Hello all and we are in Beijing!!! It is an amazing city. We have a wonderful guide named Carrie who is showing us around. After we arrived today, we had the pleasure of visiting the New Day foster home. I got to meet Miss Khloe. As you might remember from a previous post, Khloe is the little girl who stole our hearts months ago. We have been sponsoring her at New Day since. She is currently waiting for her mamma to bring her home.

We also got to meet Ethan, Kevin and Victoria, who also live at New Day. We were unable to see Drew, because he was at his foster home.

This journey made everything seem much more real today. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. On Saturday,(Friday night U.S. time) we will be traveling to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. I should have some great photos after that.

Only 2 more days until we meet Tia!!!

In Korea!!

We just arrived in Korea for a lay-over and then we are off to Beijing. They have free Wi-FI at the airport - YEAH!!!

The trip is going great so far. We are tired and did not get a lot of sleep in the flight from LA. I think I am just too excited to sleep. For anyone looking to book their travel flights for China, I highly recommend Asiana airlines. I was worried when we chose to fly with them, but it was GREAT!!! The staff was wonderful!

I have attached a few photos from the airport. Trenton - I have Tiny the dog with me and he is really enjoying the trip. I took some pictures of him in the airport.

Next stop Beijing!!

Its D Day

Wow - we are finally here. I have dreamed of this day for so long. I am not sure if it feels like a reality yet - but I am sure it will very soon.

I am going to be turning over the blog controls to my wonderful husband Terry while I am traveling. It seems blogger is blocked and I want to make sure to document this trip for our friends and family.

You can also check out our site on my adoptions websites. This is a wonderful company that offers customized web sites for adoptive families. Our link is: Our Journey to Tiana.

I will try to send some updates from LAX later this evening. Take care and enjoy the journey with us.

Diane

One More Sleep Before I Leave

Wow - it is 11:00 PM and I cannot sleep. My head is spinning with all the things I need to do before I board a plane tomorrow. My stomach has butterflies and I have this fear I will forget something - like my paperwork.

Please keep us in your prayers!!!

Diane

Our Magic Number

Yep, just one more sleep before I leave for China. I cannot believe this day is finally here. It has been a crazy week. Lots of things going on behind the scenes in our home. Please keep all of us in your prayers.

Todays Post Is Brought To You By The Number 2

3 Days

Only 4 More Days

Guess how many days till we leave for China???

Only A Few More Hours...

We just have a few hours left on our auction. The bidding will close at 11:59 pm this evening. I would like to thank everyone in advance for your support.

Diane

6 DAYS!!!

Just One More Week!!!

Actually, we catch our first flight out of St Louis on 10/21 to LAX. So technically, I guess it is really 6 days - but who's counting.

O.K. me - I am counting every moment until I leave. :)

Wow - this was exactly what I needed today...

Believe it or not, I am still amazed at times when God does things that totally blow me away. You would think that after all this time I would just come to expect that when I am at my lowest and worrying tirelessly, God has a plan.

But I loose site of that and start to sink into my own pit (for those of you who are Beth Moore fans, you will know what I mean by that). But anyway, I was up half the night - worrying.

Ya' see, we received our final costs from our agency and they were substantially higher than I had expected. I was blown away - to say the least. Immediately, I began to worry. How could we do this? Where was the money going to come from? It was painful - I was so distraught.

Then I clicked on a fellow bloggers site - and Mandi had this posted. And I was quickly reminded that He has a plan and I just need to be quiet and listen.

Till later....

Only 8 More Days!!!

We are now in single digits...

TRAVEL FUNDRAISER

Now that we have booked our travel, the reality has really set in. The expense of the adoption has been a tough challenge for our family. We recently learned that we did not receive any of the grant we had applied for. This was really tough to hear.

To help defray some of the costs, we have decided to offer one last fundraiser. The auction style fundraiser will take place on a secondary site located at - Harlow Adoption . There are more details on the specifics of the fundraiser and how to bid, located on this site. The items featured have been donated by our family and friends or are items from our children's clothing company.

We would like to again thank all of our friends and family who graciously donated items for our auction.

Please spread the word....

10 Days and Counting!!

A Special Little Girl

Since earlier this year, we have had the pleasure of sponsoring a special little girl in China through an organization known as New Day Foster Home . The moment I clicked on their site, I saw the face of a beautiful little girl named Elise. Her smile could lite up a room. We chose to sponsor Elise at New Day, until she found her forever home. Since we had not been matched yet with Tia, it made the wait easier. I would receive monthly pictures of Elise. It was wonderful to watch her grow and pray for her as a family.

Fast forward a few months. Through the wonder of blogs, I had the chance to "meet" Elise' soon to be mommy. Elise is now Khloe (isn't that a beautiful name!) It has been a wonderful experience to walk through our adoption journeys together.

I had made a list of the things I really wanted to do while we were in China - other than GET MY BABY!!! At the top of the list was to meet Khloe. Well, my wish has come true. On Friday, October 23, we will be visiting New Day Foster Home and hanging out with these amazing kids. I cannot wait!!!

I encourage you to check out New Day's site and consider sponsoring one of this awesome children.

Till later....

We Have A Date!!!!

I just received the call from our agency and our consulate appointment has been confirmed. This is our tentative itinerary

10/22 - Depart St Louis

10/23 - 25 - Site Seeing in Beijing

10/25 - Fly to Kunming City

10/26 - GOTCHA DAY!!!!!

10/30 - Fly to Guangzhou

11/4 - Consulate Appointment

11/7 - Depart for St Louis

We are still working on the final details with our travel agent. As soon as I have our flight information, I will let you know. We would love for any of you in the St Louis area to greet us at the airport.

Till Later...

A New Look

So, what do you think?? I decided to put a "fresh coat of paint" on the ole' blog.

I am also excited to finally include a picture of Tia in the headline. It makes all of this seem so real.

And by way of an update on our travel - the C*AA reopens tonight (Chin* Time). Our facilitators in Chin* will send our request for a consulate date. Our hope is to leave St Louis on October 21. We will fly to Beijing for a few days, and then on to Kunming City to meet Tia. We will finish our journey in Guangzhou. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Till later....