Ready To Go!

Warning-this post may seem all over the place....

This past week has been crazy to say the least. After having a family party at our house Saturday, early Sunday morning we received the call that our Papaw, the patriarch of our family, had suddenly passed away. Our family was stunned at the sudden loss... he'd just been with us eating cake and drinking his ever present cup of coffee. Needless to say, Sunday and Monday were acute days of grief for all of us.

Then, on Tuesday, we received the news that China invited us to come and get Kai and Skye. The final piece of the adoption process was happening! So, in the middle of grief, this exciting news we'd been waiting for came. Talk about emotional roller coasters!  The last couple of days have been spent grieving with family and making flight arrangements. While at the wake, we got our flight confirmations and Kathie had to stop and then make the kids' flight arrangements to come home with us. 

We are beyond excited that we are 9 days away from flying out to get our kids. We are really, really going to miss our Papaw B. We are ready to go, and while we miss Papaw, we take comfort and hope in the fact that he was ready to go, too. We know as Christians that his passing wasn't a "goodbye," but just a "see you later."

He loved his grandkids more than anything, even the ones he hadn't met yet, and would have been so happy that his newest great-grandkids were now coming home.

Adoption has a lot of beginnings and endings. We are coming to the end of one part of it. Kai and Skye are coming to the end of being orphans and beginning lives in a family that lasts forever. In the midst of this, life has its beginnings and endings as well. 

We'll be leaving In less than 2 weeks, traveling first to Wuhan to get Kai on June 25th. Then, we'll travel to Zhengzhou and have Family Day with Skye on June 29th. After some time in her province, we'll travel to Guangzhou for the remaining paperwork and medical appointments before returning home.

Please pray for our family...all of them, including our sweet grandma who is facing such heartbreak now. Please also pray for safe travels, for Kai and Skye to bond and attach well with all of us, for the rest of our kids that we have to leave at home, and for our moms and other family members who will be watching our kids while we're gone. We'll be trying to update our blog or Facebook page when we are in China