Traveling in 2 weeks!

Farrah and I went shopping tonight, gathering more items to take to China. Every week I have another list of things Jameson or I will need for the trip. Pretty soon, I will be out of room in the limited bags I'm able to carry. There are different luggage guidelines for intra-China flights. I'm going to be restricted to one- 44 lb. checked suitcase (how random is 44 LBS???), one- 10 lb carry on bag, my laptop and backpack for a TWO WEEK TRIP. For me AND the baby.
Now you'll understand if I am in the same clothes in every picture I get to post while in China!!
14 more days..........

UPDATED PICTURES OF JAMESON HARPER!!!

I've been waiting on updated pictures and information on Jameson for over a month, was afraid I wouldn't get anything before I left for China. BUT HERE THEY ARE!!! I couldn't open the email fast enough. She is such a beautiful baby! I can't get over those big brown eyes. And they have her dressed so nice for her photos. You can tell she's really wondering what's going on.

The email says that Jameson is 26.4 inches tall and weighs 17.6 lbs. This is a good size Chinese baby....you can see her neck fat on a couple of the pictures! It went on to say that she is enjoying all types of toys and that when she's upset, she likes to be held by one of the nannies. Get ready girl, I'm not going to put you down for a while.

18 more days....................

"Drummers get all the chicks"

I'm so very proud of Owen and how good he's gotten on the drums. He got his set at home about a year and a half ago, now he's playing on Wednesday and Sunday nights at church, and for various shows with my stepdad's band. They played at First Friday September 3. I think he's doing great. Owen told me not to post these videos on "his sister's" blog, but I wanted to brag on my talented son. Brian and I heard him playing along with some songs from his phone and decided to capture them...... for the world.

JAMESON'S ROOM

HER ROOM IS COMPLETE...well, except for her, that is. We hung the last picture on the wall tonight, thank you MeMe and Uncle Justin!

I think of where my baby is right now and where she'll be in a little over a month... A friend of ours told us recently how wonderful we were to be adopting this orphan and how lucky she was to have us. Brian and I just laughed it off because we know our reasons have been quite selfish, we wanted another child, a sibling for Owen. But as the months have progressed and we get nearer to her everyday, I think of how this child could have grown up without ever hearing the name Jesus. Or without ever holding the Bible in her hands. And even though we just want to hold her in our arms and love her as if she'd been ours all along, how awesome it will be when she learns and feels and accepts the love of our one and only Savior.

26 more days....

WE'RE LEAVING OCTOBER 8th!!!!!!!!!!

I got the call from Great Wall that our I-797, the golden ticket in internation adoption, was emailed to them from US Immigration Tuesday, August 31st!!!! Our travel advisor was then able to schedule our American Consulate appts in China!!! We will be leaving for China on October 8, with 17 other Great Wall families. I'll be getting our complete itinerary in the next couple of weeks!!!
I'M JUST ECSTATIC!!! We finally have a date. Thank you to all of my PRAYER WARRIORS!!!

My School Friends Shower at Haley's-- August 28th

Thank you Haley for hosting such a lovely shower for Jameson and I. I'm blessed to work with such a great group of ladies. I love you guys!!

China was nicely represented with Mia and Charli Grace in attendance!!
Got a stressful call on Wednesday of this week. Great Wall (our adoption agency) let me know that our final form from US Immigration must reach them by AUGUST 31 in order for us to be able to go to China before NOVEMBER or DECEMBER!!

I had still been hanging onto the hope that we would be traveling in September. Unfortunately, the American Consulate in China has no more appts available in September, leaving October as our earliest to leave. Well, I find out that October is just festival central for China--Great Wall only schedules ONE trip to China during this month. IF ALL OF THIS ISN'T CRUSHING ENOUGH, my travel advisor at Great Wall reminded me that our family's travel approval expires in October. If we do not COMPLETE our stint in China before our approval expires, we could very well be delayed by several months and have paperwork to re-do!! Hang on, there's more....

To get this coveted form from Immigration, we have to have our newest batch of fingerprints completed. Our fingerprint appt. was not scheduled until Sept. 7. There was crying. So many obstacles to overcome. I was feeling very, very hopeless.

I devised a plan for Brian and I to take off work the very next day, Thursday, drive to the Immigration office in Bham, and beg them to do our fingerprints early.

I guess my teary eyes bright and early Thursday morning tugged at the heart strings of some government workers-- WE WERE ABLE TO GET THE PRINTS DONE!!

We are one step closer, now just praying that yet another, hopefully undisgruntled, government worker will feel the love and expedite our paperwork for the August 31st deadline.

Is your head spinning? No one else in my family understands what all is going on either. IT'S CRAZY!!!

My Church Shower -- Union #3 Baptist -- August 15, 2010

My shower was just amazing! Thank you to all of my church friends and family members that came to celebrate our new baby girl. We love you all!

Gina

First Day of 7th Grade...and First Grade

My little boy is growing up way too fast!