July 2, 2010 It is hard to believe that four and half years of complete adoption consumption is drawing to a close today as I finish the last little details for our trip to China. Jon Milledge, my friend Caryn, and I are leaving this afternoon for a very long journey. I think I am figured that from my front door to my hotel in Xi'an, China, will be a total of 30 hours. OUCH! People have asked me the last few days if I'm excited and if I'm nervous. Honestly, I am both, but for some reason I'm feeling neither. I think this whole thing has been so long coming, I've talked about it forever and there were so many months that we didn't think it would ever happen....so it is still so surreal to me that I'm actually feeling a little numb today. Don't get me wrong, the reality that I can now talk about how long it will be until I can hold my daughter in hours instead of days, months, or even years is enough to get me a little giddy! And the thought of being on an airplane for over 14 hours in one stretch is enough to make me nervous. But I'm so ready! I told someone the other day that this is almost like planning a wedding. You plan, read books, work out all the details, purchase everything you need for the special day, and then you are done several weeks before the wedding, with nothing left to do until the rehearsal. So you are left to just sit and think about it and have lots of people ask you questions about it. You get to a point where you think that the one date that you have dreamed about your whole life will never get there! You have all the robot answers to everyone's questions, and they almost sound good to you after a while. And then you wake up one morning, and it is the day of the rehearsal and you honestly can't believe it is really here and that all of your work, tears and excitement are all about to come full circle! This is the way I feel today. I've waited for this day for so long. I've planned for it, read the books, painted a pink room, done my share of paperwork, been fingerprinted more times than I can count, prayed and cried, and now it is here and very overwhelming for me to think about. I am very excited but I still think I'm somewhat guarded with my feelings. I feel like someone is going to pinch me at any moment and tell the last 2 months have all been a dream. Maybe once I'm on the plane today, it will all become real. Please pray for us over the next 15 days. This is the trip of a lifetime but it's certainly not going to be an easy one. Here are few specific requests we have, if you feel compelled to lift them up...we would really appreciate it! ~our travel safety and our health while in China...can't imagine being sick in a foreign country. ~going through customs...don't know why I'm nervous about this but I am ~Jon Milledge is extremely nervous that his bags are going to get lost...pray they don't! ~Ruthie's transition. May her grieving be short and sweet, and may she feel safe and lots of love from us immediately ~Ruthie's health...that she would be completely fine and have no issues with her heart. ~Milledge and Anderson here at home. Pray for their wait to be fun and filled with lots of bonding with each other. I can't imagine how hard it will be for both of them not being with us in China. :( ~That I may relax so that I can enjoy the trip and take it all in so that I can tell Ruthie all about it one day. ~for peace for Ruthie's birth parents. Even though they probably don't know where she is or that she is being adopted this week...May God some how let them have a peace knowing that she is going to be taken care of and loved very, very much! ~and last but certainly not least....pray for a 30 hour trip home with a toddler!!!! Yikes! Thanks so much for all of the support we have felt from you, our family and friends, over the last four years. We never would've made it this far without you. Please follow along over the next two weeks as our family of four expands to a Party of Five!!! Angie   Our bags are packed....not quite ready to close yet!     15 gifts for Anderson...one for everyday we are gone!         This page hosted by