Exciting Monday!

    So, I've been staring at the same picture for 6 months now.  Wondering how he's changed, how much he's grown.  Wondering if he'll even look the same.  Will I even recognize him when I see him?  We forget how blessed we are that we see our children every day.  I know that sounds a little silly.  I mean, of course, you see your kids every day (unless they are grown and have moved away).  But I know I take it for granted.  Some days are so busy and full of homework, errands, etc. that I realize I haven't really stopped to "see" my kids at all during the day.  We get so caught up in "life" that we don't stop to just "be" sometimes.
  And for the past year we've had this little one on the other side of the world....and there is still so much we don't know about him.   Is he crawling? pulling up? eating? talking? How big is he?  We've just had to trust that our Heavenly Father knows the answers to all of these questions, and that He has been holding him close during all of these months.
   We've asked for an update a couple of times.  We felt like it was a long-shot, since we'd heard that the orphanage that he is in doesn't let a lot of info out.  Each time we'd been told that no update had been given.  So, we've just had to guess at how big he will be and what we will need to take with us.  We assumed he'd be pretty small, since he was only 3 pounds at birth and around 9 pounds at 4 months old.  I've  been holding tight to the picture we received in April of him at 4 months old.

   Too stinkin' cute, is all I can say! He was so little (minus the sumo outfit he is in).  And this is all we have had for so long.  Well, yesterday I came in from working out and sat down to check email.  I opened my email and saw one from our agency that said "update".  I assumed it was an update on our upcoming travel.  Instead, it was an update on Wren! I could hardly contain myself.  My hands were shaking and my heart was racing.  I could hardly even open the email!  The update was totally unexpected. Big surprise!! And, finally, we get another little glimpse of our sweet boy.

   Look how much he's grown!! And so much for thinking that he'd be little.  Our little guy is 20 pounds and 30 inches long!  So, all of these little clothes we've been gathering aren't gonna fit this fella:)  Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen!  I cannot wait to have our sweet boy in my arms in less than 2 weeks!
   Now I'm headed to continue getting us ready to go and to find some bigger clothes for this cutie!!

The countdown has begun....

     After over a year of paper-chasing, fingerprinting, waiting and more waiting....we are finally getting ready to travel to China.  We received our TA (travel approval) last week!!! And the plane tickets have been booked.  We leave in 2 weeks, and it can't get here fast enough.  I think this may be the longest 2 weeks of the last year.
     Truth we told, I'm so excited but also very nervous.  It's a feeling that is hard to explain.  We've been waiting to bring this precious little boy home for so long, and now that the time is here I have so many emotions.  If you know me...I already cry a lot...but these days I can't keep it together for more than 10 minutes.  I don't know if it's the relief that we are finally going or the nervousness of finally meeting him or what.  All I know is that this time next month, we will be at home as a family of 5!  And our lives will look very different.
     We meet with our social worker AND good friend, Emily, yesterday to talk about the travel, etc. in China.  And we started to talk about life when we get home.  I think I have always taken for granted that my biological children knew I was there mama from day 1.  They knew that we (me and Brad) would always take care of their needs.  They could cry and we would come running.  And that we would always keep them safe.  But Wren won't know all of that.  It will have to be learned.  We will have to teach him slowly that we are his mommy and daddy, and that we will never ever leave him.  I'm praying that from even day one, he knows how loved he is.
     So, we're in travel mode around here.  Trying to get together the last minute things we need for a one year old.  Trying to decide what to pack for a two week trip.  Soaking up the last two weeks as a family of 4.  And as part of that...we took our kids to their first UGA game this fall.  UGA is a big part of our lives...it's where Brad and I met, and Athens is still one of our favorite places.  It was so much fun to go as a family, and even more fun that we won!

   So, I'm going to try to update some while we're in China.  So, hopefully this will be a good place for everyone to see how things are going there, and see Wren!  Gotta go check some more things off my "to do before China" list. :)