the pictures didn't go through... trying one at a time now

Leaving in 6 1/2 hours !!

Finally ! The time has come for us to leave to go meet Ben. Yay :o)
It is midnight and I am finally finished packing and handling all of the details. I've been asked to post our itinerary, so here it is... May 7th...we'll leave the house at 6:30a.m. to go to the airport. We'll fly United from Charlotte to Dulles airport, with a little layover and then on to Beijing (that part is 13.5 hours). We'll stay in Beijing for 3 nights at The Peace Novotel Hotel, then take the train to Tianjin on Sunday the 11th (Mother's Day). We'll receive Ben on Monday 5/12 at the orphanage. We'll be at the Holiday Inn Tianjin Hotel until that Friday, when we'll take a flight to Guangzhou where we'll be staying at The White Swan Hotel. Our consulate appt is on 5/19, we'll receive Ben's travel visa the next day after the oath ceremony... then fly out the next morning 5/21 from Guangzhou back to Beijing, have a layover and then Beijing to Chicago, with a small layover again, then on to Charlotte, arriving late on the evening of 5/21. We'll be doing the usual tours in Beijing, including the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, Altar to Heaven, Hutong Tour, Tieneman Square and an acrobatic show. While in Tianjin, we will get to visit the orphanage and also visit the Tianjin School for Deaf Children, where he boards Mon-Fri. We'll probably have some more sight-seeing in Tianjin and Guangzhou, but I don't know what it will be yet. I have hired a Chinese sign language interpreter for at least the first 2 days. We do not have any travel group...meaning no other families from our agency are traveling the same time as us. This will be very different for us, because we've always had a big group which has been a lot of fun. Now, we'll have our guides all to ourself!
Well, sleep is a must...so signing off !
Love to all & kisses and hugs to Mike and all my beautiful children :o)
Lisa

Pastor Bo

How can we be double-blessed with 2 churches? The Refuge is our home church and Pastor Jay is awesome -and- for the last several months, we have also been attending Parkwood Baptist because they have a deaf ministry there. It is led by Pastor Bo and his wife Glenda...two wonderful people. Their work there is nothing short of amazing and we have felt very welcome there. There are many people there that have been praying for Ben, and are anxiously anticipating his arrival. We've been attending the deaf Bible study every Wed night, and a class on Sunday evenings. This morning we attended the Sunday morning worship and here is a little clip of video I took. I apologize for the over-exposure...he was right under a spotlight. This part of his message was about worry. I definitely have been struggling with worry these past couple weeks. Worried about leaving behind 5 of my children and about traveling without my husband. Worried about my 2 littlest ones...worried about how Mike will handle everything. I also worry about how Ben will react or transition to us, as well as worried about my signing proficiency. Even though my ASL is totally different than his CSL, I still want him to see that I have been learning and that I am dedicated in my desire to communicate with him. My heart's been trying to convince my head to stop worrying. God has already performed miracles to bring Ben to us...surely all of the details will work out. This snipit is just a minute long...thank you Bo for reminding me that God is in control.

Celebrating Lidia's 11th and Bayla's 4th Birthdays...

Lidia's birthday was today, May 3rd. Bayla's was April 10th. Lidia wanted a skating party and since we haven't have a chance to celebrate Bayla's, we decided to do theirs together. It was Brinley's first time being at a skating rink, and she couldn't wait to get out there and try it. She mastered it in a jiffy and wanted to skate on her own. So here she is...miss independent skater!! She did great. It was a lot of fun...I'm sure all the kids will hit the pillow hard tonight as it's been a long day with Lidia having a double-header softball game, then skating all afternoon. I need to rest up a little too...just 3 more days, then off to China for Ben :o)

Funny Bayla !

This is a tiny video clip I took of Bayla the other day at the church playground. We had been admiring the tulips in bloom during our van ride there. She found a "one-lip"......

We received TA today !! (April 18, 2008)

Yay !!!!!!
Well, depending on confirmation of our consulate appointment in Guangzhou, we will be flying out either May 7 or May 14.
Yikes, that's REALLY soon !!
We have so many blessings to be thankful for :o)

Letter of Acceptance has Arrived !

Here it is...
The final document that we were waiting for... the LOA. It arrived on the 77th day after our dossier was logged in at the CCAA. Travel should be in about 6 weeks... sometime in May. The weather should be lovely.
Brent is going with me and my buddy Susan.
I can't wait to meet my new son Ben :O)

Bayla's 3 year reunion...

