changes

I wanted to post one last photo from our time in Guizhou. On the last night, we bought a cake and celebrated all of the birthdays that we had missed with our special girls. Here's Grace on that night.
And here's Grace on her adoption day (November 2) this year. What do you think? Has she adjusted to her family and new life?!

Thank you, God, for changing the lives of your precious children. Thank you for bringing orphans into families. Thank you for adopting us into your family!! You transform us, oh Lord, and we are so grateful!

lovin' it!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE China!!

I know that for some people, the actual trip to China to adopt their beloved son or daughter is, at least in part, one of the many hurdles that they need to jump over to form their forever family. I understand this, and I in no way think negatively about other people's experience here. But, I just have to say...I LOVE China. I love the people, I love the food, I love the history and the culture. I just love it! So, even though we had dirty carpeting in our hotel, and the hallways smelled like smoke, and even though the bathrooms en route to our touristy destinations were not exactly what we were used to, I can honestly say that I LOVED our time in Guizhou.

Of course, the best thing was seeing this girl's precious smile!

And experiencing her snuggly warmth.

But, we also really enjoyed visiting this Miao village. And like I said before...we had a WONDERFUL travel group.

We loved walking around the Miao village as a family of seven. Oh, how grateful I am that our whole family could travel to China together.
You just see some really neat things in China. Where else would you find a water buffalo walking down the road? Okay, okay, I do know that China is not the only place for water buffalos, but we don't exactly see them regularly in Colorado.

And we loved meeting Grace's nannies. What a privilege it was to meet the ladies who took care of Grace and the other beautiful children at her CWI. It was a hard day. Grace was very clingy and emotional, but we were so glad to meet these women and experience a little more of Grace's life before we met her.

The kids loved the carnival rides at the local park. They cost about a quarter (hugs...free!).

How many places that you know of boast camel rides?

Ummm...are those my children feeding those free-roaming monkeys (who we had been told, do actually bite!)?! Okay, maybe there are some things in China that I can live without.

After all of those busy days, we loved watching Grace curl up in her bed and sleep peacefully...we finally had our little girl!!

Next stop: Guangzhou

Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane!!

Gotcha!! (one year later...)

November 2, 2008. We had been waiting for this day for a long time. We met up with Morgan in the Beijing airport (oh, how grateful I am for Morgan--he was a wonderful guide and a great friend!), and he snapped this picture. In just a few hours, we would finally meet Grace!!

We also got to meet the other members of our group in the Beijing airport. We had the most incredible group of families on this trip! It was great to finally meet Sheila. I had talked to her on the phone and we couldn't wait to get our girls! Here she is with her daughter, Emma, husband, Jim, and Jim's mother.

Here are James and Dawn. I just talked to Dawn today. What a wonderful family they have!

And here are Vicki, Richard and Alyssa. Alyssa prayed for a little sister from China for a long time. Faith was certainly an answer to those prayers.
Our flight to Guizhou was delayed, but we did make it there that night. We checked into our hotel, and very shortly after that, it was time to meet the girls!!!

We went downstairs, and walked into the meeting room. This was the first moment that we saw our little princess. Isn't she just precious?!!

Here we are, just a few minutes later. Do you notice the Hello Kitty doll on the table above? Well, Grace was so terrified that she actually started hitting me with the doll. She is not a hitting sort of girl, and now when she sees these pictures, we both laugh and laugh, remembering how she hit me with her doll. lol!

I have to say, the other kids look a little traumatized, as well. But, honestly, even though Grace was crying hard, I was just so very happy and thrilled that this little girl was finally ours. I was sad for her fear, but knew that she would come around.

And she did! Here she is a couple of hours later, playing cars with the boys in our hotel room.

I finally got her into pajamas (it was really late, by this time!), and coaxed her into eating some fruit snacks.

Lily, helping Grace with the magna doodle.

And the first real smile of the night!! Beautiful!

