Settling In...and Happy Anniversary!!!

We had a nice Christmas with the whole family and then Bryan headed to Slovania to go snowboading with some friends and we headed to Florida so Dad and Whit could watch Lauryn (and the Stratford Varsity Cheerleaders) perform at the half-time show at Champs Bowl in Orlando. She did a great job and Mom, Lindsay and the little girls tried to watch from the condo but the half-time report pre-empted the show so we were disappointed.

On Monday we took the girls to Seaworld since Whit had a free pass for being active military. We had a nice time, but forgot how much harder it is to be in a park with little ones. Kylee and Lily enjoyed the Shamu show and playing in Happy Harbor. The weather was amazingly beautiful- in the 80's. Whit and Dad managed some rollercoaster time while the girls played. Lindsay was a big help and took Kylee on some rides and switched and let me take her while she watched Lily. Lily is still not feeling the best- has a rash and was a little overwhelmed by the park. They had a sandplay area and I discovered that Lily hates sand. She will not walk on it at all! I hope she gets over that cause mom likes to go to the beach.

Then we drove home and got in late Monday night. We are finally settling in to our life at home...dreading having to adjust to going back to work and leaving Lily and Kylee. Dad goes back to work tomorrow (the 1st) and mom goes back on Monday. Fortunately Lily LOVES Grandma and will be very happy to spend time with her while mom works.

I am so thankful for our family. Today is our 28th weding anniversary and we could not have imagined how our life together would turn out...but it has exceeded all my hopes and dreams. Two young kids who fell in love and couldn't stand to be apart (he was in the military) took a leap of faith and pledged to love each other forever- 28 years ago. I had to finish high school and we both had college in front of us. Today we both have Master's degrees. We took the harder path to education but we managed to get it done together!
As young parents we had two beautiful boys who filled our home with love and non-stop action...they still do! We are so proud that both of our sons have followed in Dad's footsteps to pursue a miitary career andare finishing pilot training. Both are handsome, Christian young men who have excelled academically and in every other way. We are so proud to be their parents. Then once Bo had college behind him and was an officer/pilot in the USAF our girls came along. Lindsay who has had so much to deal with physically throughout her life with medical challenges and yet is pursuing nursing and wants so much to be a missionary nurse and help children around the world. She is an amazing young woman of faith and determination and continues to struggle to be all that God wants her to be. We are sdo proud of her and know that she will do well and please God. Then we had Lauryn- our baby- we thought- our baby for 13 years. She is our joy!!!! She brings fun wherever she goes and continues to excel academically and as a leader. She joined with Mom in a heart for abandoned babies as a 10 year old and all of our lives have changed as a result.
So now we are "older parents" with two beautiful asian daughters. What a blessing to have so much love and to be surrounded by such amazing children. We never could have guessed 28 years ago where this all would lead but I knew that the man I loved was amazing and that he loved God too and he would lead me on an adventure and I have not been disappointed!

Bo- HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AND THANK YOU FOR 28 AMAZING YEARS TOGETHER!!!

WE ARE FINALLY HOME!!!!

We are so happy to be home! Tired, but happy. After a night in Newark, we had some frustration with the hotel shuttle-- Last night the driver said he would take us at 7:30 and that we would have plenty of time to get to the airport by 7:40. I went down about 7am and they confirmed that there would be a 7:30 shuttle. I got all our bags down and waited and waited and saw the driver and he said, "I don' know where the driver is, it is time for me t get off work.: and he walked out. So it was almost 8 when the driver pulled up and by then I had loaded everything onto a cart so we got on and he drove to the train station and then to the airport! Then there were no skycabs to help so again I was pulling luggage and stroller and kids. had to take a few suitcases a fewsteps and then pull another...very frustrating...and I was concerned about time. We were told there was one spot, but the rest were standby until a few minutes before the flight left, but Praise the Lord we all made it onto the morning flight and now we are finally home. I will write more when I can...gotta run.

The Day that Never Ends

Well we got up at 7am China Time on Sun morning-- 6pm Sat EST... it is now after 1am on Monday morning and we are heading to bed....in Newark. Our flight was over two hours delayed leaving Beijing and then we landed in Newark but spent a good hour or more on the runway waiting for a gate to open up because of icing problems. Our flight to Charleston was cancelled so we headed to immigration-- Lily is an American now!!!!!! Then through customs and then to a huge line of people waiting to find out about connections. That was miserable. The girls were SO GOOD on the flight but tired and hungry and we were trying to keep up with all our luggage that we had hoped not to see til Charleston. Sometime before 11pm an agent gave us vouchers for a hotel and some food and we caught a shuttle to the hotel. We missed having our guide to help us around the airport! I laughed when the bathroom was out of toilet paper--felt like I was back in China...we had to pay for the luggage cart-- missed the free ones in China. I have to say the service was superior in China. When our flight was delayed they t out drinks for everyone...whereas in our long wait to get a connection...nothing!
And now we will try to sleep a few hours and go to standby for a flight to Charleston...not sure if we will make it home. The only guarantee they could give us is for Christmas Day going to Columbia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE PRAY that we get home!!!!!!! Bo is leaving early in the am to go back to Florida and Lindsay should be getting out! We are so grateful! She may beat us home afterall.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURYN! Sorry I couldn't be there for you. I will never forget the night you were born. You are such a great daughter and I am so proud of you. Hang in there and I will be home soon!

