Well, the day has arrived for us to travel to bring Noah home. We leave tomorrow morning, Lord willing. We are supposed to leave Kansas City at 9:00 Christmas morning and head north to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's nerve wracking since in addition to the last minute packing, I am a little concerned about the weather, but know God will work everything out to His purpose.
We are meeting with my (Tom's) family tonight to celebrate Christmas and hope to try to get at least a little sleep tonight. I'm filled with so many thoughts and feelings ranging from little things like the trip itself to how well Noah will adjust to a new family, culture and life. We are so blessed to be allowed this opportunity and look forward to every chance we have to learn about the Taiwan culture, language, etc.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and can't wait to watch as God works with all of the orphaned children in the world to bring them home to their forever families.
God Bless!
Tom
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Last minute preparations!
Although we have about a month before travel, I'm calling everything we're trying to do last minute preparations. There is so much to do before we travel beyond just booking flights and hotel.
For starters, Christmas shopping takes time from other things we would like to do to prepare for travel. Thankfully our families are understanding of this and don't mind just getting gift cards to their favorite store.
We also have so many things we want to get done around the house. We finally have Noah's room ready, but that's only paint and furniture so far. We still would like to decorate it further, but may wait until we know what he likes. We have decided to get a lot done now so when we return there won't be distractions from the constant family time we would like to enjoy.
Travel preparation is getting underway, but we're finding that flights are fairly expensive around Christmas and New Year's. With the money we've already spent, though, it's not too bad.
I'll try to update this as often as possible while we're in Taiwan. Right now we plan to leave Christmas Day, pick Noah up at Cathwel 12/28, AIT 12/30 and get documents 12/31. We will be staying and enjoying the country until January 7th, so that we can begin building memories as a family in Noah's birth country.
We wish everyone the best and hope for speedy news of bringing your little ones home.
-Tom
For starters, Christmas shopping takes time from other things we would like to do to prepare for travel. Thankfully our families are understanding of this and don't mind just getting gift cards to their favorite store.
We also have so many things we want to get done around the house. We finally have Noah's room ready, but that's only paint and furniture so far. We still would like to decorate it further, but may wait until we know what he likes. We have decided to get a lot done now so when we return there won't be distractions from the constant family time we would like to enjoy.
Travel preparation is getting underway, but we're finding that flights are fairly expensive around Christmas and New Year's. With the money we've already spent, though, it's not too bad.
I'll try to update this as often as possible while we're in Taiwan. Right now we plan to leave Christmas Day, pick Noah up at Cathwel 12/28, AIT 12/30 and get documents 12/31. We will be staying and enjoying the country until January 7th, so that we can begin building memories as a family in Noah's birth country.
We wish everyone the best and hope for speedy news of bringing your little ones home.
-Tom
Monday, November 16, 2009
Great News!!!
We got our call yesterday before church.
We will be traveling December 26th. Incredibly, today is my (Tom's) birthday and we learned yesterday of our travel date. Then to find that it's right after Christmas!. It's great to know we'll have Noah in our arms December 28th, before the year is over. We will also celebrate New Year's in Taipei. Now to finish our list of things we wanted to accomplish before we bring him home. I have a big honey-do list.
We continually pray for safe travel for ourselves and all the other families who are waiting to hear that call of a referral or travel date.
We will be traveling December 26th. Incredibly, today is my (Tom's) birthday and we learned yesterday of our travel date. Then to find that it's right after Christmas!. It's great to know we'll have Noah in our arms December 28th, before the year is over. We will also celebrate New Year's in Taipei. Now to finish our list of things we wanted to accomplish before we bring him home. I have a big honey-do list.
We continually pray for safe travel for ourselves and all the other families who are waiting to hear that call of a referral or travel date.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Our monthly update
September 23, 2009
As I mentioned in my last posting, we sent Noah a package for his second birthday. Among the items in the package were some photos of us, his new family.
