It's been a day, y'all!

This day started out great!

We arrived at the airport early, boarded our plane on time...

and then because of a hydraulic leak we deplaned.

But there was still hope of making our international connection to Beijing if we left within 2 hours.
But we did not.
So we we reticketed to catch a later flight out of Chicago that would put us in Xian Saturday morning.
Not our plan A, but at least we would be there.
And then it seemed possible that we could still depart in time to catch a flight to Hong Kong, spend a night of rest in Hong Kong and fly to province Saturday morning.
We boarded.
We fired up.
We fired down.  Another issue.
We missed our chance for Hong Kong...and rest.
But we finally did take off, even though we wondered if this Triumph plane would make the trip.
I've been too busy to unleash the tears of excitement...and fear...and excitement...and exhaustion ...
until today.  They came.  Right there at the ticket counter.  Big.ugly.  I want my girl in my arms!!!!
Once we finally took off, things turned around again.
We ran through O'Hare in hopes that our HK flight had been delayed.  It had not.
So we ran to customer service.  
And God brought beauty from the ashes! 
We didn't get a quick flight.  But the agent was doing everything in his power to be sure we arrived in Khloie's province well before she was there waiting on us!
We will depart Chicago at 7:55 pm, will spend 12-ish hours in Beijing *sigh* and finally fly to Xian and arrive at 9:45 Saturday morning!
It is likely we will receive Khloie Sunday afternoon!
So here's what God did:
True story~
Agent man told us that he truly believes there is a reason for everything and God is in control (yes!).  He understands this because he was a friend, co-worker, and ticketing agent for one of the flight crews that went down on 9/11.  Since then he has responded to his heart's desire to serve the Lord in other countries as a missionary, in addition to his job with the airline.  He was a breath.of.fresh.air!

I'm trying not to think about the fact that we could now be halfway through our long flight and just focus on the truth that we will soon leave the country, and we will hold Khloie!!!

Thank you for your prayers!
God is sovereign!!!

It's Almost Time...

Taking a look around my house, you can't tell anything special is happening.
It just looks like chaos.
I have lists.  And piles of stuff.  I had it all planned out.  Epic fail!
Good thing I'm not really in control!
Despite my failures, we are leaving for China tonight!!!!!
Thank you for praying for our family and for the Smith family.
So many families have kept our kiddos when we've made this journey before.  They have turned their worlds upside down for 2 to 3 weeks to do a big job.  You are rockstars!!!
We will be blogging while in China so check back often :)  As long as one of my VPNs works, we're good!
We land in Khloie's province Friday night (Friday morning here), have a day of rest and familiarizing ourselves with the area on Saturday, and then the plan is to receive Khloie on Sunday (Saturday night here!)
Meanwhile, I have much to do...

Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

Can you imagine seeing this Krew (and a whole bunch more) coming up your driveway at 7:45 a.m.? Look out, Leona, here we come!

I can't believe our Both Hands project #1 is tomorrow! Have I mentioned how excited we are?

It's gonna be awesome because we serve an awesome God, and He's all over this deal!

Some people will do anything to get out of a little work. Kolton and his wether goat will leave for the youth expo tomorrow morning.

Kuyler also leaves college tomorrow for an evangelism conference.

So we're missing two of our best hands (but don't tell them).

Hopefully, the next time you hear from me we'll have the project video uploaded!

Please pray for my two biggest boys, Leona, our team and the Lifesong/Both Hands ministry.

It's gonna be awesome!

Hold up, Wait a Minute...

Let all wallpaper stripping cease so...
Daddy can remove a piece of cereal from Kambry's naval ...
and two hours later Mommy can extract a barbie shoe from Kaeleb's nostril.
What's the deal? Do these kids conspire, "Hey, the folks are busy; let's see how many objects we can put where they don't belong."
(Is it wrong that I would've taken a picture except Kenzie has the camera today for the Revolve Tour ;-)