Article 5 issued

Hi Everyone,
We haven't posted for a few weeks, but I'm happy to announce that the US Consulate in Guangzhou has issued our Article 5. It has been forwarded to the Chinese authorities and now we wait for official travel approval.

We spoke to Julia this past Tuesday night through Skype and she was in such a good mood! While we were talking with her Adahlyn and Drew came running into the room so I said hello to both of them. The intern helping Julia said it was time for snack, but Julia wanted to sing a song before she left. She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". She sings us a least one or two songs every week!

We are so blessed that she is at New Day! They are teaching her Kindergarten concepts and she told us all the days of the week in English. She has also been working on phonics! Each week she sounds out an English letter and gives us examples of words.

I don't know how long it will be before we travel, but I know all of this is in God's time. Before long, Julia will be sounding out those words in her Kindergarten class at Norton Elementary.

Lord, thank you for blessing us so richly!

One Step Closer

We received really good news today! Our I-800 form was pre-approved by the USCIS and was forwarded to the Consulate in Guangzhou. Our agency thinks that we may be traveling in four to six weeks based on timelines they've experienced lately. We are so excited and I feel a definite need to get my act together. Those of you that have traveled already especially during cold weather, I would love to hear your travel suggestions. Please keep us in your prayers during this hectic time! God will get us through this next phase especially with you guys lifting us up. Also, please pray that Julia will have an open heart to this new journey. Thank you to everyone for all your support and help! Blessings, Michelle

Julia Update

We spoke to Julia the other night through Skype and she was so excited. It was the Autumn Moon Festival plus National Day. She was looking forward to eating mooncake and told us that her older foster sister would be dancing in Tiananmen Square.

She sang to us in Chinese and we asked her if she could count to 10 for us in Chinese. Mark and I wanted to hear her say the numbers in her language. She looked at us like she was offended and told the translator that she could count to 100 not just to 10! She then counted to 100 to show us. We know that she is very smart and we didn't mean to insult her. I love her spirit!

I love this photograph of her too; I wonder what's going on in her mind. I can only imagine!

We're still in the wait mode for TA and with everything being closed this next week, don't expect any news for a while.