Labor Pains of the Heart

1 hour until our lives are changed forever! We are shaking (literally) with excitement, anxiousness and nervousness. Our prayer is this:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Grant us peace as we wait to meet our precious Joy. Be with us and help us to meet her every need. Melt our hearts together as one as only You can. God we thank you for giving us the privilege to bring Joy into our family. May we always honor You and bring her up to know and love you.
In Holy Name of Jesus - Amen

Our Daughter's Province- Nanning

Just imagine being on board a hot, old plane with people who find it necessary to smoke in the bathroom during the flight- that was our flight to Nanning this morning. It took a little over 3 hours to land in what we are calling real china. "Mark we are not in Beijing anymore." Despite the less than ideal flight we couldn't help but cherish each glimpse of our daughter's province. The skies here are very smoggy, but the beauty of the lush mountains and farmlands was still evident as we descended into Nanning. After the modernness and we have to say beauty of Beijing, Nanning sits in contrast. It is a city of 6.5 million and no matter which way you look there are people, lots and lots of people. Already in our short time here, we have noticed differences in the stature and build of the inhabitants. The women are very, very petite which would fit in with Joy's measurements. Speaking of our sweet girl, we were told that we will not be meeting her until 3:30pm tomorrow. Which will be 3:30 am Monday morning for all of you. We were a bit disappointed, but still sooooooooooo excited. I will be busy unpacking and then packing the diaper bag for the big day tomorrow. I took a few pics of our hotel here in Nanning. It is four star here, but would be 2 star in the states.

More Pics

What a Sight to See

We set off early this morning for our tour. First, we made our way among the thousands of people in Tiananmen Square. Our guide said it was unusually crowded due to the recent Chinese holiday. Mark's side began to hurt so we stopped and our friend John prayed for him in the middle of the square. What a moment! To stand with Mao at our backs and call on our Mighty God. I don't think any of use will forget it. We then moved with the flow of the mob of people into the Forbidden City. At one point we had to cross a narrow bridge with at least a thousand people crossing with us. Another memorable moment - getting elbowed and just praying "Lord get us over this bridge." We have decided that the Forbidden City should be named the Unending city as it goes on and on. The architecture is simply magnificent and we had to keep pinching each other and saying "Can you believe we are at the Forbidden City!" We then took our bus to a factory/restaurant for lunch. Yes, the sounds funny, but it is a government run traditional copper vase factory and you take a short tour before you eat. Lunch was wonderful. Kids- How about some fish? We then shopped a little and reboarded the bus for the Great Wall. We climbed to what we deemed the "top". If it weren't for the uneven steps it might be a little less of a workout. It was breathtaking to look out at the beautiful landscape and the sheer feat of building the wall. I can tell you this for use- no soldiers ever ran up that wall!! So after our triumphant of getting to the "top" we headed back down. Now, that was scary!! One misstep and you are rolling down like a bowling ball! We made it safely down and back to the bus. By the time we sat down, Mark was in a lot of pain and pretty much back to square one with his pleurisy. We all told him to take it easy and not climb the wall, but he felt it was a once in a lifetime moment. I agree and now it is 3 am and neither one of us can sleep. His is due to pain and mine is due to an oncoming sinus infection. We have both started our antibiotics and hope to recuperate today. We fly out this morning (Sunday here) for Nanning. We will try to post as soon as we can to let you know of our safe arrival. Please pray for our health and that our first moments with Joy will be peaceful and joyous. We miss you all!

Adventures in Beijing

We woke earlier than we would of liked this morning, and dined in the hotel restaurant for breakfast with our new friends John and Sharon. It was a nice mix of western and Chinese food and Mark and I even got a little adventurous trying some items like congee and steamed buns of some sort. Since it was a free day without a guide (no interpreter), we decided to go to the Hongqiao market with Sharon and John. They have never traveled outside the US so it was a treat to introduce them to haggling. We had a fun time and picked up a few items. We then headed back via taxi and wandered around our hotel area. We found a grocery store nearby and bought more bottled water and stopped at a little exercise area on a side street. How cool!! An outdoor gym ,so of course we had to partake. As you can see Mark is feeling much better and is only feeling the pleurisy pain at night. Dinner was a disaster as we decided to eat at the western restaurant again and order hamburgers. What were we thinking? We each took a couple of bits and decided our diet days were beginning!

