Christmas time at the Meijer Gardens!
Aunt Ruth (Garden's volunteer) giving us a tour

Zachary giving two thumbs up for the fun times

Stacie just adores her big brother!

Are these two a couple of hams or what? They just love to have fun!!

All I Want For Christmas Is a Family
These words from a song by Steven Curtis Chapman really hit me last Christmas when we were praying through the decision to adopt from China again and it really touched my heart. I would like to share some of the lyrics from the song for you...


All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

But maybe if I had a brother or a dad to wrestle with
Maybe they could teach me how to get along
And from everything I've heard, it sounds like the greatest gift on earth
Would be a mom

All I want for Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And It's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's alright, 'Cause so am I

Well, I guess I should go, it's almost time for bed
Maybe next time I write you I'll be at home

`Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone whose love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

Goofing Around with Ryan and Stacie

Having fun on the slide at PlayWorld

Playing Apples to Apples with sisters, brother and cousins on Thanksgiving

We are settling into our new life!

I feel like we are finally settling into being a family of seven. I never dreamed that I would have 5 children but it is a very exciting life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Life with two three year olds keeps me very busy. There are so many emotions to deal with (including my own!) One moment Stacie and Zachary are playing like they are the best buddies in the whole world and they next they can be bickering and fighting about some very small thing. Urgh! That is the hard part about having two little kiddos so close in age. But the joys certainly outnumber the lows.

Here are some things that have occured or observations since we have been home:
* Zachary loves eggs and can eat four at one sitting with a big smile
* He loves Stacie
* Stacie loves Zachary
* Playing house is a favorite
* Zachary loves to help me dust, sweep, empty the dishwasher and set the table
* Stacie wants to do whatever Zachary is doing
* Zachary wants to do whatever Stacie is doing
* Zachary is starting to play on the trampoline and huge slide at Play World
* Zachary is very shy with new people around (Sue's note--yippee)
* Sue visits Stir Fry Express every week to stock up on Wonton Soup, Dumplings, LoMein and rice for Zachary and Stacie
* Z loves his older sisters and brother
* He loves hugs and kisses
* He doesn't like pumpkin "guts" on his hands
* All of his tests and lab work turned out negative!
* He has areadly had an ear infection in both ears : (
* Life is crazy
* Life is good
* Zachary likes looking for acorns, and throwing leaves into the air
* I'll post more later--gotta run...we are heading to PlayWorld...great place for developing Zachary's gross motor skills and large muscles

Sue

I am cracking up laughing!

This language barrier is sometimes very difficult and sometimes so very funny. Actually, I think I am getting pretty good at charades. : ) I can't imagine how terribly frustrating it is for Eli to communicate with me. In China I was frustrated when I was shopping and tried to explain that I wanted to buy some tea. I can't even to begin to understand his frustration in trying to learn what I am saying to him. There are, however, some pretty cool times when we both "get it".

Just now as I was trying to tell Eli that I wanted to pick him up in Chinese he smiled and put out his arms! Great, I thought, he understood me and so I thought I would try another couple of phrases in Chinese. Well...I must have really butchered up some phrase because he looked at me with this really confused look and wrinkled up his eyebrows like I was really nuts. He said something back to me in Chinese and then I looked at him with a puzzled look. Then I just laughed and he laughed so hard with me. He must think that this American mommy is crazy. Oh, well, I will continue to try to speak some Chinese with him. When he is happy he hums and sings in Chinese. I so wish I knew what he was saying (singing). He also will speak to me in Chinese when he is mad at me (like I really understand?). When I think of it, he speaks in Chinese most of the day.

We are in the process of finding a speech thearpist who speaks Chinese to work with his language development because of his cleft lip and cleft palate. (I know, I probably spelled the word palate wrong--I keep forgetting how to spell it.)

Our appointment with the plastic surgeon went very well yesterday. He doesn't need any surgeries for a couple of years! Then we are looking in the future at jaw surgery, bone grafting, lip repair, orthodontics, and perhaps a couple of more procedures that I forgot about. But...we knew all of this when we fell in love with him. I am so very thankful that we are blessed with the medical community that we have. (I just wish ortho was covered by our insurance but oh well.) The surgeon said that his repair looked really good so I am thankful that his surgery was successful in China. I can't imagine what he went through without having a mommy or daddy in the hospital with him. His second surgery was in February 2006. There is a wonderful organization that I came across who donated the money for him to have his operations. That is a story in itself!

Since you are wondering...I'll tell you what happened about two months ago. I was surfing the internet about Yixing..the area where he is from..and I came across his Chinese name in the google search. I clicked on the link and was suddenly in shock. There before my eyes was his before picture as a baby and a picture of him after his first surgery! God was so gracious to reveal to me not only a baby picture of my son but the name of the organization who provided the means for his surgery as well. I spoke with the head of the organization and he indicated to me that he helps around 50 children each year from China with hopes that these children will someday be adopted! This was an amazing connection and I am grateful that I have a piece of Yi Lai's history. As I write his lifebook this information will be very helpful for him as he gets older.

All I did was to google in Yi Lai and Yixing together and you should be able to see this for yourself. Pretty amazing huh?

Well, I'm off to get the two kiddos to sleep for a nap. (Which is no small task. They have me outnumbered. : ) )

We are home!

Yes. We have been home since Wednesday evening but the past few days have been a little rough. Gord came down with a horrible cold (maybe sinus infection?) on Friday so he has been pretty much in bed since Friday mid afternoon. This has been a little rough on Eli because daddy isn't able to play with him. The two of them were such good "buddies" in China and now daddy is sick. Gord doesn't want to get Eli sick so he has been staying away from him as much as possible.

However, the older kids and Eli are doing great together! I think Eli loves having an older brother (and sisters too)! Each of the older kids received something very special from Eli. At the airport he was very shy to everyone but once we were in the van and heading home Eli gave Ryan the first smile and laugh (after 5 minutes of leaving the airport), he gave Stephanie the first hug, and he told Sarah "I love you" in Chinese!

He is such a giggle boy with the kids and he sure loves to have fun. I think he is learning about his place in the family too.

On Thursday he spotted a little photo album on the coffee table. He noticed right away that his picture was on the front of it. He opened it up and saw all of the pictures he had on himself and some of his friends. He started speaking in Chinese and pointed out different kids and it sounded like he was saying their names. Amy, he even said Sha Sha for your little girl and Angela, he said Chen Chen for your little boy! I can't wait for us to get our kids together on this side of the world! Ann, it was great seeing you and Kai (Eli) at the airport...I am sure that Zachary Eli will love to play with his old buddy too.

After looking at the pictures he went into my room with me and he had quite a temper tantrum. I think this was another part of his grieving his past. Then later, after a couple of hours, he was back looking at the photo album again and this time he made sure that I knew who his friends are that were in the orphanage. He seemed to be much more comfortable looking at the pictures the second time. In fact, it is still on the coffee table and once and awhile he will pick up the book and look.

