Another time of waiting...

For those of you just getting to know us, we are currently waiting for Travel Approval (TA) for our 5th and 6th daughters. Our daughters that are waiting for us in Beijing China are Morgan Xie (we chose the English names and are praying that they like them) age 13 in a just a few days and Gracie Mei Qing age 9. This will be the 5th time for me to go to China, Claude will hold down the fort here with the girls while I and my friend Carol (from Texas), my dad and mom all head over to get the girls. So while we are waiting...
We say lots of prayers, that the new girls will adjust and accept to this huge change in their lives from everything they have ever known. That the H1N1 flu will not rear its ugly head and stop/delay travel. That our girls and sons here at home continue to do well and keep things under control. Kate had hives extremely bad last year from stress of me being gone. We pray they don't return. We also pray that our own health holds up and that our peace of mind stays peaceful :) during this huge time of travel and bringing home the new girls....
During this time we also prepare for situations like no English so we have Electronic translators, talking about the girls being scared, no English, adjusting, clothes for them, and just in general also about loving and accepting them.
There have been a few times that different things have hit us. The new van we had was all of a sudden not large enough for a family of 8. So we went van hunting which turned into a fiasco of buying a van that we 100% hated. Which sent us on another shopping trip to buy a great Suburban...seats 8! Yeah! Another when a bit of panic went over me that we will have one daughter with 2 years of English, one daughter with one year of English and TWO WITH NO ENGLISH!!!!! I am sure we will have moments of insanity. Penny-one year of English-the other day told Vicky to "stop talking so much! You make my head broke" see what I mean about the English? At least the meaning was there.
I have gotten out a suitcase. Not that I am packing but I work full time, have four girls at home, and life can occasionally get crazy so why wait to do something this important and chance missing / forgetting anything? And now I admit that I will pack and repack 15 dozen times...I will weigh each bag 15 dozen times so my luggage is not over weight...I just have to have a way to de-stress so I do it thru the packing.
Right now, even as I am typing, there are two families in China meeting their children for the first time. These children are from the same orphange as our daughters. We are saying, and asking, for prayers for these families for acceptance and Gods guidance thru the rest of their lives. We are also asking for a peek into our daughters beings and also for some photos of the girls. We have not seen their photos in a year...we wonder what they now look like! We have gotten their measurements so we know their sizes etc...But what do they look like? So that's it for now! Again, thank you for following our journeys! R

The awaited conversation

Last Saturday after church we went out to eat. As we were all munching away Addie leaned over and asked me "Mama remember when I was in your tummy?" and I just sank...why in a restaurant? So I said "Addie remember you weren't in this mommies tummy?" And I started to go on to have this dear 7 year old interrupt me and ask "So does that still make me a Mammal?" Talk about laughing...I still chuckle a week later...
Please keep Abbie Ault, a young girl from Princeville, in your prayers. She is very ill in ICU in the hospital. Until next time, Ruthi