China hit with blizzards

In case any of you have been reading the international news, China is being hit with the worst cold and snow than they have had in 50 years. Changsha, Hunan is a hub of exchange for many traveling by train south to north or visa versa. Changsha has been hit very hard and trains have been shut down for nearly a week. The airport has been closed in Changsha, too. Remember where we are going to meet Jeremy??? Yup, Changsha, Hunan! Electric has been off for nearly a week in some areas and no coal deliveries for just as long. I certainly pray for safety for so many millions of people involved in all of this, but most especially for Jeremy and his SWI. Much of this snow and cold has hit central and southern China, which are sometimes never hit with cold. Many of these places have no heat to start with! Yikes!

We are firming up plans to visit PHF/Langfang Children's Village - hope to actually stay there at Shepherd's Field on Saturday night!

Mary

Final Itineray

Well it is finally starting to feel really "real"!!! Our itinerary is just a tad different than the last post. We will be meeting Jeremy on Monday, Feb 18 and are so excited to realize the day is finally set! We will be staying at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha, Hunan. We will be able to visit Jeremy's SWI on Wed the 20th - the trip is 2 1/2 hrs one way and it might prove to be a long day. We won't be going to Guangzhou until Saturday, the 23rd, with Jeremy's medical and visa photos set for Tues the 26th, CA the 27th, Oath taking/visa pickup on the 28th and flying out at 8:30am on the 29th. We will stay at the Victory Hotel as we did when we adopted Sarabeth. I so hope the ayis at Jeremy's SWI have been informed as to when we will be coming now. I so want him to be mentally/emotionally prepared. I was talking on the phone to another adoptive mom who is going to China with us and the SWI director from where her son is coming from does not tell the children about the adoption until the DAY they are going to meet their parents. I just can't believe this and am so thankful our children were all prepared for our coming (not sure for Juls, but she was so young). And this family's son is almost 6 yrs old. How sad for this child - and how traumatizing.

I know for a fact that the kids at Jeremy's SWI are well prepared for adoption and the two who have come home recently are doing great! I just can't tell you all how very excited I am about going to pick up Jeremy!!! I am NOT looking forward to that loooooong flight - there AND back. That is the worst part of the entire process for me. And to be going in the middle of February out of Minneapolis ..... well, please pray for decent weather, because we do have to make connections!!

Will sign off for now - our travel group is making plans for dinner get togethers and even a birthday party, too!

Blessings,
Mary

We leave in 3 weeks!!

We made our flight arrangements today after getting our Consulate Appt confirmation. We don't have all the info yet, but we do know this much:

2/14 Leave - fly out of MN, to Tokyo into Beijing arriving late on 2/15
2/16 We will probably visit Langfang Children's Village (where Nate is from)
2/17 Fly to Changsha, Hunan
2/18 "probably" Gotcha day - other families rec'd their kids on Monday from here
2/18-2/22 Provincial paper work completing adoption on China's side
2/22 probably fly to Guangzhou
2/22-2/27 Medical, paperwork and LOTS of free time
2/27 CA (consulate appt) completing adoption on US side
2/28 Get Jeremy's visa for entrance into America
2/29 Fly out of Guangzhou to Tokyo to Portland to MN - home 2pm 2/29

We now can see the light at the end of the tunnel and will be united with dear Jeremy in 25 days!! Time to pack!

Mary

We got the CALL today - TA's on the way!!

Finally, finally our Travel Approval is in the mail - it will arrive at our agency, CHI, today or tomorrow. We are requesting CA (consulate appt) for the week of Feb 25, and hoping to travel out on Valentines Day, February 14th. If this all works out we should be home by the 27th with dear Jeremy!! My heart is just soaring. We also rec'd an email from LYDIAs Fund. This is the grant that we had applied for way back when and heard that their funds had run dry in November. They now have funds and we are so hoping that they will help us with some of our overseas expenses. If we had traveled sooner, they would not have been able to help us, so perhaps this long wait will have a silver lining in the end! Please pray for God's will regarding this possibility!

Praising God for His blessings today!

Mary

Need new VISAS

TA has not miraculously appeared so our application for new visas went out on Friday. We now wait to see when TA will come and hope to travel around February 14th. That's only 4 1/2 wks away! And to think I originally didn't want to "wait" to go until Jan 10th - LAST WEEK! Boy, is God teaching me to "let go" with this long wait. Counting it all joy (Jms 1:2) has also been a hard one throughout this ordeal. But God has promised to "work all things out for good to those who love Him." This loooooong drawn out wait is an opportunity for joy in my life. Unfortunately, I haven't LET it be joy. It is such a hard thing to watch those who's dossiers went to China 2 mths after ours and realize they are pending travel already. But I still must CHOSE to "let patience have it's perfect work" to mature me day by day. So here's to maturity! I just need to KEEP chosing to all it to "have it's perfect work" and not reclaim it!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Mary