Pretty much ready

Well, the suitcases are all packed and weighed, the tickets are purchased, and the hotels reserved. Andy and Amanda have been suitably briefed on how to operate all of the appliances, and the neighbors have been briefed about our travel plans. We still have to pick up a couple of prescriptions, and I have some 'mopping up' to do at work. We also have to do one final cleaning of the house, but other than that, I think we're about ready to go. The biggest concern now -- and one you can pray about for us -- is the money. We have all of the cash and traveler's checks we need, and we've technically arranged everything to pay our bils while we're gone, but this is pretty darn expensive. If we were broke, we'd be much further ahead than we are now. We've pretty much leveraged all of the equity in our home to do this thing, and unless we have a fantastic year at Element, we'll be strapped for the forseeable future. At times (last night at 1:30am, for instance) it's been stressful, but we take comfort in the fact that we're absolutely certain that we're doing what God wants us to do. If Chien or Pak was stuck in another country, or needed a surgery or had some sort of dire need, we'd sell the cars, the house and incur unlimited expenses to make sure they were taken care of. It's no different with Xiu Dan. We're confident that God will take care of the money stuff, but we're not exactly sure how, or over what period of time. All that matters is that in a couple of weeks, our family will once again be complete. We can't wait to meet Xiu Dan, and we can't to bring her home to all of you.