Journey to Fu Jiang Ling

2010-04-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

2010-04-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

HE IS RISEN!!!!

2010-04-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

What a glorious day Easter was! We spent the morning worshiping with our church family and the afternoon with Papa and Sasha. Once again it was a joy to experience our first Easter with Jacob. He talks about Jesus and even begins his prayers with "God, our Father", but today he expressed that Jesus went up into the sky and "he went "pop" ..... bubble". We have been playing with bubbles a lot lately, but I am not sure how Jesus got put into that thought pattern.
Believe it or not, the kids braved the cold water and just couldn't help themselves to the first dip in the pool for 2010! They did not turn blue and jumped in again this Sunday. I am waiting until the temperature reaches about 90!

More Friday Photos

2010-03-03T05:32:00.000-08:00

More Friday Photos

2010-03-03T05:29:00.001-08:00

Friday Happenings

2010-03-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

We have had the pleasure of getting together with our friends the McBryde family on Friday afternoons for some shared homeschooling, parties, field trips and play time. The kids have made models of Solomon's temple, bread, cookies (Purim party), and we have gone to Callaway Gardens.

Afternoons at CrossFit

2010-03-03T05:08:00.001-08:00

CrossFit

2010-03-03T04:58:00.000-08:00

Over a year ago, Ric could not stop talking about CrossFit. I tried to ignore him, but finally asked him to show me what it was all about. Fast forward and we now own a CrossFit gym here in Peachtree City and I recently spent a weekend completing a Level One Certification. We hope to start up a CrossFit Kids program so we are experimenting on our crew. Jacob is quiet the gymnast - he can almost do a one hand cartwheel!

6 months and counting!

2010-02-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

We have had our 6 month post adoption visit with our social worker. It seems that time has flown by in some respects and in others it has been a long journey. Jacob continues to adjust to being part of the family and learning just what that means for him. He is very independent and has a "bossy" streak. He has no chance of being bossy in this house with four older siblings! I pray that he will enjoy all the benefits of being the "Baby" of the family.

More Snow Photos

2010-02-18T16:22:00.001-08:00

Snow Photos

2010-02-18T16:18:00.001-08:00

Snow!

2010-02-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

We have been expecting snow today and the kids have been really excited. Jacob and I were sitting at the table and he announced that it was raining. I looked out the window to see the first snow flurries and shouted to the kids that it was snowing. When Jacob heard their cheers and excitement he stood up on the chair, lifted his hands high, threw back his head and shouted, "Yea! We did it!!!"

2010-01-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

2010-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

2010-01-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

2010-01-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

It has been a joyous holiday season for the Thompson family. How blessed we were to introduce our new son to the beauty of God's gift, Jesus, God incarnate and the celebration of His birth. Jacob decorated the Christmas tree with enthusiasm, baked cookies, ate cookies, read our Advent book, learned Christmas caroles, went to Christmas piano and dance recitles, opened presents, did Christmas shopping, went to parties, and witnessed his first wedding and reception. It is hard to believe that Jacob has been part of the family for almost 6 months! Our home is becoming a peaceful place to live again and I am amazed at God's provision. We prayed a lot for God's help to have servant hearts and the ability to heap God's grace upon one another. I have witnessed my daughters love their new brother and care for him with nurturing attitudes. Big brother Luke has gone from being the baby of the family to the position of Big brother. He exhibits care for Jacob that I had never seen before. Don't get me wrong, we have had our share of fights, hurt feelings, lost tempers, and grouchy attitudes! We are a family full of sinners that rest in the work of Christ.
I have to share that Jacob has been going to physical and occupational therapy once a week. He is working on more range of movement, mobility, and strength. We are SUPPOSED to do functional activities at home (b/c once a week therapy is not going to do too much), but I am finding it difficult to remember to to all the things they would like us to do. Lucky for me, Jacob is active and already strong. He doesn't let anything hold him back.
I think we have finally identified that Jacob has some sort of lactose intolerance. We have cut out milk products and his "tummy" doesn't seem to hurt as often.
I am amazed to have witnessed the process of learning a new language when one is three years old. At this point, Jacob seems to understand most of what we say and his language is mixture of expressing himself fairly well and "three-year-old speak".
Enjoy the photos of the last few months!!

Bathtub Brothers

2009-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is what sisters do to you!

2009-10-07T05:23:00.001-07:00

Future Soccer Player!

2009-10-07T05:22:00.001-07:00

My Sweeties!

2009-10-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

2009-10-07T05:17:00.000-07:00

Kitchen Helper

2009-09-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

When Jacob starts "pinging" (what I call walking around the house and getting into trouble) I try to just have him help me do what I am doing. He is always going around shutting doors, picking up things, and fixing things that are out of place. I love that! He is a "HELPER" and I had him help me make some cookies. He is just like our other kids and thinks that helping is licking the spoon!

Our First Family Photo!

2009-08-21T07:15:00.001-07:00

Here is our first family photo! I know- it took a long time. We went to Line Creek and used the timer on the camera. So you know what that means? Yes, Jen pushes the button and runs to her place. 3-4 times this happens and the family get a big kick out of seeing Mommy run back and forth. Anyway, we did not get any great photos - but it is hard to get 7 people smiling and looking in the same direction.

Count your blessings!

2009-08-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

There are so many things to be thankful for! All the preparations that I did- reading lots of adoption books - had me all set for a variety of possible things we might face adopting a toddler from another country. I think Jacob may have some issues with how much food he eats (he doesn't seem to know when to quit), but he will try ANYTHING and seems to enjoy just about EVERYTHING! His eating is a blessing. Jacob's coping method seems to be LAUGHTER. He tries to laugh his way out of things. His laughter is a blessing. Now, Jacob is three years old and with the age comes the tantrums. He can pitch a fit (esp. when you take him out of the pool and he is not ready to go) like any other three year old. He has a good set of lungs and can hit that level of intensity that pierces you to the bone - BUT - like most kids, he gets over it and is smiling 5 minutes later. That is a blessing. Jacob is now getting to sleep on his own w/o me in the room. He accepts nap time and bedtime w/o much whine. That is a blessing. Jacob is brave! The other day I saw him give our big dog Sandy a kiss on the head. I watched him swim around the pool (with is tube swim suit on) yesterday with not a care in the world. He experimented with jumping into MaMa's arms and pushing off the side with his legs. I also watched him explore the backyard all alone this morning. His bravery is a blessing. Jacob seems to know what prayer is and enjoys our time of praying before dinner and evening prayers. I have observed him eagerly hold family members hands, keep his eyes closed (I peeked ), and say a hearty AMEN. That is a blessing. Jacob demands attention throughout the day and seeks interaction with the family. He often chooses to play the "kissing game". He comes up to someone and kisses them and expects a kiss back. Sometimes it is a quite sit on your lap game or it can be a "chase me" game. We are so blessed that Jacob accepts affection and willing gives it to all of the family. That is such a blessing. How bless we are by our new son. Praise to God the Father for all his many blessings!!!

