Gotcha Day

This morning at 9 am we went to the government office to get Jace. We had to wait for Jace to arrive as he was eating breakfast. He took the overnight train from New Day in Beijing to Taiyuan, his home province. He instantly said mama, baba!! And started checking out all his toys we brought. He keeps asking, "For me??". He's so excited to have his own things!!
Attached are a few pictures from this am. Enjoy!!! We are so blessed to have him!!!

Touring Beijing

We made it safely to Beijing. Friday we spent the day with some VERY special people. Lots of fun. Today we went to Tiananmen Square then the Forbidden City!! Incredible! Then we went to the Great Wall. Even more amazing. We took a lift up, which for those of you who know Darren and his fear of heights he saw none of that. Eyes were closed and knuckles white!! Then we walked a good portion of the wall. Wow I am out of shape. We were supposed to take a toboggan down but the line was so long we walked the entire way down. Knew I would never get Darren on the lift again.
Tomorrow we take the train to Jace's province and will get him Monday am. That will be Sunday night your time. Can't wait!!!!
Will share a few pics from our adventure today. Lots of Jace pics to come soon!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane!!

Last Sunday Jace turned 5. That was officially his last birthday in China. We are so excited to finally be going to get him. I've been savings lots of birthday kisses for him.
We ask for prayers for safe travel. We also ask for prayers for our kids who will be at home and for the grandma's and grandpa's staying with them!! May be a long 2 weeks.
Below is our travel itinerary:

10/19 Leave for Beijing
10/20-23 Tour Beijing and meet some VERY special people
10/23 Take train to Taiyuan (Jace's province)
10/24 Jace's Gotcha Day
10/28 Fly to Guangzhou
11/1 Appt with US Consulate
11/2 Take van to Hong Kong
11/3 Fly home. YEAH!!!!

We will try to keep this updated during our trip. Thank you to everyone for your love and support!!

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO

So this week we got great news.  We received our LOA (letter of approval) from China which is the last piece of paper we needed from them.  It only took 48 days but who's counting!!!  We are very blessed because there are families who have been waiting 80-100 days for that 1 piece of paper.  The other amazing thing is that Jace's best friend Vincent (they have been together since they were babies),  well his family recieved their LOA they very same day we did.  That means chances are we will end up in China at the same time picking up our awesome boys!!!  Only God could have orchestrated that!!!  God continues to be faithful and show us how amazing he is through this process!!!
Now we are working toward getting travel approval from China.  This requires more paperwork with the INS and also the consulate in China.  Our agency is anticipating travel in 11-14 weeks.  Sooner would be great!  Jace will celebrate his 5th birthday October 9th and we would love to celebrate with him but anytime will be fine.  God is totally in control of this!
The next few weeks will fly by as Makenna, Madison and Jaxson start school. Makenna will be in 5th grade and Madison 3rd.   Yes Jaxson will be the big kindergartner!!  Hard to believe.  And Justin has moved to his own apartment and is trying to adjust to how quiet it is there compared to here!! 
So continue to pray for our family as we all are going through lots of changes and anticipate the arrival of Jace. We are so blessed that he is going to be apart of our family!!
The next post should be our itinerary for our trip to China!!!  Can't wait!!

Vincent and Jace hugging each other.  Reagan on the end was adopted 1 month ago!!
We're comng boys!!!!!!!

PS We plan to close our T shirt sales next week 8/5/11 so if anyone still wants to order a shirt you have a few days left.  And thanks so much to all of you who have ordered shirts!!  We have sold 63 t shirts and you all are part of helping us bring Jace home! 

Update on the race

Time to update you on our progress in the Race for Jace.  It has been a few months but we are getting closer to bringing our sweet boy home.  We finished all our paperwork for our dossier and it was mailed to China on 5/27.  We received an email from our agency stating it was delivered to the adoption office in Beijing 6/1 and it would be 3-8 weeks when we heard our paperwork was officially logged in.  On 6/7 just 6 days later we received another email stating our paperwork was officially logged in.  Awesome!!!  Now we are just waiting for our official letter of approval (LOA) which can take anywhere from 1-4 months.  We need lots of prayers for the 1 month!!  However I keep reminding myself we will go when it's God time to go!!  Jace's best friend at the orphanage (they have been together since infants) is being adopted too.  His mother was recently discouraged because it took so long for their paperwork to be logged in.  But now we are both about on the same time schedule and could end up in China at the same time.  Maybe God wants these 2 sweet boys to leave at the same time with their forever families. Can't wait to see how this all plays out!!
We also have to give a huge thank you to our amazing church!!!  Hopedale Baptist church is the best!!  They had a silent/pie auction for us and were beyond generous in helping us with our mission of bringing Jace home!!  Jace has no idea how much he is already loved.
In preparing for Jace my oldest son Justin has decided it is time to move out on his own. Good move on his part as I'm sure peace and quiet will be nonexsistent in our home!!  That is bittersweet for me seeing him head out into the world but know he is growing up!!  So this weekend we cleaned out his room and got bunk beds for Jace and Jaxson in their new room.  Can't wait!!
So we asked for continued prayers that our paperwork continues to move quickly!!  Also pray for Jace and that he continues to do well so we can get him home for his much needed surgery!!  Jace turns 5 in October and I would love to celebrate his 5th birthday with him!! What a party we would have!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for everyone's support and continued prayers

Somber Day For One Family Important One For Ours

Three years ago today the unspeakable happened for one family, the sudden and tagic death of a child.  That child was Maria Sue Chapman, the daughter of Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman.  Something no parent or family should have to face. This father was saddened by the news back then but at the time it didn't radically change my life.  That would come roughly two and a half years later.  That is when the importance of that horrible tragedy touched our family.  It was while reading, Choosing to See, that God very clearly and emphatically touched my heart so deeply with the conviction that we were not done adopting after our third and latest Chinese child.  I thought I was so done.  God had other plans.

One life will literally be saved by this terrible tragedy.  Oh I'm sure many more than one, but one in a mighty way for our family.  I can't comprehend what the Chapman's have faced these last three years.  The book just touched the iceberg of their profound loss.  I feel guilty for my thankfulness today for our impending homecoming with Jace.  It is accompanied with mixed emotions and heartfelt prayers for the Chapmans.

T Shirt Fundraiser

We are excited to share with you our fundraiser.  We are selling t shirts to help us bring Jace home.  We have some shirts that are specific to Jace and then some shirts that are about adoption/orphans.  If you feel led to help us in this endeavor we would be honored and forever grateful for your support.
Our store can be found at www.adoptionbug.com/raceforjace or you can click the t shirt link on the side of our blog to get to it.
Happy shopping and know that you will be blessed for helping us!!!
Attached are a few of our shirts.