Our First Aiden Post

This is the first post on a blog we really don't know how to operate. We do have a purpose, though. We want friends and family to be able to follow us as we set out on our final leg of our journey to adopt. We began this adventure just about exactly a year ago. At the very end of July 2009, we decided to attend a webinar sponsored by Holt International. When we got done, we discussed and prayed and knew international adoption was our calling! Now, a year later, we are inching ever closer to our destination: our son, Feng Ren Jie - Aiden Joseph - and China. At the end of January, we received our referral and Aiden's pictures. We had our son!

The process has been nothing short of arduous and grueling, but with the support of our friends, family, colleagues, and community (not to mention the amazing staff at Holt), we are nearing the culmination of all the hard work and not a few tears. We had the amazing paperchase, the physicals, the readying of the home, and so much more, but hopefully, within a few short months, we will be boarding a plane that will wing us half a world away to a land where we can complete our family. We will be going to Beijing, the Shaanxi Province, and Guangzhou. Today started what we would like to think of as the final phase. We received our letter from the National Visa Center stating our information had been forwarded to China. Once they ok us, we get our Article 5, apply for our visas, and get our travel approval we'll be off to get our boy! We welcome you to follow us as we conclude our journey and become a family!