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Sorry to leave our blog readers out of the loop. We began facebooking and neglected you. Now I have a lot to catch you up on. . .

Here it goes: After sending in our electronic acceptance of a boy named "Will" we received our PA--prior approval February 12th. This means the folks in the special needs section of China adoptions looked us over and approved us. The next step is to get our original paperwork which was in line in the non-special needs section and get us approved. This step was predicted to take 4 -6 months. But that is not what God had in mind--we got our RA--Referal acceptance on 3/5 less than a month after our PA. We were shocked and amazed and thankful! The kids had been praying faithfully that we would be able to get Luke (the name we decide on for him) before his birthday May 2. After we received the RA we were able to post pictures and send him a care package which we did right away. We were able to send him a soft book that had pictures of us all and a toy and a bag to keep them in. One of the American volunteers at the ophanage was able to ask if Luke (Wu Chan An is his Chinese name) had received it and took the time to look at the pictures with him. She reports that he was all smiles and the older kids at the orphanage were very excited for him.

The next step was the travel approval. We received that April 7th and have been making plans for the travel since then. So we leave Spokane on April 27th and get home May 13. We will have Luke with us May 4th--2 days after his 3rd birthday.

We have one week left to prepare for our travel. Many people have been supporting us and caring for us along the way. We are excited to bring Luke home to such a great family both here and Sandpoint and far away.

We hope to be able to get online while we are there and update the blog but internet may be spotty or difficult.

Here is what our itinarary looks like:

Monday, April 27th leave Spokane for San Francisco.
Tuesday, April 28th leave San Francisco for Beijing, arrive at Wednesday, 2:40 pm their time.
The rest of our travel group arrives Friday
Saturday: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden city and Summer Palace
Sunday: church, Great Wall, and Beijing Duck dinner
Monday: travel to get Luke, meet him in the afternoon
Tuesday-Friday: civil affairs and notary appointments, more paperwork, sight-seeing and shopping
Somewhere in here we travel to Guangzhou
Saturday: Luke’s medical exam and sight-seeing
Sunday: fill out consulate forms
Monday: consulate appointments
Tuesday: pick up child’s visa
Wednesday: depart Hong Kong, for San Francisco, arrive Spokane

We are excited and anxious and prayerful about the whole thing and know that God is walking with us every step of the way. We would appreciate your prayers as well. We will keep you updated as much as we can!