Ducks, Golf Carts, Swimming - Oh My!

2009-07-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

In the past week we have introduced Jacob to our golf cart, the local ponds and ducks, and my folks swimming pool. We think he liked them all. Take a look!

Days of Transition.

2009-07-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

We have had a week of just hanging out as a family. Ric went right back to work and the kids and I have been playing and introducing Jacob to the library, the golf cart, the park, dog walking, rides in the car, our dog Sandy, and meals at the table with the family. He is taking a nap during the afternoon and sleeping through the night. He has recovered from the virus he had and seems to be feeling great! He is great at imitating our words and I can tell he is going to pick up the language very fast.

Home at Last - Fun at ATL Airport

2009-07-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

Finally got home on Saturday evening. I didn't have a chance to post in Narita Japan as the connection was too short to use the Crown room or so I thought. We ended up getting expedited boarding...which just meant we spent another hour on the airplane! Perhaps not the best choice... All this so that we could get the overhead baggage space.

The in-flight service on both legs was pleasant, but I think I was spoiled by the China Southern flight attendants and the Customer Service Reps at the NWA counter in Hong Kong. The only downside is that they use the 747 on the ATL-NRT route so there is no individual entertainment system . The result was that I got to watch the same episodes of ‘MadMen ‘ (twice) and ‘The New Old Christine’ (three times). Side note: Wasn’t “Christine” the Steven King story about the possessed car? How did it end up with ‘Elaine’ from Seinfeld?

Ranting about Atlanta Airport:

Getting through immigration/customs then rechecking your bags, going through TSA and getting out of Atlanta Airport SUCKS...Ok I said it. I am sorry for everyone I offended and I imagine Jen will make me pull this down once she reads it, but it really is terrible. By far the worst airport experience that I had was the last one in the good ole USA. Why? Let me enumerate. (If you don't want to hear the rant go past the numbered parts)

1. We were told by CCAI (and I believe the US Consulate in Guangzhou) to go through the NON-US Traveler lane at passport control. This slows you up a ton as there is a requirement for all non-US folks to fingerprint, etc. No big deal, but the agent at the US told us (after we waited in line) that we should have gone through the US Citizen line...Note to follow on travelers.

2. After you go through the immigration line...they point you to a little room where you take your sealed brown envelope. Cool...I get it they have a process. However, you show up in the room and everyone is seated at a desk, there are no written instructions and after standing around wondering if I was in the right office the guy behind the keyboard looks up and says...leave the envelope in the bin and have a seat....No "Welcome fellow citizen and weary traveler", No "How can I help you?"...this guy obviously never did any time at Chik-Fil-A or China Southern Airlines. Finally sometime down the road the guy pulls our documents. Doesn't say anything...just hands us Jacob’s passport and says, "You can go." Now, I am perhaps a bit of a guy who likes some ceremony, but I would have loved it if he said. "Congratulations, your son is now a citizen of the greatest republic on the planet and in the history of the world.." But no...After being up for about 24 hours at this point this irritated me a touch.

3. Claiming your bags at E concourse to go through customs and then re-checking them to pick them up at bag claim #1. This must have seemed like a good idea to someone at the time...But I have to say that this is the dumbest, slowest works program that I have ever seen. Again, my point of view was somewhat slanted after being awake for more than 24 hours, but please...If you have never had to do this process before the signage, workflow and 'helpful agents' make this rube goldberg process all but indecipherable. When you add that to the hour + that it took for our bags to make it from the recheck point to carousel #1 you must really say that America's busiest airport is poorly designed and equipped for international travel. Travel through Beijing and Hong Kong was easier by a factor of 10.

4. Going back through TSA to transit the airport so you can get out...OK, OK, I get it that security is a big deal. However, the process is begging for a redesign. Somewhere around here, we were asking each other how many times and ways we could be inspected. The only cool thing is that no matter how long this process took...it really didn't matter because our bags took so long to get from E concourse to baggage claim.

5. Finally we made it a bit harder on ourselves because we forgot that we had thrown in some apples for the journey. The cool little beagle at immigration reminded us and we had to go through the agricultural inspection...Another x-ray of the bags...Laughing by this point.

Ok...the ranting is over...if you skipped ahead you were probably smart.

Blessings in the Fridge:

We were blessed on arrival to our home to find meals in the freezer provided by the McBryde's and the folks in our Church. What a way to bring our focus back on how blessed we are. Many thanks to Tiffany, Eric, the Cornerstone Sunday School class, our church family at Carriage Lane and our other dear friends and fellow believers.

Finally, I have to publically thank my in-laws for taking care of so many things while we were gone, not the least of which was our precious children and our 'dennis the menace' dog.

I am sure we will post some more pics and video of Gotcha Day. Thanks to everyone for the prayers, skype calls, love, meals, support, emails and friendship.

We are truly blessed, and Jacob is now home with the family that God planned for him before the beginning of time.

Ric

Hong Kong- On the way Home

2009-07-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

We spent the night in the Marriot Airport Hotel in Hong Kong. Under different circumstances we would have pushed to tour the island, but Jacob was due for a nap so we spent the afternoon napping, in the gym and in the pool. Our room had an awesome view over the South China Sea! It is truly beautiful here and I wish we had a chance to see it.

Note to fellow travellers. If you are just laying over in HK you probably don't need to change USD (dollars) to HKD. However, in an effort to use the cash we had set aside I paid cash for the room. The bad news is that the exchange rate that they used was 7.1 and I think that the peg is around 7.6 so I got ripped off. Bottom line is that you are better off to use the credit card.

