Leaving for China!

April 17, 2009
We will be leaving in just a few hours to finally bring our boy home!
It is 3:40 am and I still have to finish getting a few things together. I am very excited but getting tired too. Can't wait to get on that plane and crash. We just feel so blessed to be on our way to our son. The Lord promised he would provide what we needed and get our boy home and he has! All the mountains have been moved and we are going. Our Lord is one amazing Father. Will post more when we arrive.
Oh and to the 3 ladies waiting to bring their girls home I will do my best to get pictures and give them all a kiss from their mommies.

Leaving Friday!

April 15, 2009

Our Itinerary:

Fri April 17th depart Cincinnati at 10:02

Sat April 18th Arrive Nanchang 8:45 pm

Sun April 19 Free day

Mon April 20 Gotcha Day! 11:00 am

Fri April 24 Train to Guangzhou 6:30 pm

Sat Arpil 25 Arrive Guangzhou 6:45 am

Mon April 27 Consulate appt

Tues April 28 Swearing in and take train to Hong Kong

Wed April 29 Leave Hong Kong 12:45

Wed April 29 Arrive Cincinnati at 6:02 pm

Now I just need to finish packing!

Final Travel Plans

April 10,2009
Oh my, so much has been happening for the past couple of days. We did receive confirmation of our consulate appt and set out to book our flights. As I was saying we were having difficulty booking a return flight home. Initially it looked like we would have to stay a few extra days just to get a flight home. I was trying to figure out how we would afford 3 extra days of hotel bills and food etc. Then on Wed our friend called and said he could get us a flight home on 4/29 but it was flying through Germany with an overnight layover. I said no I don't think Gideon can go through Germany on a chinese passport. So after checking into this further I was right I could not. He would need an entry visa which would need to be applied for and paid for. After talking directly with the frequent flier provider and trying dates all the way through May, I began to realize we could not use the frequent flier miles. We were going to have to pay for our tickets as well as a ticket for Gideon. This could be $3000 more that we didnt have. After many tears and crying on my friends shoulders both here in Ky and in South Carolina tickets were booked! My friend Cindy was able to get great prices through United and an even more amazing price on Gideon's ticket. They had told us his ticket was $1000 and there was no better price. Cindy begged them to keep looking. While they had her on hold and continued to look Cindy prayed for a better rate and soon the girl came on and said I don't know where this price came from but I grabbed it. Cindy siad it was from God!. The price was $437. This was an amazing price. While the prices were great it was still over $2000 in addition to the $2000 we were already short. How could we come up with an additional $4000? My friend Shari prayed with me that we knew The Lord would not let us down now. We knew and believed He would make it all happen. Then slowly- money would roll in, several friends donated money and we were able to sell our diamon earrings that we had won. My friend Steph at work took them to a jeweler friend to see how much we could get and after looking at Gideon's picture he gave us $750 for them. Stephs dad got us another $200. The money was amazing. So now tonight we are very close to what we need. He is amazing! Our Lord is a mountain mover! All the mountains have been moved and we are sooooo amazed at what the Lord has done. And now in less than 1 week I will be holding my son!We will land in Nanchang at 8:45 pm on 4/18 and holding our son on 4/19 sometime. We are almost there! We have an awesome God!

TRAVEL PLANS

April 7, 2009
We received confirmation today of our consulate appt. It is set for April 27th and then our swearing in is on the 28th in the late afternoon. We could fly home on the 29th. We will leave for China on April 17th. Issues arise...First even though Gideon is only 18 lbs and unable to sit or walk, he is 2 years old and therefore we have to purshase a seat for him. We have been given enough frequent flyer miles for mine and Tim's seats. The problem is that we can't get a return flight until May 2nd. This is 3 days longer than we need to be there. That is 3 days of food and hotel we had not budgeted for. So the ticket for Gideon and the 3 extra days of hotel are fees we don't currently have. Not to mention the increase on all the fees in China that we hadn't counted on. But it all just doesn't matter. I am putting it in the Lord's hands. My friend is calling the airline in the morning to see if anything opened up for a return flight sooner than the 2nd and we'll take it from there. Please be in prayer for a flight home before the 2nd and for us to somehow get the money we need to pay all the extra fees we hadn't counted on not to mention food and essential expenditures that may come up. The Lord can and will provide exactly what we need! He is "the Mover of Mountains!" Tomorrow is a new day! And it is one day closer to getting Gideon!

WE HAVE TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!

April 2, 2009, after 5 very long weeks we have our travel approval! Kate is trying to get a consulate appointment for the 27th which would have us leaving on 4/17! Just 2 weeks from tomorrow! Now the panic sets in. I will be posting details as I get them. Right now I am just praising the Lord!!!

Video at Yugan SWI 4/1/09

New Pictures and Visas Arrived!

April 1,2009

Big day today. A family is currently in China picking up their daughter from the same orphanage as Gideon. They visited the orphanage today and had promised to give our boy a kiss and tell him his mama and baba were coming very soon! Well they did this and took pictures and video. They sent me 3 new pictures and some precious videos. I of course cried as I watched the videos as my friend stroked my little guy's face. He appears to love this attention and just leans into her hand as she strokes him. He is just precious.

Then fedex delivered our visas today as well. Now all we need is our Travel Approval (TA). Hoping for tomorrow as Thursdays seem to be the day packages arrive from China. Everyone pray that this is so. We need to book our flights asap in order to get the frequent flyer miles. Ok I am posting the treasured photos. I'll try to figure out how to do the video.