We Are On Our Way!

       I woke up this morning (Sunday) about 4:45 and could not go back to sleep. Those perpetual butterflies were really flying around and I had so many thoughts racing through my mind. I decided to just get up and Nordic Track one last time before we left! By the time I was finished (well before 6am all my guys were awake and ready to GO to China!

       It has been such an adventure already! I was a little worried when 22 minutes out of Ellicott City (in the car on the way to Dulles) Patrick and Christopher began the chorus of, “How long ‘til we get there??” Uhhh, about 16 hours! But once we got to the airport they were thrilled with the shuttle bus ride to the airport from long-term parking and the train ride to our concourse. And of course, just watching all the hustle and bustle in the airport was interesting to them.

        

       We have been incredibly blessed so far by all the people the Lord has put in our path so far: the couple in the shuttle bus with us who adopted their daughter who is now 20, the sweet Chinese lady I met in line to check our bags who wound up sitting right behind me on a packed flight, the guy who gave up his seat so we could have another aisle, and last but not least, the flight attendant who switched two of our seats that were across the aisle and back several rows so that we could all be together! Wow, God! Thank you for being with us even in these little details which can mean so much.

Only Three More Days to China!!

Incredibly, the time to travel is upon us!  It has been a whirlwind week packing, running errands, and finishing up our school year!  We are all getting a little nervous and VERY excited :)  I seem to have developed perpetual butterflies in my stomach which I am hoping will go away once we are actually on our way.  We received our itinerary and it is quite full...lots of sightseeing interspersed with adoption paperwork.  We also know where we are staying now:  The Chang An Grand Hotel in Beijing and the White Swan in Guangzhou.  Both look beautiful, and it has been great to show pictures off the internet to the kids so they have some idea what it will be like.  That has really helped calm some of their fears (Isn't technology amazing??)  The only snafu in anything is that we were scheduled to receive little Catherine Fu Juan the very next day after arriving.  We decided to leave early so we would have a turn around day for the time change and somehow that got confused.  Hopefully it can be worked out.  I have found it very difficult, wanting to have her IMMEDIATELY but knowing that I want our meeting the first time to be as low-stress as possible and we have NO idea how the boys will be the day after a 14 hour plane ride in a very foreign country!!  Thanks for all your prayers and support everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms reading this!  We had a really nice day starting with a wonderful worship service and ending with a nature hike at Patasco park followed by Chinese food for dinner!  Both the beginning and ending of our day reminded me of the wonder and majesty of our great God!  The boys made me some sweet cards and brought me beautiful flowers, but we all missed our little Fu Juan.  Only 3 more weeks until China!!!!  All day today I caught myself saying, "Three weeks from today we will be off to the airport....flying over the ocean....trying to sleep on the plane...."  Our Visas arrived Fedex a few days ago and our passports are looking quite official sporting a full page Chinese Visa complete with a Great Wall picture :)  Still chipping away at our last few weeks of school and trying to prepare for the "big trip"!  I have to say, no one is too motivated at this point to work a whole lot.  Our thoughts are with a little girl in China and our upcoming adventure!  It doesn't help that the weather has turned beautiful as well and some days it feels as if summer is all ready here (although today there was a nip in the air). 

Hiking at Patapsco on Mother's Day

We are so awed by the way God has recently placed specific people in our lives to help us during this amazing time and to share in the blessing:  A friend with a Mom who happens to work for United Airlines (maybe we WILL get that window seat after all!), a Chinese friend who translated our letter to our daughter for us, a neurosurgeon and a pediatric orthopedic surgeon anxious to give an opinion and see our daughter when we return, not to mention the many people who have shared their China experience.  All of these wonderful people have blessed us with their talents and encouragement.  And most of all everyone reading these words who will lift us up to the Lord in prayer!  For all of you we are so grateful and count ourselves truly blessed! 

Catherine Fu Juan is coming home!

Thanks to my amazingly computer-adept son Peter, who is 12, we are now ready to start our blog about our new daughter Catherine Fu Juan who we are bringing home from China in JUNE!!!  We named our blog "Pure grace...From God" because her name means "pure" (Catherine) and "graceful" (Juan) and we truly feel she is our precious gift from God as is His "pure grace", which we receive fresh every day through our saviour Jesus.  He has been so faithful to lead us through this journey of adoption to bring our daughter home!  I am so excited about sharing our adventures with you as we travel to China to bring her home.  And an adventure it will be!  The entire Krol clan is going to hop on a plane and fly 14 hours (not too bad really, I was thinking it might be closer to 20), spend over two weeks in China (a trip to Nonnie's used to seem like a big deal), and then fly home again another 13 hours (coming home I  have just learned there is a tail wind...thanks God!).  If you know us well, you know that we are definitely NOT an adventurous group, so this is WAY out of our (MY) comfort zone, but we are trusting in the Lord to make our "crooked paths straight" and our "rough places smooth"!

Today we received confirmation of our Consulate Appointment (June 14, 9am) in Guangzhou where we will finalize our adoption and get Catherine's Visa to enter the US.  Hurray!!!!  Now we are ready to make our reservations which the wonderful people at the travel agency have already efficiently done.  Looks like we can fly directly from Dulles to Beijing which will be wonderful.  Our other option would be through Newark with a 5 hour layover there which did not appeal at all.  Soooo, we are leaving May 30th, arrive in Beijing on the 31st with a day to recover a little bit and then we receive her on the 2nd of June!  WOW!  Can't believe it is finally going to happen after 2 1/2 years of waiting!

All the kids are so excited about their new sister and the BIG TRIP!  We got next to no school done today (for those of you that don't know I home school our three boys 12, 8, and 6) with all the excitement of deciding on reservations and Mom trying to finish filling out our applications for Visas.  We have a few weeks to finish up our year, though, so I think we'll be fine.  Peter, Patrick, and Christopher are all such great students that I jokingly (and not so jokingly) tell people they are home schooling me :)  And they truly are!  They teach me new things every day, and I am so grateful for the blessing of being able to teach them at home.  As preparations unfold here I will try to keep everyone posted.  Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this journey of a lifetime!  Blessings, Christina