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.