Jet lag is the pits and I think I am finally over it today. It helps that Eli (I know...someday we'll call him Zachary) slept through the night last night!!

I will post some more details about our trip perhaps tomorrow. Soooo keep checking the blog and I'll have more pictures and posts about our trip to Zachary Eli!!

You all don't know how much your comments, love and prayers have meant to us. You have been such a source of encouragement and we so appreciate it!

Love,
Sue

Timeline from receiving Zachary Eli to letting Mommy (Sue) hold him.


Receiving Zachary Eli into Daddy's arms.

Daddy giving Zachary his first meal in the hotel room. 1 hour and 37 minutes time lapse since picture #1.

Zachary letting mommy get closer to him while still keeping an eye on daddy. 2 hour time lapse since picture #1.


Zachary letting mommy finally hold him. Total time from picture #1 is 2 hours and 10 minutes!

Wednesday, Oct 17 at 5 am Guangzhou time

We leave for the airport in 1 hour and so this has gotta be very, very quick . . .

Yesterday went smoothly. We went to the U.S. Consulate and had all of the paperwork completed. There were probably 15 other families there as well that were adopting.

Now that we have completed everything at the U.S. Consulate, when we touch down in Detroit, Zachary Eli Toering will automatically become a U.S. citizen!

We had a celebration dinner yesterday with our adoption group (3 other families plus us). It was a huge dinner - probably 20 or 25 dishes. A nice finish to the whole thing.

A very nice surprise was that our friend Sandy - whom we met 2 years ago in China and have stayed in touch with since then - was able to travel to see us. Sandy used to live in Changsha, and now she lives in Shenzen, which is close to Hong Kong. She travelled about 3 hours one way to see us. It was great to see her.

Okay, gotta run. This is the last post until we return! Thanks to all of you for your support by way of prayers and email!

Gord

3:00 pm Guangzhou time, Monday October 15

We're on the home stretch right now . . .

Sue is shopping and the kids are sleeping, and so I'm trying to make the most of this post. Be forewarned that it may be unorganized and will be more like a stream of consciousness.

So . . . here's where things stand. First, in terms of the kids, Eli is doing quite well - probably as well as can be expected. He is crying less before going to bed at naptime and at night, and we appreciate all of your prayers on that. He likes to test the boundaries of what he can do, but mostly because he likes to have fun. He really is a good kid. We love to hear him laugh and see him smile - which he does quite often, and that's a real blessing. We were concerned before we left about whether he would smile at all because he doesn't smile in any of the pictures that we saw before coming here.

Because everything is so new, Eli is still scared of some things like escalators, small rides in a park, etc. He clings to me when something new comes up. I'm sure that's to be expected and I don't see anything unusual in that.

Eli doesn't speak a lot, but I suspect that has to do historically with his cleft palate and lip. Our guide tells us that his pronunciation is pretty good, although he has trouble with the "zzzhhh" sound. Since he doesn't speak very often, I wondered for a bit whether there was something else going on. But now I don't because Eli continues to appear very bright - some of the stuff that he does amazes me.

The biggest challenge as of late has been the kids getting kind of stir crazy - particularly when we're together in the hotel room. That's because, unless we're sightseeing or eating, there really isn't a lot to do within any reasonable distance of the hotel and so sometimes the kids get on each other's nerves. Frankly, Stacie has had more difficulty with this than Eli. We're working with her on trying to play with Eli rather than compete with him, and I'm sure she will come around soon. Right now she's often tired and getting used to the "new kid in town." She also told Sue today that she wanted to go home.

When the kids get all riled up, it's kinda difficult for Sue and I as well. But then, when I was picking out the pictures above, I am reminded how worth it this is. I'm biased, but what good and beautiful kids . . . It will be a joy to be their parents.

In terms of Guangzhou, it's been a good thing. Some random thoughts:

-We've been to Guangzhou before, and so it is somewhat familiar territory (at least Shamian Island is). It's great to be here, though, because now we are with 3 other families (all from Michigan) who are adopting kids through Adoption Associates. So we have a group to travel with, go to eat with, share with, etc. Before this point, we just had a guide for our family and there were no other families with us. It's so much nicer to be able to share this with other families. For me, the highlight of the trip will be (1) the trip to the orphanage, including having a sense that Eli wants to belong to our family rather than stay at the orphanage; and (2) the relationships that we are and will be developing with the other 3 families.

-The stuff we've done in Guangzhou is pretty similar to what we've done before. There's been a fair amount of shopping on Shamian Island as well as other places. We've had Eli checked out at the medical clinic on Shamian Island as is required for every adoption (he's fine) and we had his passport picture taken. Sue has taken care of some of the paperwork with the guide. In fact, Sue has been amazing on that stuff - keeping track of the paperwork, all that needs to be done, etc. We've also toured a Chinese folk art museum, which is the same one we did last time.

-The food in Guangzhou has been excellent - and I don't mean just excellent as compared with other Chinese food. Our meals have been very good, including a couple of lunches at what is kind of a fast food Chinese place called Noodles (I think). The food is excellent. I would go there if they franchised one of these in the US. The other, more traditional restaurants have had very good food as well with tons of selection and lots to eat. The cost for our whole family at one of the restaurants was 50 yuan, less than $7, and there was tons of food. Of course, we've also had Pizza Hut and McDonald's in Guangzhou(maybe KFC later on). The McDonald's food was better than in the US. And, just like last time, the server in McDonald's sat us down and took our order at our table and almost ran to deliver the order to us. I wish McDonald's in the US were run like the ones in China.

-The beds in Guangzhou, just like in other places in China, are quite firm. I would have called them rock hard, but our guide grew up sleeping on hard wood with no mattress or anything - now that would be rock hard. Apparently the new generation of Chinese is getting somewhat softer beds. Our guide thinks that the beds in our hotel are soft. In fact, she says she wants to visit the US, and she wants to find out two things when she's there: (1) she wants to feel how soft the beds are; and (2) she wants to see a US hospital.

-Speaking of the hotel . . . it's a nice hotel called Yutong International Hotel. It's a new hotel (only 1 year old, I'm told) and is nice in a lot of ways. If I could ask for just one thing it would be to have a US television channel. There are a lot of channels, but all in Chinese. Other hotels we have stayed at have had BBC World or CNN International, or other channels. One hotel had ESPN, but it was an international version of ESPN. Despite that, I was able to watch part of the Yankees - Cleveland game on that station (where the bugs invaded Cleveland). For the record, I hope Cleveland beats the Red Sox.

