all our bags are packed..

We're ready to go.. we will spend the night in New Orleans and get up about 4:30 to catch our 6:30 flight. so this will probably be it for this blog-then we will pick up in China with youbelong.net/lilyreed.

Happy Birthday Lily-we're coming!

It has been exactly one year ago today that we received the call about Lily and saw her beautiful face for the first time. That was her 2cd birthday. Now today our girl turns 3. I wish we could have made it to celebrate with her but we will just have a later birthday party. The good news is that we will be on our way to China in less than 24 hours! We will arrive in Beijing on July 30 and tour for a couple of days. Our gotcha day will be August 3 in Zhengzhou. I cannot wait. I am excited, nervous, happy, and several other emotions all combined. Please pray that we will have a safe trip and that Lily will have as smooth a transition as possible into life with her new family. Also-that my girls at home will be ok while I am gone and have a smooth transaction starting school next week!
I don't think blogger will work in China so please follow our journey at youbelong.net/lilyreed
This latest picture was taken earlier this month by a lady who was picking up her daughter.

Big and little girls

I was lucky enough to have all my girls at the house last night which was a rare occasion these days. The little girls are always happy to have the big girls around.

Family fun

Casey and Cohen
Cohen and Grandma




Alyssa right after accidentally spraying Grandma with the hose!



Sweet Caroline

We had a nice Sunday afternoon with Casey, Cohen, Alyssa, and Grandma. They came over for a visit. The girls had a good time playing and Cohen was right in the middle of it all. He is the CUTEST , sweetest, funniest little boy. He just kind of goes with the flow of things and doesn't miss a beat. Caroline even came over and stayed for awhile. She even helped the girls clean and organize their playroom. It was good to have the big and little kids here.

TA!!!!

We received TA (travel approval) today! I came home early sick from work today. I missed the phone call from Shari at CCAI and then I could not get her on the phone,, Glen came home later and said that she called him (of course he is the one that always gets the exciting news!). So, from what I can gather from him, we will leave July 29 possibly. I should know for sure Monday. They are working on a consulate date of August 12. So it looks like the girls will be starting school before I get home. That should be a challenge for Glen who will keep them in their nightgowns all day if it is up to him;)

field trip to NASA

Fourth of July in Point Clear, AL

We had a wonderful, relaxing Fourth of July weekend at the Grand Hotel. It is so beautiful there-like going back in time. It is such a nice family oriented place to be. Generations of families meet there to share memories of their stays at the hotel. There are plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. There are also plenty of comfortable giant hammocks hanging in the trees of century old oaks if you want to do nothing at all. We forget how nice it is there and will make a point of going more since it is only about a two hour drive from our house.
We had fun-packed days while we were there. We started each day with the most delicious Southern breakfast buffets you could ever have. We were at the pool for hours each day. The girls went down the big slide at the pool over and over and over. There were fireworks at night. Saturday the girls enjoyed a climbing wall, a petting zoo, dunking booth and snowballs and cotton candy. There was also a bon-fire at night and children's dance.