Glenda

A Note from Grandma

Hi,
This has been a great experience for me. Lily is so precious, I would not have missed it for anything. She really stays close to me. I pray she will take well to her new home and family.
It is amaziing how we seem to understand each other so well. God has truly blessed us with two beautiful girls. I am so thankful for them and know God will use them for His Glory.
We have been delayed at the airport, but at least we are on our way home, just be a little later.

Keep us in your prayers...See you soon-- Grandma

--Way to Go Grandma! First blog post ever...first trip to China ever...My mom is such a trooper...she has been an amazing companion!

Waiting....

It is Sunday evening here and we are waiting at the airport. Our plane was to board at 4:20 pm for a 5pm flight but now they are saying 6pm boarding at the earliest...which means we may not make our connection to Charleston tonight...which means I won't see Lauryn on her birthday and Bo is supposed to leave out early to go back to Lindsay...always a million details!

We got up early and checked out and went to Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The service was awesome-- loved the worship! Unfortunately our guide could not come with us...you must have a foreign passport to enter. They had a worship leader from Australia today and it was very worshipful. On the way to the airport, the driver asked our guide questions about it and it was nice to hear her (what I could understand) talk to him about church and Christmas and he asked me about praying and the concept that people here would go to a temple to ask for something and I explained that although we do ask for things, prayer is more about talking to God and thanking Him for all He has done and worshipping and adoring Him.

We arrived about 1:30 pm and have been waiting since. The girls did great at church and are doing well now...hope that holds out for the plane. Lily has not napped today so hopefully she will sleep most of the trip. (I know- wishful thinking). It has been so amazing to watch her grow and blossom each day. She has the aweetest smile and will "kiss" me if I have gum in my mouth! We are anxious to get home and can't wait to see everyone. Please pray for us that the details come together and we can sleep in our own beds soon.

Love to all-- Glenda

PS-- Bo please follow up on our flight and arrangements if we are not going to make it in and I will call you as soon as we land.

Ready to go home

We had a really nice day...visited a Hutong village and had dumplings with a local family...went to a free market to bargain and then to KFC for dinner. It was fun spending the day with Lily and the girls did great! (I will post pics from Mom's camera when we get home and get her cord to download)

We are all packed and ready to get some sleep. We will get up and go to church and then have lunch with Lily and go to the airport. We have heard that Newark has lots of snow so pase pray that we are able to get in and on to Charleston-- there is only one flight out for the day once we get into Newark and we are so anxious to get home.

Lindsay looks much better today. She is slowly but surely recovering. We hope that we can all be together SOON. Keep us all in your prayers for safe travels. The next time I update the site will be from HOME... after some sleep!

Love to all--Glenda

We made it safely to Beijing

It was nice to have our guide, Lily, waiting for us and to introduce her to our Lily. She took us for a nice lunch on the way to the hotel and we rested a little and are getting ready to go to an acrobat show. Lindsay looked better when we spoke this morning as we were leaving the White Swan. I hope that she is awake soon so we can get an update. We are getting closer to home! Can't wait for you to meet Lily!

Our Last Day in Guangzhou

Today was a little strange not having our travelmates around. Many families left early this morning, but there were a few other families at the White Swan and we managed to have a nice relaxed day. We finished up some Christmas shopping and enjoyed visiting with Judy. She is an amazing shopowner. Her and her husband have a shop that is off the main area and business has been slow for everyone with the slowdown in China adoptions. We visited their shop the past two days and enjoyed getting to know them. The shop is not hard to find...if you are in Guangzhou, go to the block past Lucy's and turn left and go about 1/2 way down the block and you will see Judy's. She has the best prices without having to do a lot of bargaining and she is so genuinely kind. We had some great discussions about life in China and her decision 3 years ago that changed her life. She said that she has only read the book that we enjoy the second time now...She also introduced me to her american friends who live here and we talked about life in China and how they have adjusted. Meeting Judy was a highlight of our time in Guangzhou. I wish her much success.