-We have an easy schedule for the next couple of days. A pizza party tonight at 5 pm with the other families. The pizza's coming from Pizza Hut, and it's good pizza. Then tomorrow afternoon we go to the US Embassy. And then, believe it or not, we take off. We leave bright and early on Wednesday morning (8:15 am Guangzhou time). We first travel to Tokyo by Northwest on a Boeing 757, then to Detroit on a Boeing 747 and then on to Grand Rapids. We're supposed to arrive in Grand Rapids at 4:30 pm Wednesday.

In some ways, the time has gone by fast, but in other ways somewhat slow. In our last trip to China 2 years ago, I wasn't really looking forward to returning home because I really enjoyed China and we had our whole family with this. I would really have liked to extend our time in China and I'm sure I would have really enjoyed the extra time.

I enjoyed China this time as well, but the 3 other kids are still at home and we'd like to see them. Plus, we need more space than what we have in a normal-sized hotel room. All that adds up to being ready to leave, and so I'm kinda anxious for that.

Even though I'm ready to go, I am hoping that we will be able to keep in touch with the 3 families that we have met here. I think we'll be able to do that since they are all in Michigan.

By the way, we're also hoping to see Sandy tomorrow - our friend from China who we met in our last trip. She worked at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha but now works in Shenzen.

That's about it for now. Eli's just waking up and I better get him. Thanks for all of the prayers and emails.

Gord

I will give them joy for their sorrow (Jer 31:13 NLV)

Thank you for praying!

"I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not to abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. (Jer 29:11 MSG)

Last night was the first time I broke down and cried. After hearing Eli scream as he tried to get to sleep I was so filled with emotion. Seeing Gord hold him close and try to comfort him had gotten the best of me. I felt very weary and weepy. I was coming off from a migraine too and the Extra Strengh Excedrin kept me up kinda late. So as everyone was peacefully sleeping I was crying tears because I need the Lord's help so badly. I love my little guy so much and it is painful to see him in such pain while letting go and falling asleep. I also think that the orphanage visit took a toll on me emotionally too. To see where my son had lived for the past three years was difficult. Even though it was probably one of the nicest orphanages, he still lived without a mommy, daddy, brother and sisters.

Praise God that today when I had Eli lie down for a nap it only took less than 5 minutes for him to calm down and drift into sleep. I laid down with him and held him and while he was crying repeated in Chinese not to be afraid, that I loved him, that I am here for him and that he is a good boy. It seemed like when I said that I am here for him (in Chinese) he melted into my arms and let go. After 10 minutes or so when I tried to wiggle my way away from him to sleep he put his head right on my shoulder and put his arm around me and snuggled right into me. It was one of the most wonderful feelings I have ever felt as a mother. At that very moment my love for him grew so intense for him. It seems like with each of my children, whether by birth or adoption, there is that one very special moment at the beginning of our life together that I will never forget. I wonder if it is how God views us who are adopted by him in that when we finally give our struggles and fears to him does he say you are finally trusting me...now rest in my peace.

Your prayers continue to be felt and I again cannot thank you enough for them. To see him drift off to sleep so very quickly for his nap brought tears to my eyes. This time tears of thankfulness that God answered my prayers. I know that several of you have been praying for sweet sleep for him and after 2 1/2 hours now of napping I think that he is going to be well rested.

I am looking forward to the future with my family. I can't wait to see Zachary playing at Playworld with Stacie and all of her friends, visiting the animals at the zoo, going outside to play at our home, chasing bubbles in the yard, seeing the leaves turn red, yellow and orange. Having Ryan show him how to play T-ball and basketball and football, etc. Going to Post Family Farm and riding on a hayride and sipping apple cider and eating their great pumpkin donuts. So much to look forward to. I love to see him just be so taken in by the very simple things that we see and do every day.

Today we went to Shamian Island for his medical exam. It doesn't look like we will be able to do any shopping there this time since we are staying about 30 minutes from the Island. We are in a very nice hotel and it is great to be with three other families from our agency. Once again we are fortunate to have a great guide, Judy, and she and I just filled out the final paperwork for Zachary Eli's Visa and for the adoption to be finalized in China. This way we won't have to go through the process of re adoption once we are in the USA. In other words...when we land in the USA Zachary will become a US Citizen!!! : ) He has no idea right now what significance that is for his life but he will as he grows up.

Since there aren't any cribs in this hotel the kids are sleeping with us. Surprisingly Eli slept fairly still and didn't keep Gord awake and Stacie did very well with me too. Another blessing.

Stacie said just now that she misses her brother and sisters and is looking forward to coming home. It is hard to believe that only four more nights at the hotel and we will be flying home.

Sue

Just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived safely in Guangzhou yesterday evening. We've got some stuff going on this morning and so we don't have any time right now to blog (or post pictures). We should be able to do that later today. Thanks for all of your support - it means a lot to us.

Gord

After a Day at the Orphanage

Yixing Orphanage Visit (Social Welfare Institute)

Today was another major event for Yi Lai. It was the day that he said goodbye to his friends, nannies and home that he has known for over three years. In a sense, he said goodbye to the only home he can remember. It was also the beginning of Yi Lai opening up to who he really is.

As I am writing this Lai Lai is going around our hotel room putting everything back in its place and tidying up the place. Now he is giggling because Gord just fell asleep on the bed and he thinks that it is funny. He has the cutest laugh. His smile, which I hadn't seen in pictures before the adoption, is really cute too. Get the two kiddos together laughing and they get hysterical. Now what I really need help is in how to parent "twins". I think that the two of them with their strong personalities is going to be quite a handful for me. They seem to have fun together and yet really can bug each other too.

When we arrived at the orphanage we were met by the director. She quickly picked Lai Lai up and the other workers were all talking with him. I thought "oh no....don't do this" But being that she is the director I had to let her "take charge". She held Lai Lai's hand and brought him into the area where the children are. Since I could only take pictures outside I took as many as I could of the kids by the door. Andrea, I saw your little Matthew there. He is adorable and had a cute burgandy sweatshirt on and tan cords on. I told him that his mommy and daddy are coming to get him soon. He looks great and I wish so badly that they would have let me take pictures of him. I don't know why they have that policy. I told them that after you come to adopt him that we wanted to get our kids together. That didn't seem to matter. Then I saw where Lai Lai's crib is (was) and it is a stainless steel crib. I wasn't sure of what to think as I saw the empty bed. Our visit to the area where he lived was so short I didn't have much time to process anything. I think that the kids are in two rows of six. I saw quite a few special needs babies. I found out later that there was a little baby boy that Lai Lai especially liked who slept in the same room.

I also met the woman who looked after Lai Lai. She had tears in her eyes and seemed very caring. Lai Lai didn't want to go to her anymore. Which was very sad for her but was a good thing for me. He was clinging on to me. Again, I asked if I could take her picture so Lai Lai would have it for the future and was told no from the director. I could not do that either. Her teary eyes will be in my memory for a long time.

