I'm testing sending this from my e mail, because...we're going to China!!! Our agency called today about 11:45. They had been in contact with the consulate late last night and got a verbal confirmation of our appointment. They will not get the official confirmation until Tues. But, they feel confident enough for us to go ahead and book tickets. We are waiting for the travel agency to e mail us that information right now. There is a cool God story that I will share tonight. Suffice it for now to say, praise God with us for allowing us to get our son this month!

Some random pictures

That deer caught in the headlights look

At her favorite place

Playing guitar with Daddy

Painting

In the hotel in Charlotte, about to go to sleep watching her DV-Go-Player.(She actually came up with that name. Very appropiate, isn't it?

This roller coaster ride is exhausting me

Someone once told me that, "the only thing that is certain in International Adoptions is that nothing is certain." How true, how true! We got word today that the US consulate in Guangzhou started requiring a different format for appointment requests. Our agency didn't know about this request, so ours was sent back. A lot of other agency's were also. So, our travel guy had to resubmit our request. He doesn't work on Tuesdays, so it wasn't sent until today. Now, the consulate usually takes 24-48 hours to confirm appointments. That would put us at Friday. If we can get tickets, we can still go on Thurs. Any later than Friday, and we can not go until November. So, once again, praying friends, we ask you to approach the Lord on our behalf. He's taken us this far, over many obstacles. We know He can handle this. None of this takes Him by surprise. Tonight, I'm clinging to this verse: Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " Amen and amen!!

Today we are so...

Graphics for Smiley Moods Comments

Because...

This is the verse I read today: "I will exalt you, my God and the King; I will ever praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:1-4Yes, we got our Travel Approval today. I got the call about 12:30. The phone had only rang once before the agency called, and it was John checking. I'm afraid he didn't get a very cheerful greeting. But, the call finally did come. Our agency is requesting a consulate appointment for 9/23, and we will leave on 9/10. Yep, that's right, only 10 days away! Will I be ready? I'm not sure, but ready or not, we're going to China!!! Beside this verse, I had written the date of 5/25/06. I also wrote that I wanted to remember to tell Abbey how God had moved to bring her home. Today, when I saw this, I thought that no matter if we got our TA or not, I was putting this verse on the blog. So many people have come up to us that didn't know about our current situation and said, "God put you on my heart this week, I felt the need to pray for you." We knew that whatever the answer is regarding our TA, God was in control. This has become part of our faith story, that we will indeed share with Elijah. Now for the details. We really don't know details yet. We do have to get a consulate appointment and book tickets. I'm not sure if it is difficult to get a consulate appointment or not. We will not find out until Wed. (Our travel coordinator is off on Tuesdays...heavy sigh). But, again, the Lord is in control. Those who have been praying for us, please don't stop. Please pray that the consulate gives us the appointment that we need.

John the Baptist and Pooh

Every night before going to bed, Abbey and I read stories from the Toddler Bible. She has picked a couple of stories as her favorites and we have to read them every night. She loves Mary and Martha and The Lost Sheep. In fact she can recite those two stories by heart. Whenever she sits down to read a story, she always recites the words from those two stories. She knows almost all of both of them word for word. (This morning she got the newspaper and opened it up and started reciting Mary and Martha.) Well, last week, I'd grown weary of Mary and Martha and The Lost Sheep, so I said," Let's read about John the Baptist." So, now every night's reading must include Mary and Martha, The Lost Sheep and John the Baptist. Last night she was sitting with John "reading" a book. When she started to recite John the Baptist. She said, "John the Babbist ate honey and bugs;" at this point she paused in her "reading" and said, " just like Pooh!" I can honestly say I've never thought of the correlation between John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh, but I will now!

Abbey's and Elijah's Room

Elijah will share a room with Abbey. I've been trying to think of a way to "boyify" her butterflies and flowers room. I showed my dad some trucks and cars on one of our sippy cups. He, being the wood worker extraordinaire that he is, whipped up some cute, cute, car and truck wall plaques. He had also made the butterflies and flowers for Abbey. So, now we have some cars and trucks travelling among the flowers. Voila! A room for a girl and a boy!