Gotcha Day = Amazing Day!!!

We got her! What an amazing day! I couldn't have asked for anything better! We woke up early this morning to catch a plane to Xi'an. We left sunny Beijing and traveled to cold, rainy Xi'an. And by cold...I mean COLD! We arrived at our hotel long enough to change into warm, dry clothes and then headed to our appointment to meet Lynleigh!



It was a dream come true! The care giver set her down and walked her over to us. She walked right up to me with her arms open and let me pick her up! Lucky for us all, there was another family getting their girl at the same time and there was a lot of commotion so Lynleigh was too distracted to care. When her caregiver left, she wimpered a little but stopped when I stood up and held her! She even let Tony hold her for a few minutes. Though, once we got on the bus, she kept giving him the evil eye!




The only time she cried was when we had to have a picture taken of her. When we got back to the hotel, she peed all over me and her, so she got her first bath! She loved it! She let me lay her back and wash her hair! I let her have her water bottle in the tub so she didn't care! Once she was clean, I gave her some goldfish which she loved and we've been bff's ever since!
She likes to walk around by her self and thinks it's funny to throw out on the floow if we tell her no! She also likes to be held! I think today was pretty successful and I am exhausted! She's sleeping now so I will head down stairs to post the blog then we are all going to bed! Please pray that she will grieve like she should but that she will also continue to like us!


I couldn't believe we were already getting smiles from her tonight! At dinner, she thought she was just sooooo cute....and she is! I had to move fast but I got a picture of her!

One funny story of the night. She loves walking around by her self. I say loves, tonight she loved it! But I was walking behind her and she would look back and laugh then walk faster. Well, there are shops in the hotel that have all glass walls looking into them. She must have saw something she liked because she took off towards one of the shops! Oh...I know you know what happened next! Bam! Right into the wall! She rubbed her head and looked at me like it was my fault! Needless to say, she didn't do it again! I noticed she would walk up to the glass walls and doors with one hand out! She's reall smart and loves to mimic what we do!

That's all for now! Super sleepy!!!

Tour Day

Well, we've been here all of one day and Tony and I are wore smack out! We arrived late on Friday night and just finished a super full Saturday. We had planned on going to dinner with one of the couples we met today but just can't seem to make it! So, I will just blog and then sleep! You know, we get Lynleigh tomorrow! Were those pics not just the cutest thing? That's pretty much all I've thought about today!!!

So, the day started off with a trip to Tiananmen Square. It's pretty amazing once you get there. This is one of the buildings you can see from the square.


The signs here are pretty amusing! I couldn't resist putting this on up...Scott and Nick...I might buy one of these for your wives to have at the house!

Here we are in the square. I would love to tell you some amazing stuff about it but 1. I'm too tired to remember, and 2. I was creeped out by all the people taking pictures of the "Americans" and coming up beside us to get a closer look!




Just on the edge of the square is the entrance to the Forbidden City. I do remember somethings about this! (They said there would be a test at the end but I fell asleep on the bus and must have missed it!) First, you should know that if you want to cross the street to get to it...you do that underground!

Then, you herd yourself in like cattle and you'd better go or you'll get lost from the group!

Some facts that I remember: It was built in the 1400's and only took three years to complete. There are more than 8000 rooms inside the city. Before the end of the Empire, common folk weren't allowed inside the city which is why it's "forbidden"! But now it's just a museum!


This is one of the Empiror's rooms but I can't remember which one since he had so many!

He did have an English teacher that he built this house for! I need to find a gig like that for sure!



After walking what seemed like 10 miles into this "city" we visited the silk factory and then came back to the hotel! We had an amazing day but are completely exhausted. It will be an early night for us so that we are well rested for Miss Thang tomorrow!

New Pictures of Lynleigh

We are in China and roughly 24+ hours away from holding Lynleigh in our arms! We got a sneak peak of the little cutie today during orientation! I had to take pictures of her pictures but as you can see below...she has grown up!




They popped her picture up on the screen and we didn't even recognize her because she is actually smiling in the pictures! She weighs about 25lbs which makes me happy since we will be carrying her! The paperwork said she loves ice cream and cake! And if she cries, then we should give her a snack! Sounds like a couple of little boys I know!

Well, we are off to eat lunch and tour Beijing! I will blog again when we have more pics! The Quote of the Day is "Be Chinese!" so, I guess I'll go and be Chinese!

Round One!

I'm currently sitting in the Detroit airport people watching and blogging on my phone! I just spent the past few minutes trying to figure out wireless at the airport only to realize you have to pay for it! Boo! Oh well. I've got plenty to say and you'll
Just have to wait until China to see pics!