Also nothing but great things to say about the Northwest Airlines service. A uniformed Customer Service Agent met us at the self service check in kiosk...understood that we were an adoption and held our hands through the check in. Wow...one thing that the Chinese folks we have dealt with understand is customer service. Many US companies could learn a lot from being here.

Well, all for now...we board the flight for the way home. Layover in Narita. I will post there hopefully.

Ric

Oath-Onward

2009-07-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

We had our appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou. No issues. It was all very anti-climactic as we reviewed the documents then stood and swore that we had filled everything out accurately, to the best of our ability and honestly. Then the official told us we were done and could leave. The longest part of the event was the trip to the adoption affairs office and back.

We returned to the hotel, finished packing, skyped with the kids (thanks Carrie) and went to bed.

We are now checking out then heading to Hong Kong on the first step of our return trip.

Thanks for the prayers.

Photos Below

2009-07-14T22:38:00.001-07:00

Ok…so I think I figured it out. I have to post the pictures first…then post the notes so that you can read the notes and look at the pictures.

Notes on the photos.

Laundry: There is no normal coin operated type of laundry. So we take our laundry out to one of the souvenir shops. I know it doesn’t make sense..but when in China.

Waiting for the phone call: The group was sitting around in the halls waiting for the “all clear” call from our consulate paperwork. You do a lot of sitting around waiting for paperwork in this process. This is just the icing on the cake.

Jacob and JT. Both of these little guys came from the same orphanage and Phillip Hayden…they had a bond on Gotcha day and that still goes on.

Group Photos and the cruise…somewhat self explanatory.

RIc

How our laundry came back

2009-07-14T22:16:00.001-07:00

Waiting for The Phone Call-

2009-07-14T22:15:00.001-07:00

Jacob and JT - Friends from the same orphanage

2009-07-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

Group Photos- White Swan and Pearl River

2009-07-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Pearl River Cruise Pics

2009-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

Updates from Guangzhou! Wed Morning

2009-07-14T20:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts.

It seems that as we get less busy it is harder to post!?!? There is the occasional work to try to get on the computer because someone else wants to read email, compose posts or sort through pictures. Also, it seems when we are in the room we are either trying to get Jacob to sleep or get him up for the next event. No more excuses!

Key health updates:

Thanks for the prayers. Rachel is feeling better. We waited about 24 hours, then decided to give her the Cipro and we don’t know if it was the Cipro, the yogurt or time, but she is able to go out and about and seems to be much better. She has eaten many things that Jen or I haven’t so it was hard to pin down what was the culprit. However, I would recommend if you go to Lucy’s that you eat things well done and not get any of the items with fresh veggies (lettuce/tomato etc)….not sure but the club sandwich there is one of the likely culprits…Many of us ate at the Tai place and no one else was sick so I think that is out. Again, not sure.

Jacob: No fever and the only thing still going is a cough that is pretty productive, it has not gone away despite the course of antibiotics (at least we think they were antibiotics?) Anyway, as far as we can tell he is good to travel. We believe the second fever spike was likely due to the shot series. A bunch of the kids were down hard for about 36 hours post shots. He is jumping around, playing tickle, laughing, and doing all the things that adventurous 3 year olds do. Once again we unplugged the bedside phone to keep him from calling out and have to tell him no a million times to keep him from pushing the buttons on the james bond style night stand. For some reason all of the hotels that we have stayed at have these buttons on the night stand that control everything in the room. Once he figured out that he could push those buttons and turn on and off the lights, tv, etc the game was on. Now the game is to wake up and push the buttons in the middle of the night. Bottom line is that he appears to be fine now.

Adoption updates:

Summary: So far so good.

Details:

As far as the Chinese government is concerned we are done, and have been for a few days. We are now in the part of the process where we wait for the US government. We finished all of the health aspects and today our guide/rep from CCAI took our paperwork to the consulate. So we are told to wait in our room from 10:30 till we are called and told that our paperwork is good to go. One of the families in our group has already had a bit of an issue due to multiple moves during the process (he is in the military). So far, we have not heard anything and we believe that all of our stuff is good to go. There have been other folks in our group who have had problems because they did not initially say in the body of their homestudy that they were open to older children or special needs. We believe that that has all been ironed out, but the process seems somewhat opaque to me so I sit in the room waiting for the call.

Travel updates:

Since we arrived in Guangzhou we have toured a Buddhist temple, the Chen house, and gone on a night time cruise up and down the Pearl River. We waived off on the trip to the pearl market because we had no desire for pearl doodles (or dollars to spend on said named doodles). We have spent time shopping on the island for friends and family, but haven’t spent a whole lot of time in Guangzhou city shopping…or as Jen would say shop-ING! This is probably because Ric has about a 40-50 minute tolerance for shop-ING before his eyes roll back in his head, his mouth starts foaming and he starts resembling Linda Blair…not to mention keeping 3 year old hands off of all manner of breakable trinkets and doodles.

So far we have tried the Subway, the Tai restaurant (name?...it is the only one on the island), Lucys, The Deli Shop (which is a funny name for a place that doesn’t provide any real deli sandwiches), the Starbucks ( an iced mocha latte was a real treat no matter how girly of a drink it may be).

We walked to the Italian place, but got there to early in the evening. (The open at 5:30).

Anyway…we just got the call…Our paperwork is all good to go. We need to sign the hague paperwork at 1245 then the tomorrow take the oath.

All for now.

Ric

Photos that didn't make it through the first time

2009-07-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday wasn’t all that eventful. We toured Guangzhou and even learned a little Cantonese (that I promptly forgot). Guangzhou has always been Guangzhou, but the English used to call it Canton so the 3 letter code for the airport is still CAN. Anyway, since we can now see the older posts and figure out what photo’s didn’t make it through we thought we would put those up….we will later blog about yesterday and put those photos up. Including the one with my not so technically great handstand. (Hey..I was nervous, you think that sweat was all from the backpack and 100 degree heat?)

Ric

Trip to Guangzhou - Pictures

2009-07-11T16:59:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the trip from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou and a couple from the physical exam…lots of shots.

Sorry that I can’t really put them in with captions…it is one of the limits of trying to post via email. However, we can now view the blog using a proxy vpn.

Ric

Back in the Room at the White Swan...yea!

