Day 3

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We were up and ready to take the bullet train from Beijing to Tianjin this morning and all I can say is boy am I glad did we have a guide.

It made sense once I looked around and could figure it out by the signs, but I just love the whole organized chaos thing.  Lol.  :D

But thankful for Ray!  He is a great guy!  Miss Magoo is quite taken with him.  When we got to Tianjin, she asked if he could have lunch with us.  "I like him" she says.  That's high praise coming from MM.  She's quite shy with people in general, but warmed right up right away to Ray.

So we took the bullet train and loved it!  I truly do love to travel by train.  And to go over 200MPH is the best!

That's right, the highest speed we reached was 202 MPH!!  We made the 2 hour trip by car in 30 minutes!  Can't wait to take it again, when we go to the acrobat show later this week.

Well we are checked into the hotel and our room is NICE!  I've posted some pictures as well.

The count down has begun!  We leave at 8:30 am tomorrow morning for Michael!!

So bear with me tomorrow if I don't get a post or get pics up right away.  After we get back to the hotel, I'll be Skyping with Papa and mister!

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the train and the ride from the station to the hotel.

Until tomorrow!

Day 2 - Sat, 6/11

Well we went for breakfast downstairs in the hotel and it was yummy!  Then we came back to the room, hung out and then ventured out for some lunch and ended up at McD's, Miss Magoo's favorite.

I explained to MM that people will stare and it's okay, they're not being rude, just curious, since she is Chinese and I'm not.  :D  Miss Magoo's comment was, "you're not Chinese?"  Boy did we laugh.  :D

The time difference has us all messed up.  Going to sleep in the afternoon and waking up at midnight. I'm sure it will change once we're here for a bit.

We leave for Tianjin in the morning on the high speed train.  Can't wait!  And then we'll have Michael on Monday the 13th!

So the next time I post, it should be with pictures of Michael and gotcha day!

Day 1 - Fri, 6/10

1st post from China!!

We made it!  Safe and sound.  Didn't get to the hotel in Beijing until 2:00 am China time.

So we're all thrown off by the time difference and stayed up for a couple of hours before going to sleep

Tomorrow is another day.. 

Oh so soon!!!

What a week this has been!

I have been crazy busy with trying to get things finalized for our travel.

Miss Magoo (our 5 yr old daughter) and I leave for China on the 9th!!!! 6 days!!! Gotcha Day is the 13th!!

God has provided all the way for us and we are blessed beyond belief!!!   Praising God today and always!!

Also, THANK YOU to a dear friend of ours (she knows who she is) who worked on our behalf to make this happen!!!!!

I also have to say THANK YOU to all of you that have encouraged, supported, prayed and donated to help us bring our son home!!



A SPECIAL thank you to our agency, Madison Adoption Associates!  Without them, I don't think any of it would have happened like it has.  God brought us to them for a reason!  And we know what that reason is, Michael!  They are truly a fantastic agency and we will be forever grateful to them for allowing us to bring our son home!

All of it has not gone unnoticed and my family is blessed, blessed, blessed because of your generosity!!

Woo hoo!!!!!  We're going to China!!!!!!!!

We hope you will follow along with us while Miss Magoo and I are in China. I WILL be blogging!

Look what we got!!

Yep, it came today!!

Our agency has requested a Consulate Appointment of June 21st.  We will know for sure on Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday) if it is confirmed.

If it is, I could be leaving as early as June 10th!  With a Gotcha Day of June 13th!

So with all the excitement of TA, we do need the rest of the funds.

So please pray it will all come in just as God has planned.  :D   We just know that God hasn't brought us this far to not let it happen now!

We are so close!

Hold on our sweet boy, Momma and sister are coming!!

We wait and wait and wait

Well here we are.  

At the hardest part of the wait during the entire adoption.

Waiting for TA (Travel approval).

During this time, I struggle to keep busy, to stay focused, to concentrate on anything other than, is today the day we'll get TA!?

Of course I know it will come and in God's timing, but it's hard none-the-less.  Just knowing we are so close to going to China to bring our boy home!  

I also sit and wonder how he is doing?  We pray for Michael's health and happiness every time we pray.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at bed time.

There isn't a moment that Michael isn't on my mind.  I miss him so much!  Actually we all miss him so much! Mister, said again last night, "I sad."  "I miss Michael."

So here we wait and know that we are getting closer!  Our Article 5 was picked up on May 11th and TA may come between now and ???  We will have to wait and see.

What we have left to raise

Our Goat Milk Fundraiser has ended and we raised $71 from it.  It may not sound like much but, it's $71 more than we had yesterday and we are so very grateful for every little bit!

As we wait for our Travel Approval we are still needing to raise $5000 to help with the rest of the in-country fees, such as hotels, in China airfare, official fees, etc.

We've had a couple of more donations to our matching grant at Lifesong, so that leaves $652 that can still be matched.  Please see the right sidebar for information on our matching grant.  All donations made on our behalf through Lifesong is tax deductible.

