Wrapping up the blog

Hello friends and family -
We have been so thankful for this avenue to share our journey both with Ben and now with Josie and hopefully some insights into adoption with you all along the way.

We are ever learning and growing in what it means to be parents of children from China and children from our womb. We know first of all our identity is in Christ and that is what we intend to communicate and validate first of all to all 5 of our kids. After that, we will honor our children's birth family and culture and story as best we can as well as honoring our birth children's unique stories.

So far, we see God's grace in our family even clearer in Josephine JiaYun. I am blown away by her willingness to trust us so soon. She no longer cries when I walk out of the van out of sight for a few seconds to go to her door and unbuckle her. She mimicks our words almost constantly in an attempt to communicate. One day we tried to write down all her new English words, but we couldn't keep up! She listens intently when we need to explain something in detail and while she doesn't understand all the words, she seems to understand he meaning a lot more than I would have expected.

Ben is growing into his new role as big brother. He's expressed some sadness at not being the youngest anymore and sometimes is getting annoyed when Josie does things like turn off Paw Patrol while he's watching it. At the same time I catch him doing things like spreading out Josie's blanket over her legs and feet while she's in her car seat on these cold days and I have hope he'll continue to learn to care for her.

Annie has been wanting a hair cut for a long time, but I told her we'd wait until Josie came so she'd look like the pictures Josie had seen. Now, Annie has the haircut she's been wanting and when I asked if her she was SURE she wanted bangs, she replied 'Yes. Like Josie." They've been requesting matching ponytails almost every day since.

Jude adores this little girl and is so looking forward to the day when she'll hug him unprompted. She sometimes says ''yes' and sometimes 'no' to his requests, but our snuggle bug Jude is learning to respect her space and keep pursuing her with kindness. Josie is really learning to adore Jude right back and I am thinking they'll have a sweet relationship.

TJ continues to laugh at what she laughs at and enjoy her sweet personality. He makes sure to check in with her every time he leaves for a significant amount of time, for school or a friends house and say "See you later, Josie" in English and sign language and she nods saying it back as best she can. She seems to be more at peace when he leaves, trusting he'll be back.

And Baba. Josie has warmed up to Baba and when I won't let her do something (like sleep on the hardwood floor for her nap), she will cry out for him :) If she's having a hard time at home and my consoling won't work, I offer to call Baba at work and she settles down and then smiles when she hears his voice. She reaches out for him now to be held instead of pushing him away like she did a lot in China. I think this is all really impressive for only 3.5 weeks. Someday soon we hope to transition Baba back into the master bedroom. For now, he's probably getting more rest upstairs :)

I, mostly, am trying to continue honing the skill of triage. It's more common now than ever that multiple children are having multiple issues at the same time that need intervention. Not to mention if I was in the middle of anything. I am needing God's discernment on who to attend to first, for how long and in what way. How to keep my pulse on how each child is doing, what they're interested in talking about, how much time I've spent with them on a given day or few days, etc. Then there's just keeping up with schoolwork, music practice, playdates, housework, shopping, food prep, the list goes on. It's also important for me to remember not to neglect our marriage and my own self care. These take more intentionality because the kids' needs always seem to be loud and clear, while Kevin's and my needs can be more subtle and willing to take a backseat. By the grace of God, I'm feeling very fortified for the road ahead of me. However, I am sure a day will come when it might become more overwhelming. For now, maybe I'm still just on a 'high' :)

There are big emotions and big adjustments for all of us these days. Sometimes Josie's deep sadness seems to hover so closely beneath the surface of her joyful spirit. They will likely cohabitate for a while and resurface together through the years. None of us are either all happy or all sad. Most days we are some of both, don't you think?  And I'm seeing this in all the kids as well as in Kevin and I. With every change, there is loss and there is hope for something new. Side by side.

I've been spending most of my time in the house with Josie and thought it might be too soon to take her to the store, but I really wanted some fruit for the weekend, so I took the risk on Friday morning.  I strapped her in the pack on my back and we picked up what we needed.  She did great until the van ride when she wanted to hold all the bags of food on her lap and they just wouldn't fit.

Josie keeping our new loot from the store nearby.

In the check out line I had someone ask "Can she walk?" I responded "Yes, but she feels safe close to me." Then another person looked at us with a bit of disgust and asked "Is that your daughter?" When I responded with a proud mama smile and a "yes", she glared at both of us with what I interpreted as a look of disapproval. When I realized Josie had caught her eye, I turned to block her gaze because Josie didn't need to see that. She just needed to know she's safe on Mama's back and we'll be eating those grapes when we get home.

