Many Days, One Post

This is our first family photo as a family of four!

Our little emporer

CCAI travel group babies and toddlers

Henan babies! We are closest to these families as we have been with them since Beijing!

CCAI travel group 1560, minus two parents that came down with either food poisoning or a bug.

My little empressess and emporers

Since our wonderful grandparent help went back to the states, finding time to post has been very difficult. If I sit down to the computer, that leaves Jeremiah with all four kids to manage, and since John Asher is still a little, ok A LOT high maintenance, he pretty much takes one person to manage him. So it is 9:00 PM and the boys are asleep and the girls are on their pallets on the floor and I have taken a Tylenol PM so this may be a little scattered.

Yesterday we took the famous Red Couch pictures at the White Swan. For those of you unfamiliar with China adoptions, it is very common (ok, expected and anticipated) to take pictures of your adopted kids on the red couch in traditional Chinese clothing. And the big kids get in on it too. Here are some of our pictures from the day.

We went to the zoo today and it did Madi Beth a world of good! She got outside, in nature with leaves and sticks and dirt (something you don't always find in a city of concrete) and she got to run and see animals she loved! Thank you Lord for this wonderful day for her. I've only heard her say she wanted to go home twice today. Of course the other two kids loved it too, especially Eli since he is big time into animals like tigers, giraffes, lions, elephants and bears - and we saw a Panda Bear!!

This afternoon we took our oath at the US consulate office. There we took the final step in obtaining John Asher's visa and affirming that everything we told the US is true to the best of our knowledge. Lots of congratulations were offered and we all felt a sigh of relief knowing we are just one step closer to coming home. Tomorrow we get his passport back with his visa and we can finally leave!

Tomorrow is our final day on Shaiman Island here in Guangzhou. The island is in the middle of this big city, cut off from the city by the Pearl River. It is a beautiful little island, even with all the construction going on. Very European looking, a nice break from concrete and glass. I plan on doing a little shopping, a lot of packing and spending time with some of the most wonderful people in our travel group. We are really going to miss seeing these guys, although they are as ready as us to get home. Fortunately, two of the families live in Colorado and since we are there every summer, we have a pretty good chance of seeing them again!

Here are some brief prayer requests for us. Please pray that tomorrow is productive, that the kids are manageable (almost three weeks together and you can imagine how much they are getting on each others nerves) and that we all feel better. Eli threw up tonight (I'm thinking it was the chocolate soy milk Jeremiah fed him), I feel pretty terrible due to lack of sleep and Madilyn, of course, homesick. John Asher is feeling much better and even though he is still fussy and high maintenance, it is a lot better than it was a week ago. Continue to pray for Jeremiah, he has been a tremendous support, incredible father and remained a constant even through some very tough days. However, he isn't cut out for motherhood and John Asher has attached to him like rubber cement and even on a good day it can get to him. Hopefully when we get home John Asher will see that mommy really does hold the key to the good stuff! :-) Gracie has been amazing on this trip. She is such a trooper and just goes with the flow. She has really enjoyed the friend, Sydney, she has made. I think that has helped her a bunch! And if you have a little extra time, you can begin praying for our plane trips home. Saturday's flight (your Friday night) will be from Guangzhou to Beijing and my experience on in country flights here in China has been far less than impressive. Sunday morning (your Saturday night) we leave for Toyoko and then Hotlanta! While my friends are worshipping the Lord on Sunday morning, we should be flying somewhere over the US, landing in Atlanta around 2:15.

We love you all and thank you so much for the wonderful comments, emails, words of encouragment and love and most of all for the prayers. You have gotten us through some exciting, difficult and God ordained days - some of the most amazing days of our lives.