I wished for you

WE HAVE TICKETS!!!! I can't believe that in a few short weeks we will be on a plane to our sweet baby girl.

Been super busy trying to get it all together. I can't seem to think very straight right now. My stomach is in a perpetual state of disarray. When I am very stressed or nervous all I want to do is sleep which is pretty counterproductive to prepartions. Jon on the other hand seems to go into super sonic mode. Again opposites, but that's another story. Looks like miss Jannalee has been a busy bee. She sent Claire this wonderul adoption storybook which made me bawl like a little girl. Then she wrote something soo soo sweet on the inside which started it all again. Then she sent clothes and We are so Thankful.

Since our baby shower had to be moved until Claire is home and we didn't buy a whole lot at everyone's insistence, we are a bit unprepared for her arrival. So the parents have kicked into high gear. Love them!! Jon's Mom went and got her bedding. Isn't it soo pretty. I love it. Thank you. She also went and got an umbrella stroller to use in Taiwan, the highchair, and some sleepers. Have I said Thank GOD for parents. My parents are taking us out this coming weekend to round out the neccesities.

We are truly blessed by those around us. And Claire is going to be one spoiled little sweetheart!!

Another family the Furbers, are in Taiwan right now picking up their son. They are with the same agency as we are and their son is/was at the same orphange at Claire. I am sooo happy for them!

Confirmed!!!

It's almost midnight. The trip is planned. I'm tired. We will arrive a couple of days before picking up Claire and then leave at the end of the week. We will be staying a full week. The trip looks brutal, time wise that is. But I am not complaining. I think we did pretty good on our flight costs considering fuel prices are outrages and we did upgrade a little. We only went over budget a little. The hotel now is another story. Jon wanted a particular hotel because...anyhow the story is too long. I bit the bullet and booked the hotel that Jon wanted. We went over budget on the hotel by more then a little. At this point I really don't care because we are bringing our daughter home and that's all that matters.
Our baby shower is not on the day that it was planned. We had to obviously move things because we won't be here. The baby shower is now a baby/welcome home shower/party. I'm sure that everyone will be upset that we will HAVE to bring Claire to the shower.
I'm going to bed now....

**I guess I never actually said it in the last two posts. Yes, we have travel approval!!!!!**

Pack your bags....

WE'RE GOING TO TAIWAN!!!!!!!!

We 're going to miss our baby shower. We're not ready. We don't have what we need for her. We're in panic mode. We're activating the Plantinum, calling insurance, panicking, trying to figure out what we need, calling travel agents, notifing people that the baby shower is cancelled. My Dad was right, we cut the shower too close....oooopsss...thought we had plenty of time. We were wrong.....Prayers have been answered because we're bringing our baby girl home much sooner then we thought. Details to follow......

*update*FOREVER FAMILY DAY IS JULY 21ST. OUR FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED AND I AM TRYING TO FIND A HOTEL AS I WRITE THIS. MORE INFO TO COME**

Happy Father's Day

I hope everyone celebrated with their fathers today and had a wonderful day. We rec'd new pictures just in time for father's day.

Jon got the rockin' pink camouflage diaper bag from his mother. Love it!! Claire gave her Daddy his first Father's day card today. I took the above picture and made a card from Claire, because it is Daddy's first picture with his girl. It read:

We haven't met yet yet,
But I can already see
That you're my Daddy
A family we'll be.

I can feel your love,
Across big oceans blue
I know you're coming
Your word is true.

You will be my rock,
When my world is blurry.
You'll dry my tears.
Come quickly, now hurry.

Soon Daddy please,
Bring me home, hug me tight.
Your love is my haven,
My Daddy, my knight!!








<----We(I) laugh and call this the "cleavage shot" Jon didn't find it as humorous as I did.


Our baby girl didn't gain any weight on this report. Actually she did gain a little, but lost it. I'm not too worried. She is tripodding, which means we'll have a crawler soon. She can sit up steadily by herself. She's drinking the same amount of formula, 150cc, every 4 hours. But they have started her on "sub foods". Unfortunately the sub foods are in Chinese and they didn't translate that for us. So we don't know what she's eating. I am just assuming congee of some sort.

Soon Claire. It won't be long now!

Handme downs rock

A friend of mine from work told me that she was going through her daughters old clothes. She asked me if I wanted some. Sure I thought, that would be very helpful. So I figured that she would pass on a few outfits. Seriously...she sent a big lawn bag full of clothes. There are so many outfits I won't have to buy Claire anything until she's two(but then I have hand me downs from our niece for that age range). Thanks so much Gail!!

Then Jon went out and bought the mattress for her crib today too. It's really starting to feel like we are actually going to have a living, breathing, giggling, smiley baby girl in the house!!!

Simple things make me happy..

.....like sending Claire another care package. I love packing it all up and thinking about her in the outfits, or playing with the toys we send. The flower dress is the first dress her Daddy bought her. But since we aren't sure if it's going to fit her or not(now or when she comes home), we had to send it. There are also two other short outfits, socks, a bunny rattle, and the most expensive(at least I thought) bearista bear from Starbucks. I guess we shouldn't buy her stuffed animals from Starbucks.

Oh and I know I shouldn't love, love, love this bib. But I had to register for it and my sister got it for me...errr... I mean for Claire. You know she'll be sporting that ALL THE TIME!!! j/k...well sorta. Heck I'm not going to apologize I really do like. What can I say? Counting down the days in the "under six weeks" timeline til travel approval. I can't wait!!!

A gift for Claire

Lovin' the new header. It is a gift from Sarah . Thank you so much Sarah I love it. It's amazing to me the friendships that have come from this journey. We hope together, pray together, and support eachother each step of the way. We get excited for each milestone that is accomplished. And lend a shoulder for each time that things seem impossible. We're almost there. I remember watching Sarah's journey to Jerimiah and now she's journeying to Josiah. Amazing stuff.

Anticipation rising!!!

We heard from our coordinator today. My heart just dropped as I opened the email...But alls good:

"Cathwel reports that all went smoothly at the hearing. The judge was satisfied. And we are now waiting for the decree to be issued. Once issued you will be given travel approval. We estimate the wait for travel approval to be under 6 weeks. That's my best estimate."

Once we get travel approval, Meeting Claire will be approximately 4 weeks later. Or that's at least what I've been seeing with other families. So August Friends, It looks like we get to meet our daughter in August!!!!

Nada...

*Still no news from the agency. I am waiting until we hit the two week mark, until I ask them if they heard anything. That's Wednesday.

*A big Thank you to Jon's brother, for calling in a favor on Memorial day and getting someone to open a store for us so we could buy the part to fix the A.C. Seriously- Massive appreciation!!

*One of my best friends was in town this weekend. Love spending time with her and her family. Can't wait until we can get Claire into the pool and introduce her to "Ed's oyster shack".

*A big Thanks to hubby for offering(without my having to ask) to help out my sister and move her stuff into storage. I wasn't going to ask and I didn't have to, because he's just like that. Makes my heart all a flutter....