"T" minus 640 hours

Ni Hao, Y'all!

Folks keep asking if the girls are excited.  All I can say is a hearty "YES!".  Kailee has now expanded her tracker to be not only the number of days until we leave, but also the hours.  She ran in the house and said something like "Mom, it's only 640 hours until we leave for China!".  LOL

Lainie is more concerned with who is sleeping where in China.  We have not "assigned" rooms to the girls (we asked for two rooms, preferably adjoining).  Jad will take one room and I will take the other.  We figured the girls would decide where to sleep when we get there.  I think Lainie wants to call "dibs" on sleeping with Mei, but she knows that Mei may have other ideas.  We keep encouraging the girls to be flexible, knowing we all need to adjust to Mei's needs.  Jad thinks little Meilynn will attach to Jaci since she is the oldest Chinese looking person in the family.  Jaci sits a bit taller and beams when Jad mentions this.  Today, Jad said it may end up as one big slumber party in a single room.  We'll see...

Have I mentioned what an great church family we have?  They are donating toys and crafts for the children who remain in Mei's orphanage and foster care.  A sweet lady sent out a flyer to all the Sunday School classes to get the word out.  Our plan is to load up one suitcase and hand it off to the orphanage director.  Can't you just see the children's smiles as he unzips that bag and reveals the wonderful items inside?  :)  If we get more than we can carry, we'll donate it toward one of our favorite charities, Operation Christmas Child.  This organization collects shoe boxes full of toys, crafts, hygiene items, etc. and delivers them to underprivileged children around the world at Christmas time.  As they hand out the boxes, they also share the story of Christ.  It is such an awesome, awesome ministry.  One day, I would love to go to another country and see the faces as we deliver the boxes of hope (along with the hope of Christ) to these children.  If you want to learn more about this incredible charity, go to www.samaritanspurse.org/occ/