We finally got our Travel Invitation from China and that sets in motion all kinds of things -- the biggest of which is the securing of airline tickets to our various destinations (and back, of course!). It was "touch and go" for a day because we are not using a credit card and, as we all know, that is about the only way the world works ... so, without one, no one seemed to know what to do! Anyway, since we were using grant money (from The Gift of Adoption, Show Hope, Hand in Hand, and His Kids Too!) it was more difficult and required our agency to step in to help. But they did (thank you Bethany!). It took a day but we got it done and the tickets are now ours ... both going to Nanning (for 3 of us) and coming back to the States from Nanning (for 4 of us). As you can imagine ... it was PRICEY (or, as my Minnesota friends might say, it was "spendy"!!!). Thank the good Lord who opened up the storehouses of heaven to provide for us! And, to many of you, thank you for opening up your storehouses to help us along the way.
So ... we are headed to China on December 4th (actually we will be in Hong Kong for a couple of days to let our bodies get used to the day being night and the night being day!) and then back to the States with Jacob on December 19th. Merry, blessed, Christmas in more ways than one!
Now, what seemed like an eternity is now less than a month away! And the little girl you see sitting on Santa's lap in the upperleft photo will have a brother. We have been calling him Jacob but know that he has been going by Xin (pronounced "Shin") his whole life (almost 12 years) ... so we don't know what he will want us to do but we will follow his lead on this. If he is happiest with Xin, then we will call him Xin. All of our documentation includes this as his middle name ... we did the same with Katie in case somewhere down the line she wanted to be known by a Chinese name rather than an American one. [For her it is "YuNing"] We have thought about all kinds of variations that might be acceptable nicknames to what we have selected ... "Jake" or "J.T." or, of course, "Xin". All that remains to be seen.
We have had some difficulty in the States using Google Blogger (sign in has been VERY frustrating and I don't find it terribly user-friendly) but we will try to get access as we travel to update this site on the latest news. We will also post updates and photos to Facebook (works like magic on our phones!) so if you are not already a "friend" of Ken or myself you might want to look us up and let us add you.
Anyway, we will do our best to keep you updated as we move along. We are so grateful for support in this adventure and we covet your continued prayers as we follow God's leading on the path of life.
Stay tuned .... there is much MUCH more to come ...
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