The dates are set!

Woo-hoo! We finally have dates for travel set to pick up our new little boys in China.  Finally, after mounds of paperwork and immigration stuff, the day has been chosen.  We will fly to China on February 1st arriving there the evening of the 2nd in China (which is the morning of the 2nd here in the U.S.).  Long flight with likely lots of jet lag! We spend 2 days in Beijing touring the sites- Great Wall, Forbidden City (sounds tantalizing!), Tiannamen Square, and the Hutong tour.  We were not able to do this with Tai so this shall be a big treat for all of us.Then, Grace and I fly to Hohhot to hug and squeeze on Samuel. Marcus takes a train to Taiyuan, Shanxi province to pick up Timothy.  So, Gotcha Day is officially February 6th. We spend 5 1/2 days in the respective provinces with our new little guys then will fly to Guangzhou where we can rejoin with one another for the next week.  This is where we have our U.S. Consulate appt on the 15th of February to make it OFFICIAL!  Samuel and Timothy will become spices like the rest of us. Samuel's full name will be Samuel Longdui Parsley and Timothy's full name is Timothy Huanglu Parsley. We kept both of their Chinese first and middle names (but combined) and made them their middle names. Samuel's name means "right dragon".  Given this is the Year of the Dragon for Chinese New Year,  it does seem quite appropriate for him.  The post on New Day's facebook wall today showed an adorable face picture of Samuel.  Someone posted a comment saying, "all he needs is family to hold him.....".  We are on our way!
Timothy's name means "yellow jade" which means he will be a jewel to us I'm sure! Timothy adores Thomas the Tank and Samuel loves Cars (any kind of car).  Therefore, we have ordered them mini backpacks of Thomas and Lightning McQueen to give them when we get to China filled with little toys and coloring books. Can't wait!
The other kids are all excited about the upcoming arrival. Eli and Tai will have 2 new roommates so their room will be like a college dorm with 4 boys.  They will never fall asleep at night with the constant chatter!
I am attaching a few new pictures of all of our kids for you guys to see!  Feel free to follow our journey.
On another note, Eli and Grace have started piano lessons and are really enjoying it.  They have long piano fingers so they should be great!  Grace made the varsity middle school soccer team as a "starter" in her first year at the middle school.  She is having a wonderful time getting to know her teammates.  They won their first game.  Haley has narrowed her college choices down to her top 3 and will decide likely in April where she is going.  Luke and Tai are keeping busy as well. 
Love,
Kristin and Marcus


The Parsley girls!




Eli thinking of what he can do next!




Luke dreaming of fishing and girls!




Tai dreaming of fudge and cookies.




Grace dreaming of soccer and swimming!



Haley dreaming of college next year!

The Parsley Boys!

Samuel and his cute self!



Timothy dreaming of a warmer Florida!