2009-07-10T22:27:00.001-07:00

So we are now back in the room. It is about 1:00pm. Jacob fell asleep about the second we got back. That is a true blessing. He got at least 6 shots and a TB test while Ric and 2 Nurses held him down. Daddy kept telling him that the nurses were bad and Daddy was good…I don’t think he was buying it. Anyway, I think I am going to take a nap while Jacob does.

The girls are off to explore the hotel. Rachel is really into exploring and trying everything….She is probably the most adventurous of the group.

Later we get to spend an hour and a half working on visa paperwork…(Which I thought we already worked on…shows what I know). I don’t know why we couldn’t have done this stuff already when we were sitting around somewhere else. They tell you to be patient and have a sense of humor but the Hague process has really made it difficult and tedious. The non-Hague families were out of the clinic in about half the time, and without the shots. Another observation that one of the group travelers made was that when they came the last time there were tons of folks with baby’s and you had to wait to sit down at breakfast. There was plenty of room this morning and it seems that we have only seen special needs kids and not a whole lot of them. I don’t know if this is because the process has become tougher, or if it is a result of the economy or what, but it appears from anecdotal evidence that the rate of adoptions is down.

Anyway…trying to keep you all up to date…off to nap. Hope to post some pictures later.

(note to the McBrydes…if your computer laptop has a 3 prong electric cord instead of 2 you need to check your adapter…I could plug my 3 prong cord from the laptop into most of the sockets, but not at the White Swan…The adapter we have only has the 2 prong type of holes (no ground). Remind me when we talk).

Thanks for your prayers.

Ric

At the Physical

2009-07-10T20:39:00.001-07:00

We got in to the White Swan at 0400 and by the time we had the roll away and the toddler bed brought up it was 0440. Set the wake up call for 0930.

Breakfast was good as we scrambled to meet the group at 1045. The clinic is only open in the morning, so we got visa photos. I guess no one here has ever heard of digital photography because we keep going to photo shops to get pictures. It may not be the best day for me to make constructive comments because I have really begun to hate the paper work and the crazy process of doing one thing a day.

Well we are now sitting in the clinic waiting to go have jacob weighed, measured, prodded, TB tested and immunized to the tune of 2300 RMB. There are at least two Thompson men who are not having a good time with this today.

Ric
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

On the plane

2009-07-10T09:49:00.001-07:00

At 1250 we are pushing back. This means we get to G at 3. Hotel @ 4? Should be a fun day tomorrow.

Ric
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2230 Zhengzhou

2009-07-10T07:35:00.001-07:00

Still no word on the flight. Jacob fell asleep on the floor of the play area, but then woke up. He is miserable and so are we. Most of the kids are over tired as are the parents. China Southern airlines is having a time trying to still get their flights out. Tim R and I have been to the counter about 10 times but try as we might we still can't find out the plan. So we wait.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Still waiting at the airport

2009-07-10T05:45:00.001-07:00

We are now sitting in the airport in Zhengzhou. We still don't know if and when our flight will leave. We have been told that the flight will leave at 2300 but we don't have a high level of confidence. The good news is that there is a neat play area for the kids. They are really playing hard after sitting around all day. I am posting from the blackberry so we will see how that works.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Flight Delays

2009-07-10T01:57:00.001-07:00

We are currently stuck at the airport….well actually we are at a hotel near the airport in Zhengzhou. We checked out of the hotel downtown at about 1:30 and went to the airport. We arrived early to check in but the flight scheduled at 5:00pm is delayed until 11:00pm so we are in a nearby hotel hanging out drinking coffee and wondering how to keep more than 15 kids occupied.

The hotel is brand new and top notch. They were a bit overwhelmed by the bus showing up, but they have been very, very hospitable….and they have WiFi so we can at least post and check the internet. Please pray that the unrest and the earthquake don’t cause any more delays.

Semper Gumby…Ric

Wednesday Notary Day

2009-07-08T22:41:00.001-07:00

This one is going to get out to everyone a little late as I slept in. Sorry.

Status of Jacob:

Jacob woke up with a bit of a cough on Wednesday, a little later in the day he added a fever to the mix. The little boy who came from the same orphanage has the same symptoms. Jacob didn’t eat a lot yesterday, but he didn’t have any blow outs either…so we are unsure of the status of the diarrhea at this time. The cough, fever and general state of discomfort that goes with it made last night a little exciting. We have given him Tylenol and Motrin and when he gets those he seems to bounce back to his happy self. The night was still rough.

Our Day Yesterday:

Yesterday afternoon we had an appointment with the Notary in the town where Jacob’s orphanage is located. I don’t completely understand, but most of the orphanages represented in our group were able to have their documents notarized here in Zhengzhou, but the two little guys that came from Jiaozuo had to have theirs done there in Jiaozuo which is about an hour and a half away. That left us with the morning free.

There is a little ‘river walk’ kind of park that runs behind the Crowne Plaza. It runs along both sides of a river that runs through Zhengzhou and we decided to explore it a bit while it was still somewhat cool in the morning. While exploring we discovered a kind of adult exercise park. There were many pieces of playground equipment that adults (some very old) use. I will try to upload those pictures. There were also folks out with kids playing and some other folks doing tai-chi (sp?). Jacob had fun exploring the park and we got a lot of stares.

The afternoon was spent on the bus to Jiaozuo. Jacob took a nap on the bus and woke about the time we arrived. We spent about 45 minutes in the notary office waiting around and checking that the paperwork was correct. It was not very exciting. We did get to see a bit of Jiaozuo and found it to be a bigger city than we expected. We crossed over the Yellow River and got to see a bit of the “countryside” which was a breath of fresh air.

We spent the evening getting a bite to eat here at the hotel. There was a big rainstorm and we did not feel up to venturing out for food. Then it was back to the room, showers, baths, pajamas and bed. Another day together and another day closer to Home!

Photos from Notary Day..

2009-07-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of captions...this is like driving with your eyes closed.

Photos include:

Guys making noodles.
Lotus Center.
Tai-Chi
Mommy and Jacob with an inchworm
The adult exercise park
Whack a mole- China style
Being a celebrity at the park
Virtuosity on the parallel bars at the adult exercise park
Sights from the road to Jiaozuo (sometimes two words sometimes one)
Rachel and her friends from the Gill family
The notary office and its workers (we traveled 1.5 hours each way for
this?!)
In the hotel room...going crazy.
The river walk park.

Trip to Wal-Mart.NOT!

