Hawaiiiiii.....

We made it to Hawaii on Tuesday late in the afternoon here in Waikiki. It is beautiful, wonderful, heavenly, and WINDY! We have talked to many people that have said that the weather this week is fairly unusual. It is incredibly windy and kinda chilly but ohhhh so wonderful! The second day here my aunt came down with the stomach virus and on day 3 and 4 Jeff has had it! What a fine time for the stomach bug! We have made the most of it any-o-hoo! Today we visited Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona and that was very emotional. You actually go out over the battleship that has rested on the ocean floor. There lie approximately 900 men that died when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. I was so glad we visited that memorial. It helped me remember the sacrifices that have been made for our country and the ones that are continually made for my freedom as an American.

The kids are having a blast. Here are a few pics...

Still waiting to hear on our TA. Should be hearing something within the next week or two.

Aloha *bt*

Aloha...

Well we finally made it to Hawaii and so far it has taken me until today to get over the jetlag. It is amazing how you adjust to the time change but yet you don't...for instance, it is 9:45 at home but it is 5:45 pm in Honolulu. It doesn't seem to do it justice to say it's "beautiful" here. There really are no words to describe Hawaii. We left home at 3 am to take our trip to Nashville Airport and our flight left at 6:40 am. We arrived in Hawaii at 7:45 pm (Alabama time). Can somebody say whew? BG did well for a two year old. The others did awesome too. Today we went to the North Shore where the largest waves in the world are. That was the most tranquil place yet the waves were ferocious! The kids are having a blast! My mom and aunt came with me (thank the Lord because hauling four kids through two airports was a trip)! I am trying to stay on top of my studies but it's hard because I want to just loaf all day and lay around in the sun! :)

We are waiting on our Travel Approval from China and hopefully we will see it around the first of March. We are getting very excited over the thoughts of getting our arms around our LK. We have been stopped already two times by visiting chinese families in Hawaii because they want to take pictures with my kids. Apparently they don't see many blonde headed people very often so they love to see it on children. We think it is great! They just smile and say cheese! :)

Got our visas! Need those to get into china. It's really getting close and we are getting excited!

Aloha! *bt*

A Precious Gift

Today I recieved a most precious gift via UPS. I opened up the box and there was a beautiful white frame that housed a very personal and precious adoption poem for our "LK". My sister in law Pam and her family had it made for her. I became very emotional when I read it and it is something I will cherish forever. I know LK will cherish it also! I just thought I would share it with my "blogger" friends and family! Thank you PW, JW, BW and JW. This means alot to us. *bt*

Fingerprints expired! Oh no!

We found out this week that our fingerprints expired. They have to be done and current before you can travel out of the country. I panicked! I am suppose to be watching our expiration dates on everything...our homestudy, CIS approval and fingerprints...but I let them expire!!! On the phone I go to the agency I need an appointment with to update fingerprints. JT's travel only gives us a three day window to get them redone or our travel will get pushed out to a later time. I call...I email...praying for someone to get my messages...and yesterday they called me with an appointment!!!!An appointment within my three day window!!!!! That was a miracle. I was so excited that our travel will still be as soon as possible to go get our LK! It looks like the TA's are coming in approximately four weeks from LOA so I expect to hear something around March 9th. Of course that is just estimated according to when others are seeing theirs. After TA we should travel within the following next couple of weeks. This is exciting!!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day! *bt*

LOA came today!

Well we are definitely excited now! Our agency called today and we have recieved our LOA (letter of acceptance). That is our official "she's ours now"! It looks like we should travel around the end of March! With it being 80 days since we seen her face the first time we have been so anxious to go get her. I spent all of last week "nesting", getting her clothes washed and her things ready for her. I knew it was getting close...just had that mother's intuition I guess. Please pray for us as we have decided to take BG with us when we go. We think it will be good for her and LK. I will update when we get more good news! The next thing we wait for is our TA (Travel Approval) and that is our invitation to pick her up. That should arrive within 2-4 weeks. Thanks to all of you that are praying for us and LK as we make this transition in our family! Much love!*bt*