2 weeks and counting!
I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written an update about Olivia -- it has not been for lack of excitement! We have unfortunately been dealing with a lot of stuff at school and at home with Jordan, and it’s taken all of our attention. Thankfully things have mostly resolved, and we are headed in the right direction, but the last 6 weeks have definitely been a struggle, and we needed to take a step back from a few things in order to meet the needs of our son. Thank you for your understanding!
Now with that said, we leave 2 weeks from today to go get our girl!!!! Eeek!
We can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are to finally meet our daughter, and I truthfully can’t believe the time is here. Since we’ve only been able to get updates on her every 3 months, it’s been much harder on our emotions than we thought. BUT our last update showed that she’s made great progress in her growth and motor skills, and she is walking! We were so excited when we got the sweet video of her, and Paul and I were both in tears watching her walk and babble. It was something we have been nervous about, knowing her medical condition, but it was such a joy and relief when we saw how good she was doing!
We already have such a divine peace about her becoming our third child and acclimating into our family, and it has been such a beautiful progression of God’s grace on our lives. The boys are definitely coming around to the idea. Sebastian just told me yesterday, “I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited!“ which totally melted my heart. Jordan on the other hand, is much more wary, but definitely talking about her a lot more and verbalizing some affection for her, so we’ll take it!
We know it will be a huge transition home for all of us, but we are trusting God to be in the details, and do what we can’t. It’s definitely a challenge to think about all the variables that are in front of us, especially coming home right at Christmas time; however we are excited to begin this new season of our lives, and welcome a new little one into the fold of a family – and it’s even better that it’s ours <3
Our time in China will be quite the dichotomy from our adoption in Uganda. We will have a translator and guide with us at all times, we will be staying in nicer hotels, we will have everything planned out and our itinerary taken care of. All of our major meetings are already set, and we have a return ticket home! Needless to say this is drastically different than our one-way ticket to Uganda with no idea of what we would have to encounter or how long we'd be there.
We are flying out on Tuesday, November 28, and making a pit stop in Cairo, Egypt. We have some amazing friends (holla Priebs!) who live there, and we have wanted to visit for years. Our plan is to take a few days to recharge our batteries, soak up some time with our people, and decompress from the last few months. We will then fly to Beijing on Sunday, December 3, and will get custody of Olivia on Monday morning, December 4! She will then be with us the rest of our time, as we travel from North China to South China, to complete all the required paperwork. We will then fly home on Thursday evening, December 14, to arrive back in the states on Friday morning, December 15. All in all it will be a whirlwind of a trip, but we’re excited to have some quality time with Olivia before we bring her home to the craziness that are her brothers! :)
We have been so blessed by all of you, and humbled at your support, heart, generosity, kindness and love for our family. This has been a very challenging year for us on many levels, but we are learning how to trust God with all the things we can’t control, and ask for lots of help in the meantime!
Adoption is the hardest and best thing we have ever done, and we’d do it again in a heartbeat for the lives of these precious children.
Thank you for partnering with us. We covet your prayers as we embark to bring Olivia home. I will be updating the blog regularly while we are there, so feel free to follow along on our journey!
We love you all!
Bettina and Paul
We know it will be a huge transition home for all of us, but we are trusting God to be in the details, and do what we can’t. It’s definitely a challenge to think about all the variables that are in front of us, especially coming home right at Christmas time; however we are excited to begin this new season of our lives, and welcome a new little one into the fold of a family – and it’s even better that it’s ours <3
Our time in China will be quite the dichotomy from our adoption in Uganda. We will have a translator and guide with us at all times, we will be staying in nicer hotels, we will have everything planned out and our itinerary taken care of. All of our major meetings are already set, and we have a return ticket home! Needless to say this is drastically different than our one-way ticket to Uganda with no idea of what we would have to encounter or how long we'd be there.
We are flying out on Tuesday, November 28, and making a pit stop in Cairo, Egypt. We have some amazing friends (holla Priebs!) who live there, and we have wanted to visit for years. Our plan is to take a few days to recharge our batteries, soak up some time with our people, and decompress from the last few months. We will then fly to Beijing on Sunday, December 3, and will get custody of Olivia on Monday morning, December 4! She will then be with us the rest of our time, as we travel from North China to South China, to complete all the required paperwork. We will then fly home on Thursday evening, December 14, to arrive back in the states on Friday morning, December 15. All in all it will be a whirlwind of a trip, but we’re excited to have some quality time with Olivia before we bring her home to the craziness that are her brothers! :)
We have been so blessed by all of you, and humbled at your support, heart, generosity, kindness and love for our family. This has been a very challenging year for us on many levels, but we are learning how to trust God with all the things we can’t control, and ask for lots of help in the meantime!
Adoption is the hardest and best thing we have ever done, and we’d do it again in a heartbeat for the lives of these precious children.
Thank you for partnering with us. We covet your prayers as we embark to bring Olivia home. I will be updating the blog regularly while we are there, so feel free to follow along on our journey!
We love you all!
Bettina and Paul