Bailey's thoughts

I thought I'd share some of Bailey 's comments about getting a sister. She is so excited and can't wait to see the Great Wall and meet her new sister. We're excited, too, but I did mention to her that we may have some hard days with Jindi getting used to so many new things and a new family and Bailey learning to share all her toys and clothes (they are almost the exact same size). Bailey's comment was, "I just can't imagine having a hard day with my sister." She has been asking this week, " How many days until we leave for China?" She has been such a good helper with packing. She organized all her polly pocket dolls and their clothes and accesories in a special travel bag ( except for the one without any legs - ha!) She has talked about how she will help Jindi with her English. She said, "I know, I'll make her a chart of the alphabet and point to each letter, telling her this is A, this is B, etc..." What a life change we will all go through this year. The neighbor, Lisa, who adopted 2 girls ages 3 and 7 from Ethiopia at Christmas time last year, talked about the phases of grieving that the adopted and biological kids went through. She said that once they adjusted that they found a new normal that is even better than the old normal and can't imagine life without the 2 new little girls. I know God will give all 4 of us the strength that we need when we are weak and weary. He is our source of all strength!

10 days until gotcha day!

Bailey's having fun with her friend Ellen while I went to the dentist and ran errands. Brian is running errands, too. We will spend the evening with Brian's folks and grandad up Poudre Canyon. It is so peaceful up there! Brian's grandparents (Grandma Helen is in a care facility) just celebrated 73 years of marriage last weekend! Hope we can make it to 73!! We can't wait to see our new daughter and find out more about her - may take a while to communicate all those things. Only 10 more days until we meet you, Jindi May! Lots of preparations - we finished the girl's room and took pictures so Jindi can see her new room. I took pictures of the house and yard - the ones we sent her were very snowy, taken in April. Bailey helped me to start packing yesterday.
I'm excited to experience a part of China - the people, the culture, the sights. I'm sure they'll be so much to take in!

Almost Ready to pick up Jindi

God has blessed us in so many, many ways! We are thrilled to have a 6 year old daughter, Bailey and enjoy the opportunity to be her parents! Our dream of adopting a sister for Bailey is so close to coming true. Our flight for Beijing, China leaves from Denver on June 24th at 8:27 AM. Our agency, Children's Hope International out of St Louis, MO, takes care of all the details of our trip in China. We sightsee in Beijing for a couple days, have an orientation meeting and then fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi on Sunday June 28th. We might get to meet Jindi on that afternoon or, possibly, Monday morning, June 29th. I can't wait to give her the biggest hug and I'm sure I'll want to cry out of happiness at meeting my precious new daughter. We are in Nanchang for about a week, signing papers and doing some sightseeing, too. Then we fly to Guangzhou in the SE part of China to obtain Jindi's visa and medical exam. The plan is to take a train to Hong Kong on the evening of July 8th so we can catch our flight to Denver around noon on July 9th. We will try to update this blog and keep you all informed of our progress. We have so many cherished family and friends - We appreciate you all!

The preparations have been many and we are still trying to get Bailey and Jindi's room ready for them to share. I'm hoping I can feel well physically before we travel. I'm going to the Dr. soon. There is much packing and weighing and purchasing a few more things to do in the next week and a half. We considered cancelling our camping trip to Lamar this weekend, but decided to shorten it instead. The drive will give us a chance to work on our Mandarin Chinese language CDs and the time with Roy and Pat and Roice and Jef and kids will be priceless. I have 3 days of work left. Tuesday, June 16, Sat and Sun, June 20, 21. I love my job but can't wait to have 12 weeks off to spend with Jindi and Bailey this summer!! We are trusting God will provide all our needs as He has throughout our lives!