Friday, January 18, 2013 - An Attitude of Gratitude

Well, if I didn't feel a little stress already, arriving at the airport was interesting. Having packed concisely in two checked bags, a carry-on and a backpack, I was informed at check-in that my carry-on was overweight, while my checked bags were underweight. The seemingly-annoyed agent at the desk told me I should pack some of the carry-on items into my checked bags, resulting in me having all of my bags open on the floor of the terminal and moving things around. ::sigh::  End result: one nearly-empty carry-on left with the hubby; it was heavy even empty! Traveling lighter is sure to be better, though.

I wanted to post this prior to leaving for China, but as life would have it, I'm writing it from 31,000 feet on Air China Flight 982 as we jet our way up and over North America toward Beijing.

I have a quick connection there to my flight to Harbin, where the prayers of many will be answered in a few short days. In the craziness of prepping for the trip, I've been reflecting on all the wonderful people who blessed us in one way or another to help bring our son Wei home; so many special folks who have touched our hearts deeply:
 - A young woman who, as an extension of her Bat Mitzvah project, collected cans and bottles, cashing them in for nickles to gift to us;

 

- A gentleman, with whom I share god-parenting honors, who heard we were adopting and sent a generous gift to help us;
- Friends who donated beautiful handmade gifts and baskets full of items for us to raffle off;

 

- Others who laughed with us at our comedy night fundraiser and bought raffle tickets;
- Teachers from my daughters' schools who sent us love-gifts or came to our pancake breakfast;

- Our parents, family and friends old and new who sent us checks to build up "The Wei Fund";
- Friends and strangers across the country who bought our fundraiser coupon books;

- Friends who helped with the construction needed to prepare Wei's room;
- Friends new and old who donated items to our garage sale fundraiser, and then came and bought items too;
- A friend who gave us TONS of beautiful clothes, passed down from her own sons;

- Friends and strangers who purchased jewelry from me through my Premier Designs business to support our adoption;
- Other long-time friends who walked our documents through the State Department and the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC and did not charge us for their services as a "baby shower" gift;

The Assistant Stork

- My very special FCCLI a-China & a-Vietnam Mom-friends who have been so incredibly supportive through this long journey in so very many ways;
- My "sister-of-the-heart" who ran home today to get her photo card-reader drive when I couldn't find the cable for my camera;
- My wonderful kids who, though apprehensive at first, have come to embrace their "didi" (little brother) and now look forward to his arrival;

- My incredible, awesome husband who has been my anchor, especially these past few weeks when I started to panic in my perfectionism that everything wasn't done/ready/packed;
- My friends, my family, all those who prayed for us - every word uttered on our behalf to Heaven was felt;

- And most of all to my ever-loving, faithful, awesome Lord God Almighty! He was always in control. He knew the exact moment when our family would be ready for a new member, and that in doing so, two precious little boys who spent the first 5 years of their lives together then were separated by two years, 7000 miles, and billions of people, would be together once again and grow up together. Only God!

If you recognize yourself here - Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! Eric and I are grateful for you, your love and friendship, and we appreciate you and all you have done to help get us here. We are blessed to have you in our lives and are proud have you share in the joy of welcoming Wei home!

Next stop - Beijing and then....HARBIN!!