Life As We Know It

i've been thinking and we've been talking about the fact that life as we know it will change in the very near future. As many of you know, i like to sleep late occasionally. Okay as often as i can. Well, from what i understand, my daughter likes to rise early (6:00 am). This is going to be fun. i have grown accustomed to having a son (Jackson) at home that get's up in the morning by himself, drives where he wants to go and pretty much takes care of himself. My oldest son (Chad) is married to Allison, who takes care of him now. From a distance it might appear that we've nearly got our family raised.

i was talking to a friend the other day who told me that his kid's are nearly grown and his dogs are getting old. He said that when the kid's leave home and the dogs die, he's done. He's going to enjoy his time with no responsibility. Well, we chose a different path. We might be a little crazy, but we can't wait to get our baby home. Please keep us in your prayers. We're starting all over!

Mom & Dad's Night Out

Rozanne and i went out to eat tonight at Ying Ming. You know, kind of a prep for the trip to China and also an opportunity to talk to Alice Lo. She always has neat things to share with us about China. Well, Alice taught us how to say i love you in Mandarin, a statement that i anticipate i will say a thousand times before we get home from China with An Zhen. Alice is such a sweet lady.

Also, Rozanne found an awesome message in her fortune cookie. As we Jesus freaks tend to do, we attributed this as a message from God. It said:

Wow, Pretty cool. We believe that An Zhen is one of God's treasures that he's sharing with us.

A day for buying gifts

Today Rozanne bought presents for the Orphanage workers and the people who are taking care of our baby. Some might think, why would you do that? i think i originally thought that myself. But just a few months ago we were sent a sample letter that was to be edited by us and forwarded to the people taking care of our baby girl. In this letter we had the opportunity to express how much we appreciated what these people were doing for our precious child. i began to understand that they were loving and caring for our little one. We asked them to give her hug's and kisses for us. To tell her that we love her. At some point i was overwhelmed by the thought that these are very important people. So with much gratitude in our hearts we will present them with presents when we meet them.

14 days until departure

Two weeks until take off. Rozanne and I are excited and a little nervous about getting last minute things taken care of. We received our Visas today, so that's a major item out of the way. Lot's of other things to be done in the coming days. We'll keep everyone posted as departure day nears and the Journey begins.

A Blessing

This is Bobby Capps leading the family in prayer for the blessed arrival of An Zhen and our safe travels to China.

Welcome To Our Journey

We are Clifton and Rozanne...the soon to be parents of An Zhen! We are scheduled to travel to China on March 10th to meet our awesome gift from God. This blog is intended for family and friends who wish to join us on the the journey to meet our daughter in China and the stories in between! Please check in frequently for a daily journal of our travels. You can also register for email updates with each new post.