What a special time we had getting together with all of the families that we traveled with for Bayla's adoption. Hard to believe it's been 3 years from the time we brought all of our children home. Here are a few pics and an adorable video. The video is of Brinley, our newest daughter adopted 8 mths ago... and Dani, a 14 year old girl, adopted a little over a year ago by one of the other families that we had previously traveled with for Bayla's adoption. They are singing a Chinese nursery rhyme. Dani and Brinley have a special connection ~ they happen to be from the same orphanage... small world indeed :o)

Brianna's Performance...

Brianna Faith has been involved in theatre for 4 years now. Her highschool just presented "Pride and Prejudice" and Brianna had the lead part of Elizabeth Bennett. It was a 3-day performance, and I must say she was exquisite! We are so proud of her dedication and talent. Here are some pictures from the play...click on the picture to enlarge it.

Ben is our son...

Please let me introduce Ben. We first saw his photo on a waiting child list back in April '07. After returning home from China with Brinley, we checked again.... still no family came forward. We realized a few months later that he was to be our son. We began paperwork to adopt him in September '07. Ben is 10 years old, just 1 year & 3 months younger than Brent. He was found abandoned at the age of 2 1/2 and taken to the orphanage, where he's lived ever since... waiting for a forever family. We are learning sign language because Ben is deaf. We are lucky to have excellent resources here for him and an acclaimed school program in our school district. We are having fun learning ASL, and it is a very beautiful language. We have also met some wonderful people within the deaf community. There is a church just across the street from our church that has a deaf ministry. We attend classes there, as well as a deaf bible study. We are thankful to know everyone there at Parkwood Baptist Church, and appreciate our new friends there. Brent will travel with me ~ he is so excited! My friend Susan will also travel with us. Mike will stay back and hold down the fort here at home. Two weeks ago, Ben received the care package that I had sent him a month earlier ~ can you fathom opening up a package...sent from around the world... and in it you would find photos of your forever family? What a divine moment in time... arranged exclusively by our Creator... Awesome

This is Ben at school... he's in the 3rd grade at his school in China. We are very thankful for "Robert", an American man who has been working as a volunteer at Ben's orphanage for the past 8 years, and has worked hard to facilitate progress and improvements for the orphanage. He was instrumental in convincing the orphanage to allow Ben to attend a very good school for the deaf. He boards at the school Mon-Friday, and returns to the orphanage on the weekends. Without Robert's good works, Ben wouldn't be getting an education.

This is the picture given to us by the adoption agency. He is probably 9 yrs old in the picture. Check out Ben's video on the upper right side of the blog... love his smile at the end :)

Update on Brinley Grace FuChuan...

Well, Brinley has been home now for almost 7 months. Time sure does fly. She is such a delight. Imagine the most gentle-natured, sweet, well-behaved, beautiful little girl, and you will see Brinley. How lucky we are to have her! In this short time, she has transferred from Mandarin to English with amazing ease. She is getting healthier and gaining weight. When we received her, she was just 25 pounds (at almost 4 yrs old) suffering from giardia, parasites & scabies. She is now so healthy and absolutely stunning. She and Bayla are joined at the hip ALL day and my dreams of them being close sisters and companions have come true. They are a riot together.
Thank you God for Brinley Grace :)

Some Recent Family Pictures...

Lidia & Mike at the Father-Daughter dance...



Christmas-time in Florida...

Princess Brinley posing for her 6 month post-placement report...

Pics of Brent for Ben's care package we sent...


Brianna Faith...

Photo shoot from Christmas '07...





A couple cute pics from last Halloween...

Double Happiness in China...

Look at those smiling faces!
Here's a picture of Brinley & Bayla on the 3rd morning together at the hotel in Nanchang. God, you are so good....thank you for entrusting us with your beautiful children. Brinley Grace, we're taking you home :0)

Coming Soon.....

This is Brinley Grace, just 5 months older than Bayla. She's in Jiangxi Province, China and we should be traveling to get her this July-August. Yay!
These are all the pictures we've been given so far from our agency...can't wait to see a smile on that pretty face :0)

Preparing for Travel.....

As I prepare for our trip, I'm reminded of a couple of cultural things we experienced there in 2005 when we went to get Bayla... the crazy traffic and the squatty potties. Here's an example.

Brianna and Brent are getting ready for their trip to Tampa, they leave tomorrow. Lidia's getting ready for her stay with Carol, and their camp trip together, and I'm busy finalizing details for all the kids, paperwork, and travel stuff. Getting close now... 5 more sleeps and we're OFF !!

Travel Approval !