Mom is helping with baths so I need to go. We leave VERY early in the morning to fly to Beijing. Our friend and guide, Lily, will meet us at the airport and has some fun things planned to keep us busy til we fly out on Sunday. We could not find a way to get home sooner and believe that there is a reason that we need to be here and we will make the best of it.

Thank you for your prayers for Lindsay. She looked better today. (I LOVE SKYPE) She had to start over with liquids and they will see if the blockage corrects itself. Please continue to pray for her and for Bo as he feels the pressure of the things that he planned to take care of at home and Lauryn who was counting on someone being home with her. I am looking forward to Christmas with all the children. Lily is very similar to little Whit- full of energy and smiles and laughter, always finding some trouble to get into. I think the kids will have a blast with her. Hope to see you all SOON!

Pics right before she dropped the camera!

Famous Red Couch Photos

Photos are courtesy of my travelmates.... We got all dressed and I took a pic in the room and Lily grabbed the camera from me and went running to the door where the floor is marble and dropped it on the floor.... Honey, I warned you... Miss Lily is a little busybody!

The Wuxi Girls with their Jie Jies

The Wuxi Girls

Please Pray for Lindsay

Lindsay's surgery was to be minor and she should have been discharged by now, but we just talked to Bo and Lindsay continues to be in a lot of pain and is throwing up bile so they have ordered a CT and XRay. Please pray that they find out what is going on asap and can fix it so that she can begin healing. Also please pray for me as I am having a hard time with being so far away and not being able to see her. I dreamed about trying to get to the hospital last night and to wake up and find out that I need to be there is making the time here difficult.

I have been trying to fix our tickets since we got our firm travel dates and now I really want to try again to come home sooner, but my and Kylee's tickets are from NWA points and Lily's tickets are bought through Cotinental- so that we are on the same flights but it is impossible to get them changed together. I am not sure that I can have Lily on a different flight so it makes it more challenging. Please pray that if there is some way to get home sooner that we will be able to do so.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. It means so much to us all!
Glenda

Tuesday 12-16-08

Playing at the white Swan Playroom- The Wuxi Girls and Kylee

Playing at the Park

Pics from Monday 12-15-08

Not sure if you can tell from the pic but people were all gathered around and feeding fish from a bottle. The fish came to the top to drink from the bottle...amazing!

These are scenes around the White Swan Hotel.

Good News from Consulate

We got a call from our guide that everything went well at the US Consulate appt. and we are set to go to the Consulate tomorrow afternoon for the swearing in for Lily. Then we will get her chinese passport back and her visa to come to the US along with the paperwork to become a US citizen when we land on US soil in Newark, NJ.

Things have gone smoothly and we are enjoying our time, but we are anxious to get home. Mom misses her pillow...and Daddy too. I am missing all my children- Lauryn at home with friends and Lindsay in the hospital with Dad helping, and the boys in Oklahoma....and of course I miss Bo too! I am looking forward to having everyone together for Christmas.

Lily is a handful and has lots of smiles and laughs and is busy as can be. She loves to copy her big sister. She is also pretty good at cleaning up-- She was putting her socks in the drawer this morning- too cute!--- so we are hoping that sticks and Lauryn doesn't rub off on her (lol)!

Well we are off to do some Christmas shopping on the island.

Love to all-- Glenda

12-15-08

We started early this morning with Lily's passport photo.

Then we headed to the medical exam. Lily did well with the medical exam...not too happy about it but that is to be expected. The doctors seemed a little unsure about her but we assured them that we understand her need. I am so anxious to get her to Cinncinati. We may have to go sooner than we had hoped.

Comments

I was beginning to think that no one was around, but Bo let me know that no one could leave comments unless they have certain blogger or google accounts. I have fixed that now so that anyone can comment- even anonymous- which was the only way I could do it on my "test" So if you are like me and need to pick anonymous- then in your post please say who you are and leave your comment. I am looking forward to hearing from you all.

Lindsay is doing well

Many of you have asked about our older daughter Lindsay who had surgery on Friday. Dad and Grandad were able to be with her and after surgery we were able to see her and talk to her using skype. I love skype! It is free computer to computer voice and video calls. I wish I could have been there for Lindsay but she wanted us to bring Lily home and encouraged us to go ahead and not make Lily wait any longer. She is in Florida at the Cleveland Clinic and it is a great hospital and we know that she is being well-cared for. This was the end of several surgeries for her and is the most minor of them all. She should be ready to start back to nursing school in January. Thanks to all of you for your prayers for her. (PICTURE: Lindsay on our mission trip to China in May 2008)

We made it to the White Swan-- The Disney of China

GETTING READY FOR BED!

The Girls with Jordon- He wrote their names in chinese characters!

