Tomorrow

Tomorrow Josh and I will say good-bye to our three sweet girls and head to LAX.  I am tearing up as I write this because I am going to miss these girls so much!  Josh and I have never been away from them for more than 3 days and even then we could not wait to come home and see them.  We will be in contact with them through real time, face time something like that.  Even though it will be hard to wave goodbye there is such joy in knowing that we are so close to seeing Jed....holding him, hugging him, kissing him and loving him!  I can not wait to hold him in my arms and touch his sweet baby skin and hair.  I have a picture of what it will be like and hope it's as sweet as my thoughts.  He has been the cute boy in the numerous pictures we have for far too long.  I am ready to meet our son and bring him home.

The reality that we are going to get Jed is also a little bitter sweet because I have feared that he would be sad when he left his foster family.  I spoke with another mom, who has adopted from Hong Kong, and she told me that if Jed cries it's good because he needs to grieve too.  I had never thought about it this way and so thankful for this renewed perspective.  Yes Jed may cry but that's only because he was so loved and he needs to release the sadness from losing all that he knew.  I will love him through each tear and hope that he quickly realizes that he is with his mommy and daddy and that everything is just as it should be.

I appreciate so much the love and care that his foster family have given him!  They will forever be a part of his family and ours.  I look forward to meeting them and hopefully giving them peace about where Jed is going.  It must be so hard for them to say good-bye too.  Jed has been a part of their family for a while now and I know, because I saw it in the video, that there is a deep love for Jed.  I hope we walk away from this family with them knowing that Jed will be loved for who he is and supported in the best way so he can succeed in all areas of life.  This little boy, our son, will know that even though his foster family is not around love is!

FYI...Hong Kong is one day ahead so when we meet him on Tuesday it will be Monday here.  Four days until he is in our arms...Oh I can't stand the wait!!!

If you don't mind please pray for safe travel and that everything goes smoothly.  Josh checked the weather and it looks like it might rain and possibly be very windy.  This make it kind of hard to be venturing out with a little one.  But who know after all it is a very warm rain and we may just have our first dance in it!

Four Days Away

We are only four days away from traveling and I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of just how close we are to leaving.  I'm a little panicked that I won't get everything done because Saturday seems so close all of the sudden.  Before we do any kind of travel I like to do laundry, clean floors, bathrooms and organize misplaced items.  It always makes me feel good knowing that I left my house spotless for our return home.  This will not be the case, I'm sure, because the girls will still be here but as long as I see it perfect when I leave I'm okay.

I was going to post our itinerary but Josh and I are not sure what we want to visit and see while we tour Hong Kong.  I will try to update my Facebook page with daily posts about our plans.

I will admit that I am overwhelmed right now.  So much to do in such a short time.  I will also cling to this quote as I continue to prepare for Saturday and ultimately bringing our son home.

Pete Scazzero once quipped, "If doing the will of God, meant that Jesus, the Son of God, was sweating blood in the garden, why do you think for you it should be a cake walk?"


Hope your day was good!

The Plan

Josh and I sat down two nights ago and made our flight and hotel reservations!  It felt really good to do this!  Everything is starting to feel so real now and I am overwhelmed with joy.  We will leave on June 30th from LAX at 3:15 and fly home July 6th with arrival at 2:05.  We will meet Jed on July 3rd and get to spend the day with him but he will spend one last night with his foster family.  On Thursday we will gather his stuff and say good-bye to his foster family.  This is sure to be an emotional day.  This will also be a great day because Jed will be ours for the rest of the trip!  The adoption won't be finalized until 6 months after he comes home though.  With the Hong Kong program the agency gets guardianship of Jed until they complete 3 home visits and send the reports to Hong Kong.  Once this is done and everything is cleared we will go to the Santa Barbara Court House and finalize the adoption.  I can't wait until this is all final and we get to move forward with our family as a family!

Hong Kong itinerary coming soon.

The CALL

We got THE call that will take us to the end of our adoption journey.  We have travel dates!!!!  I was at Scottish Rite when Gwen called with the news.  Because I woke up feeling sick and had a terrible headache this news sent my body into over drive and I thought I was going to throw up.  Luckily I didn't.  It felt so great to finally be at this point!  Sarah was with me and wanted to tell everyone the good news then the phone was passed to me so I could give the details.  We made call after call until I needed a break.  Trying to absorb all this excitement was overwhelming.  I decided to stop all calls when another mom, at speech, started asking me questions about the adoption.  She said it was really nice to be seeing all this take place.  We had a great conversation not only about adoption but about Down syndrome too.  It was so nice to share our story as the final phone call came in.  I was so excited about the news that i could not sit down and my mind was racing.  Picture this:  your sitting at home reading a favorite book, all is calm and the house is quiet when there's a knock at the door.  You open the door to find someone yelling run run a tornadoes coming, run, run fast, run run run!!!!  I came home and began a search for flights, hotels and anything that would help me with planning.  I decided I needed time to relax and focus...to regain control of my mind.  I took a shower and went to bed.  I prayed and breathed and prayed and breathed until all anxiety was gone and my my was clear.  I went to sleep with no plan but a peaceful heart!

Today I am focused on getting some plans set.  I will update once this happens.

Oh my heart is happy!