Travel...

Yep, pretty excited to get our hands on this little guy...can't believe we will be leaving so soon...I wanted to share our travel schedule before we leave...I am hoping that our "posting" once we arrive will be a family affair and that we can all keep you up to date on Joseph and how we are all doing..thank you for your prayers..

.much love, The Harts...

 

ps...our travel party consists of Mike and myself and our girls, Lynsey and Jillian and Mike's mom aka Nonnie...we are so excited to have her come with us..

 

Also flying with us is our friend Shannan and her son Burke...Shannan is a Lifeline adoptive mom and Lifeline volunteer...she will be meeting over 100 older children that need families....her hope is to come back to the states to advocate for them and to help find them homes...I hope you will partner with us in helping to spread the word about these children...more to come on that....

 

pss...please remember to pray for our biggest Hart kid, James...he is staying home (you know how college is) and we will miss him terribly....he will have lots of "mommies" helping to take care of him while we are gone and has a trip to Texas planned with Papa so I know he will have a good time...we will be so excited to see him when we return...

 

> Flight - Korean Air (KE) - 34 Friday, November 09, 2012
>
> Korean Air Confirmation Number: DSNV24
>
> Depart: 12:30 AM Friday, November 09, 2012 Hartsfield Jackson Intl Arpt (ATL),Terminal F
> Atlanta, GA
> Arrive: 4:30 AM Saturday, November 10, 2012 Incheon Intl Arpt (ICN)
> Seoul
>
> Flight 34 Non-stop
>
> Class of Service: Economy (Q)
> Equipment: Boeing 777-200 Flying Time: 14:00
> Meal Service: Dinner, Breakfast
> In-Flight
> Services: Duty free sales, Non-smoking
> Status Confirmed (HK)
> =======================================================================
>
> Flight - Korean Air (KE) - 865 Saturday, November 10, 2012
>
> Korean Air Confirmation Number: DSNV24
>
> Depart: 9:10 AM Incheon Intl Arpt (ICN)
> Seoul
> Arrive: 12:10 PM Baiyun International Airport (CAN)
> Guangzhou
>
> Flight 865 Non-stop
>
> Class of Service: Economy (Q)
> Equipment: Airbus A330-300 Flying Time: 4:00
> Meal Service: Meal
> In-Flight Services:
> Non-smoking, Duty free sales
> Status Confirmed (HK)
> =======================================================================
>
> Flight - Korean Air (KE) - 866 Saturday, November 24, 2012
>
> Korean Air Confirmation Number: DSNV24
>
> Depart: 1:35 PM Baiyun International Airport (CAN)
> Guangzhou
> Arrive: 5:45 PM Incheon Intl Arpt (ICN)
> Seoul
>
> Flight 866 Non-stop
>
> Class of Service: Economy (Q)
> Equipment: Airbus A330-300 Flying Time: 3:10
> Meal Service: Meal
> In-Flight Services: Non-smoking, Duty
> free sales
> Status Confirmed (HK)
> =======================================================================
>
> Flight - Korean Air (KE) - 33 Saturday, November 24, 2012
>
> Korean Air Confirmation Number: DSNV24
>
> Depart: 7:15 PM Incheon Intl Arpt (ICN)
> Seoul
> Arrive: 7:40 PM Hartsfield Jackson Intl Arpt (ATL), Terminal F
> Atlanta, GA
>
> Flight 33 Non-stop
>
> Class of Service: Economy (Q)
> Equipment: Boeing 777-200 Flying Time: 14:25
> Meal Service: Dinner, Breakfast
> In-Flight Services: Duty free
> sales, Non-smoking
> Status Confirmed (HK

New Pictures....

We have had an added blessing of being able to connect with another adoptive parent that adopted one of Joseph's friends from the orphanage...while they were in China adopting their precious little girl they visited the orphanage and took pictures of the children while they were there...fortunately, they took quite a few of Joseph...she was impressed with the orphanage and the care the children were receiving so we were glad to hear that his environment seemed nurturing...our new friend described Joseph as being sweet and solemn...we will look foward to putting a smile on his face...we hope to meet his "classmates" while we are in China..

His name....

His Chinese name is Yang Lin Qiang....I can handle saying his first two names but as Lily says about Qiang "don't even try it, your tongue won't know how to say it"....she's right!...Jillian always loves to hear about her name...even though she knows the story...her first name is after her aunt and her middle name is a combination of her grandmothers middle names...I think it gives her a sense of connectedness where there are gaps...a sense of belonging and meshing into her family....knowing this it is important to us for our next child's name to also have meaning...we were intentional with Campbell and of course were with LinQiang as well...Lynsey, who has been a integral part of our adoption middle name is Jo...my dad's name is Joe (Joseph), I love the biblical characters of Joseph that have attributes such as integrity, loyalty, forgiveness and being filled with the spirit...because of these thoughts we decided to name him Joseph....his middle name is after his brother in heaven, Campbell (whose name is after Nonnies side of the family)....and his second middle name is Lin...which is part of his Chinese name.....so his full name is Joseph Campbell Lin Hart....like Lynsey said she is Lynsey Jo and he is Joe Lin ;-)....she said it was the least we could do to give him a flip flop name of hers since she will be the only one without a "J" name...James, Jillian, Joseph (and as she says "The Lynz"!)....

our 23rd anniversary.....

it was our anniversary...Mike and I had been married for 23 years...we were about to take my dad to the airport...Mike and my dad were waiting in the car when I had to quickly look up a file for a family on my computer before I left...long story but I accidentally opened the wrong file...and when I did my heart skipped a beat when I saw this little face...he reminded me of Cam and then I looked further...he was from the same orphanage...he had the same special need...and he was waiting...for a family...Mike and I obviously have looked at children's files before...he is always the decision maker because I feel God gives daddies discernment in this area...for me it is a bit too overwhelming and emotional...so I prayed...for Mike to have wisdom and clarity when I told him about this boy...on the way home from the airport I gave him the "bullet points"...he asked me to show him his file when we got home...after reading it he simply said "lets move foward with him, contact Lily (our china facilitator and friend)"....we had been praying ever since Cam died that if God wanted us to adopt He would show us the child...so on our 23rd anniversary after Mexican food and a trip to the airport he showed us this face that melted our hearts.....

Looking back.....

I really don't like to look back at things much...I prefer looking forward...looking back is hard sometimes...kids grow so fast...time flies...things change...but with our adoption I don't want to move forward until I give the past acknowledgement and thought...as I reread the couple of posts I wrote I realize that even though we will not be able to bring Cam into our home, everything in the posts was still written in truth....I still know he is ours...he is just waiting in heaven...I am not sure why we were brought to him before he died but I know it was God's plan and we trust in that in the middle of wondering "why"....I didn't write after Cambpell passed away because Lynsey did...and she wrote much more beautifully and eloquently than I ever could...I love her for writing when I didn't have the words...thank you Lynsey...the last time I went home my dad took me to the church that I grew up in (although the location has changed)...the church has a beautiful memorial garden for children...in this garden he had a memory stone laid for Campbell...this was so touching to see...a little boy, an orphan from the other side of the world, loved by people he never met and remembered by anyone that walks through the garden....he belonged to a family, a church family and to God....he is not forgotten....