Count down to travel

We spent a great weekend this last weekend. Saturday we went shopping for some gifts for Vicky's friends still in China at Zunyi City. We are to meet her English teachers and will give them the gifts then for the girls still there. She also bought each of the girls, Zoe and Helen a small gift too. Then when we got home she got out the English to Chinese dictionary and wrote each girls name and the item is marked in Chinese so they know which one goes to who.
I did some last minute shopping, mainly books to get thru the two weeks with...two 14 hour flights and then the time change will create times that i cannot sleep. I also take a small flashlight to lay in bed and read with on those 3-4 am mornings I suffer thru....
Last night our bible small group prayed over all of us, asking for our daughters acceptance of us, safe travels and for Claude and the girls still at home during this time to do well. It is a huge relief to be able to leave knowing our family is so prayed for and that God is with us.
Our group of travelers, our son Eric my dad and mom are leaving this Friday July 18th out of Peoria and will be in Beijing China on Saturday afternoon. This is Eric's first trip like this and maybe by the time it is time to be home he will be either ready to travel a lot more with his mom, or will be waving flags forever saying "never again!" My dad traveled before when we went to China for our daughter Kate and i must have been ok enough that time to want to repeat the experience...
While in China we will fly to Chongqing where Dad and Bev are leaving Eric and I for 4 days for a river cruise to see the Yangtze and the huge dam project. This is a trip my dad has wanted to take forever! They will then meet us in GZ Sunday night at the White Swan hotel. We know we will have a good trip but....
When we travel like this our first concern is the child. The whole trip is about bringing her home and then the next thing is to stay healthy, the third thing on the list is to hopefully see some of the girls great country China. Please continue to pray for our daughter and this coming time! I have included some photos from the last few days at our house.