odds-n-ends

First of all, I can hardly believe that in 11 days we'll be on a plane to China! Oh my gracious! I am sooooo ready to love on this little guy.

So very ready!!

We had our travel conference call yesterday and we got the itinerary for our trip. We arrive in Beijing on December 27th (just after midnight). We spend one (very short) night in Beijing, take the train around 1:00 pm to Jinan, arrive around 3:00 and meet Kaikai in the early evening!!!!

It's going to be a whirlwind. But, if we didn't do it this way, we would have had to wait until January to get our little guy, and we weren't really interested in that option!

We were suprised to learn that we will only be in Jinan for three nights. We are still hoping to visit the Heze SWI on the 29th, but we'll have to see. It takes over three hours to get there by train. We leave for Guangzhou on the 30th and will be there until the 11th. We're in GZ for such a long time, because China is on holiday between December 31st and January 2nd.

So, due to the fact that we will only be in the freezing cold north for four days total, I am re-thinking my packing. What do you think? Should we take winter jackets, mittens/hats and boots for all of us? Or should we just pack sweaters, mittens/hats, etc. and expect to be a little chilly for those days?

In other (related) news, we only have four more days of school. I'll miss the girls A LOT, but I'm also ready to have a break from the long school days. We've decided to homeschool Jadon, Grace and Kaikai for at least the remainder of the school year. I'm super excited about it. I love homeschooling and I think that it will be a great situation for all three of them (and me too!). I was busy last week, training the woman who will be taking over my class for me. She's wonderful and I think that Lily and Yana will love having her for a teacher.

Lily and Grace are quite happy that they will be going to China with us. They can't wait to meet their new brother. My only concern is the quickness of the beginning of the trip. Prayers for all of us would be greatly appreciated!

Adam, Yana and Jadon will be spending part of the time with David's parents, and part of their time with Meredith's family. I think that I can safely say that they will have an amazing time while we're gone! We are going to miss them!

We are having a little problem with our I-800 and I-800A. The embassy in GZ doesn't have a record of them, which is really strange since they issued our article 5 after receiving them (with the NVC letter). So, we're trying to get another copy to them. Would you pray that it gets there on time and without incident?

David and I saw the movie, Lincoln, on our anniversary (December 9th). I have been thinking about it ever since. Lincoln (at least as portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis) was such  a deep and thoughtful man. I find myself quite challenged by his life of great sacrifice and genuine love.

We're going to our local Living Nativity tonight. We have gone every year for probably the past 10 years and it is always very moving. The kids love it and so do David and I!

I had a great time of prayer at the prayer house today, and I wish that I had time to write about it. But, suffice it to say that our God is pretty amazing, kind, gracious and wonderful! Isn't it incredible that He came to earth to live among us?! What love!!!!

Well, I'm sure that's enough odds-n-ends to last you quite a while (if you made it this far!). Blessings on you and your day, friends!