We're On Our Way!!!

We'll be leaving bright and early in the morning (Weds. 6/16) on a 6:00 a.m. flight for China! I'm not sure how much sleep we'll get before then, but then again, we've got lots of time to sleep on the plane, I suppose! We have to be at the airport at 3:00 a.m. After several stops, we'll finally arrive in Beijing late Thursday night 6/17)...China's time of course. That would be Thursday morning some time USA time.

It's so hard to believe that this day is finally here! I'm a big glob of emotions right now! I didn't realize I would feel all of these overwhelming thoughts and emotions. I don't even know if I could explain them all if I tried!



Please continue to remember us in your prayers, if you would....for protection, an easy transition/bonding for Luke (and all of us), for Colt here at home, for our health, peace of mind, rest.....just cover us with your prayers! We're so thankful for all the prayers and support you've already given us!

While we're gone, I will be posting here. You can scroll down and see all the posts, with the most recent post at the end, or there is an option in the top right hand corner that says most recent post. I will post as often as I can to keep you updated and share our journey with you! I hope to even be able to put a link to a video or two as well.

You can leave comments on this post and I will be able to read them through my email(I can't view my actual blog from there because blogger is blocked in China) or you can click on the send encouraging words option at the bottom of the Journey to Luke site and it will send an email directly to me. And I will be checking my email daily in China...as its my direct line of communication to my family and friends back at home! I'd love to hear from you!

Okay, I think that's it. Next time I post, it will be from China!



Thanks again for stopping by and for the prayers and for following our Journey to Luke!

We're on our way!!!!

Lots of love,
~ Tammy ~

3 More Sleeps....

3 more sleeps.....until we board our plane headed to China for Luke! (Not that I can do alot of sleeping these days though). After all the seasons of waiting, once we received our TA, time has been moving right along. I knew it would be like that once I was working against a deadline! We've had so many things to prepare, gather, and pack. This weekend, we packed our checked luggage for the most part, weighing it to make sure we were within our weight limits for in-China regulations. We pretty much have it all ready with the exception of our carry-ons.




For those of you interested in following along on our journey to China, I will be posting to our Journey to Me Adoption Site....Journey to Luke.....which is also on the sidebar of my blog. The day we leave, I will put the link up on a post as well, so you can just click over there and read the most recent post there. At the bottom of that site, there is a place where you can click on Send Encouraging Words. That will send an email directly to me, which I will be able to access there.

Here's what we'll be doing while in China:

Wednesday 6/16 a.m. - Leave for Beijing. Arrive 6/17 p.m.
We'll spend 2 full days sightseeing there and adjusting to the time difference.

Sunday 6/20 - Fly to Hohhot (Inner Mongolia) - WHERE LUKE IS!!!!

Monday 6/21 - Forever Family Day (We meet Luke...FINALLY)!

Tuesday 6/22 - Thursday 6/24 - Spent in Inner Mongolia doing adoption paperwork and sightseeing and getting to know Luke while we wait on paperwork to be finalized.

Friday - 6/25 - We get Luke's paperwork and fly to Guangzhou.

Saturday 6/26 - Friday 7/2 - This week is spent getting Luke's medical exam and results, more paperwork, consulate appointment, swearing ceremony, sightseeing, and getting Luke's visa so we can leave!

Friday 7/2 evening - Train to Hong Kong.

Saturday 7/3 - Fly home (with Luke for good)! :)



Oh, and remember that China is 13 hours ahead of us (Central time). My goal is to post often, even if it's just a little, but I have no idea how tiring this schedule is going to be, but know I will post whenever I can!

Thank you all so much for remembering us in your prayers! I can't wait to share our journey with you! Thank you so much for your support and for following along with us!

I'll be back with a post either the night before we leave or I'll schedule a post for the day we leave. Until then, I'll be busy cleaning (coming home to a clean house is always nice) and stocking Colt up on groceries for while we're gone!

Until then.....

Blessings
~ Tammy ~

We're Going to China!

Hello everyone! I've been waiting, it seems like forever, to post that title! :)

Our TA arrived at our agency yesterday and it's already arrived here at our home this morning via the Fed-Ex guy!



