Walsh Adoption Round 2: Finally...our travel date

After a year of paperwork, planning and prayer, the time has finally come! We are so excited to announce that our travel dates are set. We will be travelling to China on Dec. 4th and will return on Dec. 18th! The tickets are bought, we apply for visas next week, and we are preparing!! My mother and father will travel from Alabama to stay with our kids while we are gone. They are way better at parenting the I am, so we leave them in great hands (Although we may have to detox them when we get home. Grandmother is a bit liberal with the sugary snacks). We are grateful they are willing to help us out for such a long period of time. For those who know them, they are wonderful people.

On a personal note, we had the privilege of getting away together as a family last week through funds that were provided so our family could go on a special vacation. We enjoyed five days just hanging out together; we figured it would be the last time to travel together for awhile. I thoroughly enjoyed not having to do any laundry or cooking. It was truly relaxing and refreshing and we are so grateful for the time away.

While we are in China, we will try to keep you updated as the trip progresses. Our "gotcha day" is the 8th and her birthday is the 11th. We are glad we get to be there with her for that special day. We will leave from Hong Kong after we get her visa on the 17th.

(From Dan...)On a side note, we are also excited that we will be traveling with some good friends of ours, John and Joybeth, who just so happen to have the same travel dates and "gotcha" day as we do. March of last year I found myself along with our little Meili sitting across from these two at lunch explaining how the adoption process had gone for us in 2010 as they were beginning the journey with lots of questions. Little did I know at that time that only a few months later we would be jumping on the same journey all over again. I have known John and Joybeth since they were dating back in the Mandarin Baptist Youth Group in 1992 I believe... Its been awesome to see them step out in faith in this new adventure and we truly are thrilled to be walking this new road together.