Government approvals!!

Hooray!!! We heard overnight that we are officially approved to do the trainings at both Desheng SWI and Nanning SWI. This is just amazing news! We will do two days of trainings at each orphanage, going to Desheng first. We are hoping to do a party in the baby rooms too, but didn't get official permission for that. We'll just keep hoping that it can happen.
Our itinerary is looking tight. We fly into Nanning on the 11th at 9:00pm and will make the 4 hour trip to Hechi City (outside of Desheng) to the hotel. The first training at Desheng is the next morning :)
We're coordinating with Matthew to have a big party at a local Desheng park for our girls with GGEF (www.ggef.org) We have almost 70 girls in the Desheng area who are sponsored to go to school. Without GGEF, it might not be possible for the girls in this very rural area to stay in school until graduation. Matthew has done an amazing job with this incredible program. We are so excited to be able to get all of the girls together to play!

Getting Ready

We are in major preparation, planning, and packing mode right now. Only 17 days until we leave, and so much to do! The suitcases are out and already filled. I've got lists in every room of the house to help me remember things I need to finish or things I need to make sure I pack. The girls are getting really excited now. Katelyn has started the countdown of days of school left before we go (she's in single digits now). I'm not quite sure Lianna gets what is happening but she is happy to put things into the suitcases, and then take them out again.
Our friends in China have been working on our plans for when we arrive in Guangxi. Luckily, the area has not been affected by the earthquake in Sichuan, but everyone is devastated by the tremendous loss and suffering. I wish that we would have time to go help with the relief effort there, but it seems that our time in China is packed with work already.