The time has finally come~

The time has finally arrived...we first saw little JingXuan's face almost exactly 9 months ago, and tomorrow we fly to her birth country to "officially" make her part of our family, even though in our hearts she has been all along.

Thank you for every prayer and word of encouragement that has been sent our way...we truly have felt every single one.

To our boys...we love you so much and will miss you terribly. Lucy is so lucky to have 3 amazing brothers like you.

From this point on until our return, you can find us at We Love Lucy

See you from CHINA!!

A Shower For Lucy~

Today Kimberly @ The Seventh Diamond hosted a cyber-shower in honor of Lucy Joy. For 3 hours friends I have made from the "blog world" stopped by and left sweet comments, helpful advice and lots of love. It was so much fun.

Thank you to each and everyone of you who RSVP'd and those who were able to come by and visit, I had a wonderful time.

Getting closer!!

Missing Kim~

My sweet friend Kim @ 3 Peanuts has had to shut down her blog due to some personal harassment. Kim is such an inspiration to so many of us on this adoption journey. Kim, you will be missed so much!

I think Kim's experience has made me start to consider the idea of going private also. I have used this blog as a way to document our family life and our journey to Lucy. I don't share much personal information here for the fact that it is open to all. I have been so ecouraged by following other families blogs while we have waited for Lucy, and I hope mine has done the same for others. I might consider going private once we return with Lucy, so I will be able to share all that is happening with our family.

Lucy Update~

• My girlfriend was able to have a dear friend of hers in China call Lucy's orphanage and try to get an update for me. She was able to talk to a woman in the children's unit and ask a few questions about Lucy. Here is some of the information we received...
• ~"Xuan Xuan has been doing very well. She has normal living routine. She takes formula in the morning and evening, eats most table food. She sleeps well. She has never been very sick. She got some cold and running nose, all recovered soon. She was never been sent to hospital for illness."
• ~"There are children of her age to live together in the orphanage. They play games, sing children songs, learn to do simple hand work, count numbers, even learn some English words. She is smart, Ms. H said"
• ~"They received a photo album from her family. the caretakers show her it often, teach her to know Mama and Baba. Ms. H said, "One day I asked her, your Baba and Mama are coming to take you home, are you happy for that? She said, "I miss Mama".
• We were not able to get updated height and weight, since this information needs to be obtained through another office, but what we did receive was priceless.
• I feel a little more comfortable now, knowing they have showed her our pictures, and she knows we are coming for her....in just 9 days!!!!

Travel is set!

Our flights have been booked!! Our travel dates are July 23-August 6! We will get Lucy the afternoon of the 27th and have our consulate appointment on Aug 4th. We are getting so close!!

July 9, 1993~Happy 15th Anniversary to Us!

Happy Anniversary to my best friend! You are my perfect life partner...I cannot imagine a better husband and father than you. Thank you for making all my dreams come true! I love you!

Give me a "T"...Give me an "A", Whats that spell???

**Update** I do plan to blog while we are in China. Our travel blog is on the sidebar... We Love Lucy

I will post about it again as we get closer to our travel date!! Thank you for wanting to follow our journey~

TA!!!

It looks like our tentative travel dates are July 23-August 6...possibly getting Lucy on the 27! That means 2 weeks from Wednesday we will be on our way to our daughter. I will update with final travel dates as soon as our CA is confirmed!!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birhday Jeff~June 30th

As we do every year...we celebrated my brother's birthday. Jeff would have been 38 this year. This is such a special tradition for us since he passed away 6 years ago. We each write a special birthday message on our balloon...which always includes one from his daughter, we have dinner and a birthday cake. Happy Birthday Jeff...you are in our hearts forever!