It's HERE!!! It's HERE!!! It's HERE!!! We have TA!!!

***** UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!! It's offical...we leave on Wednesday!! WE LEAVE IN 6 DAYS!!!!!! We fly out of MSP Airport on Oct. 5th and get back to the states on Oct. 22nd!!! More details to follow!!!!!

Finally...the news WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!! We have TA!!! AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. I received the long LONG awaited travel call from our adoption agency!! She politely said "This is the call you've been waiting for! I have your TA in my hands!! Pack your bags because you are off to China!!" I will always remember THIS moment.................All the girls were with me at the ballet studio when the call came in. So I'm happy we got to share "the call" together.

Right now we are waiting for our Consulate Appointment confirmation in China. Until we have a specific court date we can not book flights. However, it's looking like we are leaving on W-E-D-N-E-S-D-A-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hope to have CA confirmation and flights booked today. More information to follow as sooon as I can catch my breath and not puke at the same time! We are all just so excited this is REAL and finally happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is Good!

Happy Birthday Ahnya!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday sweet baby! We celebrated Ms. Ahnya's 3rd Birthday in style!!! It was a beautiful evening and she was so happy to see everyone on her very special day! She loved the drums from Nana and Bumpa!!! Thanks mom and dad for getting her the DRUMS!!!!! Those were a hit!!! And as you can see, with enough practice for the special day, she now has her SMILE down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm over joyed that she doesn't do that cheezzzzy smile anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Momma is glad she can do a big girl smile and not drive me crazy!!!! Here's some pictures of the day!!!!!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Final Count Down begins.....

So many things are going through my head as I type this that I don't know where to begin!!!

Deep breath.....First of all, I found out early this morning that our Article 5 was indeed picked up by our China rep. yesterday and overnighted to CCCWA! The CCCWA has our paperwork NOW...and now I can whole heartedly say, WE WAIT FOR TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!! Hot Donuts and Hallelujia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final count down has begun as of TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you hear me screaming?????????????????????????

If if if if if if if if if if if if if if we get TA before end of September we'll leave within days and/or beginning of October! Please please please please let CCCWA work fast and get our paperwork done so we can LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a National Holiday in China from October 1-7th! And YES the government offices and CCCWA (who will process our TA) will be C-L-O-S-E-D! Gotta love holidays and I typically DO...however, this chinese holiday is not particularly my favorite because it could slow us down a week or so! SOOOOOOOOOO, if we don't get TA until after the holiday we'll travel mid to late October. But at least I know we'll be traveling in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am finalizing up shopping lists today and getting last minute clothing so we are all ready to travel once TA comes!

Keep the prayers coming for quick travel, Magnus' overall health, our whole family traveling and patience through these last couple weeks as we wait for TA!!!! I find strength and peace in your prayers!

Have an amazing weekend!

Waiting for Artice 5

We are anxiously waiting for our Article 5 to be completed at the US Consulate in China!!! The consulate is now reviewing Magnus' visa application (the DS-230) to make sure it meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa (which is does!!!) and then signs off that everything is in order for the adoption to be completed. This last step called the Article 5 (or A5) will be picked up by our China rep on Thursday, Sept. 15th in the afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not wait for Thursday adfternoon to come.....because then we then wait for TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!! We expect to receive TRAVEL APPROVAL about 2 weeks after A5! So end of September or beginning of October we can get the call from our agency that it's time to GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It can come any day and at any time. We will just be READY!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like we'll be in China next month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the nean time, the girls are busy at school and Ahnya and I are hanging out together playing, packing, organizing and shopping for travel supplies during the day! I am getting soooo much done...I love it!!!! Last week we were at Lake Reno and won't be back there until after Magnus comes home in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's Grandpa Bob and Grandma Peggy at the lake with the girlies! We had so much fun fishing last week. Girls caught about 40+ fish!!

Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Update!!!

We are so lucky to have received another update today from the orphanage were our Magnus is staying!!!!!!!!! What a surprise!!!!!!!! The pictures are of poor quality resolution-so it's very blurry...but it's just so wonderful to see pictures of him happy!!!!!!! The orphanage said they have been taking pictures of Magnus the whole time since he entered the orphanage and will give us the complete book of baby pictures when we travel to meet him!!!! So I'm so excited to know that he will have BABY pictures from China. This is awesome news!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here Magnus is blowing kisses!!!!!!!!! How dang adorable is that!!!!!!! Everything was basically the same information as the last update we received. However, this time we learned some new information which was exciting! Magnus has a special nanny named, Chen Lin, who he is smitten with. This is very sweet and makes me feel better knowing that he is getting love and hugs! Magnus, whose nickname in China is "Shu-Shu" - pronounced "shoe-shoe", can now walk!!!! This makes me now want to cry. I am so sad that I missed his first steps and so many things. But then again, we'll have a lifetime of firsts. It's bitter sweet I guess. The report stated that he loves to eat! He eats only congee (like hot cereal), noodles, crackers, and drinks fruit and vegetable juice.

Overall the update from the orphanage was great and seeing those pictures of him playing outside with other children is priceless. I'm so thankful there's a great playground for the children to play on! I didn't expect that either.

This update and pics will help ME pass the time for a couple weeks until we get our Article 5 paperwork completed! Right now I'm just so thankful to see more pictures of him!!!

We love you Magnus and we're coming very VERY soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!