3 HOURS LEFT!!!!!!!!!

Hello everybody! Thank you for flying Cogan Air, please remember to keep your personal belongings with you at all times. That is, if they are packed correctly...

We hope you fly again soon!

And by the way, we only have three hours left...

4 hours left!!

Only 4 hours!!!!! (Cheering in background)

We are getting down to the wire!!!!

5 hours left!!

This is it guys, the final 5 HOURS!!

In just 5 hours, we will have our "representatives" safely on their way to get Kassi!!!

Stay tuned for the next update, but don't be worried if it comes a little late, we will try to get some shut-eye later on!

Countdown with the K's!!

Welcome one and all to the first session of what will now be called the "Countdown with the K's"!

We have established this as a way for everyone to be a part of the last few hours before we leave.

The countdown right now is 12 hours!!!!! Only 12 hours before we leave to get our new sister/daughter!!!!!!

So stay tuned, we'll bring you live hourly updates on how much longer until we leave!

Right now we are just finishing the last minute touches on packing.

Come back in an hour for our newest update!!

Update and info

Hi everyone, sorry about the delay in posting, we have been going through last minute preparations/upheaval and Daddy, Kenley and Kolya are traveling for a conference that was planned pre-Kassi and really badly timed!

On Wednesday, we got an email giving us TA!  (So nice to travel with travel approval!!)

So that means that we are on step 15!!

We also got an unofficial update from a friend, including two beautiful pictures!!

We had sent a care package several weeks ago but it was lost in the Chinese Customs department.  It was found yesterday opened and crushed but nothing was missing and everything was sound.

Knowing that we had told her in our letter that there was a package coming for her, we knew that she would be sad, so you can imagine our surprise and joy when we found out that they had miraculously found it!!  

Now she will get all of our pictures, some new clothes, and our travel itinerary!!

(The letter that she is holding was written by a friend and it has our names and our travel plans.)

Hang on, sweet girl! We are almost there!!!

Only 15 days 'till her birthday, 

that makes 7 days till the first wave of Cogans leave for China!!

And 13 'till the second wave comes!!

and only  9  until we finally meet her!

Final Update

We have our final update on Kassi before travel...including two beautiful pictures!

It isn't very detailed (just measurements), but it's okay! 

Because....

We meet this sweet girl in just....

Days! Begin the countdown! 

We are in a whirlwind of packing, organizing, and finishing up all sorts of things around here. It is getting so close! 

If you haven't taken a look at the 5/5/5 program, please do! We only have two days left and we are only halfway to our goal!! 

A Big Day!

Introducing....Kai Nicholas Cogan, age 10:

And....Kade Jackson Cogan, age 4:

Today was a huge day for Kai and Kade! They were re-aged, re-named and re-adopted - all in one day!!

Before today, their official records stated Kai as turning 13 and Kade turning 8 this July.  

We had felt even in the first weeks that this wasn't right, and our suspicions were just confirmed when we came home. We consulted doctors and dentists, had bone scans done, and Mama and Daddy used their own (very accurate) judgement to try and find a good estimate. 

The consensus, agreed to wholeheartedly by the boys, was that the best ages would be 10-turning-11 and 4-turning-5. Today, the process is complete and the boys now have official birthdays of July 2nd (Kade) and July 5th (Kai)!! 

It gives them so much security to be able to answer the question "how old are you?" 

Another issue that came up after coming home with them was names. We had kept their Chinese names as middle names, because we didn't know what they would want to be called. However, once we were settled in a bit, they both decided that they wanted very, very much to never hear those names again! 

Kai would get so sad at Shriner's each visit, because they printed his legal name (including his Chinese middle name) on his bracelet. 

After much thought, the names that were chosen are: 

Kai Nicholas (after Daddy!) Cogan 

and 

Kade Jackson (after Mama's grandfather, our Papa AJ!) Cogan!! 

This makes them so very happy! 

Re-adoption is just a formality. It helps with being able to get a birth certificate, and multiple other things that they will encounter later in life. 

All in all, it was a good and eventful afternoon! Thank you to the amazing helpers who worked through the legal red tape with us!!! 

Karwen also needs to have her re-adoption and re-naming completed, but we have decided to do that after Kassi comes home - not too long now!

Just 16 days until we're on a plane!