Interesting Facts

The Great Wall
Forbidden City


For those of you who like factoids and history like me this post is for you. We have learned so much during our stay and to say that China has a rich cultural history is an understatement. Right now we are in the Guongdong Province in southern China. It is a sub-tropical region of China located near the South China Sea and Hong Kong. The city we are in is called Guangzhou and is one of the more affluent cities in China. Believe me we will kiss the ground once we land in the United States. We have toured a silk factory, pearl factory and tea factory. Our travels have taken us from the Forbidden City and Summer Palace to climbing the steps of the Great Wall. We have seen extreme poverty and worshiped our Lord in a christian church in Beijing. We stood in the middle of Tiananmen Square, which covers 1 million square feet of space. One of the funnier moments was when we were having a group photo taken at Tiananmen Square. The photographer kept pointing at me and saying something in Chinese. Finally our tour guide came over to me and kindly asked me to lean down and that my head was blocking the picture of Chairman Mao in the background. What a moment.

While in Beijing the bus rides felt more like a Disney amusement park ride. The people here are the most reckless drivers you can imagine. Amazingly we have yet to see a single car accident. The gardens and parks here are beyond description. They are immaculately kept and beautiful. Here in Guangzhou there is over 2000 years of history. Our history pales in comparison. In Beijing alone there are over 15 million people. In the nation there are 1.3 billion people. 95 percent are budhists but most of the younger generation follow the teachings of Mao. We are daily approached by street beggars and the occasional budhist monk collecting alms and passing out tracts of some kind.

The Great Wall was an experience that deserves a few more comments. It spans about 5,000 miles and protected at one time the border between Mongolia and China. It took over 200 years to construct. We climbed a section of it and believe me it is not an easy climb up the stairs. To see it and walk the steps is amazing. We have thoroughly enjoyed the culture and people and everyone has been kind and gracious. I will stop boring everyone now and close by saying that we appreciate all your prayers and support. We look forward to being home in a few days.

Birthday Party

Today we got all 9 babies together and celebrated everyone's birthday. We had birthday cake and just had a blast looking at all the little blessings running, crawling and scooting around the room. Ava is definitely not quite comfortable yet in a crowd. There is a lot more to share but I will do so on another post. There is a lot we have learned in the last few days. We hope you have enjoyed the pics and we can't wait to see everyone.

All smiles

I would be crazy to add any words to this picture so I will let it speak for itself. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we do.

With Mom and Dad

Here we are with our little sweetie. We have been very fortunate in that most of the babies have taken to one parent but rarely both. Sometimes it is the dad and other times the mom. In our case Ava will go to either one of us and we have both enjoyed our special moments with her. I like to think that it is our great parenting skills but it is our Lord's hand in it all. To Him be the glory.

Playing with toys

Ava is most comfortable and very much herself in our apartment playing with her toys. Here she is with a pretty bow in her hair showing off. Just the fact that she is grasping on to the toy is a miracle. When we first got her she wouldn't touch anything and even when you placed something into her hand she would immediately drop it. Our God is an awesome God.

Ava's continued transformation

This picture says it all. Ava in her little yellow outfit ready for her day. The transformation of our little girl continues to amaze Rhonda and I. What a powerful thing to witness. We have seen the power of love and affection and what it can do but also the devestation of what the lack of it can do on a life. We are on the last leg of the trip and cannot wait to get home to see our boys and to settle back in to the comforts of home. We love all of you and cannot wait for you to see Ava.

What a day! An amazing blessing from the Lord!!!!

Ava already had Daddy wrapped around her little,(and I mean little), finger!

more pictures of our princess

We went to the zoo today! It was wonderful! Ava is progressing before our very eyes! She has gone from not allowing us to touch her to loving on us , touching our face, smiling and laughing.

What a difference a day makes

As you can see by these pictures to say that progress has been made is an understatement. Ava has gone from very stoic and disengaged to now laughing, making noises and playing with toys. Just this afternoon she crawled for a ball that Rhonda placed on the ground in front of her. At 13 months this is the first time she has crawled. She was wiped out afterwards. Our hearts break when we think of the extreme neglect she surely suffered but we are filled with joy at the opportunity God has given us to show His love to one of his little ones.

Tonight we are having Thanksgiving dinner that has been prepared by the hotel. It should be an unbelieveable experience being so far away. The amazing thing continues to be that God never leaves us and knew even before Ava was in her mother's womb that she would be ours to hold and love and that she would have 3 big bubbas to love on her and protect her. Our prayer is that she would know the Lord and that she would serve Him all her life. That His name would be honored and magnified.

We hope you enjoy these first pictures of our little angel. Many, many more to come....

Daddy's turn

Well, it's my turn to share my experience and let all of you know what this trip has meant to me. Each day has been yet another victory with Ava experiencing something new at every turn. She has never felt fabrics before and is fascinated with textures, especially shinny things. Yesterday we went to a garden in Guangzhou that was the most incredible garden you can imagine. Ava was thrilled by all the colors and the fresh air. She is smiling every day now and even let out a few laughs this morning. She squints her little eyes when she smiles.

In China it is Thanksgiving day for us. How awesome is the God we serve. No matter where we go or how far he is walking with us. This experience has been such a blessing and it reminds us that we all are adopted children. God has taken us all in to His family just as we now welcome Ava into our forever home. We can't wait for all of you to see her and wish all of you a very wonderful Thanksgiving.

Gotcha Day!

Hello everyone from Guangzhou China!
Okay so your probly wondering why it has taken me so long to get something up for you to see what is going on. Well, what a whirlwind this has been. We have literally been nonstop for days and I'm just now getting to use a friends computer. I will go back tomorrow and post pictures for you of Tainanmen Square, the pearl factory, the jade factory, the Great Wall of China, the silk factory, and many other adventures. So to say the least we were non stop! Okay, so I know you all are dying to see our princess! Today was our official Gotcha Day! We flew from Beijing to Guangzhou this morning and went to get our babies at about 3:30. I can't even believe it! What an awesome and amazing God! We have her. She is now fast asleep. She has been incredibly stoic and quiet , kind of soaking it all in, just looking around at everything. She decided she did not want to eat for us and crashed at about 8pm. I'm sure she will wake us soon starving and wonder where she is. She is allowing us to hold her and will lay her head on us and just looks around. They had to drive 6 1/2 hours to get to us, so she was just beyond exhausted. She is tiny, tiny, her update says she only weighs 16 pounds. Boys, you are just going to die when you see how small she is. Her hands are the size of yours when you were born, wow! Okay, so I am going to post our pictures and get back to you all tomorrow. The day should be calmer and we are looking forward to it. Check out the hair and the pouty lips.
Love you !
rhonda

Hello everyone,
The Lord is truly amazing in how He works out every detail. We are so excited that we will be leaving on Nov. 16th to our journey to China. We will fly into Beijing, and stay there for a fews days. On Monday, Nov. 20th we then go to Guangzhou to get Ava Claire, her province is Guangdong, so we stay in Guangzhou the rest of the time. We will return to the states on Dec. 2nd! Yippee! This is so exciting and truly amazing! Please pray for our journey and for those sweet babies who are still waiting a forever home!

Here is a sweet poem that a friend of mine had on her website, I just love it.

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it

The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name

One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears

One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears

One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do

The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?

Both, my darling, both Just two different types of love.

---Author Unknown---