We have already got a confirmed consulate appointment as well. I woke up this morning to find an email in my inbox from our coordinator telling me that we were confirmed for the CA on Wednesday, June 30th for Guangzhou, China. We have to be in Hohhot, China on Sunday, June 20th (Father's Day), which is where we will meet Luke for our Forever Family Day. We will meet him either that day or the following day.

SO....this means we will be leaving here around June 16th or June 17th headed to Beijing first, most likely, for some unwinding and sightseeing! Those plans are all still in the works as we are checking out flights today and making travel arrangements. And oh my goodness, how expensive the flights are right now! Let's just say, we're WAY over budget! But God will take care of that too....He's taken care of everything else!

Thank you to everyone that prayed us through this process! We really appreciate you! Please continue to remember us for a safe journey there and back and for Luke's transition to us, that it would be an easy one and that we all bond quickly and naturally! And remember my Colt here at home. I will miss him terribly. The only thing that would make it more perfect for me was if he could be there with us too! He will be taking us to the airport and picking us up though! And remember the sweet foster family that loved Luke first and has taken such good care of him these past 2 years!

Okay, I'll keep you posted on the developments, but I just had to share this good news with you today (right away)!

God is good (all the time)!! :)

Updates (on Luke and Life This Week)

To say this has been an exhausting week for me, is an understatement, BIG TIME. Besides being physically exhausting, it's been an emotionally packed week as well.

Our TA is not here yet. I think I "fixed a date" in my head that I hoped it would be here....really hoping for May 27th or 28th. We found out that it IS being processed and should be sent out next week! However, in the meanwhile, we also learned that because of the Dragon Boat Festival that will be occuring in China in mid June, the provincial offices will be closed for adoption processing, which automatically moves travel away a week further at the least. A consulate appointment cannot be requested until we have the TA, so we're just praying the appointment dates don't fill up too quickly! Every week that passes seems like an eternity here at the end of the wait. This part of the wait has been, by far, the hardest for me! I've had lots of sleepless nights with my mind working overtime!

A bright side to all of this happened this morning when I woke up to find an update and pictures of Luke in my inbox from Ann of Red Thread China from the care package we sent! That just made my (OUR) day. Just look how big he's getting!



The update measurements say he is now 37 inches tall and 41 pounds! Wow! We need to go get him before he's grown! lol! He is only 27 months old! I'm wondering now about all the clothes I've bought. I think I'm going to have go get a size bigger and maybe take some of both sizes with us to China! I pretty much bought all 3Ts and I'm thinking 4Ts are more what he'll need!



His foot is now 6.89 inches long! I'm pretty sure the shoes we have now won't fit either! lol! I have size 8. I'm thinking maybe even a 10! I guess his foot matches his height and weight though! :)



His update also said that he is a very smart child and a strong boy and that he is loved so much by his foster family!



He looks so happy in the pictures!

In addition to the emotional draining this week, we've spent at least 10 hours between Wednesday night and Friday night at Joy's dance recital rehearsals. Then yesterday was the big recital day......3 recitals in a day - 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. The title of the recital was "The Hottest Ticket in Town". We were there for 13 hours! But it all went so well....actually smoothly in everyway! I spent my whole day walking up and down stairs from the auditorium (so I could watch) to going back stage to help Joy with costume changes and makeup....constantly...all day! :) But it was all worth it! They all did really well on the dances and Joy did a super job on her first solo!

Because I was so busy, I didn't get many pictures. However, I did manage just a few!

Here's Joy with friends, Christina and Kayla, dressed in their gumball costumes for the Willy Wonka Ballet play, which by the way were their least favorite costumes of the day! lol! They had really pretty flowy ones as chocolate bars in the play. I think these were super hot to wear!



Here's a few of the pictures of them on stage during the Willie Wonka Ballet. Remember you can click on the pictures to make them bigger and see them closer (since they're SO far away)!

Their studio performs a full length ballet every year and rotates between Sleeping Beauty, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz. I've never seen The Wizard of Oz, but so far, Willy Wonka is my favorite!



That's Joy on the back row with her arm held up straight in the air.



Here's the part where Violet blew up from chewing the gum...that's her rolled in as a ball! lol! And aren't the colorful Oompa Loompas cute?



