From Him All Blessings Flow

We firmly believe God shows His love for us through others. We have been completely and utterly Blessed by so many over the past couple of weeks. From a simple gift of lunch to a heartfelt baby shower, to generous and abundant donations toward our trip. We praise God for each person who is praying for us and supporting us in this journey to bring our daughter home. As we have said so many times, we sit in awe of God's provision and love for our family. We do not feel worthy. To everyone reading this that has helped us at any time in this process, Thank You does not begin to say what our hearts' feel. May God bless you! We are eternally grateful!

TA Has Arrived !!!

We are starting our holiday weekend with wonderful news. Our travel approval (TA) arrived at our agency today!! We should know our exact dates of travel late next week which will probably be in October/early November. The date totally depends on when our agency is able to get an appointment for Joy's exit visa with the American Consulate in Guangzhou. Of course, we want to hold our daughter as soon as possible and are praying for an October date. We also received our passports back yesterday via FedEx complete with our Chinese visa stamp (really it's a sticker). Thank you to all our family and friends for your continued prayers and support!!! Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!

All Talk and No Action

As I am sure you are all hearing via the news hurricane Gustav (tropical storm at this moment) is bearing down on the base. What they are failing to tell you is that we have had worse thunderstorms. We have had a few intermittent bouts of rain and a few gusts of wind up to 15 knots or so. Haiti has been hit with lots of rain, but remember it is ranked as one of the 50 poorest countries by the UN. It doesn't take much to devastate such an impoverished country. Here, our commander went all out even restricted any non-essential personel to their homes. Thus the good news, Mark had the day off! Matt, Andrew and I went out to have lunch at the outdoor area at our Starbucks and we had our first bout of rain which lasted 10 minutes, but looks pretty bad in the pictures. The kids enjoyed the rare opportunity to puddle jump! In a few days we get to enjoy the pleasure of tons of mosquitos!! We expect some more rain tonight and up to 35 knot winds.

Saying Goodbye to a Faithful Friend

With much sadness, we said goodbye to our loving, faithful and trusted friend Tacoma this morning. After 11 1/2 years his body was just giving out; signified by a 20 pound weight loss, deafness and incontinence. He lived a fruitful and adventurous life traveling the world with us. We couldn't of asked for a more devoted and loving family dog. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Thank you for your friendship Tacoma!

Still Waiting for Travel Approval

Isaiah 40:31

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.

Well, our hopes were high that we would receive official notice of travel approval from China today. However, our agency confirms nothing has arrived. All of our other online buddies with LOA (letter of acceptance) dates of 7/31 received their notices on Friday. We are still praying to be able to travel late September, early October if our TA arrives this week. We take comfort in knowing that the Lord has this trip all planned out and it won't happen until his timing is complete. He gives us strength as we long to meet our daughter.

Since we knew our weekend would be long as we awaited news , we enjoyed some time at the pool with friends and Grace and Dad took a special father daughter snorkeling trip to an area we call Phillips Dive Park. They had a wonderful time.

Update on Joy

We received an update on Joy today through a service called Ladybugsnlove whom we paid to make a call on our behalf to Joy's orphanage. Here is what we learned today about our little munchkin.

1. She is doing wonderful and there has been no change to her nevus. She is healthy! Praise God!
2. She is not only walking unassisted, but she is running (running everywhere)- She is currently 16 months old so she is right on target.
3. She is still on a bottle and eats 5 times a day.
4. She has a 2 hour afternoon nap and usually goes to bed around 9:30 pm
5. "She is very cute and the nannies all love her and she enjoys being the center of attention"
6. She currently weighs about 19.8 lbs. and is just over 29 inches tall.
7. She is not in foster care and lives in the orphanage

We did not receive any updated pictures, but we are still overjoyed to know that she is doing so well and being taken care of in a loving manner. We are even more in love with her than ever and can't leave to bring her home soon enough. Andrew tells everyone he meets that his Mei Mei Joy (little sister in Chinese) is coming home very soon. He then names all the things he is going to show her how to do. He is also very excited that she likes his favorite food - RICE!!

Exciting News

Paperwork is on its way to the consulate to obtain our visas.
How Exciting!!!!!

Much Needed Rain

Tropical Storm Fay is bringing some much needed rain our way. We had some gusts last night which created quite the howling effect bringing with it a steady rain. Other than the usual wind damage like a few broken branches, all is well. To illustrate our need for rain, here is what greeted Matt as he tried to go out the front door a few days ago. Our friendly neighborhood iguana was up in our flower bed trying to drink from the hose which is about 1 foot away from the door opening. To say the least, Matt was startled as these creatures rarely come that close to people or our homes. Of course, we realized he must be in real need of water to come so close so we moved the end of the hose and turned it on for him. He was very appreciative and gave us the customary nod of approval. A memorable tropical moment!

Nanning

We decided to post this map to show everyone exactly where we will be going on our upcoming trip. We will be travelling to three different cities while in China. First, we will arrive in Beijing and spend approximately 3 days there. Next, we head to Nanning, Guangxi (look South on the map near Vietnam) where we will meet Joy for the first time. She will be brought from Guiping City with the Director of the orphanage and a nanny. Finally, we hop over to Guangzhou to visit the American Consulate and obtain her visa. Our trip will be approximately 15 days. We will post more on our itinerary when we receive it.

Speaking of the trip, please be in prayer for us to get off the island in a timely manner, travel mercies (We will need them with the long flights and a new baby.), our health in China and that our kids remain safe while we are gone.

DDG-99 USS Farragut

The other day we had the opportunity to tour the USS Farragut and had a great time. We surely thought that Matthew would want to join the Navy after this!!!!

It's A Girl !!

Hello All! Almost 3 years into our adoption journey, we finally received our referral for our beautiful Joy Elizabeth YuHui Ivey. We signed our letter of acceptance on August 4th and are now anxiously awaiting our travel approval to China. We hope to travel in the next eight weeks or so! Here is what we have learned so far about this little blessing from God:

Jin Yu Hui

Birthdate: April 12, 2007

(Her birthmother left the gift of her birthdate on a note!)

• She is currently residing in Guiping City SWI, Guangxi PRC
• At 8 months old (12/07) weight: 16.5 lbs. clothed
• Walking along the furniture, standing, sitting
• She sleeps well
• The nannies describe her as "spoiled" which we understand to mean she is strong willed (She should fit right in!)
• She enjoys music and noise
• She has "bright eyes" and babbles often

We are overjoyed that the Lord has seen fit to allow us to bring such a special little girl into our family! We sit in awe of the many mountains the Lord has moved, special people he has brought into our lives, the hundreds of prayers he has answered and the perfection of his timing and provision to bring about this adoption. We serve a Mighty and Loving God!! Praise Him!