Well, this is it, my friends...

It all comes down to this. Our parents will be here in one hour and 40 minutes. That will bring us to Indiana time: 4:00 a.m. Yep, you read that right. 1. we're leaving at 4:00 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. flight, and 2. We're up at 2:21 a.m. typing this. Right now, Tony is on a last minute run to Walmart! UUGH. It turns out that you should NEVER wait until midnight, the night before you're leaving on the trip of a lifetime, to check the new memory card you bought for your camera. It turned out one of our luggage locks didn't work either! QUALITY!

So we're as packed as we're going to be, (thanks Jennifer!) and organized as much as a teacher and department head think is necessary. (Which is pretty organized in my opinion) We have our moolah separated into snack sized baggies and labeled (compliments of Tony) and tucked safely in the proper money belts (thanks Brian and Nancy). We have our carry-ons sufficiently stuffed to the point that we WILL be prepared to carry two 22 pound girls by the time we get to China as long as they straddle our backs and cling around our necks at all times. All that's left to do is put the computer in one carry-on, wait on Tony to get back, take showers, force contacts back in swollen puffy eyes (nope, I wasn't crying at all tonight, yeah right!), lug luggage back UP the stairs, change sweeper bag (we don't Beth to GAG at the overstuffed old one), and um, chill. Right. Relax. Sure. What do you think...think we can get that done in the next hour and thirty minutes? SURE!

If you've been following along, we will NOT be posting to this blog from China. You can click the following link and hop over to our new site for our journey. It is: www.myadoptionwebsite.com/laneyandabby

Check out the other stories on the website too...they're emotional, uplifting, and addicting! Thanks to Joe and Jen who host this website. It makes it easy for families to share their joy across thousands of miles! Be sure to sign the guestbook on our site...you'll be the ONE connection we'll have to home!

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, and supported this blog along the way! We'll return to this blog once we've been home a while. We also will post updates on the other website too.

Thanks also for being WONDERFUL friends and family. We have been blessed a thousand times over. You guys are the best...great, here come the tears. Ok, so I'll end with this:

Price of one piece of luggage we purchased, but ditched at the last minute: $40.00
Price of one purchased, returned, and newly purchased SD memory card for camera: $25.00
Price of trendy, but comfy, travel outfit: $30.00

Meeting our twin daughters and becoming parents: Priceless

We love you!

God is GOOD, all the time, and all the time, God is GOOD!

Fortune cookies are GOOD!

We had a wonderful baby shower a few weeks ago (actually 4 wonderful showers) and at our family/church family one, we had fortune cookies. I shouldn't admit this, but I ate THREE cookies and I just had to share what the fortunes said. I nearly died.

Cookie #1--"You are going to have a new love affair" I thought, ok, weird.

Cookie #2--"You are going to have a new love affair" This time I grinned. Because, yes, I am...with TWO little girls...funny that I got TWO of these messages.

Cookie #3--"A thrilling time is in your immediate future" At this point I just laughed out loud and thought, yep, I need to post this.

Wild huh?

Date night

Goodness...we only have 3 full days left until we head out to China...holy cow..and the next few days are going to be nuts! Here's the run down...

Sunday (we meet the girls one week from today!)---Rett gets nails done (Thanks Renee), Tony has church meeting, and Jennifer (Queen packer) helps us get things organized and packed neatly!

Monday (one week from this day is "Adoption Day" in China's eyes)---Rett has her last day of work and meets with the substitute teacher that will be filling in for her while she's gone. Tony is off due to Veteran's Day, but is going to go in and finish up some tasks. He has a haircut scheduled for 12. That evening, we finish packing everything else and finish filling our carry-ons.

Tuesday--At 10:00 we have to get our second round of Hep. B shots. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute) We also have to to go to our credit union to get the remaining money for the trip. (Thanks Jason!) Then we snuggle and enjoy our last night at home as a couple!

Wednesday morning, we have to be at the airport at 7:00 am. We'll leave our home as a couple, and return as a family. WOW. God is amazing!

As for this post...tonight we had an official "date night". We had a nice dinner, did some light shopping, and ended the evening with Starbucks! It was fun though, just cruising together and chatting up a storm. After all the stress, cleaning, and paperwork we've experienced lately, it was a nice way to spend our last child-free weekend.

Stay tuned for our switch over to the new travel website.

We're coming baby girls!

Pregnancy Cravings

So as the time draws near for us to leave, we have been noticing the signs of labor. As we talked about in earlier posts, I have been an emotional wreck! I am giddy one minute, and bawling the next!

Well, another clue that we're in the final stages of the "pregnancy" occurred last night...except they weren't MY labor pains, they were TONY'S! He was experiencing pregnancy cravings! At about 7:00 last night, he said he would continue to clean the bathrooms and such if I would go to the grocery and pick up the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. He wanted them from scratch. It was too cute for me to resist. I ran and picked the items up and came back and baked away. About 9:30 as the last batch came out of the oven, we sat down and enjoyed a couple of warm cookies and cold milk. It was fun.

So the end (or beginning) is definitely drawing near. The contractions are getting stronger as the years melt into months, into weeks, into days away from meeting the girls...our daughters.

We just have one question tonight. Where's that epidural everyone raves about?

On a side note, we were connected with someone who is from Taiwan and who was willing to sit down and chat with us. He gave us some cultural tips and some pronunciation help with the girls' names and locations. He also helped give us a few key phrases we might need to use, like "It's bedtime" and "Please don't cry" and "Are you hungry?". It was really nice for him to take the time to sit down with us and he seemed just as excited to talk with us. He even said once we got home he'd be happy to help in whatever way he could. Maybe if the girls are getting frustrated with us because we cannot understand something they're trying to convey, he can translate for us! Either way, we really appreciate his time. He helped settle our nerves and got us excited all over again!

OK, so quick count down...
5 full days until we leave
2 more days of work for us
10 days until we meet the girls


God is good...all the time...

!!!!! I171H !!!!!

YES, we received our I171H. If you have been following along, we have been stressing over a CIS fingerpring appointment and the document (I171H) that follows. This is needed to complete the adoption in China.

Thankfully, with the help of FTIA (Thanks Maury) and our Congressman's Office (Vote for Mike Pence!!) we had our fingerprint appointment expedited. We were fingerprinted last Friday and we recieved the I171H today!!!

For those of you following our blog in the adoption realm, you probably realize how significant this is... This is the last piece of the puzzle needed to travel!

In addition, today we received the Travel Approval documents with the earliest photos of our girls on these documents. Aren't they cute. Can you tell who is who?

Thanks for stopping by!!