In the larger playroom next to Lai Lai's sleeping room were about 14 handicapped older children. As Gord was trying to be near them the director said that we had to go. I felt like it was a speedy whirlwind of a tour in the orphanage area that actually lasted only about 5-10 minutes. As we walked away from the orphanage section of the social welfare institute we said goodbye and Lai Lai appeared to become more relaxed. I told the director on Tuesday that we didn't have to spend a lot of time there but I felt the Lai Lai needed "closure" being that he is 3 1/2 years old. Even though our time was brief visiting the children it seemed to make a difference to Lai Lai. I wanted to hold these precious children who are considered special need children so badly but we couldn't because we were told we had to go. I tried to take in what I saw inside the orphanage in my mind.

Because we were visiting the orphanage they wanted us to stay for lunch. While we waited to have lunch at the Social Welfare Institute (SWI) I decided to take Lai Lai outside for a couple of pictures. Up to that point I hadn't seen a smile from him since we arrived at the orphanage. So I got out my camera and he smiled for me and was very happy. It was just Gord, the kids and I at that time and I think he finally felt relaxed. We had lunch with the Vice-director and a woman in charge of the nannies. Lai Lai ate a ton for lunch. They had so much food for us. It was very good. We spent a lot of time talking and asking questions. Amy, they asked how sha sha (Emma) is doing because they know that you and I are friends. I said when I saw you she was doing very well. And then Ann, I added that you little Eli was doing well too and that he has already had one of his surgeries. Angela, I told them that you and I were going to try to get our little guys together too--even though you live a few hours away from us.

(For those of you who don't already know, Amy, Ann, and I have adopted children from the same orphanage and we plan on getting the kids together. And Angela is going to be adopting Matthew soon who is also three years old from the same orphanage.)

When we returned to the van our wonderful guide, Jean, asked Lai Lai if he wanted to go home with us. He replied that he is happy and wants to go home with us! Our little kiddo was sooo excited and happy that he was coming home to stay wth us that he could hardly contain himself! He was almost bouncing off the the walls inside the van for the entire two hour trip home. I added a picture of him looking back at the orphanage when we left. We said bye bye and he was flying high after that. He kissed me two times on our way back. His eyes were brighter than ever and he even was blowing kisses. He started talking more in Chinese and I have even heard him singing. Truly a good day.

Can you imagine what a little 3 1/2 year old is thinking when he knows that his life is going to change for forever? It boggles my mind to think that he is so excited to come live with us. How do we have the honor of bringing him home to America where he has freedom and where his medical needs, spiritual needs, physical needs, and emotional needs can be met? Believe me, I am still asking God for wisdom each day in how to go about this daunting task of raising a child who has gone through so much in such a short time in his life. As Lai Lai struggles and cries so hard each time to go to sleep I pray Lord give me, or show me what I (we) need to do to help this little boy. He is so happy during the day but is fearful of falling asleep. Once he lets go and falls asleep at night he has been sleeping through the whole night.

Speaking of which it is time for me to go to sleep. Gord held Lai Lai once again while he cried so very hard while trying to fall asleep. Lai Lai keeps repeating the same phrase over and over while trying to fall asleep and I wish I knew what he was saying.

But now the he has drifted into sleep I need to get mine. You are all such a blessing to us. We are so far away and I am missing everyone. By this time next week we will be home as one big family.

Love,
Sue

On the way to the Yixing orphanage, After saying goodbye to his friends and nannies, Looking back on the orphanage as we drove away, The car ride back blowing kisses

Wednesday Oct 10 at approx 10:45 pm

The internet is very slow tonight, and so we've attached just one picture. Hopefully it shows up - it's a picture of Eli at Pizza Hut yesterday. (We're starting to call him both Lai Lai and Eli now - our guide only calls him Eli, and so we thought it was safe to start using both. Eventually we will transition to Zachary Eli, then just to Zachary. Maybe when he's older he will choose Eli - that's his call.)

Today we visited the Ming Tomb, as well as the Nanjing museum. The Ming Tomb is where the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty was buried 600 years ago. It is a very beautiful park with lots of statues of animals, warriors, etc., with trees all around. It was especially nice since it was a beautiful day today - high 70s, sunny and low humidity. The Nanjing museum has a ton of artifacts, but quite frankly it wasn't something that excited me all that much.

After the Ming Tom and the museum, we grabbed lunch quickly at a Chinese restaurant very near to the hotel. It was good. The kids took a long nap, and then we went down to Lake Xuanwu, which is a large lake near the hotel. We walked around there for a while, and at that point it was after 5 pm so we went to KFC for dinner. That went fine.

All in all, it was a fairly relaxing day. Tomorrow we head off to visit Eli's old orphanage. That's a 2 to 2.5 hour drive one way, but we think it will be worth it. The orphanage director tried to say that they were too busy, but our guide pushed her and she allowed us to visit tomorrow.

Since we've had Eli for almost a few days now, we're beginning to learn a lot more about him. For the most part, he probably has bonded more with me than with Sue, but that's starting to change and things are progressing with Sue nicely. Stacie tries to talk with and help Eli, but so far he has resisted that. Hopefully that will change soon. He also still cries somewhat when he goes to bed or when he wakes up. Not sure the reason, but this isn't as bad as it was a couple of days ago and I assume that this reflects Eli's dramatically changed world during the past few days.

Eli's personality is also starting to really show up - he laughs a fair amount, especially when he does something that he thinks may be a little out of bounds. He could be a handful later on if we don't set the ground rules now, which we are starting to do (of course in a loving way). I think he's going to be a great kid.

I thought it might be interesting to let you know some other things we have learned about Eli:

-He loves to eat. He loves watermelon, bananas and yogurt (the Chinese kind) for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, he likes rice (steamed or fried), dumplings, soup, chicken, pizza - and probably a bunch of other Chinese food that we haven't tried yet. He also likes a lot of water with his meals, and he likes hot milk anytime. By the way, I just learned today that Chinese adults typically like hot milk as well rather than cold milk.

-He is somewhat reserved (especially with new people), but then he warms up and likes to have fun.

-He will probably need some more work in his mouth area - perhaps some plastic surgery and other stuff. We'll also want to have his skin looked at because he has a number of marks on his legs. We thought they were bug bites but now we're not so sure. We'll have to check that out. There's some other things as well, but nothing major. It will be nice to have him get some medical attention.

-I think he's smart and is mechanically inclined. He is able to put things together, pull them apart, and in general figure stuff out. It's a good thing he has these abilities naturally, because he certainly wouldn't be learning this stuff from me!

-He's very independent and can do a lot of things for himself. Fortunately, this includes going to the bathroom (he's very reliable on that).

