Is Summer Over Already??

The kids and I have been trying to pack in as much outdoor time as possible this week. The weather is getting cooler and feeling distinctly like fall is just around the corner. I can't believe it's already time for school again! Jed has met his teacher for 1st grade and is very excited about a canine classmate who will be joining him. The teacher has a chocolate lab puppy that is a "reading dog" and she'll be a regular in the classroom. It seems like this is going to make Jed's transition to a new school a little easier!

15 more days!

Well, the countdown is on! Jed and Alice have been asking every 10 minutes if it's time yet for us to get on the plane and go get their brother, so we now have an official countdown paper in the kitchen. They are so excited; me too, only a little sad we will be away so long. Our hotels are now booked and we will have a private guide with us the entire time since we are the only family adopting in Kunming this time. We also learned last night that we will be able to visit the orphanage that Sol began his life at.
Nathan leaves today for his hunting trip and won't return home until five days before we leave, so I'll be extra busy the next week and a half. The kids are going with Grandma and Grandpa to family church camp this weekend so I'll have a little time to get a few projects done. Thank goodness for grandparents!!

Travel Plans

After a very long morning on the phone with the travel agents, we have flight tickets to China!! Tomorrow promises another long morning of reserving the hotels... I didn't realize when you are dealing with international travel, there is not necessarily a flight leaving every day of the week. We will actually arrive a day earlier than needed, but I guess that's a lot better than a day too late!! Our dates follow:

Sat 9/13 depart in AM for Kunming via Seattle, Tokyo
Sun 9/14 arrive in Guangzhou very late PM
Mon 9/15 arrive in Kunming
Sat 9/27 depart Guangzhou for US in AM; home by lunchtime same day!

Now I need to spend my time trying to meet the airlines weight restrictions on luggage; HELP!

It's Official!

We received a phone call tonight about 9:45 with the wonderful news that our consulate appointment has been approved for the 25th of September! We are going to China!!

Travel Approval!!!

This morning we received our phone call with travel approval from China! This means now we request the consulate appointment and are almost ready to travel. We will be requesting our appointment for the 24th of September and receive Solomon on the 16th! We should know for sure by Tuesday and then be able to purchase tickets. So in 3 weeks we should be on a plane to receive our sweet boy!!

Another Busy Week

I haven't been posting nearly as much as figured I would... do you think this has something to do with three kids in the house all summer?? I was going to post last night and then as I was opening the fridge to put the last thing away, the huge fern overhead landed on my head and about 10 pounds of dirt ended up in my refrigerator. By the time I cleaned that all up I was in no mood!

This week we applied for our visas into China and should be receiving those soon. The kids are starting swim lessons Monday and also football. No one in our house can complain about being bored! Maybe this week we'll hear on the travel approval...

Tick Tock, Still Waiting...

Our letter of acceptance was finally sent back to China this week with our signatures. It seems that the carrier didn't deliver one of the letters to a family in our group, so we all had to wait. At least it's finally on the way! We probably won't know anything more for a couple more weeks.

In the meantime, life goes on and we are gearing up for football season! Jed is so excited for weigh-ins next week. He's been walking around with his helmet on the past couple of days bumping into walls!! Today the funniest thing happened: the kids and I were out in the yard and I was working on mulching again. The next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground and Charlotte was standing over me holding a shovel saying "sorry!". I think she hit me in the back of the head and knocked me out cold!

Update!

We received an email today from the woman who put together and delivered our care package to Solomon. She had already let me know that it would be nearly impossible to receive any kind of update on Solomon because of the orphanage that is in charge of his care. In fact, she told me she has never received an update on a child from this orphanage. The email follows:

Dear Rebecca:
Below is song xiao ming`s update measurements :
Height:91cm
chest :56cm
head:56cm
feet:15.5 cm
You are very welcome but you have to know that you are the very lucky one to Kun Ming orphange, they are very serious all the time ,you are the first family that i got the measurement ....I am very supprise to get xiao ming`s measurement too!!! Have a wonderful day and talk to you soon,love,Ann

We now have some kind of an idea of at least how big Solomon is; about one inch taller than Charlotte! Our last update was more than two years old, so for us this is a very big deal. Praise the Lord!!