I wasn't expecting all of that on a quick stop at the store. This may be part of why it is so highly suggested to 'cocoon' for the beginning weeks/months or however much time is needed to gain resiliency for these kinds of interactions. 

I was reminded that the world we live in can be a not so safe place and that sin oozes out and hurts people, even unintentionally. But thankfully, Christ IS a safe place. He welcomes the vulnerable orphans and widows alongside the judgmental and arrogant. He loves us all.  He sacrificed his life to forgive us all. His dominion over death gives strength to heal what is wrong in this world and one day ultimately redeem it all. He desires to dwell with us and us with Him if we will allow it. Not above and far away, but walking with us so we're never alone. If I remember that I'm in the same boat as the lady who did not seem to approve of our family, her glares lose their power. We both need Jesus. I pray Jesus will be Ben, Josie's and all of our family's refuge in this life that will surely bring more struggle.

As cliché as it sounds during this season of Thanksgiving...we have much to be thankful for. That said, we're fairly sure we won't be re-opening the blog for adoption #3. Both Kevin and I feel a sense of completeness, oldness and capacity pretty full. So, barring some lightening bolt message in  the skies to adopt again....our blog will likely fade into internet history :)

Thanks for following our journey and supporting us with notes and meals and encouragement and prayers. Please continue to reach out and let us be cheerleaders of all God is doing in your lives as well. 

Love in Christ,

Kevin, Courtney, Josie, Ben, Annie, Jude and TJ

Home

We are safely home. It's been a bit of a whirlwind and updating the blog has just slid off the list for a bit :) But we wanted to confirm we ARE in Minneapolis and we ARE all together as a family!

Picture taken near the beginning of our first flight when all was still well :)

The trip home was a bit challenging as Josie was pretty much tired of traveling. We had a delay in Seattle for a bit and that was just too much for her. She at one point was screaming over and over "I want to get off the plane!" (A kind man on the flight translated this for us. Although, we sorta got the gist from her other non verbal cues). We finally made it to Minneapolis around 9pm and were so thankful to see our kids and our family and the Connors, who are pretty much like family :) They all helped us rally from the exhausting last 30 hours or so. When we got home, the scene pretty much looked like this....

So excited to be together.

Unfortunately, the excitement is paired closely with jetlag effects and for Josie, another level of sensitivity in the transition.  Sleep has been hard for the four of us coming from China. We just can't seem to sleep at night and we're trying so hard to not sleep during the day, but getting dizzy and irritable and well...most of you have been there.

Grandma Sue and Papa T were great in continuing to help us get everyone fed while we were in lala land not sleeping. But they took off for Milwaukee on Sunday and we were left to figure out our new reality.

Jude, Annie and Ben are pretty enamored with Josie - trying to accommodate her every whim and request. She's eating it up for the most part. It does remind me of when Ben came home and how welcoming TJ, Jude and Annie were. But this time, I am seeing a new side of Ben. He has truly become a big brother. He's showing her where the eyes and toes and nose are on dolls and handing her toys when she is sad and putting his arm on her back when she's walking. It's really awesome to witness. He's growin' up.

There are already some new dynamics we are encountering that will take some working through in the family. And this morning, it was sad to send Dad off to work. I'm not super big fan of putting the struggles in detail on the world wide web, but feel free to reach out individually and I will gladly share specific prayer requests :) One clue, for myself, is that for the few hours of shut eye I was able to catch last night, I had a dream that I was losing children. It happened to be a little girl we met at Josie's orphanage who still needs a family and we had last minute said we'd take home. She wandered off and I couldn't find her in the neighborhood. It probably doesn't take a dream psychologist to realize maybe that's an indicator of some inner fear that I have more on my plate than I'm capable of handling? In the dream, thankfully, I did find the missing child. Hopefully that's a good reminder that eventually it will all be OK.

Overall, we wanted to say thank you for being a part of this portion of the journey. We are thankful for your encouragement.

Please don't stop praying and checking in. We still need it!
Courtney

Last days in China

Today might be a blog post with a lot of pictures, because we had a whole day off and we were able to take a day trip to the Chimelong Safari Park. It was probably the best zoo type experience I have ever had, with the only other one implanted in my memory was from when I was about 13 at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  We were able to get SO CLOSE to the animals and the animals were ones we don't always get to see in the States. Our favorites being...you guessed it....pandas! We got to go with our new friends Mark and Melinda (from Minnesota) and share the day with them and their family, which made it that much more enjoyable.

