New News

Well, a lot has happened since my last posting...where to begin?

To start with our travel dates have changed a little. We've decided to fly a day early. So we leave on the 11th. We leave Beijing on Sunday, March 14, and fly to Fujian. We'll be staying at the Lakeside Hotel in Fuzhou. We will be meeting Violet and welcoming her into our family on Monday, March 15. We fly back to Beijing on Saturday, March 2oth. My birthday, March 19th, is basically a free day...so we'll see what we can do for fun to celebrate! I remember the disappointing call we received on December 23rd when we were told that we were skipped over and did not receive a referral. My husband said, "So I guess this means there's no chance that we'll be celebrating either of our birthdays in China." Our coordinator told him that there was still that possibility...Look at us now!

The best news that we've received lately is knowing that our goal for finances for the trip has been reached! Thank You, Father! And thank you to an amazing community that has rallied around us and supported us financially and emotionally! A Chinese Supper was held in January, hosted by our church and Tori's school. Tori did amazingly well with her Read-a-Thon that her school coordinated for her. She read 26 books in the month of January, for a total of4,222 pages. She had over 100 people sponsor her and raised just over $2,000!!! I'm astounded! A fundraiser event was held in February at the local legion. It was an all-day affair - turkey/ham dinner, entertainment in the afternoon, karaoke, and then a dance in the evening. At both of the fundraisers friends had donated items for silent auctions and a cake auction.

So time is flying by as I had hoped it would. We are only 16 days away now. I found advent calendars on the weekend at a Liquidation store. They were only 9 cents each. So I got one for Tori and one for me. (Roger declined - said he had his cell-phone to keep track of the countdown.)

Violet's room had been ready but is empty now. A friend bought laminate flooring for us to lay in her room. It is almost finished and looks fabulous! Tori thought it so nice that she contemplated sleeping on Violet's floor last night. (Her decision might have also had something to do with the fact that I had piled some of Violet's things on Tori's bed.) She slept in her own bed, though. The floor should be finished tonight and then we can start putting the room back in order again.

We received a blessing yesterday from a cousin of mine. She has a new granddaughter and had clothes given to her. But they are still too big for the baby. So she is lending them to us to use for Violet. And they should fit her right away. I love hand-me-downs!

Some other exciting news for us is that I'm typing this on our new netbook. This means that I'll be able to update my blog from China! Yippee!!! I had a hard time deciding if we should purchase one. But then I thought of all the people who want to experience our joy with us and we decided to go for it. Because the last fundraiser helped us reach our goal, and the organizer had told me to use some of the money to buy a laptop, we went the most economical way and bought a netbook. It is so tiny...but perfect for what we need. It is so light it will be great for traveling.

Thanks for sharing in our joy!