Day 1- touring

http://picasaweb.google.com/jswimberly2/Day1Touring

We are tourists!

Today was a long and busy one. Unfortunately Davie is just a sick little girl. I went ahead and started her on an antibiotic today (thank you so much Jenny!) and so we are hoping she will be better by tomorrow. We visited the Forbidden City, Tienemen Square, the pearl factory and the silk factory. By the end of the day I was falling asleep on the bus. Both Davie and I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I hope we can sleep through the night tonight. Tomorrow we will go to church, the Jade factory and the Great Wall. I hope the pictures will load right. I am going to give it a try now. For some reason we cannot see our blog...we cannot pull up the page, but I can post to it. Weird. Well, I hope everyone at home is well...if you have one of my kids please kiss them for me. I know that I am far away, but the odd thing is I feel very far away. Two more days until Eliana!!!! Much love!

We are in China!

Well, we are here! I can't believe it. It was a long long flight. Davie did well and slept more than me. She had a bit of a cold when we left and it is still here. You can pray for her to get better if you would like. I know she would like that. We are all very tired and missing the other half of our group...but doing fine. We will tour tomorrow and so I will have photos to post. I prayed and prayed for Sarah's play...how was it darlin??? Missing you and Matt and Catherine Jo. I hope the play was a huge success! For the other half of our group, I already asked Linekar about the dinner on your gotcha day and he said that we will probably have our dinner in the China Hotel at the Japanese Restuarant on the night before we leave. I think that is it. I also found out that we will all receive our babies at the Cival Affairs office so I think that means we can't go to your gotcha day, but I didn't officially ask yet. Feeling so blessed to be here....Jackie Sue

Our Itinerary

March 29th- April 11th

Thursday, March 29 Depart for Beijing
Flight: UA 1556

Friday, March 30 Arrive in Beijing
Flight: UA 897

Saturday, March 31 Beijing Sight-Seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden
City, & Summer Palace (Lunch & Dinner Included)

Sunday, April 1 Church service & Great Wall (Lunch & Beijing Duck
Dinner Included)

Monday, April 2 Morning Flight to Nanchang Afternoon - Meet Eliana Joy Lin Wimberly!!

Tuesday, April 3 Civil Affairs Appointment

April 4- April 5 Paperwork, Sight-seeing, & Shopping

Friday, April 6 Afternoon flight to Guangzhou

April 7- April 8 Fill out Consulate Forms & Medical Exam

Monday, April 9 Consulate Appointment 11:00 am

Tuesday, April 10 Pick up Child’s Visa

Wednesday, April 11 Depart from Guangzhou Depart from Hong Kong
Flight: UA 828

ARRIVE HOME at 12:30am on April 12th!!! Yipee!

A Bump in the Road

Well, this has been an interesting 24 hours. When we went to the bank to get the cash that we have to take to China there had been a miscommunication. I am sad to say that I didnot respond in faith to my Awesome God, but really went into panic mode. So this morning during my quiet time God revealed in His strong but sweet way my unbelief in His ability to handle this issue. After I confessed my sin, and agreed with the conviction that He brought to me, He gave me a new perspective. What is a BIG deal to me, is a teeny tiny thing to my BIG GOD! He can accomplish anything without any problem at all. So, now I am on an adventure to see how God provides the exact amount of money we need, in the exact condition and denominations we need. So, if you are reading this, please stop and pray for God to accomplish His will in this situation and that I will be a faithful follower of my Awesome, Faithful, Covenant Keeping God.

Girls' Room and packing

I'm trying something new....hopefully when you click on the photo that shows you will go to another site that will show all the photos. This will be much more beneficial in China. We can download lots of photos and you will just click on the one photo to go to all the others. It saves room on the blog. Well, give it a try and see if it works. Much love!

The Girls' Room and Packing

Well, it is time for me to get serious about packing. I had the girls all packed but then remembered to weigh the suitcase. Oh my! It can only weigh 44lbs. for our travel in China and thier bag weighed 55lbs! So, I had to start over. The good news is that David just bought me a new bag so I started over today. I packed everything for Eliana in the one new large bag. That is great, unless they lose our luggage...then I will have NOTHING for the baby at all. Oh well, that is always the risk with traveling by airline. Davie and I will share a bag. I packed for her today and still have 20lbs. for me. We should be ok. I told David that I want to have our clothes all packed by this weekend so that I can work on leaving the house clean and helping Matt and Catherine pack. Oh well. I finally took some photos of Davie and Eliana's room. It looks ready for Ellie and Davie seems excited with the progress we've made. She is in for a rude awakening though. The other day Catherine was trying on some clothes in a dressing room at the store. Davie was there too, but not trying on clothes. She was less than thrilled that Catherine was getting all the attention and so she went into the other dressing room and came out to show me her new outfits. The thing was, she was pretending. She posed and I oooed and awed at her sparkling bathingsuits and fancy dresses even though she hadn't changed clothes at all. It was then for sure that I knew she is gonna have a hard time sharing the limelight. Catherine's just said in her ever so cheerful way, "Just wait, Davie, when you came no one even spoke to me anymore". Big sisters and their wisdom. Just 9 more days until we are on the plane and 13 days until Ellie is in our arms! God Bless!