TJ was the picture taker extraordinare, and got some amazing shots. Most of which are on the other camera, but here are a few from my phone....

They had so many koalas!

There is nothing like seeing a panda in person.

Josie and I liked the Pandas best. I could have stayed in there all day watching them eat and play. The Park prided itself at having the only triplet pandas born in captivity in the country.  Typically solitary animals, these youngens were still together.  I think the videos won't work, but it's a good pic of Josie enamored.

Kevin's favorite was the Giant Anteater. Especially when it stuck out it's enormously long tongue.

No barriers, just walking right up to this gorgeous creature.

Kevin and Mark studying the quirky Probiscus Monkeys. The monkeys were not interested in being photographed, but the zoo made up for it by posting their picture about every 20 feet around the entire park.

Long noses signify good things in China. The Chinese sure love these monkeys!

Cute little lemurs crowding around a fruit munching. Josie is open to riding on my back now instead of my front, which makes my back VERY happy. 

We ended the day at our favorite local noodle shop. We feed all four of us for under $9 every time we go and we all love the food too.

Wish we could take this place home with us!

Today we are just wrapping up the explosion of our suitcases all over the hotel room and getting set to wake up early tomorrow to head to Hong Kong. We got Josie's visa this morning, so she is all clear for take off to the U.S. Our flight leaves Hong Kong at 11:30ish and we head to Seattle where Josie will become a U.S. citizen upon landing! After working through immigration there, we'll head back on a plane for the short ride to Minneapolis/St. Paul!

We will be on Delta, Flight 2536.Nov. 3rd, departing from Seattle at 1:20pm and arriving in Minneapolis at 6:38pm.

Our kids and parents will be there and if you'd like to meet Josie briefly, we'd love to see you! After this we might hunker down for a few months :) We are hopeful her adjustment will go well as she seems to have become much more comfortable with us even in this last week and a half. But just to be sure we will do our best to keep her world 'small' for the next few months. We are still so impressed with this courageous little girl.

We want to publically thank God for the seamless trip we have had paperwork/logistics wise. And also for new friends with great cold medicine. This trip is obviously only the beginning of our journey, as Josie will take a while to get acclimated to her new life.  We also will readjust to life as a family of seven. But we feel like we have had a great foundation to build on and we cannot thank God enough for that.

Thank you too, for investing in our journey - for your supportive comments and prayers and help with our kids as we've been gone. It really helps to not do this alone.

Good-bye to China for now!

Hopefully if we come back for a visit we'll be able to bring the whole crew!

Psalm 121 in Chinese

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. Maker of heaven and earth...The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

Sun/Mon/Tues

Oh my, I should really blog every day because so much happens. But here goes!

Josie's mirror.

Sunday we visited the Chen Family Ancestral Hall. Apparently the family built this magnificent building and anyone with the last name "Chen" could use it for events and festivities. Our guide told us the last name (or first name in China) "Chen" is as popular as "Smith" in the U.S. It was pretty ornate and fancy. But instead of showing a picture of the complex, I'll just share this one of sweet Josie getting a special mirror. In both our hotels the elevators have mirrors and many of the times she sees herself she just lights up and says "Yun Yun". This is what we found out she was called as a nick name. So, we got her this mirror from the gift shop. It's very pretty with a shellfish cover and butterflies on the top. Maybe not the most super 2 year old friendly gift, but we're going for it.

Monday we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. It's just down the street from the hotel. There aren't that many good pics from the zoo, but this one of a brown bear staring up at TJ was kinda fun. I'm pretty sure it wanted food. It's way easier to sneak food to the animals in this zoo than any I've seen in the States :) We didn't, by the way.

TJ and the Brown Bear

Monday night we were able to take the Pearl River Cruise. So far, Josie has done pretty fabulous when we're out and about, so we've decided to just try all the stuff our agency had offered to us. It's been a good way to get to know the country where two of our children are from. We happen to be here during a lights festival, so much was lighted up on the river edge which made the ride even that much more engaging. There was a juggler on the boat and I will say Josie's least favorite part of the evening was when the juggler grabbed her finger to spin a basketball on top of it. Thankfully, it was short lived and she was in Mama's lap, so she recovered fairly quickly. 

We are in the home stretch!

Tuesday Morning we went to our Consulate Appointment. This is our last bit of formal work here in China. Woohoo! We also took the van to visit Shaiman Island after our Consulate appointment. The trees are SO incredible. I wanted to take pictures of every one. I need to find out what kind they are.