We've added a Donate button, also on the top right hand side bar for donations through Paypal, you can also use a credit card.

We think we will have Travel Approval by the end of this month.

So please pray we will raise the rest of the funds.  If you feel led to donate to help bring our sweet boy home, we would be blessed!

Thank you for your prayers and thank you for the donations we have received so far!

God Bless!
 

Getting close!

WE HAVE EXTENDED OUR GOAT MILK SOAP FUNDRAISER UNTIL 

SUNDAY, MAY 1ST


Scroll down to see our soap fundraiser and the scents available 

So here we are the end of April and waiting for our Article 5.  

What is the Article 5?  It is a letter to inform us that our petition to adopt Michael has been sent to the appropriate visa-issuing post where the adoption interview will take place.

What does it mean?  It means that we have only 1 more step before we receive travel approval!!

How long will it take?  4-6 weeks is all!!

So what does it mean in the long run?  It means we still need to fundraise.  We have raised $4215 so far and thanking and praising God for it!  We aren't quite there yet though.

In addition to our Goat Milk Soap fundraiser that we have extended until Sunday May 1st, we also have the matching grant with Lifesong.  We have posted on the right hand side bar how donations can be made to our family.

Please pray that we will raise the rest of the funds before we travel.  Thank you so much!

Blessings and Hugs!

Goat Milk Soap Fundraiser

Here is our newest fundraiser and can't wait for all of you to try this soap!!


I will say that we have personally used the soap (Clean Cotton and Nautical) and actually I'm still using it and ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!

Each bar is hand cut to weigh 5 to 6 oz and comes packaged in it's own cotton bag.  When you get yours in the mail and open it, be prepared, it smells wonderful!!

This soap is great for sensitive skin and doesn't leave any residue.  It is made with Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, olive oil, soybean oil; Fragrance; Natural color.

Gotta love it's all natural ingredients!

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask and we'll be happy to help!

The soap is $6 per bar.

How to order:

Please email us at weareblessed@clear.net with your order.  Please include your name and address, scent and quantity.

How to pay:

We accept PayPal.  Please use the donate button on the Top Left Hand Side Bar.  We also accept checks.  Please include the shipping charges (see below).


If you would like to pay by check please email us (at the above email) and we will be happy to send you our address.

Orders will be shipped USPS Priority Mail and shipping charges are as follows:

1 - 7 Bars:  $6

8+ Bars:  $11

Our fundraiser will go until April 27th and we will place an order then for all soap that have been ordered.

Black Raspberry

The sweet raspberry scent is softened by a hint of vanilla. This is an across the board favorite, delighting little girls, ladies, and grown men alike.

Clean Cotton

Yes - this really does smell like freshly laundered cotton and people just love it!. It is a very fresh and clean scent.

Nautical - Great for Men!

This is a masculine scent (that the women love).  It's perfect for all those men out there that want a soap just for them.

Oatmeal Milk & Honey

It is hard to resist the wonderful fragrance of oatmeal, milk & honey.  It is a very clean and warm fragrance that pulls you in with that sweetness of honey.  

Ocean

This is a beautiful bar that is swirled with different shades of blue and white.  This is an amazingly clean scent that appeals to both men and women.

Pink Sugary

It is so hard to resist the scent of Pink Sugary. A wonderful sweetness, the hints of vanilla actually turn the bar a deep shade of brown instead of pink.

Luv Spell

This is a lovely, feminine scent that smells of citrus and florals.  It is a very pretty, scent for all the ladies.  Similar to Victoria Secrets Love Spell

Lavender - Essential Oil

The scent of lavender is a perennial favorite and one of our best sellers.  It is made with lavender essential oil.

 

 Honeysuckle

Remember walking outside during the summer and catching the scent of a nearby honeysuckle vine?  This soap smells just like that. It is a truly beautiful honeysuckle scent with a hint of jasmine.

 Purity (Unscented)

This soap has no added fragrance for those with dry, sensitive skin. It's just plain, good for your skin, goat milk soap! Lots of people use this soap on babies or people with eczema.

Letter and photos, again!

The title of this posts says it all. 

Look at our boy!!

We are so happy to know that he is so excited about having a forever family! 

We have been asked, when do we think we may travel?  Our best guess is June.  Yes, that's right, it's coming up and quickly!

Still fundraising and keeping the faith that God WILL provide!  Even though the enemy is trying to tell us otherwise.  We'll leave that for another post.

So without further adieu.  Here's his letter we received with the photos.

Dear Baba and Mama,

I am so happy to get the gift of study machine from my forever family.  

I am very very happy to own the study machine because it will improve my English.

I cannot wait to meet you and my older and younger brother and my little sister.  I am so dreaming of be together with my forever family.  When that day  comes, my family will be full of love and happiness.

Now I am the class monitor in my classroom.  I can help my teacher to do some works for my classmates.  My study is excellent.  But I study harder.

Thanks again for the very nice gift for study from you.  I will use the study machine very well.

H J P

Apr 4, 2011

We are blessed!!