-Given the fact that it's been less than 72 hours, he has made very good strides towards bonding with us. It isn't perfect, but it's better than what I could have reasonably expected.

Unrelated to Eli, I have a few other random thoughts to share (some of you that have been to China will appreciate them):

-The way Chinese people drive still amazes me. They cut people off, don't pay attention to lanes, etc. Every day the driver of our minivan would probably be in 2 dozen accidents if he were driving in the US, but since everyone drives the same way it works out.

-For some odd reason some restaurants like to greet every customer with "Good morning" even when it's the afternoon or evening. Not sure I even have a guess as to why this is the case . . .

-Sometimes the English translation for Chinese advertisements or signs doesn't quite work out as well as planned. I recently read in the Wall Street Journal that China is attempting to correct these problems before the Olympics. A couple of quick examples from the Chinese supermarket that we went to a couple of days ago. First, when you enter the store, there is a huge sign which says "We welcome your coming." Also, there were signs in the store all over the place translating the Chinese name for the store as the "CE Market." But when you leave, there is a large sign which says "Thanks for shopping at RT Market." There are many other examples of this "Chinese English" that I could give. It's just kind of funny seeing the botched language.

Okay, that's it for tonight. Hopefully the internet will be faster tomorrow and we can attach more pictures.

Gord

More pictures from Monday. Gord and the kids talking with the older kids through the webcam. Old Town Nanjing at night. Lai Lai and mommy snuggling Monday night.

Adoption Day!

Today is the official day of Zachary's adoption. We met at the Civil Affairs Office in Nanjing to sign the documents. Then we were off shopping at the huge supermarket. Poor little Lai Lai (what we still call him) was so scared when we went up the escalator - I think the floor turning into steps kinds freaked him out a little. His little legs went wobbly and Gord quickly scooped him up and all was well again.

We went to lunch and then we all took about a 3-4 hour nap! I know that this leaves little time for blogging but we find that we all need our rest and so Gord and I rest/sleep when the kids sleep. which is what they are doing now and so I need to make this blog short. Although I have so much to say.

Big strides are happening in the way the Lai Lai is responding to me. He is letting me into his world and tonight he climbed onto my lap and let me look at books with him. Later, he called for me to come over to the window and sit with him while he looked down on all of the night time activity outside below our window. He was laughing when I was brushing his teeth and before bed we snuggled on the sofa and he was hugging me! Of course he thinks that daddy is the coolest but I am fine with that. I am thrilled that he is trusting us and really bonding with Gord. Gord has been so patient with Lai and it is really wonderful to see the two interact with each other. Since Stacie is so close to me this is really working out well. Stacie is not quite sure about Lai Lai now taking to me and her jealousy (sp?) is a learing time for her. I tried to tell her that mommy and daddy share things and she helped list everything that Gord and I share so that she could see how she and Lai Lai need to share too (including sharing her mommy.)

After our long nap we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Lai really liked the pizza! We really got the looks when I was pushing the two kiddos in a double stroller down the busy sidewalk in China. Just love seeing people's reaction. The buildings light up at night and the atmosphere is carnival/Disney like here in China.

Can you imagine going to all of these places for the first time? Think of Disney World at night with all of the gazillion people all around you and that is probably how Lai Lai feels in many of the situations we are now in.

We hardly took any pictures today and since everyone is sleeping I am not sure where our cable for our camera is. Sooo..I am afraid I'll have to post pictures later. Gord or I will post more details too. I am going to get my rest too. We are enjoying our time getting to know each other as a family minus our very special three kids who are at home. We miss you Steph, Sarah and Ryan soooo very much!

Thank you so much for your comments and prayers. We are reading and saving your comments to share with Zachary when he is older. We want him to know how much he has been wanted and anticipated.

Many hugs,

Sue

We Have Zachary!

This has been a wonderful day! Zachary (we still call him Lai Lai for now) grieved for less than an hour. The crying was very difficult but necessary. It was a good thing because to me that means that he was attached to his caregivers and that he can "attach" again. It is better that he can get out the pain by crying than to bottle it up inside.

I am going to make this post very short because I need to get some sleep. Both of the kids are sleeping and so is Gordon so I need to rest too. Things are progressing well. It has only been 12 hours since we have had Lai Lai and he is bonding with Gord. His primary care giver is a man who we met today. He is very nice and really cares about Lai Lai. Gord has been giving Lai Lai his food and drink and is caring for him. Lai Lai smiles a lot for Gord and laughs quite a bit for him. Gord is doing a great job and I know that he loves him so very much.

By the end of the day Lai Lai let me cuddle with him with a sippy cup of water. It made me feel good that he is letting me inside his world too. I know that this process takes time and as long as he is doing well with Gord I will be patient. He is such a shy and sweet boy. Stacie is the best little sister. She is patient with him and is having fun with him.

Tomorrow morning we need to go and finalize the adoption. Lai Lai will again see his care giver and I am curious to see how he reacts to him. After the adoption we are going shopping. Most all of the clothes that I brought for Lai Lai fit him. After his bath tonight (which he was giggling quite a bit) he tried on some of the clothes for me. He is now wearing his new baseball pjs.

We so appreciate your continued prayers. I certainly feel them and welcome them.

Love,
Sue (mom to 5 - wow!) : )

We will post tomorrow morning.

Getting ready to meet Lai Lai (Zachary). Gord meeting Lai Lai and giving him Trix.

Zachary's first meal- dumplings! Zachary's first smile caught on film!
Gord and Zachary are great together. Zachary smiles a lot for his Daddy!

Monday morning, Oct 8, at 6:53 am Nanjing time

As I start typing this, we are about 2 hours from leaving to go meet our new son, Zachary Eli. We mostly are very excited about this, but a little bit nervous as well. I'm sure it will be an emotional time. Even as I type this my palms are a little sweaty.

Yesterday, our guide Jin (pronounced like "Jean" - the adoption agency gives her the name Jane, but we're using her Chinese name) filled us in on a lot of info. She's been an adoption guide for 11 years now and has a wealth of knowledge about this process. She's very impressive - totally on the ball, takes care of every detail, and speaks fluent English.

Jin mentioned that normally the first 24 hours can be tough and rocky for an adoption of a boy like Zachary Eli. Sometimes that can be only 2 hours, sometimes that can go on for days or even longer. We of course hope and pray for a smooth transition. We asked whether Stacie may help in the transition, and Jin thought she would be a big help.

Jin also mentioned that boys in orphanages typically won't be interested in teddy bears but rather other boyish toys. Fortunately, we have a car and other stuff for him.

Yesterday was more relaxing than the other days. We didn't start touring until 2:30 pm and then ended up at about 7 pm (with take out KFC, which was good but more spicy than in the US). Sue and Stacie took a nap, and I went out walking around, looking for some black, low cut athletic socks. None of the stores had any my size (XL), but I think I created quite a stir walking around given my height.

