Less than 24 hours

In only 21 hours my sister and I will be boarded on our first flight toward China and Timothy! I have packed, re-packed and checked my packing. I think I am ready. You would think this is my first international flight or something. I have way too much stuff and hope it is the right stuff. I realized that I had not packed any medications for myself or Timothy other than some Ibuprophen and Tylenol PM. Neither would do Timothy any good. I took care of that, only to discover that my asthma inhaler expired two years ago. Oops! I have called the doctor to get him to call one in to the pharmacy. No worries, I have to swing by the store anyway.
The kids are ready to go to the Martin's. They are all packed with the exception of a few toys they want to take and their toiletries. I trust Charlie to handle that. Truly. I think the girls understand what is going on. Emily definitely does and is excited to be "taking a sleepover" with Jordan. Bethany keeps saying, "I go with you, Mommy." I am glad I am not the one dropping them off! Brodie is just dreading going back to school and reentering the structured world. I am positive they will all have a wonderful time.
I will probably not post again until we get to Beijing. Please pray for us for travel safety and for health! We look forward to seeing everyone when we get back. For now, here are a couple of pictures of Timothy's room.

Entering the final countdown

Well, here it is Sunday evening. I leave on Thursday morning, very early, to fly to China. So what did I do to get ready today? I pulled everything out of Brodie's closet. All 10 years of accumulated stuff is now on his floor waiting to be sorted through. I guess I am in nesting mode. I cleaned out the girls' closet Friday night and put away everything in their room (and it was a mess when I started). Timothy's room is perfect. Charlie's any my room is even reasonably neat, considering the suitcases on the floor and piles of things to go into them. I am just about ready to go. I feel good about the kids staying with our friends the Martin's. We finally received our international tickets just yesterday. The paperwork file has been checked and rechecked and is ready to go. Nevertheless, we still desire and request your prayers. There are so many things that could go wrong. We know that God is in control and will watch over us.

Speaking of God, have I mentioned how much I love our church? The sneaky people in our Sunday school class surprised us with a mini-shower disguised as an end of the year class breakfast. Their outpouring of love and support have been a true blessing.

Before we leave, here are the latest pictures of Brodie, Emily and Bethany for your viewing enjoyment.

China Dates

OK, I forgot that most of you haven't heard that we have firm, definite dates for our trip to China. Due to the US Consulate being booked for August, and then the Labor Day weekend, we could not get consulate appointments until Sept. 12. That means that Mary and Liz will depart on Thursday, Aug. 31 and Charlie will depart on Saturday, Sept. 2. Though it is somewhat disappointing to have to wait yet another week, it actually will work out fine. Our only concern is getting the kids to school the first week with both parents on the other side of the globe. I am sure we will find a solution somehow.

I am mostly packed for the trip already. I need to find a few more pairs of pants for Timothy, and perhaps a sweater, as he is used to dressing in long pants and sweaters all year long. We will transition him to shorts in balmy Guangzhou so that he will be acclimated to VA weather when he gets home.


Don't you just love that face? I think this picture was taken when Timothy was about 6 months old, but I am not quite sure. All I know is that I want to give those cheeks lots of smooches.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Good Morning!
Tuesday was a fun day at King's Dominion with our friends the Chattaway's. We rode rides and cooled off at Water Works. Did I mention it was a heat index of 115? My nephew Billy would say that was nothing compared to where he grew up, but this was no desert dry heat. Everyone did well until they got hungry around 5:30. A large pizza filled everyone back up and we were back on the rides. It was wonderful to spend the day with some friends who completely understand life with an adopted child.
Please pray for a friend of Rachel Chattaway's, if you would. One of her jump rope teammates was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor just days before the competition. Chad is 11 years old and was told that if they had not caught the tumor when they did, he probably would have died within a day or so. God has spared him and we want to pray for complete healing. He has already had two surgeries in the last week.
Yesterday was another whirlwind day. After dropping Brodie off at school for an indoor soccer camp day, I came home and loaded the girls in the van. I stopped at the church and got one more document notarized, then we were off to Dale City and Mamaw's house. My mother graciously agreed to watch the girls, despite the many things she needed to get done around the house. She had been in Massachusetts for the previous week and is trying to get packed to go to the beach with us this coming week. I stayed for just a few minutes and then drove north toward DC. I parked at the Springfield Metro station and hopped on, not knowing exactly how to get to the Chinese Embassy by way of Metro. A nice young man at the station gave me directions of what stop to get off at and which bus to catch. All of this went off without a single hitch. I made it to the embassy and back to my mom's in about 4 hours, including driving during rush hour from Springfield to Dale City. I was proud of myself. The passports are all dropped off for visas and should be back to us early next week. I even made it back to church in time for the prayer service.
Today is a laundry and packing day. We leave in less than 48 hours and I have packed zero items. Guess I should get a move on.
Have a great day!

Am I Insane?

So at about 3:30 this morning it really hit me. In a little over three weeks, I will be the mother of FOUR children. AAAAGGGGHHHH! What am I doing?!?!?! As I laid there and tried hard not to panic, the neatest feeling came over me. God was saying, "Trust ME. Lean on ME. Believe ME." I am in the middle of doing the Beth Moore study Believing God. It is about not just believing in God, but believing Him for all His promises and in all His greatness. This past Sunday night was an awesome video about God's Word being alive and active within a believer. I got to see it in technicolor yesterday. He is so AWESOME! OK, I need to wipe some tears. Be right back.

I have an crazy schedule for the next month. Beach trip starts this weekend. Bethany's surgery two days after we get back. China 10 days later. Still need to get visas for China. So to prepare for all of that...today we are going to King's Dominion. Our dear friends from our first trip to China, the Chattaway's, are driving through Richmond on their way home to PA. They have been in Portsmouth at a Junior Olympics event that their daughter Rachel qualified for in jump rope. She is about the same age as Brodie and Rebecca is the same age as Emily. Did I mention that it will be over 100 degrees here today? Oh well.

More later....