from TA to CA...some more details

 Don't you love acronyms? Totally simplifies life...if you know what they mean;)!!

Today, we got our official TA (travel approval)...which means China is letting Lee and Heather Kirkland come on over for a visit! They say the Chinese get the biggest kick out of American Southerners trying to speak their language!!

We already have our passports and visas, so our next item to check off the list is securing a CA (Consulate Appointment) in Guangzhou, China. We can either request first available or most preferred date. There's a pretty long list of families wanting first available (around Nov 16), so we feel comfortable in asking for a later appointment, Dec 9.

The CA is the last thing we will do in China. So if we get approved for the 9th, we will need to be in Ava-Yin's province city two weeks ahead of time. Our gotcha day (day we first meet...and take...Ava-Yin) would be Dec 2nd, and we would actually leave for China on Thanksgiving Day.

So...in 48 hours we should know whether or not we have a confirmed CA (aren't you proud you know what that means now??), we will then book our flights and press on...4 weeks and counting .
GOOD GRACIOUS!!

Getting ready to get ready

We're doing what we can to get ready. 

Our goal is to take as little luggage as possible since we have to move around a good bit. So this past weekend we actually went did a run-through of packing our suitcase (Lee's idea of course;))!)

 We think we can get it all into one checked bag, a carry on and two backpacks! It would be less, except Bejing's temp and Guangzhou's temp varies the same as NY to FL in November! So we have to be prepared for cold and warm temps. 

The girl's room is all ready. My sister and a good friend came and painted a mural on the wall, and Mamo bought new bedding. It looks amazing and makes me smile so so big!!

Please pray that all the final details get knit together as smoothly as everything else has gone so far, that the final $1500 will be raised in time, and that all 6 of our hearts be prepared for the big changes coming up! 

Today. A year ago.

It just feels so weird to think back to a year ago today.

Lee and I had packed Caleb, Briton and Zoe off  to Ga with their grandparents for the weekend. We were going to a Marriage Conference on Friday and Saturday morning. After the conference, we would spend an evening with another couple. A fun-filled, child-free weekend! WHOOP WHOOP!

During the Friday evening session, a mother, who had recently adopted from Ethiopia, was sharing her story and promoting an adoption/foster care organization she and her husband had developed. It truly was an amazing, heart-warming presentation.

I remember sensing a physical change in Lee during her talk, but didn't think much about it. I moved on to the rest of the conference. I thought he had too.

It wasn't until after the seminar was over that Lee shared with me the very direct calling he had felt during the adoption testimony. He knew, beyond any doubt, that we were to adopt an orphan.

That was a year ago today. It's been a year? or, it's only been a year? I'm not sure which. It seems like a really long time ago...and then it seems like, 'wait a minute! we just started this!'

But clearly, the best thing to reflect on is the way God has gone before us during the entire process. From choosing an adoption agency, to the way our paperwork flowed, to our matching with Ava-Yin, to the fundraising...He has been there all along...several steps ahead of us, and in remarkable ways.

I suspect we still have much to see of Him as the rest of the story is written.