We are so happy to be in Guangzhou. I always said it feels like going to the Epcot World Showcase and even more so this time. The room at the White Swan is beautiful and the service is incredible. I am very pleased with it all. Strolling the streets again brought back such fond memories. We dropped off our laundry and it will be all nice tomorrow before noon. We went to Lucy's for dinner and enjoyed seeing food that looked and tasted familiar. The lights here at night are so beautiful and the pace is so relaxed and enjoyable.

Lily is doing great. She did awesome on her first plane ride...might have another pilot in the family! Kylee is always great! I am so blessed to have such good travelers and such adaptable children. Lily still prefers Grandma, but I am fine with that since it has given Kylee time with mom and time to transition and the jealousy has been very, very minimal. More and more of Lily's personality comes out as she sings and repeats everything...just still really quietly She is so smart. You name something one time and she has it. She sees Kylee getting undressed or dressed and she starts to do the same. She can pretty much do it herself...very independent.

Most of you know that this is a special needs adoption and Lily has a bowel issue (called anal atresia). The closer we came to travel the more I began to fear what it might be like. But her need is very manageable. Twice we have given a tiny amount of imodium and that has helped tremendously. The baggies to close up the diapers was great idea -- THANKS friends for the heads up. Other than that nothing slows her down. She has a great appetite. She is a lot of fun. I hesitated to share about her need online but if it will help others to consider children with this need, then it is worth it. I am so in awe of how God has built our family through almost 28 years of marriage (Dec 31) and now 6 children who each fit so well into our family and fill my life with such incredible joy!

Tomorrow is the medical exam and pictures and beginning the US paperwork. We are all pretty tired and will probably turn in early again. Thanks again for your prayers. Your comments and encouragement mean so much to us.

Saturday 12-13-08

Today has been a fairly restful day. We decided that we better go back to Walmart for diapers and snacks before leaving (we are low on diapers esp), It was VERY different than when we went the other day. It is like the USA and Walmart on a Sat times 10!!!! It was so crowded and people had samples everywhere. I let Lily try all the strange stuff and of course she loved it!

Wamart has a KFC so we had some lunch and then went exploring. We wondered around outside and found some play area where it seems they were promoting baby formuka so they had balloons and a jump castle and such. Kylee jumped right in and had a ball. They even got a picture with Mickey Mouse! (Grandma brought the camera today so I can't download til we get back home).

By then the weather turned strangely cold and windy and it was quite cold so we slipped inside and found floors and floors like a huge malls with high-end clothes- very NY City like-- too expensive for me. Then we wondered around until we found the line waiting for a taxi back. There were people everywhere and we had to wait for a little while. It was an experience! But we made it back safely...and now we are playing and resting. The girls did not have a nap today and yet they were precious angels. And now they are sining together. Lily can sing the chinese "Two Tigers" song and "Mama Hao". We are playing run to Mama and back to Grandma and give hugs and kisses and she is really loving on Mama now. She is singing along with Kylee to "The Wheels on the Bus" not sure if she ever heard it but she is a quick learner and her little voice is so sweet!

Sorry no pics but I will get more tomorrow.

Friends are heading to Guangzhou

Lily (XiaoWan), Kylie, Karli (NaNa), Breda, Kylee, and Lila (Hebei)

More from Dinner

Lily with our guide, Sandra

CELEBRATION DINNER 12-12-08

We have Lily's chinese passport and all of the adoption documents! Our agency took us out for a celebration dinner. The other two families left this morning- Sat 12-13-08 to head to the White Swan in Guangzhou. We had a mixup and understood that we should plan to leave Sunday and have non-refundable tickets so we will stay til Sunday morning here in Nanjing and then head to the famous white swan hotel. Then on Monday we will begin the US side of things to get a visa to bring Lily home.

The restaurant was very nice! (Bo- it was the one that I walked in and checked the menu and decided not to go to when we went to the Japanese-like one). It was a neat experience. The food was very tasty...not what we are used to eating, but good. They do not have our "chinese food" favorites but the flavors are good and I can eat pretty well with chopsticks now. Lily ate the most we have seen her eat!

Ming Tomb Area and Zhongshan Mountain National Park

Ming Tomb Scenic Area- 12-12-08

Lily with Grandma-- You willl notice unless we want a shot of Lily crying then she is contentedly seated with Grandma!!!

This is near Ming Tomb... we were on our own without a guide so not too sure what we were seeing but it was a fun adventure. We had no idea how huge the place is or we would have planned for the whole day.

This is Drum Tower- a short walk from the Hotel. We enjoyed buying some nice things from Lily's province for her to have when she is older. The prices were more reasonable than the Nanjing Museum gift shop.