2009-07-07T15:37:00.001-07:00

I am writing from the breakfast area…using the Wi-Fi and loving it. Jacob, Jen and Rachel are still in the room and were still sleeping when I got up at 5:00. Getting to sleep is still a tough event. I think all barely 3yr olds have some issues in a strange place, just throw in some strange new parents, a little gastric distress and a room full of neat buttons, lights and phones and viola...who wants to go to bed?

Well the much awaited and highly advertised trip to Wal-Mart did not really materialize yesterday. After our guide polled the group we found that we were likely the only family that had not yet gone to the Wal-Mart and instead we went to the LOUTUS CENTER.

The Lotus Center is like a three story Chinese Wal-Mart. It is rather large, but I think in total square feet it is still smaller than a Super Wal-Mart however for a foreigner it is still overwhelming, if not for the simple reason that we cannot read Chinese. We wanted to get a few simple items: an umbrella stroller, wipes, more pull-ups (he is potty trained, but the diarrhea kicks in at the worst times),cheerios, water, a couple of toys with buttons, etc). We managed to get most of the items, but it was an experience.

In the food section there were many fruits and veggies that we never knew existed, and the usual butcher items hanging out in full display, chickens with all their body parts, sides of other animals not yet cut, and fish that were jumping out of their holding pens were just a few. You really realize how hard it is to experience things and take pictures at the same time. I was pretty much caught in a blank stare and unable to remember to take pictures…also you begin to feel a little self conscious being the crazy westerner standing there taking pictures of the meat section of the grocery store.

The one item that we could not find was cheerios. Now I know that they (or something like them) exist here, but the word cereal didn’t seem to make the translation either with our guide or anyone else. Cereal sent us to the isle with oatmeal, some versions of what must have been cream of wheat and some other types of hot cereals, but nothing like the isle with Captain Crunch that we are all used to. Eventually we dropped the hunt and decided on cookies…they go great with anything. (So we aren’t exactly starting him on the low carb diet while we are here). Note to the McBrydes….bring a big box of cheerios, and more of those sink sized detergent thingy’s than you think you will need, they are also hard to find…we ended up getting a bar of tide (it must be a guy thing, but I didn’t know that Tide came in bars, hopefully this won’t get left in the shower).

Well…after an uneventful checkout we headed back to the hotel and explored the play room then hit the pool. Good news, this time some other kids from our group were in the kiddie pool so Jacob got right in…in his clothes. (Another note: bring swim diapers, the pull-up full absorption look is so 1990).

After a fun swim, we went back to the room…and tried to go to sleep. And, here we are.

I think we are really ready to go home at this point. It is hard to get on a schedule, create routine, play and sleep when you are in a hotel room. We miss everyone, and at this point aren’t really able to enjoy being in this incredible country as we are in another big city.

Thanks for all your prayers and notes of encouragement.

Ric

Pictures from Tuesday

2009-07-06T22:53:00.001-07:00

I hope these come through.

Notes:

Funny Translations: Many Chinese learn English (more than Americans who learn Chinese!)…However, there isn’t always a good check on the translations in many places. Here are some shots from a Wal-Mart billboard.

If you are wondering about tags or things you see us wearing…CCAI gave us nametags…Here is a shot of one.

Also, here is a pic of our paperwork, and Ric/Jen/Jacob with the registrar.

Finally, here is also a shot of traffic…It is a big city. Zhengzhou

Tuesday-Day after Gotcha:

2009-07-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

This morning we went back to the adoption registration building. Now imagine that you are one of the kids. Yesterday was a hugely traumatic day, you were pulled away from your caregivers (Nannys) and given to these strange people. The next day these people that you have started to bond with take you back to the same building. How would you feel?

Well the kids did awesome. We spent a long time in the waiting room while the paperwork was finished. Our guide (Yisha) and her helper did all the work we just waited for a long time in the waiting room. The kids ran around and played. One of the families in the group has 3 boys and are adopting a sister. The boys are great at including the other kids and all are already doting on their sister. It is great to see.

In the end we got the paperwork and the adoption official made a little speech telling us that “Congratulations, you are now officially the parents” I’ll post the pictures of the paperwork…

We just had lunch and are trying to let Jacob settle down for a nap. OK…so this is the part where he isn’t laughing and having fun. Instead he is tossing around, tired, but doesn’t know what to do with himself. Everyone with a toddler has been there.

I am sure that Jen has more to add…

Ric

More Gotcha Day Pics

2009-07-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

I don’t know if the pictures posted in the other method.

So they may be repeats.

Ric

Gotcha Day...a few more pictures

2009-07-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how these come through. So sorry about the captions. Thanks again for the emails! We can’t see the comments so feel free to email us at ric.thompson@crossfitptc.com

Rachel with Jacob at the Adoption Registration Office Gotcha Day

Rachel, Jacob and Jen walking back from the passport photo…You can see the Reynolds family in front of them and the looks that they are getting. They have 3 boys (biological) and a new baby sister.

Bikes, Mopeds and Scooters share the walkways.

Jacob and Rachel play bubbles in the room at the Crown Plaza.

Morning After

2009-07-06T15:33:00.001-07:00

It was great to get feedback from everyone and to know that our email posts are getting through. A note on time…We are exactly 12 hours AHEAD of you if you are on the east coast. (So I am typing at 6:20AM here, 6:20PM there…but it is tomorrow, so I’ll send some stock tips at the end of the day and you should make a mint knowing exactly what is going to happen..Steve your clients will love you for this).

We made it through last night. It was a bit hard for Jacob to go to sleep. He had to be wound up. What a big day of changes for him. But he is being a big trooper. He slept with Jen and eventually settled down. Unfortunately he had latched on to a zone bar before bed time. We never opened it, but he took it to bed with him. So we awoke to the sound of crinkle, crinkle, crinkle. He was just swinging that thing around and playing with it. Kind of funny. I wish I could post a video of his laugh it is great.

Still having big blowouts due to diarrhea. So we awoke to more than just the sound of the zone bar….The only good news about that is that he loves getting a bath. He thinks it is great fun that we need to keep putting him in the tub. We are going through the little tide packs at an incredible rate. We will make a run to the Wall-Mart today so you can expect some pics and feedback from that. One of the families went the other night and said that it was unlike anything you have ever seen.

Thanks so much to everyone who has prayed for us, emailed us and encouraged us…what a blessing.

