keep that quilt. But I did, and I'm so glad. God wove so much into that little quilt in the meantime.

 

The lamp is an old vintage one I bought off of ebay- it was brand new, though, and still had the old "Penneys" tag on it from the 60's! I LOVE it.

 

 

That "Count your Blessings" board is from Hobby Lobby (80% off- whoop!) and that's where we're putting the fabulous pictures of all of our friends and family in their Caroline shirts.

 

 

Pretty sure this is my favorite corner of my whole house. I painted that mirror as a chalkboard for my sister's baby shower almost 5 years ago. I finally decided to paint Caroline's life verse on it- I'm SO GLAD I didn't throw that out! See that cute little panda bear hanging on? I think it's an adorable little tribute and encouragement for our little China girl to hang on even when it's scary. And by the way, am I the only one who absolutely LOVES tolle?! She has one over her bed, and one over her vanity- both eBay.

 

That vanity by the way- does anyone remember when we garbage picked that?! I couldn't decide what color to paint it, and then I sanded it down a bit, and I loved the distressed white, so we just added new hardware and a new mirror ($8 project) and voila! LOVE it. And that little bench? I made it a couple of years ago for our house back in Michigan, and again, had no need for it here. So glad I saved it.

 

Last, that DARLING rocker. That was the only thing we really had to "spend" on for Caroline's room. We bought it from Amazon, and it was shipped Prime in two days. It was only $60! Isn't it the cutest room you've seen in a long time!? I mean, not to fluff my own feathers, but I am so proud. We have waited so very long for this room. Now the only thing missing is the cutest little girl I've ever seen :)

 

Okay, guys. If you followed this all the way to the end, THANK YOU. If you didn't, don't worry, I totally get it. This was a long one. Ha :)

 

One last prayer request: will you pray for our Bennett? His heart is the softest, and he knows so much is happening right now. He's such a good boy, but is so very emotional right now. He cried for ten minutes today after we dropped Keegan off at school because he "didn't say goodbye to Keegan." He knows there's a lot going on, and he's feeling it too.

 

Thanks for loving us so well, friends. Thanks for being so excited along with us, and for supporting us so faithfully. We are amazed that we get to call each and everyone of you a friend.