Travel Plans

Deut. 10:17 "The Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great , the mighty and the awesome God." Praise the Lord! He has done more than we could even hope for. He is awesome! We are officially leaving on the 29th at around 9am in the morning. We will have an itinerary for our trip which I will post when I get it. Right now I think we will have Ellie in our arms on the 2nd. I am very very excited. Thank you so much for your prayers for the next two weeks as we get all the little details ironed out. Hang on sweet baby girl, Momma and Daddy and Davie Anne are coming!!! :)

Father Daughter Valentines Dance and travel changes

This is the photo of Catherine Jo, Davie Anne and their sweet daddy at the Valentines Dance they attended at Family Christian School. Poor David, he doesn't even like to dance. According to him all Davie Anne likes to do is be swung around all over the place and Catherine hung out with her friends. Anyway, I love this photo because Davie is at the stage where a smile is just showing her teeth...too funny. Catherine sure is growing up. Just wanted to share this.

Travel changes are happening with AWAA. I am trying to adjust and let God be God as He allows all these changes. AWAA has split up our travel group into two groups, now leaving at separate times. The group going to Jiangxi, this includes us, are still scheduled to leave on the 29th of March. The other part of our group, the group who's daughters are in Guangdong, are now scheduled to leave on the 5th of April. The sad part is that those folks have become so dear to me that I want to travel with them and be with them as much as possible. Now we will not do the Beijing or Guangzhou portions of our trip together. As it stands right now we may only see them a day in Guangzhou, at the beginning of their trip and the very end of ours. Our big group has bonded and so this is hard for most of us. I will not question God though, I want to remember who He is and rest in His goodness. He has a plan and my resolve to be submissive to Him is going to be put to the test again and again I'm afraid. This time I will trust Him and maybe stay one extra day in Guangzhou to be with my friends :)

God is God

Well, my Tuesday thoughts did not stay with me even through Wed. By Wed I was so disatisfied with God's timing that early Thursday morning I clearly heard Him ask me in my heart, "Who do I think I am to question Him, the Sovereign Lord, about His timing and His will for Ellie or for me?" This time I got it. I really get it. I am sure He will have to remind me again, but when He speaks that plainly and convicts my heart so clearly, even as slow as I am, I get it. In His sweet mercy He allowed me to see myself as I needed to, and to see Him as I needed to. Then and only then did we receive our travel approval. This afternoon about 1pm we got the news that we are approved for travel and tentatively leaving on the 29th of March. Yipee! Yea God! That will make our "gotcha day" on Monday, April 2nd. We will return to the states somewhere between the 11th and the 14th depending on our consulate appointment. I am so thankful for all that God is doing!

Great Movies

I went on a date with Eddie last night and we saw areally good movie, Amazing Grace. It was so nice for 2+ hours to be totally absorbed in something other than NOT getting our travel approval yet. I highly recommend this movie. Last night as I dozed off to sleep, or somewhere in there, God had to remind me that His timing is perfect and my complaining does not show my trust in Him. So...I get His point, I submit to His perfect will for all concerned and I rested, all night long. That's all I have to say about that! :^)

Getting ready

Well, no travel approval yet, but it is coming! I can feel it! So tomorrow I am going to get the room ready for our Eliana. I will try to post a photo with her new bedding in the room she will share with Davie Anne. I keep buying clothes and stuff and I am really good at that. Spending money on my kids is my gift. :) We are getting ready for our baby girl and everytime I look at her little face I keep thinking, "wonder what she has that we need?", because that is how God works. Ellie doesn't just need us, we need her. I can't wait to meet her!

Our travelmates found out yesterday that they will not be able to adopt the little girl they were referred due to her recent diagnosis with cancer. Our travel group is all grieving, but hopeful for what lies ahead for this sweet family.

I have come to believe what a friend said to me today " life is more like a railroad track, rather than hills and valleys", the truth is that joy and sorrow are mixed together all along this journey. That is certainly what my life has been like for the last month or so. I am excited about all that God has for us and am so thankful that I do not travel this train track alone. He is with me every step of the way. I am so blessed.