Questionably appropriate tree climbing on Shaiman Island

Josie naps.

On Shaiman Island, we shopped at a store called "A gift from China". In it, were many beautiful items, but something that caught my eye was a book written about a family who were pressured into abandoning their child. It was a short story, written by a Chinese person for an adoptive family who might be able to share it with their child to help their child understand a little bit of the background of an all too typical story. It shares the customs and pressures on families to have a son to carry on the family name and take care of the parents when older and of the one child policy here to slow down population growth. It also tells of the birth parents agony in making the decision to release their child to someone else's care. To not abandon the child means accepting a life that few of us can even imagine living. I am convinced that the decision to leave one's child on a doorstep of a stranger or in a public place with the hopes they will be found, is not one the majority of birth parents in China take lightly at all. My strong suspicion is that they make this decision out of a place of sheer desperation in a culture of governmental control and influence that has made it so extremely difficult to make any other decision. My heart breaks for Josie and Ben's birth parents and I wish they could know what remarkable people they were a part of creating. 

On that note, it is also remarkable to be a part of God's redemptive plan for these little munchkins to belong to a family. We are so blessed to know them. I'll end with a few highlights from the past few days.

Josie has continued to have full nights rest and good naps when we're in the hotel. It is quite amazing. 

And a bit adorable too.

Josie likes to have her backpack with her everywhere she goes. Comfort. However, since she started riding in the pack TJ has been the delegated backpack holder. He's starting to feel like a personal assistant. Yesterday I asked if it felt like Josie was his sister yet. He said "yes". When asked to expound he said "Because she used to be just cute, but now she's cute and a little annoying." (He really wants her to carry her own backpack)

We take vans almost everywhere and we have used baby sign language to help communicate to her what is about to happen. It is so fun now to explain something to her and her nod her little head quickly and just ever so slightly. I am sure she is thankful too :)

This is where we eat breakfast everyday. I have completely become accustomed to the amazing scenery and smorgasbord of food choices, along with no prep or clean up. Josie has too. Even though life in MN will be different, we wouldn't trade being home for any waterfall or koi fish pond in the world. 

Josie took a while to realize it was OK to take a bath. Once she's in and adjusted, she seems to really enjoy it. She even dumps water on her own head to get the shampoo out! This is one of my new favorite pictures!

A big moment and just random stuff

If you have low expectations of things out of your control, it is always pleasant to be surprised :)

Kevin has been patiently and gently approaching Josie for the past week, but giving her space when she wants to cling to Mama. I caught him watching her yesterday and asked him what he was thinking. He just said "She's awesome."

It then was a moment he savored, when she wanted to be picked up and allowed him to do it. We were in the lobby of our new, grandiose hotel and though it was just for a few minutes, Kevin relished all of it. Now, he could start to resonate with me when I've been saying she's no lightweight!

Dad loves Josie.

This is by far less significant, but our view in Guangzhou is pretty incredible. I am wishing I could have taken a picture from Nanjing to show the difference. But the hotel shape was basically just a square where all the rooms windows started out at the other windows across the empty space. I was always afraid we were going to see a show we didn't intend on seeing. This is a little more visually interesting and safe.

We got in the elevator on Saturay morning to head to our first breakfast in our new hotel, when another family joined us from the 12th floor on the way down. It was clear they were adopting also and the wife said "Are you the Hubers family?" We said we were and we found out we had a mutual acquaintance who had told them to keep an eye out for us. It also turns out our guide works for their agency too. So we have a few outings this week where it will be our guide and our two families together. We also are both from the Twin Cities in MN and the husband of the family recognized Kevin's name because he used to work at Ameriprise. Crazy, huh? This is their second adoption as well and they are adding their 7th child to the family. Upon hearing that, my witty husband told them he thought it best if we didn't hang out together. They caught his sense of humor and we've enjoyed our interactions with them ever since.

We all went to our medical appointment together later that morning, where Josie was less than thrilled with being poked and prodded. She is such a sensitive, sweet girl. Her cries just melt me. It is so good to have the blood draw over with. That is, by far, the worst part of the medical check.

This doctor was so good with Josie, showing her on the toy monkey exactly what she was going to do. Josie didn't buy it.  She still didn't want her socks and shoes off. 