And Ava, Joy, and Christina during a moment they were able to enjoy the show between numbers:



We counted up how many times she performed and it was 14 dances throughout the day! She's a little tired today! :)

Jason did video some from a distance and maybe we can share some of that next week, if they turned out okay. Thank goodness we can buy the DVDs so we can sit back and enjoy the whole show together later!

Hopefully one day this week, I'll have good news to share on our TA and will know more about when we will leave for China!

Thanks for remembering us in your prayers! I do know God is in control in the midst of this waiting and I don't want to be in China any sooner than what God has for us. I know He will work all things out in his timing! :)

Okay, have a great week everyone! :)

One More Care Package

Originally we thought we would hold off on sending another care package to Luke and his foster family and just collect things to take with us to China for him, but realizing it was the end of February since he received his last one (for his birthday), we wanted to make sure they knew we were thinking about him and close to coming for him! So....we quickly got together another (smaller) package through Ann of Red Thread China along with a letter. It was a challenge finding things in Ann's store/website that we hadn't already sent, as I believe this is our 4th package sent, in addition to the cake for the orphanage on the Chinese New Year!

But here's what we came up with:




The cookies are for the foster family, as is the letter. The disposable cameras that we have been sending are for the family to take pictures of time we've missed..... Luke's time spent with them. They are supposed to bring the cameras with him on our Forever Family Day, so we can then have them developed and have these photos as treasures!

Isn't that cap so cute? I always liked to put caps on Colt. He looked so very cute and cool in them!

Just maybe we might have time to get another update after sending this package. But if we don't, it will probably be because there wasn't enough time BECAUSE WE ARE ALREADY THERE! :)

Is Forever Enough?

Article 5!!!!!!! Next step....TA!

Joy and I are here at home, bubbling over all over the place! We just received the email from our agency that our Article 5 was picked up yesterday and overnighted to the CCAA (Chinese Consultate)! That means after all of these baby steps, we are FINALLY closer to the last leg of the journey, the home stretch,......our TA (travel approval)! From what I'm hearing, this usually comes in about 2-3 weeks. After that, flights are scheduled, packing starts, In-China scheduling and arrangements are made (as in we get the date we'll meet Luke).....and then we're off to go get our Luke!!!




Thank the Lord for getting us to this point so smoothly. Thank you for the prayers! We're praying for that speedy TA now! Please keep us in your prayers!

Gifts of Love

Gifts of love. That is what I call them. The love that has been shown to our family...to Luke....warms my heart.

Almost two weeks ago, our homeschool support group surprised me at gym (our weekly meeting day) with a shower. I have no idea how they all managed to keep it a secret from me, but it was a total surprise! They called me into the snack room and this was waiting for me!






To celebrate Luke coming home, they all chipped in and bought a bush/tree to plant in his honor. But it wasn't just any bush/tree. It was a money tree for us. Hanging from the bush were many cards! They were unsure as to what was most needed and wanted to do something for him (for us). Sitting at my kitchen table, I cried as I read all the very sweet notes.



They were very generous and it came at a time when the need is great. Travel to China is going to be more than we thought as airfare in June is considerably higher. The fact that our homeschooling family would do such a thing for us really touched our hearts!

In addition to that, at the end of the year picnic with our homeschool group, there were more gifts brought.

Rebecca and her family gave us the buddy harness. My silly kids have been trying this out on each other already! It's so cute! Thank you, Rebecca!



Julie and her family gave Luke these shoes (love those shoes), the bathroom sticker set and Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. (Joy thought those vehicle stickers for the bathtub were just the coolest and I had to restrain her from opening and playing with them). Thank you, Julie!



And Kellye brought me this adoption scrapbook kit! What special pages I can create with that! It's red too... Thank you, Kellye!



And last but not least, yesterday these arrived from a dear blogging friend....a gift for Luke from Mandy (A Mayberry State of Mind).



Aren't they perfect for Luke's room? Mandy has her own business, Creekside Creations. Check out her selling blog! She does such beautiful work. I'm so thrilled to have these blocks for his room! They are just adorable! Thank you so much, Mandy!



Thank you so much to all of you, for the love that's been shown to Luke and to our entire family through the prayers, gifts, and words of encouragement as we wait to bring Luke home. Sharing our excitement with us has meant so much. God bless you all!