Things we are thankful for today:

The smiles on our childrens', faces

Meeting John and Sharon whom we have much in common with!

Mark's adventurous spirit

The beautiful smog free day God gave us

Safe travel in the taxi

Starbucks in China

Laughter

The prayers of our friends and family

2 more days until we meet our daughter!

Grueling

We have arrived safely in Beijing. We are simply exhausted as the experience of crossing over half the world in an airplane is grueling. No matter what position you are in there just isn't enough room or a way to sleep comfortably. We are exactly 12 hours ahead of EST and it is midnight here. We are walking zombies so I will sign off and post more tomorrow. THANK YOU GOD for getting us here safely. (I am a white knuckle flyer and am very happy to report that I did very well on all the flights!!) I took this photo when we were flying over Alaska.

AND WE ARE OFF !!

We can't believe we are actually going to China!!!!!!!!!!!!! Joy we are coming precious girl! We woke to rain this morning in Atlanta, but only had a slight delay in arrival in Detriot. It was difficult for us to say goodbye to the kids, but we know that they are in good hands. Now, we just want to get through the next 20 hours of travel with as little jet lag as possible. So we will sign off until we arrive in Beijing! Our feelings right now- excitement, joy and Praise for our Awesome God.

Plagued by Pleurisy

For those of you who know us well, you know we couldn't start our trip without some sort of excitement. Mark began complaining on Sunday of pain on his right side. It progressively worsened during our drive to Atlanta and after much convincing he went to the ER where he was pampered and then diagnosed with pleurisy. This is actually a good thing, as we initially thought it might be his gall bladder. Thus, we will be heading to China in the morning with Mark and his gimpy lung. Please pray for his healing and for pain relief. They gave him a prescription for a pain killer, but he is reluctant to fill it. I am sure this is the first of several adventures we will be having on this trip!! Oh, just in case you are wondering -I have his permission to post these photos!

On Our Way.....

We just landed in the states and are enjoying the cooler weather. The trip that we have waited for three years to make is now underway. WE ARE GOING TO BRING JOY HOME!! We feel extremely blessed right now. Please continue to pray for our safety. We are beginning the second leg of our trip tomorrow as we travel to Atlanta. We are a little worried about finding gas! Attached are pictures of our first leg when we took to ferry to the airstrip.

The Gift of Adoption

As I lay awake late last night, I thought about all the many seeds God has planted in our lives that has brought us to this moment. Twenty-two year ago, I clearly remember peeking around the corner at a carrot red, wiggly bundle of a baby- my sister Lisa. She joined our family through the love of adoption when I was ten and I can't remember life without her. Our hearts were forever joined the moment I first held her. She has never been my "adopted sister", she is my sister in the truest sense. As the years have passed Mark and I have been blessed to have 4 children who happen to match us biologically. We have been asked the question many times in the past few years, "Why adopt when you can have your own?". My answer is that adoption is not God's plan B. Adoption was and is part of God's plan for our family and for each of us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are God's children and his heirs by adoption. (Romans 8; 12-17) We are joyfully welcomed into God's family. In just a few days, we will open our arms to a beautiful little girl we have only imagined and adored through pictures. But you see, God knew all along she was our daughter and tied our hearts strings together long ago. We are humbled that God has chosen us to parent each of our children. He has brought each into the world with a different story, and even brought our dear Samuel home to rest with Him. We will give HIM ALL THE GLORY for giving us a precious, multicultural family and for allowing me to experience the wonderful gift of adoption not once in my life, but twice!

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, `Give them up!' and to the south, `Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-- - Isaiah 43: 5-6