23 Days Until China!

With travel authorization in hand and our visa interview appointment in China scheduled, we are now officially arranging our travel!  We have booked the hotel, but need to get our visas and airfare figured out.  We are planning to fly out either April 12 or April 13 and come home April 24.  It is so hard to believe we are at this point!  Heidi has made a paper chain to count down our days...when the reds are gone we'll be in China, and when the greens are gone we'll be home with Elora!

Travel Authorization...Yay!!!

It really didn't take that long, but waiting on this final step to authorize us to go meet and adopt our daughter seemed like forever. :)  Today we got the call from our adoption agency that it had arrived.  They emailed us a copy and the original should be on its way!  It has been exciting to share this news with the kiddos as they've arrived home from school today.  We are so thrilled!!!

Waiting for the travel authorization has been another reminder of how God's timing is perfect.  We had hoped to have this authorization around the end of February or earlier in March, so we could travel mid-late March and get Elora home as soon as possible.  Our schedules have been very full, though, and if that had happened it is pretty certain our lives would have been crazy chaos.  

And, this past week we found out that Lifesong for Orphans and our church have partnered to give us a $3,000 matching grant, meaning they will match dollar-for-dollar any donations we raise toward the adoption up to $3,000!  If we had been planning to travel sooner, we would not have had an opportunity to raise those funds and accept this gracious gift from God.  We have now sent out many letters to friends and family, though, and are excited to see how God will move during this process.  The timing couldn't be better, as we will likely be spending another $6,000-$8,000 before the adoption is complete and Elora is home!

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers and support.  We are so blessed by you all.

Received updated pics of Elora today!  What a sweetie... :)