Hello Friends and Family

We leave a week from today!!!!!! This has been a veryyyy long almost 17 months! We will travel from KC to Chicago, then Chicago to Beijing. I'm going to try my very best not to whine or complain while we travel, as I am not a fan of traveling. However, this is one trip I am excited to take!!! My mom will be here to take care of our kids and I have zero fears about that. She will do a wonderful job and I know the kids love to spend time with their Meme. I think our dog, Molly Ruby Dixie, will probably miss me more than my kids do! Ha! I can't believe that we will hold Jack in just 12 days! Oh man, I can't even imagine how that will feel. I can't wait to see him wearing all of the fun outfits that we have for him, or playing with the toys that he has had waiting for him for so long. I pray that somehow God has been preparing Jack's heart and mind for us. I know it sounds weird, but we want him to cry and be sad when we take him from the orphanage. That means that he will bond with us the way he bonded at the orphanage. It will break my heart though for him to be sad and confused and scared. I can't even imagine how he will feel. I've warned Chris that if Jack seems to like him better than me he has to back off! I just won't have it!! :) I know this week will fly by. I hate that we leave on our kids first day back to school, but it can't be avoided. They will be fine. I'm sorry that this is so scattered, but this is how my brain is working these days. Thank you for all the prayers and well-wishes. We love and appreciate all of you sooooo much. We will be blogging and posting pictures on here from China, so STAY TUNED!!! Please pray for safe, uneventful travel; for our health as we are away; for our first time meeting jack; and for our kids back home while we are gone. Have a great day, Leslie