Today’s agenda is some more paperwork. We go back to adoption registration office to get the adoption certificate. Sounds easy… In the afternoon it is the group trip to either the Wal-Mart or the Lotus Center.

I’ll try to post some more pics in a minute.

Ric

Gotcha Day

2009-07-06T03:32:00.001-07:00

More pictures to send later.

Boy was it an eventful day.

It was raining when we went to the adoption registration office. Our group was a bit late and most of the kids (including Jacob) were already there. There wasn’t a lot of ceremony, and the nannys started handing kids over right away. Jen sat down with Jacob and started hitting it off. Things went pretty well until the nanny left. Jacob was very upset then, but recovered on the bus to the passport photo office. He had another meltdown in the passport photo office, but after that seemed to accept us a bit. (It helped that we got a popsicle on the walk back).

It was steaming hot by the time we walked home. We got back…and after about an hour or so in the room playing with bubbles, trains and everything else we headed down to lunch. This boy can eat. He put down a ton of cheerios, garlic bread, pizza and dumplings. No problems with appetite. His paper work confirmed this, it said (after it was translated) “He enjoys his food always”…No kidding, huh.

The only downside to the food is that he is also having a bit of diarrhea . We have gone through a few changes of clothes and I don’t think the housecleaning folks are going to enjoy the sheets we set out. Oh well… comes with the territory.

Don’t know how these photos will post as we are unable to see the blog.

If you want to email us directly use the ric.thompson@crossfitptc.com email.

Ric

The Great Wall!

2009-07-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

We spent the 4th of July at the Great Wall of China. If you can believe it ----- we forgot our camera!!!! Rachel had her camera and we were still able to get some movies. It was an unbelievable. We all really got a work out and I was glad that none of us were afaid of heights. We also went to see a jade factory, the Bird's Nest, Water Cube and then went to an acrobatic show that was amazing. It was a little too much to do in one day and I found myself falling asleep during the show. We were beat!!!

Beijing!!!

2009-07-03T05:43:00.001-07:00

We are here an Beijing and have had a full day of touring.

Our first stop of the day was Tiananmen Square and then we walked on into the Forbidden City and explored the former imperial palace. It is amazing to see these places that we had previously only seen on TV. It was HOT, crowded, and let me tell you - the sweat was pouring! Rachel and I purchased a "parasol" for Hannah and Sarah and used them to keep the sun off of our heeads. Just for fun and taking a chance for a photo op, Ric cut a handstand outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

We then went to lunch as a group and enjoyed a great meal that even included a young girl that danced for us in traditional costume! After lunch we visited a silk store and learned how silk is made. We also learned that many of the silkworm pupae are eaten! The question is, "will we be brave enough to try them?"

We then traveld to a Hotong. This is an ancient area of twisting alley neighborhoods. We took a pedicab tour and saw a few people swimming in the water. We were tired, but went exploring to find a grocery store to purchase some water and then ventured into a local place to eat.

We are tired and trying to get our bodies synched to the time zone. Tomorrow...The Great Wall!

Japan!

2009-07-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

We are here in Japan!!! The flight was long, but not as bad as I anticipated. It was hard to sleep. I thought that I got my Dad's ticket b/c we had kids in front of us and in back of us. They were good for such a long flight, but I did get my seat kicked a lot. I felt right at home. Ric is wearing a "fanny pack" that is holding our tickets and money. I call it his "MURSE" and Steven Futch would be proud! I have a photo I will post later. We have a short layover here in Japan an are enjoying Ric's privilege of the Delta Sky Club lounge. It has really nice "potties" and sushi.
Well, I already miss you Hannah, Sarah and Luke. We carry you in our hearts!!!!

Here We Go!

2009-07-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that the day has finally arrived. We are leaving today. The morning has been full of last minute things, cleaning the house, getting all the kids stuff in the car, and double checking to make sure we have everything! 6 days until we meet Jacob!!!!!!

New Photos!

2009-06-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Just today we received a few new photos of Jacob. What a smile! We got word that he was moved on Thursday from PHF to his home orphanage in Jiaozuo. He was picked up by the ladies of Eagles Wings III and am told that he made it and is "settling in". All of travel plans are set and all we have to do is make sure we have ourselves packed and ready to go by Wednesday. These last days are full of getting all the kids stuff together for their stay with Papa and Sasha and cleaning up stuff!

CA!!!

2009-06-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

We received our Consulate Appointment date this morning and we are now able to plan our trip. We will be leaving July 1 and returning home July 18. That is only in 9 days!

2009-06-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

We have TA!!! We now have permission from the Chinese government to come and pick up our son! We have tentative dates of travel for July 1-17. We are presently waiting for our Consulate Appointment (CA) and when we get that we can make flight arrangements. Join with us and let out a big Whaaa-Hoooo!!!!

While we are waiting it is good to see him laughing!

2009-06-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

Children's Day in China

2009-06-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here is our cutie pie enjoying Children's Day!

A Quilt of Love and Prayer!

2009-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

This past week the ladies in my Titus 2 group showed up a my door with this surprise! This beautiful quilt was handmade for Jacob. Our church family already loves our child and is present on this journey we are taking. Each lady chose a Bible verse that they wanted to share with us. God is so good to use us to encourage each other!

Updated Measurements

2009-05-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

Our agency sent updated measurements of Jacob today. He now has 20 teeth, has grown to 94cm = 37in and he is 14kg = about 31 lbs. From what I have seen, they weight the kids with their clothes on so I guess he will be a little lighter. We were measuring against Luke and he doesn't seem much smaller than than him! The latest paperwork news is that the National Visa Center sent our 1-800 provisional approval to China yesterday. One more tiny step taken.

I -800 Approval!

2009-05-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today we got a call from our agency telling us that the National Benefits Center has given us our I-800 approval! Now our agency sends this along with some other documents to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Once the Consulate receives our paperwork and signs our second acceptance letter, it is mailed to the CCAA and they will issue our travel approval. It is EXCITING!!!
Here is a recent photo of Jacob receiving a birthday card during his preschool class last week! He is now 3 years old.

I-800 Documents Sent!