Grace snuggled up with her kitty that night and fell quickly asleep. She also snuggled up to me (I slept with her), and truly, she hasn't stopped snuggling ever since! It's a rare moment that she isn't in my arms, or somewhere close by!

This picture was taken last month. Look at Grace's smile! This past year has been such a blessing. We love Grace's laugh, her smile, and her sweet spirit. We are grateful to our precious Father, for giving us this delightful daughter/mei mei. We are so grateful to be a family!

We interrupt this trip down memory lane for...

a bear and some saints...

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Yesterday, the girls and I had a girl's night out. We went and got a few things that Lily and Yana needed at the used children's clothing store (I got some great deals!!), and then went out to eat (we had some free meal coupons--since we are still doing our simple meals, this fit right in).

Then we went to The Buddy Factory to get Grace's birthday bear (compliments of Aunt Meredith--thanks Aunt Meredith!!). Grace was so excited. She picked out her bear and immediately decided on an outfit.

Grace got a little nervous when the bear was being filled with fluff.

She picked out a little star and made a wish (for gum every day!!).

And here's the finished bear!! Grace couldn't decide on a name...

But then, this morning, she decided that since she was being Queen Esther for our church's Saint's Day party, that her bear could also be Esther.


Here are all the saints: Yana is Rose of Lima, Jadon is Hudson Taylor, Adam is Paul, Lily is Gladys Aylward, and Grace (of course) is Queen Esther.

We had a great time at the party. Happy Saint's Day!

Shepherd's Field

We had such an incredible time at Shepherds Field (http://www.chinaorphans.org/). It was like a three day retreat for our family, before meeting Grace. The guest house was beautiful, and there were many little places where we could spend time in prayer (alone, and as a family). The presence of God was very evident there, and though we went to serve, we ended up doing more receiving than giving.

Upon arriving on the first night, we heard some barking. The girls were very concerned that Stevie (the dog) was too cold! As it turned out, David ended up building a doghouse for Stevie, since she was the official Shepherd's Field mascot. What a submissive puppy! The girls carried her around everywhere (except inside the children's houses).

These next four pictures are of four little ones who completely stole my heart. The nannies called the first little guy "ArDou" (a nickname, I think). What a special boy! He was all smiles (except, I guess, in this picture!).

Tiffany has a serious inoperable heart issue. She was so gentle and so bright. She liked to repeat everything that we said to her.

I know that Jacob-Jai is still at Shepherd's Field. What a smile! And sweet, sweet, sweet.

Kyle was another little sweetie. Such a gentle boy. I'm pretty sure that he is also still at Shepherd's Field (if any of you know anything more, I'd love to hear about any of these little ones).

We were so blessed by our time at Shepherd's Field. What a privilege to see more of the Father's heart for these precious children.

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Coming up soon: Gotcha!

Tienamen Square, winter hats, lost glasses and rickshaws...

On our first day in Beijing, we were off and running (gotta beat that jet lag!). We weren't quite prepared (although we were warned) for the cold weather in Beijing. We bought Lily and Adam (who did not have hoods on their sweatshirts) winter hats. Our guide was horrified that we spent $10 on these hats. We were just happy that our kids had warm heads!

We had a great time at Tienamen Square. The history and architecture were fascinating.

Look at these two cuties! Lily was so excited. She could hardly believe that we were finally in her China!


Notice how in this picture, I am now wearing David's jacket! Awww...what a guy!

Adam had lost his glasses on the airplane, so he had a bit of a headache. He and I headed back to the hotel, and the rest of the crew went for a rickshaw ride. They had a great time!

In the evening, David, the kids and I made our way out to LangFang to visit PHF (Shepherd's Field). Oma and Opa stayed in Beijing to do some touring.

Up next (tomorrow): some cute pictures of a bunch of adorable kiddos. If I could have taken a few of them home in my suitcase, I definitely would have done that!