Is it really time?!

I am leaving for China in the morning.  I am leaving for China in the morning.  I am leaving for China in the morning.

I am still trying to get this to sink in.  I mean, sure, the bags are all packed, the house is clean, our paperwork is in order, our tickets are bought, our passports are ready to go, but it still does not seem real.  We have been working towards this for over three years now.  It has always been one step to get to the next to get to the next and so on.  For the grand finale to finally be here?  Well, it is just hard to fathom.  I have imagined and longed for these next few weeks for so long.  Can it finally be time?

The past few weeks have been busy ones.  There is so much to do to not only go to China but to be gone from home.  Not only did we have to try to pack everything we might need for ourselves and for our daughter that we have yet to meet in a very limited amount of space (let me just tell you that the girl scout in me who's motto when it comes to packing is 'better safe than sorry' really struggled to figure out how to do that!) but there were so many things to get in place to be away from our other two kiddos and home, as well.  Arrangements to be made, supplies to be bought, the kids things packed, phone numbers to be written down, etc etc etc.

Thankfully, my mom passed down some pretty sweet list making skills.  ;)  She would have been proud of the insane amount of sticky note lists I had all over the place.  I had the to do list broken down into days so that I wasn't overwhelmed and had just enough time to get everything done while still mostly having evenings to enjoy family time.  At this very moment, everything has been checked off of every list except for the few things that need to be done in the morning!

The closer the time has come, the more a peace has settled over my heart.  I am ready.  I have no idea what lays ahead, but I am ready to find out.  There are so many questions pinging around in my head and heart, ("Will she like us?  Will we adjust well? Will travel go smoothly? Will any of us get sick? Will our other two do ok? Will I survive the 14 hours flights?") but they are not overshadowing the sense of peace I have.  It is time.  We are ready to become a family of five however that transition may end up looking.  We are praying like crazy for everything to go smoothly.  Praying that Ellie somehow knows that we are her family and that she is safe.  Praying that N and M have peace and comfort while they are away from mommy and daddy for far longer than they ever have been.  Praying for good flights and no delays.  Praying for God to go before us and with us.  Praying for so many things.  Hoping you will pray with us and for us!

I am going to try to keep you all up to date as much as I can while we are there.  You all have supported us along the way and we are eager to share in the joy and journey!  Our flight leaves GR tomorrow at 9:41.  Let the adventure begin!!!  :)

Now, what am I forgetting...?