Labor of Love for Luke

It seems like we've been remodeling or redecorating since forever. I'm happy to say that Luke's bedroom is finally finished! It's really been a labor of love with Jason building his bed and nightstand and shelves, and us painting and staining it all, then putting it all together and decorating it! It's been fun too!

Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here it is:









It's a very small bedroom, only 8 x 12, so it was a little challenging with furniture arrangement. The reason this bedroom is so small is my fault! lol! When we were building our home, I wanted our stairs to turn (and have a landing in the middle), which cut into that bedroom's space, reducing it's size and closet space. Joy endured it for 11 years and it's worked out alright, especially since we have a playroom area upstairs. However, we've wished many times we had just gone ahead and just adjusted the size of our house a few feet while we were building to make it that much longer, and had a bigger bedroom. But it is what it is! :)

Maybe one day he'll realize how special it is to have a bed made by his daddy (which I love by the way).



A little closer look at the headboard. I love the beadboard he used in it.



Jason also made the nightstand, complete with a little drawer of his own and a shelf for his favorite bedtime story books at the bottom too.



And the accents in here had to be red...Luke's favorite color, according to his foster family. These are the letters that Dan of Yesterday Once More so generously made and sent to us for Luke. Thank you so much, Dan! They're perfect for Luke's room and add so much character! The pegboard was repurposed from Joy's previous bedroom, given a coat of red paint.



I bought this dresser used before Colt came home to us. It was a really ugly dark dark color. Jason and I stripped it, and refinished it. It was used in both Colt and Joy's rooms when they were younger. Now Luke gets his turn using it!



Remember the prints I bought? I bought $1.00 unfinished document frames from Dollar Tree and painted them blue to frame the prints.





This one's my favorite print of them all! :)



I wanted no frill shelves...just basic plain straight line shelves, so that's what Jason made. We treated them to a coat (actually three coats) of red paint also. These shelves with fill up with Luke's toys and goodies when he comes home. Until then, we're leaving them as is and waiting to see what "belongs there". :)



I love these little overalls. I saw them over at Barbara's selling blog. It's one way I was able to sneak a little primitive in there...with the dirty distressed blue jean overalls! I thought they were adorable with the homemade sling shot hanging out of the pocket and the patches. It's hanging on a truck plaque that was handed down to us and I repainted it to match his decor. The stop sign over in the corner was a gift from my sister-in-law, Missy, at Christmas time, for Luke. It is actually supposed to be one of those that you use in your garage that starts flashing if you get your car too close to it or brush up against it. We just thought it would be cute in a bedroom done in transportation.



And aren't these just the cutest little things? Colt's girlfriend, Amber, picked these up unfinished at Dollar Tree and brought them over this past Monday. I had fun painting them to go in his room.



This red shelf started off life as a changing table for Joy, with a padding on top. Jason made it too. It used to be white. It was then turned into a shelf later for Joy's room, then given a new coat of red for Luke's room to hold some of those toys.



Oh, and Jason and I tallied up what we spent in here and it was right at $465. That included all the following: Building the bed, building the nightstand, building the shelves, all the bedding, curtains, and lamp, the laminate flooring, the ceiling fan, shoe molding, new white outlet receptacles, the transportation prints and frames, the painted plaques, and all the paint and stain for the walls and furniture.



And just because Jason and I took SO many pictures, I'll leave you with a few more!









Now all we need is our little Luke to complete the room with his personality! :)

Reality....Signs That a Two Year Old Little Boy Will Soon Be Here!

You'll have to excuse me here....even car underwear....hee hee! :) (I know I don't need to count on him being ready for these right away; but they were so cute, I couldn't help myself).



And look what what a thoughtful gift....Luke is going to love this! It's from Linda of Behind My Red Door! The package arrived a few days ago and Joy beat me to opening it! Of course, she and Colt have "tried it out" many times. It's just so fun! The little screwdriver winds up the car in the back; then you push down on Handy Manny's head and off the car zooms! This little toy just may go to China with us as an icebreaker for Luke! Thank you so much, Linda! You're so sweet!



And Luke's bedroom is done! I'm just doing a little accessorizing (not much..I figure his toys added over time will do most of that). Hopefully pics of that will come later this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today! And thanks for all the encouraging comments! I appreciate each and every one! Have a great weekend! :)