Things have been so crazy around here, I haven't had a chance to post this news! On Friday, 6/22, we received our travel approval. Everything about Brinley's adoption process has been wonderful. Lifeline is a great agency. We will fly out on 7/17. We'll fly Charlotte to Chicago to Beijing. Then a few days later, we'll fly to Nanchang (Brinley's province) and we'll be there for 6 days. Then we'll fly to Guangzhou and be there for 4 days, completing our Consulate appt at the US Embassy and other details. Then, we'll take a train ride to Hong Kong, spend the night and fly out of Hong Kong the next day back to Chicago, spend 1 night in Chicago then on to Charlotte. Blake, Brianna, Brent & Lidia are all going in different directions... Brianna is flying to Tampa to stay with Grandma Jordan for 9 days, then she flys back and is home for 1 day before leaving with the highschool volleyball team to Appalachian State Univ for volleyball camp for 4 days, then returns home and will stay with her good friend Kayla until we return. Brent is flying to Florida to be with Aunt April and his cousins... it will be so great for Brent to spend time with his cousins Brad & Frank. Lidia is staying locally with my very good friend Gabriela. Her daughter is best friends with Lidia. They are going away for a 1 week camp trip with the church... fun !! Blake will stay home and hold down the fort (and take care of Maggie, our lab, and take care of Lidia's new fish). And last but not least, Bayla is going with us. I think she is quite nervous about the plane. When I talk about it, she doesn't want to chat about it. I also see a little concern on her face when I tell her that we're going pretty soon to get Brinley... and that Brinley's in my heart too, along with everyone else. Hopefully she won't be too jealous, although I know some jealousy will be normal. We are one of 7 families in our travel group from Lifeline, so I think it will be a super-fun trip with our group, and of course my good friend Sandy (she's a blast). We have a few things about our itinerary that are a little "iffy" and we are praying that God's favor will be with us on this very far journey.
There is a possibility that we may receive an update on Brinley next week. That would be awesome... the last one I have of her is from over a year ago. I wonder if she has been sent back to the orphanage from her foster home. She is a world away, but I'm feeling closer to her with each passing day.

LOA is HERE !!!!!!!!!!

This is the wonderful news we've been waiting for...LOA (letter of acceptance). It is the final piece of paper sent to our agency from China. We are to sign it with our final **YES** that we want to adopt this child. We will receive it Fed-Ex tomorrow from our agency, sign it, Fed-Ex it right back tomorrow, and the agency sends it DHL to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), who should get it by Tuesday. Then within 2-4 weeks, the CCAA issues TA (travel approval). Once they do that, we typically should fly out within 2 weeks. Soooooo, that means we could feasibly be leaving in 5-7 weeks...probably somewhere between July 4th and July 25th. We will be gone approx 15 days or so. I am so thrilled that it will be before school starts. Now, I have SO MUCH to do!! ...make reservations for our hotels, int'l flights, and our in-country travel (we will be flying from Beijing to Nanchang, then from there we'll fly to Guangzhou, then either fly or go by train to Hong Kong, then back to Chicago, and finally home to Charlotte) order our visa's, gather orphanage gifts, packing, exchanging money, ordering NEW U.S. bills (we must pay in brand new bills), converters, check travel restrictions...Oh My! and most importantly arranging who will keep Brianna, Brent, & Lidia. Blake will stay home and hold down the fort, take care of Maggie (our lab) and the fish. And of course, Bayla will be going with us. We are still hoping for an update on Brinley...maybe a new picture, or measurements. The last report I have on her is over a year old.
p.s. Blake safely arrived in Croatia...waiting to hear more from him soon!
The song playing in my car when I got the call today was, "How Great is Our God"... all I can say today is "Amen"

Very proud of Blake...

Here is a little photoshow of Blake's graduation party. We are very proud of the man he's become. He will start college this fall and wants to be a highschool or college teacher. Blake is in the air at this very moment on his way to Bosnia for a 9 day mission trip. Last summer he went to Brazil on a mission trip. This time it is just Blake and 2 other men. It is a Christian outreach using music ministry. You can learn more about it by visiting www.smallpersonmusic.com He will land in London in several hours, then take a flight to Croatia, then on to Bosnia. Please pray for his safety and for God's favor as they carry out their heart's work.

Stow-Away !!

This is my best friend Sandy! We've been friends for about 9 years. She is a super-great person, and a lot of fun. Sandy went with us to Guatemala on one of our visits when we were adopting Lidia. Now, she's going to China with us...yay!! Through our adoptions, she's getting to see the world :0)
Hopefully we'll be flying over the North Pole soon (today is day 64 of LOA wait)
Thanks for all your love and support Sandy...
Love ya!