Ho Hum.....

We didn't get great news today. We are being delayed in our travel to China by a week. I can live with the week but I just want to Bring Emily Home Now!! Patience my friend Patience is what God is telling me....Be Still and Know that I am God. I know I know Lord...but my lip is still out. So now we need to change our flights and hopefully will still be able to get the kids with us. I called today and they didn't think it would be a problem. It actually may even work out better. So here is what you can pray for us that our flights work out and we can switch our tickets. Also, I believe that things happen for a reason so I'm not questioning God as to why this happened I'm actually praising God that He is in control and knows the reason we need to be delayed and has our best interests at heart. That's all the reassuring I need and I am praising him in advance for looking after all of this for us. He's taken us this far I won't lose faith now. So I'll just have to pray that she get angel kisses for one more week and it gives us one more week to get everything sorted out with room, packing, paperwork, clothes and all the other stuff we need for the wee bambino! Always positive always positive...

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We got great news on Friday. We were able to get three of our tickets to China on points which means that for sure the boys will be able to come with us which is awesome. We really didn't want to go without them. The flight there is 13 hours going to China and 17 hours coming back. Now we have to think about what to take with us. The good news is all my DH needs and my boys are a few pairs of underwear and then their bags are fair game for shopping...Yahoo. I can't believe that Christmas is less than a month a way. This is the first time in 4 years that we will actually be home so that will be a wee bit odd but I'm actually looking forward to it. I have been trying to start Emily's room but every time I start to work at it a bit I always have to stop because something else comes up. We don't have the crib in yet but I know it will all come together. DH's dad came over today and brought Emily the sweetest suede jacket with little oriental flowers embroidered on it. She will look sweet in it. I am getting more and more excited as the days tick on. I can't wait for Emily to see the wonderful friends that we have here and how much they so can't wait to meet her. We got a beautiful card and a present for her birthday from our friends at church. We also got plenty of emails telling us that they were praying for her. She got our package we sent last week $485 dollars later...too funny but worth every penny! DH is so cute he's walking around with these pictures in his pocket asking if anyone who will look wants to see "his baby". I can't wait to meet her but most of all I can't wait for the boys to meet her. Well that's all for now off to the Amazing Race!

What a week - Stork Landing is Official

Well I finally have a minute to myself.

This has been an incredible week. On Thursday the 9th of November it poured and poured and Mike headed off to Social Services to pick up our package. The kids made us promise that we wouldn't open it until they were home. So there it sat on our counter until the afternoon. I came home from work in the afternoon and sat in the driveway and all of a sudden was overwhelmed at what an amazing God we have. I couldn't help but feel how God had chosen us and every wrong thing I ever did popped into my mind and I couldn't believe that in spite of all of this He still chose to bless us. It was an incredible feeling. I went in the house and there were my three men just anxiously awaiting my arrival and Emily's. We wanted to get it on video but our friend who was going to video it for us couldn't come for a couple of hours and well we just couldn't wait any longer. The night before I was so nervous. I said to Mike what if she isn't the right one, after the blank stare and the don't be ridiculous head shake my guy reminded me where was my faith. So we opened the envelope. Everything was in a pile with an introductory letter on top. It was like peeling the tape off of a Christmas present slowly. I read the letter first and then we couldn't take it anymore. We turned the page and there she was the most incredibly beautiful, perfect face that I could have ever imagined. When I first looked at her I thought of course she is perfect for us how could I have doubted God! Her face is shaped similar to mine. They do try to match bone structure in the matching room but it's all God. Here is what we know about her. She was left outside of a park entrance when she was four days old dressed in a pink cotton outfit and wrapped in a blue towel with a note attached to her saying that she was born on November 16th, 2005 exactly nine months after we made the decision to adopt. How incredible is that. She is a 74 cm long and weighs 8.9kgs at 8 months. She loves to eat, is a deep sleeper, and loves toys that are musical. She is what we have always wanted or could have dreamed for. God answered the prayer we prayed two years earlier above and beyond anything we could have ever hoped or imagined. We spent the night visiting Grandparents who were ecstatic. I have been on cloud nine ever since. Our friends have been more loving than we could have ever imagined. Our church family was as excited as we were. She is going to be overwhelmed at the love that is waiting here for her. We celebrated with the other families going in our group. What a beautiful bunch of babies! Mike and I spent the day Monday shopping for a crib and some things for her room. Dad's birthday would have been Monday. I thought of him all day. He would have thought she was awesome! I'm sad he won't get to meet her. Mom is over the moon with excitement it's great to see her so happy again. Tuesday we signed our documents and said yahoo of course we want her. We had the doctor check out the paperwork and her iron is a bit low and on the growth charts for a Canadian child she is off the charts so it will be interesting to see what the next set of measurements are. We did up a care package sending an album of us and some clothes and a few disposable cameras and some things for her caretaker and a blanket and a toy. We sent it on Thursday she should have it in a week. It's just today that things are starting to die down and go somewhat back to normal. This week has been a whirlwind. I am going to now enjoy the time I have with just my boys until our family changes when we go and pick up....oh a name would be nice wouldn't it. Well her name will be Emily Elizabeth Lin. Elizabeth because it means sworn to God and Lin means beautiful and is her name given by the orphanage. I'm sure these next few weeks will fly by. Christmas will be here before we know it and then its up, up and away. How incredible. It will definitely be an adjustment. I am preparing myself now for the life change. I know it won't be easy then anything good usually isn't so I won't fret because I am surrounded by a loving support group and a loving God. We celebrated Emily's 1st birthday yesterday. We bought a cake and made a wish and prayed for her. We will celebrate again but yesterday we did it for her thousands of miles away.

