The Eve

In 12 hours, we will be checking in for our flight to China...I am a bundle of nerves. We have hurried and scurried and packed and repacked and I'm definitely not leaving my house as clean as I would like, which is  stressful for me. I'm so excited but have been fighting back tears ALL DAY - leaving the boys here is impossibly hard.

We said goodbye to our dog tonight (just for two weeks :)) - my brother and sil are keeping her. She was so excited to ride in the car. Tomorrow morning, we will leave the boys in great hands (with my parents) and head to the airport.

Once we get on our flight, I know I will breath a sigh of relief. I'm tired and anxious, yet peaceful knowing that God has directed every single step of the way. We are welcoming Emmi into the chaos and fun and challenges of our family. She has three brothers who have been beside themselves excited to get her home and we have a pink bedroom (a first!) waiting for her. She will likely think we are crazy and loud (my word, it's always loud around here!) but I know she will also feel the love that we share.

Our biggest prayer is for health and safety for us and for Emmi as we travel and for the boys and all those caring for them here. We are also praying very much for her transition - I feel for her. She will be leaving everything and everyone she has known - she has been in the orphanage since she was 3 months old. It will take time and work to build trust and for bonding and attachment to occur.

We so appreciate all of the love and support! We hope to have internet access and to blog here during our trip. When we return, we will be excited to introduce you to Emmarie!

We will also have a few requests. These are absolutely not personal but from our experience, from the advice of professionals, and from all that we have read and learned, we feel it's best to just state them up front. :) These won't last forever but it will take time for us to grow as a family and for her to fully feel a part of it and trust us. The main things are, please don't try and hold her and please allow us to be the only ones to feed her and change her and meet those basic needs. She needs to understand that we will provide for her and that we are not going to leave her! We know that we love her and we know that she is fully part of our family but so much will have changed for her in a very short amount of time. It will take time for her to know those things. We have cleared our schedule and plan to spend a lot of time at home over the coming months. It will give us much needed time to know each other and to figure out what our new normal is. :)

WOW! Tomorrow! Cannot believe it's here! I need to get back to work - I stopped here as I was printing documents to take with us. Thank you again for your prayers and love - they mean so much to us!