After naptime, we explored the roof of the 4th floor between the two high buildings where there is a huge landing. TJ has been wanting to go swimming and this was a much nicer pool than our last hotel, so we agreed. Kids are not allowed to go unsupervised, so Kevin got elected for 'pool duty'. It's great weather here, but it was also about 4 oclock and maybe in the 70's.  Not necessarily ideal pool weather. It was humorous watching them endure the cold, but afterwards Kevin said it was actually more enjoyable than he thought it would be. I didn't get a picture of the experience because I was on 'Josie duty' by the pool. She was in a giddy, running mood and there were tons of sharp edges and concrete. So, no free hands for pictures.

After swimming, we found a playground on the 4th floor roof.

Here she is ready to slide down awaiting a big 'boo!' from her big brother. 

 By a cool waterfall on the 4th floor after TJ got out the pool.

When I inquired about his smile, he told me this is how he smiles for pictures when he's shivering.

Some of you have asked how Kevin and I are doing emotionally. I think the fact that this is not a new process for us, plus that Josie is who she is, and that TJ is who he is, has made this quite a peaceful trip. Plus, we're not cooking, cleaning, carpooling, intervening on childhood disagreements or having to make a myriad of daily decisions like we do back home. We have two parents on duty for two kids all day long. So, relative to how life will be when we get home? This is a bit of a cakewalk.

Right now all our attention is on Josie and it's nice to have space to give her our everything.

Thurs/Friday wrapping up in Nanjing

So, Thursday we actually had a day with no required visits. After our big Orphanage visit day, it was nice to recoup with a lesisurely morning. I think it was good for Josie too.  She relaxes the most when we are just having down time in the hotel room. It is fun to see her explore and engage in games with us. There are surely times of sadness and even fits of being mad. But who can blame her? What a transition she has had and will continue to have. We just try to be attuned to what we think she needs, we stay in close proximity and remind her she is safe.

We were able to find more of her favorite milk.

Despite the face in this picture, she really enjoys the aquadoodle.

She's been a great napper, so usually she will fall asleep on my chest after some protesting and be out for a few hours. Upon waking, we did go out with Nancy, our guide, to visit one of the remaining city gates in Nanjing. Another city with a rich history.

The gate was 4 gates thick. We are standing in front of two of them. If the enemy charged, the front gate and an inner gate would slip down through the arches, trapping the enemy before they entered the city.

The Shonghua Gate was built 650 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. Men were required to create each brick according to strict specifications and imprint their name and date on each brick they made. Apparently, if you were building the city wall, and made a mistake on your brick, you were basically expendable. And I don't mean losing your job. It meant losing your life. Feeling grateful for your job today?

Can you see the name imprinted on the brick?

We also visited a Fabric Museum. I'm forgetting the style of weaving, but something like Broque? I took this picture for my mom, who is a quilter. She is always looking for beautiful fabric. The store at the museum was selling this fabric, which is hand made and takes about 8 hours to weave 5 inches. And it can all be yours, Mom for only $2526.31 US dollars per meter.

Our guide, Nancy. She is a thrifty lady and was beside herself at the cost :)

This fabric/artwork museum was right across the street from the memorial of the 300,000 Chinese people killed during the early days of WW2 by the Japanese. It was called the Rape of Nanjing.  The memorial is very large, taking up what seemed to be a city block or two. It is built on the site where much of the event took place. I have a picture on our other camera of the statue in front of the memorial. It is of a parent holding their child who has been killed and the parent is weeping. It is a hard statue to look at, for the grief is so well represented. Kevin, TJ, Josie and I are in our own little world here on our China trip, removed from regular life for a time. But I was just reminded, how there has been such national pain and suffering along with personal pain and suffering in this country. And in every country around the globe. I just had a moment of thankfulness that it will not always be this way and that Jesus offers hope through His redemption if we allow it. Nancy tells us many young people are turning from Buddhism and believing in God. She says "the Christian God". In a time when the name "Christian" carries baggage and many of us do not represent Christ very well at all, I am hopeful God can overcome our bad example and reach those hurting with His forgiveness, grace and mercy.

We realized Josie had been moving a bit slow all day, and she ended up coming down with a fever later in the day. We settled in for the night, but not until we decided to quick hit Pizza Hut for dinner. It was time for some familiar food. TJ seemed to get a kick out of it when my water was refilled and I said in "hello" instead of "thank you" in Mandarin. It takes a lot of concentration to try speaking another language. I seem to be running out of concentration.

Thursday was also a big day because it was the first time Kevin didn't sleep all afternoon! Yay! He has picked up his pace. Although TJ now has started in on a cough/runny nose and we already shared about Josie's fever. So, the health battle is not quite over yet. 

Friday morning was another lazy day where we wandered around the city a little more, stocked up on a few of our favorite snacks and packed our bags for the airport. 

