Waiting can be so difficult but we are staying busy which makes it easier.  Our longing to hold our daughter in our arms telling her how precious she is and how much we love her causes our anticipation for our travel approval to grow stronger as each day passes.   It helps to pass the time of waiting for our Travel Approval by planning activities to keep our time occupied.  Knowing that our Travel Approval will probably not arrive until January I can now plan to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas here at home focusing on making our celebration fun for Cody and Grace while maintaining a great hope for the precious gift that is awaiting us in China.  In addition to busy daily schedules we have passed some of the time with a trip to Washington, D.C. during the last week of October.  It was such a fun and exhausting trip.  Our son Cody loved the constant stimulation of all of the sites and kept us on the run.  Our hotel was centrally located so we could walk to all of the sites however, Cody and Grace loved taking the Metro (subway) to and from the airport.  Since returning from D.C. we have remained busy with school related activities as well as preparing for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.  We are frequent flyers at the Disney theme parks thanks to our season passes.  I am amazed that after 3 years our children still love going.  Mike and I enjoyed visiting Epcot without the children and loved having a recent date night at the Nine Dragons Resturant in the China Exhibit.  It was a wonderful evening enjoying the food and people of our new daughters country.  My sister and mom treated me to a special birthday celebration with an evening at The Melting Pot where we savored much needed girl time.  We are also filling our time with Cody's Invention Project for school which is a Little Sister Alarm System for his room.  Of course my dad (aka "Bee") is the "supervisor" for the project.  Cody also recently received a skateboard and is learning to stay upright on the board.  He loves having light saber battles with his friend Trace and playing with his cousin Camden.    Grace keeps us busy by reminding us to have fun and enjoy each other.  She continues to love visits to the park and trying to keep up with her brother and his friends.  She too enjoys playing with her cousin Camden  She also loves shopping and enjoys helping pick out things for her new baby sister.  As we finish out our year I am sure we will enjoy a few more visits to Disney during the holidays as the parks are even more magical at Christmas.  There will also be many school activities to fill our time between now and travel time not to mention the incredible packing task and other preparations necessary to travel.  Our vaccinations will be complete next week, visa's arrived about a 3 weeks ago and I have my packing list all typed out.  However, I have no idea how I am going to manage to get everything into 4 suitcases and remain under the weight limit.  I am also looking forward to getting our home ready for our daughter's arrival.  She and Grace will be sharing a room and of course we will have to toddler proof everything.   Wow, as I type I realize just how much there is to be done.   God has filled our hearts with such a great anticipation for what He has in store for us and as we wait we continually stand in awe of His goodness and faithfulness in that He would allow us to experience this miracle of receiving our Chinese daughter into our family.  As  I grow weary from the waiting I cling to the words of Isaiah each day "...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary and they will walk and not be faint."  and my strength is restored.