2009-04-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

We got word today that our 1-800 documents were sent to NBC and now we are waiting for “I-800 Provisional Approval". It is almost funny how much paperwork (most of it just reiterating what they already know) this entails. Our visas are at the consulate right now and we should have them back next week sometime. We are in the process of working on a visa for Jacob to come home. That is the update on our paperwork. I know - not too interesting, but it is nice to have things to do that make you feel like things are moving along. I think the next few weeks are gonna fly by. We are trying to finish up the school year, paint Luke and Jacob's room, go to the doctors, and start packing.

Jacob enjoys McDonalds

2009-04-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

50 kids and 20 staff, guests and adults enjoyed McDonalds at Shepherd's Field today. Check out the photo of Jacob - looks like he is enjoying that burger.

GIVE ME AN ------ L --- O -----A!!!!

2009-04-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

We got an email yesterday (Day 92 of waiting) from our agency that we will be getting our LOA "FedExed" to us today!!! Yea, this is what we have been waiting to hear! We have been told to expect to travel in 6 to 9 weeks. In the meantime, we will be doing MORE paperwork and getting our Visa's for China. Ric being in Florida on Reserve Duty for the next three weeks is complicating the paperswork a bit! Some things have to be signed and notarized, so there will be some "overnighting" some paperwork back and forth. We are thrilled to be able to know that we will hopefully travel to pick up our son soon. There was much celebrating in the house yesterday. The kids did a "LOA" dance and chant and we of course had to have some Chinese food too! God continues to remind us of his presence in this whole process and we praise Him for his timing and plans.

Easter at PHF

2009-04-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

The kids at PHF have been busy celebrating Easter. They got to color eggs and go on an Easter egg hunt today! Looks like they had lots of fun. We are close to day 90 waiting for LOA and hope that we will hear SOOON!

Cute - don't you think?

2009-03-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

He is so cute, I can hardly stand it! Don't you feel that way about your kids sometimes? There are moments that I just want to kiss their cheeks off, squeeze them till they pop, and tickle them till there is no tomorrow!!! Well, I haven't even met Jacob yet and these photos make me feel that way about my son.

Sunshine

2009-03-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

One of my yahoo group friends is in China now spending a few days at PHF where her daughter spent the first few months of her life. She and her family were able to interact with Jacob! How cool is it that God blesses us over and over with tidbits of information about our son?! In the midst of waiting for our LOA, dealing with the flu, and saying goodbye to our best friends, God sends these beautiful rays of sunshine! Praise HIm!
"Hi,
Here are some pictures of your boy. He is very friendly and loves to get his picture taken and to see it. During a movie yesterday all of the kids were sitting to watch so I sat down kind of on the side to take pictures and he decided he wasn't having anything to do with the movie and sat in my lap to look on my screen and announce to the nannies who I was taking the pictures of. Very precious. A happy little boy who loves affection and has a great laugh. First day he wasn't so sure about me taking pictures and didn't offer many smiles but can't capture how great his laughing was on the second day!"

Getting Closer!

2009-03-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we are on Day 67 of our wait since our dossier has been logged into China. I have started to gather items for our trip (medicines, toiletries, a backpack and some small toys for Jacob, etc...), get the boy's room ready to "share" space, and do some reading on "Toddler Adoption" issues. The last month has gone by more quickly than the first. We continue to be blessed with photos of Jacob from various sources. I have often seen him with one particular caregiver that he seems especially close to. It is reassuring to know that he is getting good care!

Lantern Festival Outing

2009-03-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

Jacob got to go on an outing to a Lantern festival. I just love the photo of him with his mouth wide open in astonishment at something he sees. It looks like he enjoys eating McD's too!

Check out this smile!

2009-03-02T07:32:00.001-08:00

Sponsor Update

2009-02-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

We received a sponsor update today about "Cole"! "Cole's personality has really started to flourish as he has become so much more grown up in the last 6 months. You may find him singing loudly as he has learned many new songs and he loves to sing them for others. His smile is contagious and he has become less shy of visitors. He continues to progress and is also getting therapy." This is such sweet information for us to know. Praising God that "When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16

Details!

2009-02-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Dawn, a yahoo group friend, is in China right now and visited with Jacob yesterday! She shared that he was quiet at first but has strong opinions when he warms up. He plays pretty rough (which is typical of most of the toddler boys there) and he even chased Dawn around with a toy saw pretending to saw her in half! It sounds like he will fit right in with our family! t We are blessed to hear these tidbits of information about Jacob and continue to be anxious about moving along to pick him up! You can take a peek at Dawn's blog and see what she is up to @ www.healinghannahblog.com

We Tried to Send this to Jacob

2009-02-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Our Valentine!

2009-02-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

New photos of Jiangling taken just the other day by a dear lady who works at PHF.

Jacob Today!

2009-01-29T12:08:00.000-08:00

Ashley, shared more photos from her day at Philip Hayden ! The best part was her comment about "Cole". ""Cole" was funny and friendly. He also gave me tons of love and I told him that I would see him soon since he would be living a few minutes away." Thank you Ashley!

New Photo!

2009-01-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

Ashley and Mike, a couple from Newnan, are in China right now getting ready to pick up their daughter. They took some time to drop by the Philip Hayden Foundation because their daughter spent a year of her life there. They were so kind to send a photo of Jacob! It is nice to see him holding that shovel in his right hand!

LID-LID-LID!!!

2009-01-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

WE RECEIVED OUR LOG IN DATE TODAY AS BEING 1/13/09. COME ON AND LET'S CELEBRATE!!!

It will be 3 to 5 months for us to get our Letter of Approval - LOA (the next big deal).

Please join with us in prayer for the next bulk of time which is just waiting for China to process our paperwork (translating it and sending it to the Match Room and issuing our LOA).

Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him for giving us a timely LID!!!

More Blesssings!

2009-01-13T04:09:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like God is just "pouring" out buckets of blessing upon your head? I do. The Wolfe family has sent us more photos of Jacob. The blessing of seeing these photos of our son feel like a refreshing spring rain. "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes other will himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11:25 How generous it was for them to refresh us while they are in China to adopt their own son!

New Photo!

2009-01-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

The Wolfe family is presently in China picking up their son at the Philip Hayden Foundation. They graciously offered to contact children that had families waiting to pick them up, get a photo, and hug them for us. They were able to spend Friday visiting with the children of PHF and seeing where their son has lived for the last 1 1/2 years. How blessed we were to get an email yesterday of Jacob! They said that he was in the midst of eating lunch, but they got some photos. Our hearts are aching for him and are looking forward to wrapping our own arms around our son! We are so thankful for this loving family in Christ who took the time to offer a gift to us - someone they only know from a yahoo group! Thank you Wolfe family!!!!

