WHILE WE WERE WAITING FOR GRACE

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. Psalm 127: 3,5.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. Ephesians 3: 20.

Grace Noelle

Psalm 139: 13 - 16

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are you works;my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.

We leave in 9 hours!! March 29th

It's 1 am and I am switching to China time tonight, thats why I'm still up. I really just can't sleep, but it sounds like a good plan. Our flight leaves at 9am I think we are over packed, but I still left room for lots of stuff from China. There is no way we could go carry on only!!! It still doesn't seem real yet. I just got the boys bags packed they are leaving tomorrow to go camping for the weekend and when they wake up on Monday in the States we will have Grace. Our last pictures and updates of her were at 4 months and now she is 16 months. We know we will not recognize her. We are praying she will adjust quickly and learn to be flexible with our crazy family. We have to fly through Hawaii to get her citizenship since we live in Germany. We spend 1 night there and then back to Texas then to New Jersey then back to Germany. We really pray Grace can just go with the flow. We were told we couldn't leave the States until all of our relatives and friends meet her. We are so thankful for everyones prayers and support through this long wait. We praise God for His perfect plan in all things!!

Waiting for Mike!!!! March 26th

We are still waiting for Mike to arrive from Germany after 2 missed flights in Frankfurt he got a hotel room and waited till the next day. He made the last flight out, but it wasn't coming to Dallas it was going to Chicago so he managed to get the last seat barely, thats a long story. He got to Chicago and couldn't get on the flights to Dallas so he slept on the floor at the airport. The next day he flew to Cincinnati and then was able to connect to Dallas and we picked him up. After 3 days of trying to get here he arrived. The standby thing is not always the greatest deal. Only 3 days and we are on our way to bring Grace home!!!

Arriving in Dallas March 23

We arrived in Dallas without a hitch and my plan now is to get the boys settled and on some sort of routine. The friends they are staying with have other plans ,they think it's time to party. After the shock of how much food I buy and how much these boys can eat I think they are up for the challenge of a two week stay. We are so thankful that they are able to watch them and that we are totally confident our boys will be loved and cared for while we're gone. Mike will hopefully fly in tomorrow to join us.

Finally my luggage March 22

My luggage arrived tonight and I am feeling much better. After visiting my parents for a few days we leave for Dallas to drop the boys of before we leave for China. Mike will meet me there and we fly out March 29th. I can't believe our time has finally come to bring Grace home. We are so excited but it doesn't seem real yet and it probably won't till we have her in our arms.

Waiting for our luggage March 21st

We are now waiting for our luggage to arrive and I have made several calls to the airlines. They assure me that the suitcases will be delivered later tonight. So another day in the same clothes we wore on the plane and slept in. The suitcases finally arrive all 4 boys have their suitcases except they can't seem to find mine. It is lost and they tell me maybe they will deliver it tomorrow. I really want my stuff. I'm just glad Mike has the suitcases for China.

Leaving from Germany to the States March 20th

We have finally arrived in the US after a loooong day of traveling. The flight from Frankfurt took off almost 2 hours late and as we landed in Cincinnati I knew we had to hurry to catch our next flight to Philadelphia. What I didn't know is the time they announced on the plane was an hour off. I think they had forgotten about daylight savings. We had 40 minutes to go through customs back through security and make our connection which we hadn't figured out yet. We came through security I checked the monitor and it said closed. "Closed" what does that mean? The kind women from Delta said that means your plane has left without you. I ran up the stairs with 4 boys running behind carrying very heavy book bags and violins. The agent at the counter called on the phone yelled a little and told them to hold the plane so we went running to a shuttle that took us across the runway, then we ran to find our gate where another agent stood yelling out our names she directed us down a long hall and out onto the runway. The plane was a small puddle jumper and as we boarded no one looked happy. We quickly scurried down the aisle and I told the boys to find an empty seat and just sit down. Then the pilot announced who we were and now they were going to wait for our luggage. One man threw his newspaper in the air in disgust. Glad the flight was just an hour!!! We arrived in Philadelphia and as we waited and waited for our luggage it became obvious that it had been left in Cincinnati. My parents were there to pick us up and then a 2 hour drive to the shore. One quick stop for toothbrushes and after being up over 24 hours we were ready for bed, even if we all had to sleep in our clothes.

We Got Travel Approval

We have TA!!! Here we come Grace!!! After the disappointment of not leaving for China March 8th we are thrilled to get TA today. We have a tentative date to travel March 29th arrive in Beijing on the 30th and get Grace April 2nd. It doesn't seem real and it probably won't until we are holding our little girl. It's been a long wait.

NO TA YET!!

We just heard from the agency that no TA's (Travel Approvals) came today and they will not be coming until after Chinese New Year. That means we will not be leaving for China on March 8th. We know God has already planned our dates ,but the wait is so hard especially since we have had her little picture out in the living room since Nov.13th and know she is not home with us. Praying TA's come soon.

Getting our visas

We went and got our visas today. It's a cool stamp they put in the back of your passport. We had some issues as we couldn't prove we lived in Germany and they turned us away. We walked out of the building after waiting in line for an hour and Mike remembered we had German drivers licenses and we ran back in right before they closed got our pictures taken waited back in line for the only gal who spoke English and we came back today 3 days later to pick up our visas. We really are going to China!!!

