Time always flies and now is no exception.
In just two weeks we will be about to land in Nanning, Guangxi, China. Our long awaited adventure will be beginning. Our life with Josie Qingyuan will start just days after her 7th birthday.
Many thoughts pass through my head daily.
Some pass through briefly, not to return and some take up residence in my brain.
How exactly will we communicate? Will she be afraid? Will we be able to see her orphanage? How about $, easy to find places to exchange? How hot and how humid?? Will she like me? What if our luggage gets lost? How much spending money do we need? What should we bring to entertain her? Will Jamison be ok without us for 2 weeks??!! 13 hours on an airplane? ... And on and on.
Recently I found a lovely baby picture of our little Josie. It was the photo on our Travel Approval. Oh how much of her life I've missed. Lots to make up for.
Little one

We started our journey toward our little girl in September, 2016. 

We will more than likely finalize our adoption, and have little Josie-Yuanyuan in our arms in June/July. That's approximately 22 months. An elephant's pregnancy! 

I expected to write and keep everyone updated, but I guess I realized there is very little that actually HAPPENS during this process that is exciting to hear about! 

This is what it would have sounded like..."I filled out another form!" Or, "I heard from USCIS after 79 days of waiting!"

There was a lot of waiting and being patient between painstakingly completing required paperwork. 

There's a range of lengths of time each part of the process takes and ours has been on the long side for everything. I've had to keep reminding myself that it's all in God's time, things are happening according to His plan. 

We are finally in the last stretch. The finish line is in sight! We are applying for visas for us and for Josie, doing the final steps in the order they need to be done. Before too long we will hear that we have TA... Travel approval! At that point we can make our flight arrangements, book hotels and prepare for our long awaited trip to China to meet our little girl for the first time!