In terms of the sightseeing, we went to the Purple Mountain yesterday, which is about 30 minutes away. At the bottom of the Purple Mountain there is a mausoleum for Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who is considered the father of the Republic of China during the early 1900s. Dr. Sun was a democratic revolutionary and is revered here.

We walked up 392 steps to get to the mausoleum. This represents the population of China, which was 392 million which represents the population of China at the time of Dr. Sun's death in 1925. (Wow) The first picture above is the 3 of us on the steps.

We also visited the Old Town area of Nanjing. Nanjing is a very old city - 2,000 years old and even during parts of the 20th century was the capital of China. Some of the buildings in the Old Town are 400 years old, and some of Old Town hasn't changed in 1,600 years. Amazing. The second picture above is of the Old Town area - mostly a shopping area now with the historic buildings.

One of the things I did yesterday was surf the internet and found out that there were some big upsets in college football - USC losing to Stanford (cool) and Illinois beating Wisconsin (sorry Bob Skilton). I didn't shed a tear for the Sparties, who lost in OT to Northwestern. On the other hand, Michigan is obviously not a very good team this year - just struggling to beat Eastern Michigan. (I also see from the internet this morning that the Lions lost big-time. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I thought perhaps things would be different this year . . . )

Back to the adoption . . .

I think that the best way for me to close this is to simply type up Sue's journal from yesterday at 10:25 pm. She gave me permission to do this, and I will quote it in its entirety since it is better than I could do and I share the same feelings. Here it is:

**********

Sue's journal: Sunday evening at 10:25 pm

"I have so much yet to journal about the past few days but I first have to write about what is about to happen in 11 hours.

Yi Lai [Gord's note: pronounced "Eli" in Chinese] will have his mommy, daddy, Stacie, Sarah, Ryan and Stephanie!

My sweet little boy. I haven't met you but through pictures and some video. You are in my heart and I know that God has placed you in our family for a very special reason. We already love you and will promsie to take good care of you. Please know that I know it will be difficult to trust me and open up to me because you have been taken away from the only life you know. My dear Yi Lai there is so much more. I pray that you will feel the love and warmth of having a family, to not ever be alone in the night or when you are scared or hurt. Please know that we will always be here for you.

I pray that you will once again open your heart and learn to trust and allow yourself to feel love and share your love. But most importantly that you will come to know and love Jesus and to trust in what he came for too. That my son is the biggest act of love that can ever be displayed.

Rest now as tomorrow morning very early you will travel here to meet us. We are excited and anxious and yes, nervous about our finally meeting. I am so ready to begin our lives together my dear son - I love you."

That about sums it up. We love you, Yi Lai.

Gord

The picture in the upper left is in front of the Pearl Tower in Shanghai (we took the elevator up to approximately 800 feet). The picture above is Sue and Stacie in Lotus, which is a modern grocery store in China. The picture on the left is of our hotel room, including the crib for Stacie and the bed for Zachary Eli.

Only 24 Hours Away!

Tomorrow morning at 9 am China time we leave to receive Zachary Eli Toering! Today we are going to visit the Purple Mountain and also another garden. It is a more relaxing day for us as we rest up for the big adventure tomorrow. Right now Stacie is watching her Chinese DVD of Dora that we bought yesterday at the shopping market in Shanghai. I am so glad that we bought two different Dora DVDs because they are so cute. They are mainly in Chinese (Mandarin) and also have some English words that Dora is trying to teach the kids. Stacie is so facinated with the DVD and is answering some of the questions that Dora is asking in Chinese. : ) (Maybe there is some recall of her native language after all.) I am sure that Zachary will enjoy the DVD too. I am trying to have familiar things around him so that he won't be void of his language. Gord and I are really trying to learn key words and phrases so that we can communicate.

I asked Stacie if she likes it her in China and she said "yes!" I asked her if it was because everyone looks like her and she again said "oh yes!" She seems so very happy here and we only have had one "meltdown".

The Lakeview hotel is very luxurious and our room is beautiful. We upgraded our room so we have a queen - almost king bed, room for Stacie's little crib and most exciting is the twin bed that is also here for Zachary! The breakfast today was very good and the view from the 20th floor is wonderful. The restaurant is a revolving restaurant and had a great breakfast buffet.

Yesterday we went up the Pearl Tower in Shanghai. The view was great (from~800 feet) and it was a wonderful place to visit. In the plaza entering the Pearl Tower was fun American music playing and there was a water fountain and the atmosphere was very happy. Many people were there and because we were tourists we were escorted to the front of the line. I felt kinda weird doing that. Seeing the nationals waiting while we got special treatment.

When we took the High speed train (150 mph) we had another good experience with a policeman/guard being very kind and friendly to us. He said "welcome". : ) I personally think that the PR is really trying to ramp up here in China because of the Olympics next summer. The price for the train was about $13 to go from Shanghai to Nanjing, which is about 180 miles I think. Although the price was so cheap the headache of getting all of our luggage onto the train is another story. In other words...if you have more than one piece of luggage per person I wouldn't recommend taking the train. Our guides were fantastic and we would probably be still at the train station without them.

The other thing we really notice a lot is how 8 out of 10 people stare at us. Once I smile at them most seem to smile back. I am sure that it looks crazy seeing two blonde/brown hair white people with an asian child. Even some have started talking with Stacie in Chinese and Stacie just giggles as she tells me that they are talking to her. (She is such a hoot on this trip!)

Our guide in Nanjing seems to be very good and I am looking forward to getting to know her. Julie, our guide in Shanghai was a sweetheart and she was very kind to us and helpful too.

Our hotel is near a park and a lake, which is nice. Right now Stacie is napping. Stacie decided to wake up at 4 am so she needs some rest. We also have been waking up early as well. Hopefully we can get our sleep schedules straightened out.

Sue (once again in Nanjing we can't see our blog because it is blocked but I hope you receive this and it makes sense to you!) : )

The Bund area in Shanghai.

Old Town in Shanghai.

At the Ford International airport before taking off for China!

Yesterday, as Gord mentioned, was a very busy day sightseeing. Stacie was such a trooper! We started our day visiting with Stephanie, Sarah and Ryan on the webcam. It made me feel so much better seeing them and talking with them through our computers. : ) When we landed in Shanghai I was so very tired and was sad because I missed my kids so much. The familiar pang of saddness came over me just like it did two years ago when we first came to China. I don't know if it is because of the very long trip, jet lag, the feeling of oppression in this country, or emotions, but it reared its ugly head again. Thank goodness that after sleeping the first night and talking with the kids my outlook became very bright and we were able to enjoy the day.

Back to what we did yesterday.... We met our guide, Julie, in the lobby and after exchanging some money we were off to see Shanghai. I out that Shanghai is pronounced like Shonghai.

