Realized I never said anything about this....Reagan broke her arm!  She actually broke it at cheerleading practice the day before we left for China it we didn't know it was broken. She just said it was a little sore. Well several days later it was still sore and Grandma and Papa brought her to get it checked out and it was broken!  She has had a cast since, a yellow, glittery, waterproof cast, signed by all her friends! We have a follow up visit tomorrow and hoping this thing can come off!

Our First Week Home

We are all finally over our jet lag and adjusting well to having 4 kiddos at home!  Last week was definitely harder than I ever thought this would be.  Monday and Tuesday home by myself with the two boys was pretty terrible.  Ben was having a really tough time.  He was angry and sad that we had left him for so long, and really upset that this new brother was needing so much attention.  By last Thursday and Friday things were going so much better.  Slowly Ben has warmed up to Eli and they are starting to play more together and Ben is getting back to his old self.   Eli is getting more confident every day with being a little farther from me and starting to get more interested in playing with his siblings and exploring the house and the backyard.  He is eating great and sleeping well and we couldn't be happier about how well he is doing!   He still loves noodles the best, but has tried all other kids of foods and pretty much likes it all.  He has made friends with our dogs and loves to chase them around the house, likes the bathtub and the pool and loves being carried around by the girls and playing with his brothers and sisters.  He has come so far in such a short time and we are so enjoying watching him find his place in our family!

We are so thankful to our friends for bringing us meals.  We haven't had to cook a single dinner since we have been back!  The end of the day is always the hardest time, so this has been an immense help to be able to put my attention on the kids and not cooking.   Here are some pictures from Eli's first week home!   

Happy 2nd birthday Alex Rover!  You are such a patient cat and we all (especially Reagan) love you!

Tonight as I was snuggling Eli, getting him to sleep, I couldn't help but lay there thinking about how awesome this is. Adoption is truly an amazing thing. Eight days ago Eli, and the other 7 adopted kids in our travel group didn't have families. They didn't have sisters, brothers, mothers or fathers, or a loving home, and now they do. They are all loved so much now. They are learning to trust us, knowing we will keep them safe and fed and give them the human touch all children crave.  Of course this is going to take time but we can already see him attaching to us and learning to trust that we will come back when we step out of his view and that we will always provide him with food so he doesn't ever have to go hungry again. When I look at this sweet little boy I am in awe at how awesome our God is to orchestrate this. From the first time He stirred my heart with thoughts of adoption until we had him in our arms, God was working to put all the pieces together, because we never could have made it this far, to the other side of the world, to get our son without Him.

We are so thankful God has surrounded us with a great group of friends who have been so supportive to us, in His perfect timing Sam's parents were able to relocate to Georgia and take care of our kids while we were here, our adoption paperwork all went through flawlessly, we were financially able to complete the adoption and we have safely made it to our healthy baby boy all the way in China. Each of these things alone might not seem like a big deal, but knowing that so many details all came together for this to happen could only be God's doing. 

God calls us all to take care of orphans, not all of us to adopt necessarily, but all of us to help. That could be through advocating for orphans, financially supporting adoption ministries, emotionally or financially supporting those around you who are adopting or providing foster care or actually adopting a child. We are so thankful to be able to provide a home for Eli and we are so thankful for what he is giving to us. I would love to share more about adoption if anyone wants more info!

Today was another fun day, but we are so ready to come home.  It is Monday night here and we will be home Friday evening.  We are counting down the days!  Today was the day in Guangzhou that I think most families dread the most, the medical exam day.  Our 7 family group actually all did really well and I think we were in and out in record time.  Eli had to visit 3 stations at the medical clinic, the first for his height, weight and temperature, the next for ear, nose and throat check and then with a doctor for a physical exam.  He was a little scared but overall did really well.   The moms all took the newly adopted kiddos to the exams and the dads took the older girls out to the park for a morning of dad and daughter time.

Then this afternoon Sam started feeling sick, within a couple hours he was burning up with a fever.  He stayed behind to rest while the rest of us went out on a river cruise on the Pearl River. Our guides thought it would be fun to order pizza and eat that on the boat and so we did.  Eli and Hannah both thought it was delicious!  The river cruise was really fun and the city was beautiful at night.  We saw the Guangzhou Tower, also known as the Canton Tower, up close and it was so beautiful to watch it light up and change colors.

He's got the "cheese" face down!

Sam was feeling a little better when we got back (probably because the fever meds finally kicked in) and we are hoping he is able to sleep well.  We would appreciate prayers that our whole family doesn't get this bug and that Sam is able to recover quickly.  Tomorrow we are supposed to head to the Pearl Market and have dinner out with our whole travel group.  Good night from China!

Yesterday was spent with a sightseeing tour of Guangzhou.  Basically this week in Guangzhou is spent waiting for our consulate appointment so that we can get Eli's visa to come back to the US, so our agency tries to fill the week up with activities to keep us busy and let us get to see more of China!

We started out the morning with a tour of a Buddhist temple, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees. Most of the population of China practices Buddhism, so our guide thought it would be good for us to experience the temple.  The temple we visited has been been around for over 1500 years and includes a giant (leaning) pagoda.  This was our sweet Hannah's first experience seeing another religion in practice and she was quite upset seeing people bowing down and worshiping Buddha.

After leaving the temple we visited the Old Chen House.  This was the very elaborate home of the Chen family which has now been turned into a folk art museum.  This place has been one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  The whole building itself was covered in elaborate carvings and then inside there was a bunch of art on display, ivory and bone carvings, porcelain art, carved furniture and much more. My favorite part was seeing the artisans creating the art there.  There was a calligrapher that made a beautiful scroll for Eli with his Chinese name symbols, birthday and adoption date on it.  There was also a very impressive artist making beautiful pictures with only his hands, fingers, nails, etc.  No paint brushes at all and it was amazing!

Next we ventured out to a fancy souvenir shop, selling jade, tea sets and fancy silk China outfits.  We didn't get anything here and are holding out for another day of souvenir shopping in hopes of finding some better deals.

We found a small little playground at our hotel and took Hannah and Eli there.  Sadly, I am pretty sure this little kiddo has never been on a playground before and had no idea what to do with the swings or slide.  We have a lot of fun kid stuff to catch up on when we get home.  All this excitement was followed up with a Sunday afternoon nap with Daddy.

We had a long day of travel today but made it to Guangzhou!  We left our hotel at 11 to head to the airport and then took a flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou. Eli and Hannah did great on the flight with only one small messy mishap with a fruit pouch. We are settled into our hotel here and planning for a day of sightseeing this city tomorrow. We are here until Thursday afternoon when we will leave for Hong Kong and start our journey home!

Here's our big travel group!

First time on a plane!