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Thankful Thursday

First for NADIA!!! She is the sweetest girl ever and I just can’t imagine any other baby being a part of our family.

    o For Mexican food in Texas! We took Nadia on her first visit to Pappasitos today, unfortunately for her she had to eat baby food and not queso.
    o For all the people who have just showered the baby with love since we have been home.
    o For aunt Tahni driving up from Houston to visit for a couple of days and for being cool that we were jet lagged zombies. HA!
    o For the KIDS HOPE kids who were able to attend the Cats baseball game with us last night.
    o For Jacob T. for organizing all the tickets for the church members and KIDS HOPE kids to attend.
    o For Nadia sleeping through the night last night. WOO HOO!!
    o For ice cream. (yes they had it in China, but I was avoiding dairy)
    o For fresh salad.
    o For fresh veggies.
    o For clean water so you don’t need bottled water to brush your teeth. And so you don’t have to take a shower with your eyes and mouth clamped shut.
    o For our own soft, comfy bed to sleep in.
    o For baby babble and laughter, it’s just about the cutest sound on the planet.

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We’re Home! (Thankful Thursday AM)

First because it was asked on another post, baby Madison who was sick got much better by the end of our trip and the family is great! I think that they head home from China today. God is good!

It’s 2:30 am and Nadia was wide awake until about 5 minutes ago, which is good since Mike and I are feeling like zombies. Thanks to my mom for coming to visit us at the hotel and dropping us at the airport and for the presents for Nadia. Thanks to Roger and Paula for picking us up after midnight since our plane was delayed 3 times. Thanks to Joy and Janis for the fresh food and new toys for Nadia. I had a salad just a few minutes ago. YUM! Thanks to all the people that left welcome home messages on my cell phone, that was really sweet.

I will post more tomorrow and hope that we can get on American time pretty quick. It’s a relief to be home and around familiar things. As Mike was driving us home from the airport I was saying, “Yeah for the QT, yeah for SuperTarget, yeah for ……” You get the idea. I am just dying for a burger and mashed potatoes (not together).

And I just weighed myself becuase my clothes had become so baggy and I lost 10 pounds in China! WOO HOO!! (At least all that upset stomach got me something….hee hee) I plan on macking down on plenty of food in the next week to make up for that.

Love you guys, Louanne

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Thankful Thursday + 1

This is one day late because it’s been a crazy week of preparing for the trip.

o For this AWESOME outfit from Tiffany, Miyon and Marla at World Vision. I just started crying when I saw it. It’s the perfect gift for me because of how I adore my volunteer work for WV.

o For the willing volunteers from our church who will travel to Reynosa, Mexico on Saturday morning to spend a week with the Isaiah 55 ministries. They will be assisting the missionaries with the construction of the deaf school and part of the group will be leading VBS for the children down there. Mike and I desperately wanted to go on this trip becuase of the time we spent with the missionarys in January, but we will be praying for them.

o For all the people in the church who are not going, but who gave generously at the Silent Auction and raffle and garage sale to make this trip a possibility.

o For all the people who sponsored World Vision children from China who are sending gifts with us for their sponsored children. One sponsor got a shirt from the Stockyards and one from the Cowgirl Musuem. It’s so fun to think that these kids will get a Texas shirt from their Texas sponsors.

o For everything working out with booking our plane tickets, hotel, tours and more. It’s a relieft that we can just get on the plane and everything is done and paid for.

o For the girls at the Hurst Guaranty bank who have seen me about 12 times in the last week looking for “just a few more clean 100’s.”

o For all the support of the been there done that parents who have offered all sorts of entertaining and helpful advise about the trip.

o For the fact that we leave in just 4 days!!!!

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Thankful Thursday

Today was a VERY Thankful Thursday…

o Our Travel Approval came today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we wait for our consulate appointment to be confirmed, and then hit the road in about two weeks.
o We have almost everything we need to travel.
o For all the love we are feeling from family and friends. There was a lot of screaming on phones and emails today 🙂
o For the funny story to tell Nadia about how we found out. (see below)

Honestly that’s all I have got for tonight as today turned into a whirlwind and excitement almost like referral day.

**Here is the story. We were in line at CVS to pick up a prescription, and for me to do an extra buck deal (wink wink to those who would think that is funny). We just got new phones that allow you to check your email (not the iPhone) and so Mike decided to check his while we waited. I was bored and looking over his arm when I saw, “Congratulations! TA’s……” I started screaming and saying, “They are here…..” Then I became incoherent and giddy. Mike laughed and calmly opened the email and read it to me. I was freaking out! The other people in line wanted to know what was going on, I was tearing up and showing Nadia’s photo all around. A lady in line wanted to know all the details and even asked us to call her to keep her informed. The cashier also laughed and jokingly asked me if I wanted to broadcast over the PA. Getting the Travel Approval today was such a shocker for us…we just didn’t expect it even though some other agencies had gotten theirs on Monday. We hadn’t heard a peep from Great Wall and so didn’t see it coming. It was really cute.