News of the Day!

2009-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

"Congratulations! Your dossier has been delivered to the China Center of Adoption Affairs. "

We should get our LID- Log in Date in about a week.

DTC

2009-01-03T07:02:00.001-08:00

Here’s the news you’ve long been waiting for—your dossier was sent to China today (1/2/2009)! J

This is the news we received last night! It is quite exciting as we move closer to being able to travel to get Jacob. It is a long series of check off marks to travel through, but we know it is worth the wait. We now wait for what is called a LOI - Log in Date. This is an official date your dossier was "logged-in" to China's adoption system. China then has 3 to 5 months to process your dossier, match you with your identified child and send you the next anticipated notice called a LOA - Letter of Acceptance. Praise Him!

Christmas Photos!

2009-01-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! We just got these photos from PHF and are thrilled to see Cole in the jacket that we sent and holding his stocking! What a blessing to see him!!!

Waiting - Waiting - Waiting

2008-12-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

We went to a Michael Card concert at our church just before Christmas. As he introduced this song, Mr. Card shared that Simeon was displaying his faith through "WAITING". Boy did that hit a spot in my heart! Don't you feel like you spend a lot of time "waiting" for something? For me it is obviously waiting for our adoption of Jacob. Waiting on the Lord and trusting his timing is hard at times. I am encouraged by Simeon and realize that I too can display my faith in My Father by patiently waiting! I trust that he always has His Glory in mind, and isn't that what we were created for?

Christmas Eve Surprise

2008-12-26T15:26:00.001-08:00

The mailman knocked on the door and had in hand our "Express Mail" return envelope from the Chinese Consulate in Houston! Merry Christmas to us!! This last document completes our dossier. We sent if off to Colorado where it will be translated and sent to China. Then we wait for what is called a "Log in Date".

Busy Day and Another Present!

2008-12-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

I spent the day running around town "Certifying" our paper at the county and state level and then mailing it to the Chinese Consulate in Houston. It should be there by 12PM tomorrow! God provided my Mom and Dad to look after the kids, Rachel to be my "Partner" for the day, traveling mercies, and quick workers. I took a peek at the email and found a surprise from our agency of an "Update" for Jacob! It included an updated immunization chart, body measurements and some other tidbits: His current health is good, He can feed himself, go up and down stairs, put on shoes and socks, He can say simple sentences, but is not talkative, He is being potty trained, but still needs a diaper, He eats cake, biscuits, fruits, dumpling, fish, meat, and vegetables, drinks juice, milk and formula, and he like to eat banana and sausage. They even sent a schedule of his day. He gets up at 6 am. Oh no, I have so enjoyed my 7AM wake up time that I have enjoyed the last year or so! What a treasure to know all these little details!

Christmas Miracle

2008-12-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

What a Christmas present we received in the mail today! Our I-797 was there in a big envelope looking all official. At last ------ something for us to do! Notarize, Certify, Authenticate - Can it be done by Christmas? I'll let you know.

Jacob Last Christmas

2008-12-08T11:19:00.001-08:00

Thinking of China

2008-12-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

We went to the High Museum of Art over the holiday weekend and saw the terracotta warriors from China. It was really neat to be inches away from a 2,000 year old piece of art. We were amazed at the collection and throughly recommend taking the time to go and see them. You won't be disappointed.

Merry Christmas Jacob!

2008-12-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

Last week we sent off our Christmas package to Jacob. The kids and I wrapped all the stuff and even made up a Christmas stocking. We found out that he has three nannies that care for him in shifts. We sent them a small stocking too. Hopefully it will get there before Christmas. Our friends the Bradfield family just received their Travel Approval and will be leaving soon to pick up their son Jack. It will be so cool for them to be home with him by Christmas. Take a peek at a photo I have of Jacob from last Christmas. Too Cute!

Bump in the Road

2008-11-24T07:11:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I received a letter from immigration. You can imagine my excitement thinking that it was the anticipated document we had been waiting for. Unfortunately, it was a letter stating that their is a minor adjustment needed in our home study. Our agency has relayed that it is a quick fix and it will also give us an opportunity to give them the information that we have accepeted the referral of Fu Jiang Ling. Blessing in disguise? Maybe this will speed things along? We trust in God's timing and that His plans are the best - even delays! Praise Him!!!!

Blessings!

2008-11-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

God continues to shower us with "photo blessings" of Jacob! If you know me, you know that I am a photo hound and could spend my day looking at photos. Well, the Lord has given our family soooooo many photos of Jacob that I am just beside myself. How blessed we are to see his many expressions and get a little peek into his world. Enjoy our newest addtions!

Care Package Received!

2008-11-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here is photo of Jacob with the "Care Package" we sent! It is nice to see the toys in his hand! Oh, how we would love to scoop him up this instant! We think and pray for him everyday and our hearts are growing in our love for him. We hope our immigration paper comes this month or December.

News!

2008-10-19T11:02:00.002-07:00

The therapy director at Philip Hayden sent me some information about Jacob today! She directed me to their therapy blog www.phftherapy.blogspot.com and included an "update therapy progress report". He started as a boy whose fine and gross motor skills were significantly delayed, and language skills that were also delayed. He would not use his right in play and was preferred to be by himself. After 6 months of therapy, he was walking, using his right hand, and using words to express himself! He also now initiates interaction with others. His is featured on their blog (in an older post - so you will have to look for it) and the therapy director states that " Cole has flourished. He has learned to walk, use his right arm, and talk in short sentences. Now, we know him as the strong and outgoing child he is! He has taught us the beauty and determination of life. " What a blessing!

Jacob waits

2008-10-09T13:48:00.001-07:00

Fingerprints Done!

2008-10-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

We spent the last week up in Maryland attending a family wedding. Our trip home consisted of a 4am wake up with a 6am flight back to GA. The kids did great and Delta did had us home when expected. We were on the road to Ric's fingerprint appointment by 8:12. The HOV lane was a saving grace when we hit some traffic and we arrrived by 8:45. Ric was out our there by 9:10. Praise God!!! It feels great to have one more thing out of the way and closer to Jacob. Now we WAIT..................