Camping

Spent the weekend camping at a local county park. This allows Tom and I to be able to put this huge change in our lives into perspective. It is impossible for Sidney to not be in our thoughts a million times per day, and this is a way for us to be able to talk without the interruption of cell phones, and email.

At 7, camping is a huge adventure for Eli, even to tiny little Jakeway and a drive up the road to Backbone State Park. After hiking, took a walk to two natural springs. I was unaware that Jiffy still makes the campfire popcorn. Tom mastered this over the camp stove without burning. My hero!

Got the new Nikon on Friday and am looking foward to downloading some pictures and messing around with it.

Trying Out My Blog

My goal is to write a post to this blog each day we are gone or at least a few times throughout our trip and post a few photos.

We officially turned in our paperwork yesterday to the China Center of Adoptive Affairs. It was very bizarre to see a papertrail that could easily wrap around our house come down to one document with a circular seal and star in the middle. For those who have followed us over the last three years.

The next step in our process is to wait for documents giving us Travel Approval. We are also turning in paperwork for our Visa and gathering all the paperwork we completed in the past.

While we wait and continue to hurry up with whatever paperwork needs completing on any paticular day and WAIT for the next step, we continue to keep our daughter in our prayers. She is currently residing in the orphanage in Chenzhou. Chenzhou is located in the southern part of China. From what we can interpret from a video from a kind person who recently visited, her living environment is the best it can be given the situation. We have read that though the area is poor which is to be expected, the nannies (orphanage workes) are known for being caring and keeping a clean enviornment with what little resources are available.