Last week we received our monthly update which included four new photos and the one-page update on how he is doing. It brought tears to our eyes when we read that he asks to see the photos daily and calls us mama, papa and gege (brother in Mandrin). We are counting the days until we bring him home. He is already such a part of our family and we haven't even met him yet. God must know the things we still need to get done to be completely ready to bring him home.
We have been keeping ourselves busy getting a lot of work done both inside and outside our yard. The biggest task has been installing a gate at teh back of our yard giving us access to the fire pit we built back by the creek and making sure we won't have any extra things to do once we bring him home, leaving our time to be devoted to him. It's funny because my Rasha is usually the one who gets anxious about things. I have found myself getting anxious when it comes to our wait; sometimes more so then her. It's great we have each other and Gabriel to retain our sanity.
As I mentioned in my last posting, we sent Noah a package for his second birthday. Among the items in the package were some photos of us, his new family.
Last week we received our monthly update which included four new photos and the one-page update on how he is doing. It brought tears to our eyes when we read that he asks to see the photos daily and calls us mama, papa and gege (brother in Mandrin). We are counting the days until we bring him home. He is already such a part of our family and we haven't even met him yet. God must know the things we still need to get done to be completely ready to bring him home.
We have been keeping ourselves busy getting a lot of work done both inside and outside our yard. The biggest task has been installing a gate at teh back of our yard giving us access to the fire pit we built back by the creek and making sure we won't have any extra things to do once we bring him home, leaving our time to be devoted to him. It's funny because my Rasha is usually the one who gets anxious about things. I have found myself getting anxious when it comes to our wait; sometimes more so then her. It's great we have each other and Gabriel to retain our sanity.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Noah is 2-years-old today!
September 3, 2009
We were hoping to have Noah home by today, his second birthday, but no word yet. We haven't even met him in person, but he's our son. he's part of our family and even his big brother can't wait to meet him and bring him home.
We know that God is in control of everything. No matter how hard it is to let it rest in his hands, we must. No matter how I think things should be, God has his divine plan for me, my wife and the rest of my family.
Although we aren't spending his birthday with him, we did send a package to Cathwel with some gifts for him. He should have received it by now. I hope he likes his presents. When we bring him home, we're going to celebrate with him with a cake and ice cream.
We were hoping to have Noah home by today, his second birthday, but no word yet. We haven't even met him in person, but he's our son. he's part of our family and even his big brother can't wait to meet him and bring him home.
We know that God is in control of everything. No matter how hard it is to let it rest in his hands, we must. No matter how I think things should be, God has his divine plan for me, my wife and the rest of my family.
Although we aren't spending his birthday with him, we did send a package to Cathwel with some gifts for him. He should have received it by now. I hope he likes his presents. When we bring him home, we're going to celebrate with him with a cake and ice cream.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
We received new pictures yesterday!
We hadn't heard anything for a few weeks from Bethany, but I received a call Tuesday. Hoping it was to learn of our travel date, but it wasn't. We did, however, get some updated pictures of Noah. They were taken in June and he is growing so fast without us.
Next Thursday is his 2nd birthday. We're mailing a package of presents to him tonight after work. I think the best part of getting his presents was our current son's involvement. Gabriel wanted to pick out everything for Noah and did choose most of the things with our help.
They also sent a one-page update on how he's doing. It was so good to see how his progression as a young man is going.
Tom
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Hooray!
July 23, 2009
I just got back to my office after dropping our country fee off to Bethany. I must admit, it was a little painful handing over the cashier's check for all of that money. The reward will be worth it though.
Now we just have to play the waiting game to hear of our travel date. We should be traveling sometime between now and Christmas!
Tom
I just got back to my office after dropping our country fee off to Bethany. I must admit, it was a little painful handing over the cashier's check for all of that money. The reward will be worth it though.
Now we just have to play the waiting game to hear of our travel date. We should be traveling sometime between now and Christmas!
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)