Flying out on December 6th!

It's all really starting to happen now. We have our flight itinerary. We fly out of Fairbanks at 1:30 am on Thursday the 6th. We stop very quickly in Seattle and San Francisco, then it's straight to Beijing. It's a 12 1/2 hour flight, so please remember me in your prayers that day...... I'm not a fan of flying - especially over cold, dark oceans :).

We have been going 100 miles-an-hour trying to get everything ready before Thursday. We have places for the girls to stay during the first week, and my Mom is flying up to stay with the them the 2nd week we're gone. I feel bad because all the flights leaving Fairbanks on the 20th and 21st are full (she needs to be home on the 21st), so she has to leave the morning of the 19th. We come home the evening of the 19th, so she's not going to be able to see Jonathan!!!

These past seven weeks have been incredible. The adoption process up until then took such a long time (we put in our application to adopt in February 2005), but God has expedited every step since we received our referral for Jonathan October 5th. In just 10 days, Scott and I will be holding our son! Talk about the amazing grace of our Father; we are experiencing it first-hand.

For all you prayer warriors out there, please print these specific requests out and pray for them as God brings us to your mind:

Safety for the girls while we're gone. Kaylee's going to be driving alot in the ice up here, and we have never been away from them for so long. Pray Scott and I will not be anxious about their well-being.

Safe travel for us.

That we would remain healthy while in China.

A quick bonding experience with Jonathan. We are already bonded to him, but our little guy doesn't know us yet, and the transition will be challenging for him.

An opportunity to be the light of Jesus every place we go and with every person we meet.

Protection from harm and/or theft.

Safe travel for my Mom.

Blessings on the Baxters and Kolmorgens who are watching the girls.

We love you all!!!

Travel Acceptance Received!

At 10:06 AM Alaska Time, we received a phone call from America World telling us they had received our travel acceptance from China, and we will be leaving December 6th to get Jonathan! What an answer to prayer!! I had spent some time with God in prayer this morning asking Him to let us get a phone call today about our travel dates. I was working with Jackie on a science project when my cell phone rang. I jumped up in complete anticipation and practically did back flips when it was our adoption agency. Jackie and I were screaming and high-fiving each other.

Our agency just needs to confirm a consulate appointment date for us, then we will receive our itinerary. God has been so incredibly faithful through this entire process. We will have Jonathan home before Christmas! There really are no words to adequately describe our thankfulness and joy.

I'll update the blog when we receive our itinerary. For now, we have plenty things to keep us busy as we are leaving in 10 days! PRAISE GOD!!!!

November 19, 2007

We are still waiting to find out our travel dates. You know, I love Alaska 99.9 % of the time. When I don't appreciate this remote area is when I need to overnight a referral acceptance letter (RA) to China. Because it takes longer to FEDEX stuff from here, our adoption agency had us mail our signed RA directly to China because by the time we Fedexed it back to Virgina (where America World is located), the other RAs in our group would have already been mailed out to China. They can overnight things to China in Virgina, but it takes 3 days from Alaska which is much closer to China! Anyway, our RA did not arrive with the other group's, so our travel dates may be later in December than we had thought. We'll just have to wait and see. I have to daily (hourly) remind myself that it is God who is in control of when we go to get Jonathan. I can hardly stand being away from him another minute!

I tracked the RA in its process to get to China. It went from Fairbanks to Anchorage to Tennessee, back to Anchorage (this took over a day) and then to China! Sometimes I think it's best not to track packages.

We mailed our passports and visa application forms to our agency, and they are going to take care of getting us our Chinese visas. Please pray the whole process goes smoothly and in a timely manner. Scott is all up-to-date on his shots as he deployed to Saudi earlier this year. I needed to start my Hep A & B series, so I got that done Friday.

We finished Jonathan's room last week! It was so much fun. We played with all the toys when we were done. I've attached some pictures of his room. He has a toddler bed and a twin bed. As far as I know, he's still in a crib at the orphanage. I think moving him to a twin might be too much of a change. We left the twin bed up because I don't know how he's going to react to his room. He's used to being surrounded by kids in the orphanage, and he may need someone to sleep in his room for a little while. The problem will come in deciding who gets to sleep in his room. We may just cram all four of us in there!

This waiting is excruciating. Please pray we will stay focussed on God and His will, not ours. Talk to you soon!

Blessings & Love,

Julie

November 10, 2007

We received our Referral Acceptance document from our adoption agency yesterday; they overnighted it to us from Virgina. Scott and I signed and dated it, and I will head downtown to Fedex this morning to fly it as quickly as possible to Beijing, China so we can get our travel dates. It amazes me how China's receipt of this one single piece of paper is the last piece of the puzzle we've been working on for three years.

We should receive our actual travel dates in about two weeks. Our adoption agency guesses we will be traveling the first week of December. We are thrilled! Scott and I are going to start learning some basic Chinese words and phrases. I think it's important when traveling to foreign countries to at least make an effort to communitcate in their language (not that I've ever traveled overseas to a foreign country, mind you). It will also help Jonathan if we know a few simple words he's familiar with.....he's never heard the English language before, and I know this adoption will be somewhat traumatic for the little guy. Please pray for a smooth transition for Jonathan.

Our social worker sent us some literature about meeting Jonathan for the first time. The article said it was important not to run up and hug (accost) him, but to sit on the floor and let him come to us. If anyone reading this knows me, you are laughing your head off. In Jonathan's best interest, I will pray God gives me the wisdom and self control not to grab him up, sqeeze him tight, and kiss his little face all over.

Our church is throwing us a baby shower today! I'm so excited!!! We just finished moving the girls' rooms -Kaylee moved in the basement, Jackie took Kaylee's room, and Jonathan will take Jackie's old room. I'm going to get Jonathan's room all set up this week.

I guess the next time you'll hear from us on this blog is when we receive our travel dates. The fun and craziness will really begin then! Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support!