Our first stop was the Shanghai museum. It was amazing to see pottery that was 7000 years old. There were a lot of very old, ancient items at the museum. Stacie was very intereded in the bronze artifacts and noticed certain details that I had overlooked. By the way, traveling with a three year old is a lot of fun because you see things in a very different way. After the museum we toured Old Town and the Yu Garden. Old town is how China was 100 years ago and the Garden next to Old Town is 400 years old. There were so many people because of the holiday this week that it was hard to even move on the streets of Old Town. It was weird to see the building of OT have Starbucks and DQ.

We learned a lot about Chinese tradition and culture when touring the Garden. It was very peaceful place and Stacie slept through most of the garden tour that Julie gave.

Then it was off to Nanjing Road (a pedestrian shopping area) and then to the Bund - which is an area by the Huangpu River. We enjoyed walking along the water - and we had fun seeing many people look at Stacie and then look at us in curiosity. We received a lot of smiles and Stacie seemed to charm many people with her bright personality. She was so very happy during the day. Gord had a lot of boys looking at him because of his height - they were wo kind.

We had dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant overlooking the river and then we took an evening cruise down the river.

Stacie keeps talking about her brother and wants to know when we are getting him. When we landed in China I told Stacie that we were in China and she looked up at me with excitement and said "Oh thank you mommy, thank you!! Now can we get Eli?"

Today we are going up the Pearl Tower and then we will take the train to Nanjing. Even though we are so very far away I feel your prayers and please continue do so for us.

Sue

Friday, October 5 at 9 am Shanghai time

Hi!

We made it to Shanghai! Unfortunately, we only have 30 minutes to meet our guide, and so this has got to be short. I won't have time to post any pictures.

By the way, if there's a formatting problem, I apologize for that. When we logged into the website (blogger.com) to add this post, the website shows up in Chinese and so we can't exactly see what we're doing.

We just got done with breakfast. Chinese breakfasts - at least in nice hotels - are awesome. The buffet is the best that I have had at any hotel located anywhere. It was great.

After breakfast, we talked with our kids and my (Gord's) parents by webcam. It was great seeing them because we miss having them here!

The trip here was uneventful, fortunately. We left Grand Rapids at 12 noon and arrived in Detroit. We then traveled from Detroit to Tokyo (about 12 hours). Fortunately, we had a row of seats to ourselves - 4 seats for the 3 of us. That was huge because it gave us some space - especially for a guy as tall as I am. It also allowed Stacie to stretch out and sleep some of the time. Sue was able to sleep somewhat, and I slept very little.

The only glitch on the way to Tokyo was that one of the lens in my glasses happened to fall out. Fortunately, one of the flight attendants was able to use her hair clip as a screwdriver to tighten the screw. I know that Northwest gets a lot of bad press, but this flight attendant was very helpful. Not having a lens in my glasses for my left eye would have been a pain to deal with, especially when we were only 1/2 of the way there.

After arriving in Tokyo, we had a layover for about 2 hours. That allowed us to stretch out a bit. We then had a full flight from Tokyo to Shanghai. That flight was about 3.25 hours or so, and everything went smoothly.

After clearing customs and immigration, we got our bags and met our guide Julie and the driver Mr. Lee. Our hotel (Holiday Inn) is in downtown Shanghai, and that's about a 45 minute drive from the airport. So Mr. Lee drove Julie and us to the hotel last night in a minivan and dropped us off. We got into the hotel at 10 pm or so Shanghai time. (By the way, Shanghai time is 12 hours ahead of Michigan time.)

The Holiday Inn is quite nice - especially the lobby. The rooms are more or less an average hotel room - nothing special, but still pretty good. The area around the Holiday Inn seems quite busy - lots of Americanized stuff, like a KFC and McDonald's - and we will explore that later on.
We've also got to go to the local supermarket and get some stuff like water. It's very hard to remember not to using water from the faucet when you're brushing your teeth - you just get used to rinsing your mouth with faucet water and that's a hard habit to break. Fortunately I remembered to use the bottled water this morning and hopefully that will continue. Two years ago I forgot to use the bottled water and then later on got a little sick, probably from doing that.

Today's a big day for sightseeing. We're hitting the main highlights with Julie and Mr. Lee, and won't be back until after dinner. We'll fill you in on that next time.

Okay, I've got to run. Sorry about the lack of pictures but we'll try to post some next time.

Gord

Hi, this is Gord here. Sue's been doing a lot of the blogging lately, and so I thought it was my turn now.

Briefly, here's what's been going on. For the last few weeks, I've been dealing with kind of a nasty foot infection. I won't bore you with the details, but I'm very thankful to say that the MRI test results that I received on Friday were very good, and right now it's just a matter of time until this is cleared up entirely. This foot infection has created a lot of distractions lately, and now I can focus in on the big event, which of course is the upcoming adoption of Yi Lai, who is 3 years old. He goes by "Lai Lai" in the orphanage.

We have, finally, decided upon a name for Yi Lai. We landed upon "Zachary Eli Toering." We picked the name "Zachary" in part because of its meaning, which is "God remembers." We picked Eli because that's close to his Chinese name, and if he wants to in the future he has the option of using Eli rather than Zachary. That's ultimately up to him.

This adoption is a reality for us now, because Sue, Stacie and I leave for China this Wednesday (October 3) at 12 noon in Grand Rapids. Due to school, the other kids are remaining at home. (Thanks to those who are taking care of the kids while we are gone.) We return to Grand Rapids two weeks later, on Wednesday October 17 at 4:30 pm. Here's our itinerary:

Weds Oct 3 at 12 noon: Depart Grand Rapids for Shanghai
Thurs, Oct. 4: Arrive in Shanghai
Fri Oct. 5 through Sat Oct 6: Tour Shanghai
Sun Oct 7: In Shanghai through early afternoon, then travel by train to Nanjing (about a 3 hour train ride from Shanghai, I think)
Mon Oct 8: The big day - we meet Lai Lai (Zachary) this day!
Tues Oct 9 through Thurs Oct 11: Nanjing with Lai Lai. One of those days we will visit his orphanage.
Fri Oct 12: In Nanjing, then travel to Guangzhou
Sat Oct 13 through Tues Oct 16: Guangzhou, including an appointment with the US embassy.
Weds Oct 17: depart Guangzhou for home
Weds Oct 17: Arrive in Grand Rapids at 4:30 pm to welcome Lai Lai to his new home

We'll try to update this blog on a daily basis once we arrive, assuming no problems with Internet connections.

There's still a fair amount of things to get done before we leave, but we're excited to only be a few days from leaving!

Gord

PS: If you haven't viewed it already - and especially if you have a heart for adoption or are interested in it - I'd recommend checking out the video by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's just a few minutes long. You can get there by just scrolling down to the bottom of this blog and then clicking on the video.