We left home last night and the boys didn't seem to be bothered that we were leaving! They were so excited to be spending the night with Josh and Amanda that Kaden actually said, "Can we please just hurry up and go?" So much for a sad send off!
Once Tony and I got checked in we stopped for one last Memphis
Meal at Interstate BBQ and got the pleasure of a quick visit with our friend Jeremy Gregg who was also at the airport!
We had a pretty non eventful flight despite the rain we were flying through. I didn't take pictures but we were flying over clouds and you could see the lightening. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! I wish Brady could have seen it! He loves stuff like that!

So, our flight doesn't leave until 9pm and we are stuck at the airport all day. We just finished lunch where we met our host was a guy named Toby. I took a pic and you'll just have to believe me! I'll post it tomorrow. This is a really cool airport and I know if the boys were with us, we would be taking several rides on the express tram that goes overhead! It's pretty cool and I have pics of that also for you to see tomorrow!

If anything super exciting happens before we leave I will post again...if not...see ya in China!

I'll Go! Send Me!!

What a message tonight at church! As if we haven't had our socks blessed off by God during this journey...He continues to blow me away!

One of the pastors asked if we would mind being interviewed during church tonight about adoption. Of course we wouldn't mind! We love sharing what God has done to bring Lynleigh home. But tonight's plan turned out a little different! Pastor Al was talking about missionaires tonight and reminded us of the men that served in Equador back in the 1950's. If your don't know their story...it's told in a wonderful movie called The End Of The Spear. Of course when I watched the movie years ago I cried my eyes out! Well tonight, he shared clips from the movie that made me cy again! The he showed the most beautiful little orphan in the world who will be getting her forever family in less than 11 days! He didn't tell who she was but asked, "Who will stand up for this little girl?" That as our cue to come to the front where he shared part of our story!

Then Al asked everyone to come pray for us and our call to bring this little girl home and the whole room stood up to pray for us! It blew me away! I can't even begin to explain how cool tonight was! You should really go download the message from www.colonialhillschurch.com or from itunes. I can't even do it justice!!

All I can say is that in 7 days we will be on a plane to Detroit awaiting the time until we fly 13 hours to the most life changing experience! I am so thankful that God chose us for this journey! I can't wait to see what is in store for our family!!

And The Blessings Continue!

I don't know why this always happens, but I tend to think God is finished with something right when He's in the middle of His greatness! Last week, we ended up with the exact amount of money to pay for our travel arraignments that weren't covered by the plane ticket donor or my dad who gave us the hotel points! I thought we would just use the extra check Tony would get this month and be very frugal on our trip. Then, I thought, well I could just borrow some money from my mom and pay her back when we got home. Well, God told me last year we would be debt free with this adoption...why do I keep under estimating him?

On Sunday, one of the pastors asked if he could meet with us on Tuesday (yesterday) since we were leaving next week. So, Tony, the boys, and I headed to the church office just thinking they would pray with us and wish us well....WELL....of course God had something better planned! We received ANOTHER donation from someone in the church! We weren't told who...just that God laid it on this family's heart to bless us! Oh...we are blessed...that's for sure! God has provided spending money for food and things for Lynleigh through this donation and I am truly humbled!

Tonight, we have been asked to be interviewed on stage during the service and to allow those at church pray over us! This will be the most humbling part of it all for me! I love to pray for other people! I'll pray all day...but for some reason when people pray for me, I cry uncontrollably! Let's hope I survive tonight!!

So, here we are...one week away! Can you believe it? I'm so excited I can't stand it!

It's Always Just Enough!

God always provides just enough! In my chronological bible study, I have been learning about how God always provides a solution before there is ever a problem. I love that we asked God for his adoption and the funds and he knew how it would all end before it even started!

I know that I have mentioned time and time again about how HE has provided for us during this journey. Well, he showed up and showe off again today! After the kind soul that donated the plane tickets, we only had to buy Lynleigh's. Ok..no problem since Tony sold the Camery. Well, we got our invoice for the rest of the travel last night and it said we owed about $2700 for the rest of the trip. Cool! We had $2000 left from the sale of the car! Well, about an hour later, the travel agent emailed us to let us know that she sent us a wrong invoice. Well, it said we owed about $3600. Ok..that's not to big for my God, right? I'm cracking up right now because my friend Amanda asked me if I just sat there expecting it to fall in my lap! Haha! Well, I got a text from Tony today that said, "You know how God's always had just the right amount of money for us? Well, He's done it again!"

So, apparently there are some really generous people at Tony's work who donated some PTO time and we got yet another gift from a family member...and guess how much that added up too? $3700! Can you believe that? Nothing is too big for God!!!!! Now, all we are needing is spening money...so I will sit here on the couch...Praise God for how he has provided and for what he has planned to finish this thing off debt free! And I will wait patiently for the Lord!

When we wake up tomorrow...we will only have 12 days to wait until we leave and 15 until we hold that sweet little girl at the top of this blog!