Our Thanksgiving

We are so blessed; beyond measure. In our home we have a "blessings wall" that we use as a family devotion. In times of trials, the wall really is a huge strength as we are able to look back and see how God has blessed us. God has, this year alone, blessed us with health (especially Eli), our home and reassurance that He is in control of ALL things, a peace that definitely passed all understanding, an endurance to run the good race and continue to persevere regardless of (as Kaylee says) the times that "stinky devil" tries to get us down, He has blessed us in the area of vehicles and will continue to. He has blessed our family with a strength and cohesiveness that has enabled us to become a better family; a more loving family. We are, and continue to be blessed with, an amazing church family that has stood by us and has supported us through our journey to bring Jesiah home. He has blessed us with "strangers" becoming dear friends, as they labor with us for Jesiah and work so very selflessly to give what they have been blessed with. This year has been tough but through it all, I am humbled and in awe. God is good. We are giving thanks.

We leave on Wednesday, November 30th, so we have three days. I know God is in control and I need to remember who He is and how He blessed us thus far. Please pray for our journey, but especially pray for Jesiah.

I'm thankful for each one of you and the support and love you have shown throughout the entire journey. God has picked out the perfect child for our family an we know that He will continue to provide as we need.

Love you all! 

:) Phillipians 4: 13

Our Tickets are Booked!

I was beginning to think this day would never come and so far, it's been such a whirlwind that I almost forgot to blog about it! We leave November 30th and will be headed to Beijing for four days. After this, we will fly to Guangzhou in the Guangdong province (December 4th) where will meet Jesiah (December 5th) and tackle all of the crazy paperwork to get things final and receive his visa. We will fly home December 16th  from Hong Kong and will arrive at MCI at 4:57 PM (details to come). You are all encouraged to come and welcome us home!

Please keep us in your prayers and we continue to plan travel, prepare physically to go, try to make sure we have everything :), prepare to leave our two "homegrown" kiddos here for many days (which I'm struggling with) and finish up all of our lose ends.

Here's a map to show you where we will be going first:

After Beijing, here is where we will be traveling (with MUCH warmer temps!!!):

As you can see, we are traveling quite a ways south. Jesiah is from the Shenzhen area which is about an hour  and a half away from the city we will be staying in. Although Jesiah will come to us in Guangzhou, we are hoping to be able to travel to the SWI (social welfare institute) that he stayed in for some time.

We have waited fourteen months for this time and know God has prepared the way. Please pray Jesiah's heart is able to heal from any grief he may be feeling. Although we have been so excited and have prepared for this day, we also realize he is leaving everything he has known his entire life behind. We know he is coming into a great and loving family, yet we are preparing for an adjustment. We would appreciate prayers that God allows us the discernment to know what he needs and how we can best make his adjustment smoother. We know Jesiah is such a special little boy and we cannot wait to hold him in our arms!!

We have had so much love and support to get this far. Please know it is appreciated beyond words. We love you all and have been humbled at how God has worked to make this journey possible!!! Stay tuned! I will give you more detailed itinerary info. and we will definitely be blogging as we are on our trip (hopefully daily). We'd love for you to follow along!!!