We Got the Call Today

Today we got the call from Community services at 3:45 pm telling us they had our package. A little cruel because their offices close at 4:30 leaving not enough time to go there. So it also means that the 10 couples will be lined up tomorrow morning to get their packages. Very exciting. I can't express enough how wonderful this process has been. It is amazing how God plants these wee ones in our hearts no different than he plants our biological children in our wombs. Not an ounce of difference. I would have never believed it if I didn't experience it. It's awesome that the kids want us to wait until they are home to view the pictures so it means we will have to wait until the afternoon but it's well worth it to have all of us there. God has been amazing to our family and I thank Him night and day. Tomorrow we will finally meet our daughter after such a long wait. I can't wait to see her! I can't wait to hold her! Of course I can't wait to smooch her!

About Emily's Home

Here are a couple of maps of China ... Emily is living on the southeast coast in the Guangdong province. Click on the larger map and it shows the cities. In the lower right corner, you'll see Hong Kong on the coast and Guangzhou just slightly inland. Guangzhou is where we will be staying for part of our trip. It's very cool because a friend of ours from China is actually from Guangzhou which is awesome for her to know someone here from there. God knows what he is doing! Emily's orphanage is about a three hour drive south of where we will be ... it is also located in a coastal town. The size of China is roughly equal to the size of the United States so the weather varies quite a bit - similar to how it varies here. While we are in Beijing (northeast part of China, near Korea), it may be very cold - even snowing - and then we will fly to Guangzhou where it will probably be in the 70s.

The Stork Has Almost Landed

We received a surprise phone call today. Mike was calling and calling at work and I just wasn't able to get back to him not realizing why he was calling. WE HAVE A DAUGHTER....how amazing is that. Our agency called today to tell us a few details about Emily and how old she is.
Here's what we know: (No picture yet but)

Her Name is: Jiangcheng Lin
She is from Guangdong Province
We will therefore be traveling to the city of Guangzhou.
Her orphanage is Yangjiang, Jiangcheng District Welfare Institute.

Some information on Guangdong Province can be found on the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangdong

Her birthday is November 16th, 2005.....Just a wee lamb. She will be 14 months old when we bring her home.
We will be traveling in Early January.

All of the other children in our group are from the same orphanage and were born in December 2005 with the exception of one child who was born Nov 1, 2005.

This has been a very exciting day and we can't wait to see her picture. We should have it by Friday.

Doing the Happy Dance

This is exactly how I've been feeling today. It's unbelievable the weight that has been lifted from me now that I know that Emily's picture is on the way. It is afterall the unknown that gets people..well now we know. Our friends and family have been amazing. We are so blessed to be surrounded by loving people who care about us and genuinely can't wait for Emily to come home. She is going to be one spoiled hunka bunka. To think that God in all of His goodness has chosen her and chosen us to care for her what wonderful plans He must have for her. I found my old book of Common Prayer from the Anglican church and there was a prayer in it for loved ones who are away. I loved it! I altered it a bit...God won't mind..here goes:

Holy Father, in your mercy
Hear our earnest prayer;
Keep our loved one, in her absence,
Under your care.

Jesus, my Saviour, let your presence
Be her light and guide;
Keep her o keep her at your side.

When in sorrow, when in danger,
When in lonliness,
In your love look down on her and comfort
In her distress.

May the joy of Your Salvation
Be her strength and stay;
May she grow to love and praise you
Day by Day.

Holy Spirit let your teaching
Sanctify her life;
Send your grace, that she may conquer
In the strife.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God the One in Three
Bless her, Guide her save her and keep her near to thee.

Amen.

The Stork is in the Air

Finally, finally after a 14 month wait and 20 months of going through this process we finally finally....did I say finally had our August 25th date make it on the China Centre for Adoption Affairs website. It is done. She has been chosen for us. This was so a God thing. All month there was a slight chance and in the last couple of weeks no one thought that the 25th would be included in the date change and guess what? God is in control. I have goose bumps at the thought of how he is moving in our lives. I am so grateful, humbled, excited, amazed, weepy, happy, ecstatic...you name it I'm feeling it today. Matt's watching a movie and Mike is reading the Bible to Andrew. I couldn't ask for a better family and now soon, soon we will see Emily's face. The face we have dreamt about, the face we can't wait to smooch. Our friends have been awesome and today has been a very special day that we are so pleased to be able to share with them. So now its 1-2 weeks and then we will get the call...your little one is here! I need to pinch myself. I praise God and thank Him for the incredible blessing in our lives and the blessing of our little one. We made it, we made it...oh oh we made it.