The Fed EX man arrives with Grace's paperwork and photos

We have been waiting today for the Fed Ex man. After 2 failed attempts to deliver our package they managed to arrive. Even though the man didn't speak English he was more than willing for me to take his picture with the boys!!

We get our seeking letter!!!!! Jan 31, 2006

Mike had a trip to England for business for a few days and I couldn't help wanting to come along so we left the boys at their cousins and Nanny and Poppa and flew the hour flight to England. We are staying at the Holiday Inn checking the computer to see if there is any news on our seeking letter, nothing so I read my e-mails and as I'm checking up pops an e-mail saying we have left 2 messages at your home and CHI has received our SEEKING LETTER!!!! YAHHOO!
We are soooo excited we started calling everyone in the States to tell them. We would have called people in Germany, but it's about 1am. Now we wait for TA!!! We will call the boys in the morning to tell them.

Happy Birthday GRACE!!!!!

Grace turned 1 today!!!! It is bitter sweet. We got an icecream cake and went to Rob and Margarets (Mike's brothers) to celebrate. We are praying for Grace and asking God to be with her,to keep her safe,to heal her heart and for her to know she is loved. We can't wait until the day we can hold her and bring her home . It is hard knowing we have already missed the first year of her life. We are trusting in God's perfect timing and praise Him that before the begining of time God had chosen Grace to be our daughter.

We Found Our Daughter!!! NOV 13th 2006

Mike got home from work before 4pm our time in Germany. I have been crazy all day trying to keep busy till 5pm when the waiting children form is posted. We each had a lap top and sat down next to each other. At 5pm we were both glued to the computer screens NO FORM!!! refresh,refresh,refresh. All of a sudden the form popped up on my computer I was shaking trying to fill out the form as quickly as possible it kept coming back server busy on both computers finally at 5:20 our request went through for #412. We went in to have dinner and we thought it is in Gods hands, if this little baby is meant to be ours it will happen. I was truly thinking we would not be first to review her file. I brought the computer to the table and kept checking e-mails. About 20 minutes later we had a message from CHI which read Great News you are 1st in line to review #412. Thats when I lost it and the boys got out the video camera. We knew we had found our daughter!!! We left dinner on the table and headed out to Mikes work to receive the fax with all her medical and background information. Our neighbor is a heart specialist so he was at our house at 10pm reviewing her medical information. We called CHI at 12am our time and told them we had found our daughter Grace Noelle!!! Of course I couldn't sleep so I started calling everyone.

Visiting Rome Oct

We flew to Rome and when we arrived all the trains and buses were on strike. There was a huge line of people waiting for cabs. Mike got out in the middle of the street and worked a deal with 2 cabbys to take us and all our luggage to our apartment. Since the trolleys were also not running the cabby decided it would be alot quicker to take the trolley route with his cab. It was fast and also really crazy. We did make it to the apartment. We stayed right by the Vatican and only a few blocks from the subway which we were told would be running the next day. Most restaurants in Italy open around 7pm for dinner. We were always hungry around 5pm so we were told of a great Chinese restaurant down the street from our apartment. We walked down the block and they were closed so Mike knocked on the door. The owner, a sweet little lady, opened the restaurant for us to eat. So we ended up eating there 4 of the 6 nights we were in Rome.. We ended up talking to her and telling her we were adopting from China. Then she started giving the boys gifts and she gave me a small gold tea pot ornament. They were very sweet. There was so much to see in Rome and it's amazing how old everything is. We rode the subway everywhere and took the boys to an opera. We could of stayed another week.

Flying over the pond!! Aug 2006

We have been having a great time at Opa and Omas. We have been on the beach almost everyday. The boys spend most of their time riding the waves on their boogie boards. Our favorite meals to eat are pizza and hoagies. We come to visit every summer and are making such wonderful memories. We flew back with our friends that were here visiting from Texas and spent 10 days in NJ and then a few more days looking at land in Texas. We plan to move back there when we leave Germany. It is always such fun to visit the States. Everything is open all night and you can just go in one store and get everything you want. The conveniences of the U.S. Life in Germany is much slower paced everything closes down by 5pm and you have to go to several small stores to get what you want. Our refridgerator is the size I had in my college dorm room so I spend a lot of time back and forth to the grocery store. In the winter we use the back porch as a big fridge we really look like hicks.

June 2006

June 6 - a week in Normandy on the anniversary of D-Day. WOW. Talk about a great history lesson. The boys all got to hear first hand from many of the veterans tell first hand accounts of jumping in or driving towards the beach in their landing crafts.

We were happily surprised to see so many French flying the American flags as they remember that day that they and their families lived through. Our boys liked the "take the beach" time they had every day to charge up the sand and dodge the machine gunners nests. The top of Point du Hoc still has quite a few bomb craters that are perfect to regroup your troops in, then on to the next bunker!

The last puppy sold the day before we left for the trip! All went to good homes!

May 2006 - LID May 19!!!

All of our paperwork is officially done! Our dossier left for China, and our DTC is May 5. We got the call from CHI that our log in date (LID) is May 19! Let the official waiting begin... I think it all seems so much more real to us knowing that everything we need to do on this end is complete. While we are anxious to go meet Grace and bring her home, we know we serve a great and awesome God that has already planned all of these dates.