One Week Away!

We leave next Wednesday around noon! This seems like a dream. I am so excited and ready to have Lai Lai in my arms and in our life. We finally decided on his American name. Yi Lai will soon become Zachary Eli Toering. Zachary means God remembered. Once I realized the meaning of Zachary I fell in love with the name. We decided on Eli for his middle name because it sounds just like his Chinese name Yi Lai.

My goal tomorrow is to finish packing everything except for my clothes that I need to add on Monday. The weather forcast in Shanghai for next week is in the 80s.

Typhoon hits the Shanghai area

I am very grateful that the Typhoon that hit China yesterday turned out not to be as bad as they had predicted. Our agency is checking on Lai Lai to see if he is okay. Knowing that my son is half way around the world and a "Super" Typhoon was heading nearby was not exactly an easy thing to think about. The only thing I could do was to pray and that is why I was so relieved when I read the news today. The Typhoon hit a province that is next to Jiangsu (where Lai Lai is). I will make sure to update this when or if I have any news. I am sure that he is far enough that his orphanage just sustained a lot of rain. Please pray for the people in the area of the typhoon.

Gord had a good report from the doctor regarding his foot today!! He finally can stop wearing the special boot. I think that this also was the last day of his antibiotics. Yeah!

Only 14 days until we leave!

Sue

Starting to Pack!

I started putting all of the items together for our trip. Wow -- I have been buying items on my list since February (a little obsessive?) so I think everything is set. But now I have to organize it to fit into our suitcases - yikes! Well I guess if it doesn't make it into our luggage we can always go to Carefores or WalMart in China. I am trying to put together fun stuff for the kids to play with. Bubbles, playdoh, pipe cleaners, toy cars, colorforms, bath toys, etc. will be amongst the huge variety of medical supplies and antibiotics we need to bring (in case we get sick).

I also have about twenty pairs of new, soft, red 6-9 month jammies that Gymboree donated to Homeland China in response to a special on Oprah. These little one-piece pjs will keep the babies so warm this winter in the orphanage. I am carrying them to Lai Lai's orphanage for the organization. I am also planning on bringing some kids toothpaste to his orphanage. Andrea, who's son is from the same orphanage, donated a lot of toothbrushes in May and indicated to me that they needed toothpaste for the children too.

There is a lot to do over the next two weeks but it is so much fun planning for his arrival! The poor kiddo is going to be smothered with love by the time I get to hold him. I sure hope he is ready for it!!

Sue

PS: This is Gord here. I was released from the hospital on Wednesday after I was admitted for a foot infection that wasn't going away. Things are now well under control, and I'm very thankful . . .

September 11... A day never to forget...

September 11....9/11.....I see that date and I freeze for a moment. Remembering the tragedy. Remembering being at Ground Zero only 8 months after and seeing the empty space where two building used to stand.... Remembering the memorials set up and talking with the brave firefighters of Ladder 1 in NYC last summer....My heart goes out once again to all of the people who suffered and to all of the families who were/are so deeply affected. I just had to take a moment and reflect....


Today we did receive the go ahead to purchase our tickets for China! We will be leaving in three weeks. I am so very happy that the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. We even received an extra blessing in that Gord had enough Frequent Flyer miles to redeem for my ticket! That saved us a lot of money.

Gord spent the past two nights at the hospital for his foot. He was admitted after going to the ER on Monday night. He should be coming home on Wednesday. His foot is finally looking better after all of the antibiotic IVs. I hope that the doctors have this mystery infection under control. I found myself thinking several times that I am so glad that we are not leaving tomorrow. I might have had to travel to China by myself. I don't know how people who travel alone to adopt a child manages. I give them a lot of credit. It sure must be difficult.

My heart is at peace and I have a huge sense of calm now that we are only three weeks away! We have our LOA(Letter of Acceptance), our TA(Travel Approval), our CA(Counsulate Appointment - October 15th) and our plane tickets!! We will be able to have Lai Lai join our family on Sunday, October 7th!! What a wonderful day that is going to be!!!!!!

Our travel is delayed

Unfortunately our agency wasn't able to get the dates that they had requested from the consulate so we now are waiting to hear if we can travel the beginning of October. This means we have at least 3 1/2 more weeks to wait to get Lai Lai. (We are getting closer to figuring out his American name.) The rush of thinking that we had to leave in a week was a little overwhelming but so exciting.

This extra time waiting now will allow for Gord's foot to heal. He is in a lot of pain and is taking antibiotics that he had to get from the hospital. It really is a blessing that we have a little more time. I certainly wouldn't want Gord to be in China with this infection. I also will be around now when Stephanie and Sarah both go to their homecoming dance this year. So even though it is so difficult to wait and wait for Lai Lai I can see the silver lining in this delay.

What about the U of M game? Yikes! Not the best game I have been to. In fact, I think it was the worst Michigan game I have been to. Although we did have a good time going our to Amers deli with my nephew Daniel, who is a freshman. Of course going to Steve and Barrys for the annual tee shirt shopping was fun as well as seeing a sea of Maize and Blue as we entered the stadium. We were glad that we shared this experience with the kids. I did learn that taking a three year old to a televised football game(longer game)is not exactly easy. Stacie did do quite a remarkable job keeping busy watching the game. She just got confused because we happened to be by the Oregon Ducks fans and since they kept cheering (because they kept scoring) she decided to cheer the Ducks on too instead of the Wolverines. Oh well, she is such a good sport. By the way...we left after the third quarter.

As soon as our agency tells us to buy our tickets to Shanghai I will post the good news. In the meantime please continue to pray for Gord's foot and for Lai Lai over in China.

Sue

We have our Travel Approval!!

What a day! We are so very thankful and feel so blessed. We received our travel approval today. We are planning on leaving NEXT Thursday! One week from today. Whew! There is so much to do. I had figured that we wouldn't be leaving until mid October but the Lord has different plans. Our agency is requesting consulate dates of 9/25, 9/26, or 9/27. We should know for sure by Monday (hopefully tomorrow). If all goes well we will be flying to Shanghai on Thursday and in 11 days from now we will finally be able to be united with Lai Lai. Hang in there kiddo--mommy is coming to bring you home!!

I am overwhelmed at the moment and ask for prayers for clarity of mind while I get ready to go to China. This Saturday the whole family is going to the U of M game (even Stacie). Even though it is one less day to pack and get ready I am looking forward to spending the day in Ann Arbor with my family. Go Blue!

Please pray for Gord's foot. He has an infection which doesn't seem to be clearing up. He needs this to be healed before we leave. He is on strong antibiotics. I know that God can heal him.

I'll post later. I need to get focused on the big task ahead of me.

Sue

Our LOA!