The day is almost here!

Wow, I can't believe we only have 3 more days before we leave!! There are still a few more things on the to do list besides spending some time with our boys, who'll be anxiously waiting at home with my parents for our return! Trying to pack more things today. Hoping it will be under the weight limit of not only the international flights, but also the flights within China. Packing for Rachel has been fun but really strange! So much pink in one bag is a beautiful sight!! A doll? Who would think I'd ever buy a doll for my own home?

We've been told that Facebook and Blogger is blocked a lot of times in China, so if I'm unable to post myself, I'll be emailing pictures and updates to my sister-in-law, so she can update here for us. Thank you Mariane!

The emotions of this all have not allowed me to sleep very well. I don't think I'll settle until we get back. We covet your continued prayers in this adventure. We hope Rachel will feel loved immediately and that she won't be terrified to be with us during our 1st few days together.

We've had many asking about giving her a welcome party when we return. We do want to have one soon, but we have been advised to wait a few weeks before we do anything with a big crowd. As you can imagine, she will take time to get used to her new family, and we don't want to overwhelm her with too many people at once! We cannot wait to share her with all of you! We hope you understand this and try to put yourself in her shoes, being in a completely different environment with new faces, strange language, different foods, new smells, etc., and possibly having no clue what's going on without understanding English. So we thank you for understanding and look forward to a big welcome when we feel she is ready. Please feel free to ask any questions. Adoption is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately not always an easy thing for some people to talk about. She is our daughter just as much as our boys are our sons. She's just joining our family in a different way. We have no doubts that God hand picked her for us and He chose us as her new forever family! (Not sure why us, but He did!) We thank all of you for your support, prayers, love and friendship!! So many blessings to be thankful for. This may be my last post before our trip, so please follow us on our journey!

Love,

Fabio and Andrea to some (Denise to others!) :-)