Travel Approval

My agency, Holt, gave me a call today and said my travel approval is on the way! I am hoping to have a consulate appointment by sometime next week so we can start to plan our trip to Jack. Today the girls and I talked about what date we should leave. Madeline is starting 2nd grade on the 28th and Meigan is starting kindergarten on the 31st. I feel awful about having them miss the start of school (particularly Meigan's milestone of finally starting school) but both girls have happily said they are okay with this, they just want to bring Jack home as soon as possible. I am not sure how I got so lucky to have two such wonderful daughters - God must like me or something! Here is to hoping we get our consulate date quickly and can get on the road (or in this case, in the air).

You are a Marvel

I am still waiting for travel approval to go to China. While I am waiting I have been viewing the blogs of many other families who are going through the process of adoptions. While doing that I came upon a lovely quote from Pablo Casals on one of these. I then went out searching for information on this man and was touched by his dedication to peace and by the amazing talent God had given to him (he was a reknowned Spanish cellist). I found more quotes from him and decided to post one here as it sums up my feelings toward my children and what I would like to impart to them as they grow older.

"Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children."