So, we are one day away from leaving and I am feeling nervous, anxious, excited, ready, and thanks to all of you, loved.  I am in awe of all the support and phone calls we have received.  It makes me teary just thinking about it.  I can't post a photo of her until I take it with my own camera due to the way the file came in when we received it.  So.... I will make it available when we see her!!!

Our Itinerary is this:

Sep 17th lv Medford 10:45 Arrive Beijing 6pm.  We gain a day somewhere in there so we arrive on the 18th. 

Sept. 18-20 Beijing stuff.  Orientation, Great Wall, eating weird stuff.  

Sept. 20 Fly to Nanning  11:35  (Her province)

Sept. 21 GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!  We meet our daughter for the first time

Sept. 22-25  Adoption finalization, passport stuff, shopping, hiking, playing, getting to know our daughter

Sept.25 Fly to Guangzhou  7:45 pm

Sept. 26-30 Medical check, visa appt, oath-taking ceremony, shopping, park playing, swimming, eating weird food, ready to come home.  

Sept. 30 fly back to Beijing 8:00 am 

Oct. 1 Fly home with our new family in tow!!!  Arrive 7 pm in Medford exhausted and excited!!

As you can see, we will be busy.  We will have quite a few free days so we will see things like a local village, and there is this mountain thing we can do (don't think I know the details, we're just happy we all will have underwear to wear).   Of course I will be posting the tiny details when we actually do them.  

Why Adoption?

Many people ask us why we are adopting, and I figure that is a great place to start this blog. It is a combination of a hundred tiny things in your heart, but the one for sure reason is simply Jesus. We figure if he can accept our crazy heart into his, we can accept another child into ours. Our journey started 2 years ago when our youngest was 1. We knew that we wanted more children, but I (Heidi) hated the thought of being pregnant again, and frankly Craig wasn't to keen on the idea either. So, the Lord said how about adopting? He was mostly speaking to my heart because Craig was already sold on the idea. So, on a rainy night in Oct. of 2007, our journey to Ziann started. After to much paper work, to many fees, and to much waiting time, our trip is about to happen to meet our little girl. I would gladly do it all over again, just to get to this part. I never thought I could love someone so much that I hadn't concieved. People tell us how lucky she is, but I say we're the lucky ones. Our trip starts on Sept. 17th, just 3 days from now, and I can't wait. First to Beijing, then to Nanning to meet her, then to Guangzhou to out process.

Ziann is described in her paper work as determined, quiet, and loving. She is 22 months and has a heart murmur. We don't know how big or small it is, but we don't care. We knew she was supposed to be in our family. She was dropped off outside of the orphanage when she was approximately 5 months. Her estimated birhtdate is Oct 29, 2007. Her Chinese name is Lin Zi An. We decided that her name was so beautiful that we kept it and changed it to Ziann. Her full name is Ziann Ruth Simpson. She will join Brothers Aiden 5, and Quinton 3. They are both so excited to meet her.