TJ and Kevin in front of our hotel.

TJ with a little boy who thought he was really cool.

Trying not to get run over by bikes and scooters is a goal when walking about.
So far, so good. 

It was a late flight from Nanjing to Guangzhou and with Josie not feeling well, we were just ready to get through it. She snuggled up close in the pack as I carried her. Shortly before the flight, she perked up. TJ walked to the windows to check out the planes. She seemed to think he was too far away. She mustered up enough courage to head over there with Baba close behind. After spending 4 days glued to my side out in public, she seems to be slowly realizing we are all part of her clan. She'd turn around periodically just to see me watching. We got your back, Josie!

Orphanage visit day

Today was one of those days that only took up a few hours on the timeline of life, but had and will have a lifetime memory locked in. For me at least, and I hope for Josie as well.

The day started early, with a 7:30am van ride. Josie decided it was OK to sit in the seat next to me instead of on my lap. She's been pretty insistent on being within physical contact. I'm sure she just wants to make sure there are no more surprise caregiver shifts. We played some silly games on the van ride and Josie looked over her pictures. It was an enjoyable 3 hour van ride.

Little Josie 

We arrived in Kunshan City. It is a big city and close to Shanghai, so many people live here and commute to work. We were able to make a stop by the location of Josie's first orphanage. The grounds have apparently been transferred to the government for another project. They will be building new. All that was left was a pile of rubble.

We made our way to the current orphanage and it was clear the kids have a much more beautiful place to live. As we drove in we saw a digital welcome sign and on it was displayed "Gu JiaYun Welcome back to home". It was so awesome. Then at the entrance of the main building, an entire crew of people came to welcome us...all with joyful faces to say hello to Josie. They were caretakers, the Director of the orphanage, a few administrators and the Leader of the whole complex as there are many elderly that live on the grounds as well. We asked our guide Nancy, to explain to Josie that we are going for a visit, but she is coming home with us. Josie still looked a little stunned. She clung to me, which I was OK with :)

As I'm sorting through pictures, I'm noticing that we must have taken most of them with our other camera, and I haven't downloaded them all to this computer. And with all the commotion, and carrying Josie, we tried to take pictures, but it was challenging. Nancy also suggested we not take pictures with the other children in them, so we wanted to be respectful of that.

We proceeded up to Josie's floor and she seemed fine until they walked us into her room. The other children were just going down for a nap. She started to cry. Not sure if she was sad about being there or thinking she might go for a nap too, but we scooted out pretty quick so the kids could go to sleep and for Josie's sake too.

We saw where she eats meals and some nice rooms where they do crafts and music together. Josie was like a celebrity that day. The staff were taking pictures, we were taking videos. We were all talking about Josie. This little girl has had an unpredictable life, with so many losses for someone so young. Orphanage living is never ideal. However, I do believe she was cared for there.

After visiting her floor, they provided a lunch for us. It was very delicious. We kept talking about Josie, about their facility, the move, how adoption has changed in China, etc. We thanked each other for taking such good care of Josie and about how hopeful we are for her future.

Relaxing after lunch. Josie with her apple and toothpick.

We also told them Josie was singing in the van on the trip over and I asked what songs she likes. One of the nannies brought out her smartphone and found one. Josie smiled and all the staff laughed with her. The Director sat next to us and played another song for her. More laughter.

One of the sweetest moments was when the head chef came into the room to deliver desert. Apples on a toothpick. He saw Josie and let out a big grin and had smiling eyes. He looked like a proud grandpa to me. Then as we wrapped up lunch, we passed by him and he squatted down, said something in Mandarin and rubbed her cheek. Josie is only the third child placed for adoption this year, so this was a pretty big day for everyone and she was getting lots of special attention.

There are two other girls for which our agency has found parents. I have been able to connect with both of them. It's very sad, but we just found out one of the families is not able to proceed in adopting one of the girls. But the other family was really hoping to get a few pictures if we were able. I wasn't sure it would be possible, but our guide asked and they said "yes"! So, we headed back upstairs and they pulled out the two little girls into the main area.

This is "Celia". Look at that smirk! She is the one who needs a new family asap. 

She has a heart condition that needs monitoring.

Let me know if you want our agency's contact info!!!

It ended up being a sweet time with the kids playing a bit and the caretakers giving them lots of affection. The second time up to the floor Josie seemed much more comfortable. She gave some good bye hugs to the nannies and smiled big. She saw the other girl bring out the book of family pictures her family sent over and Josie went straight to her backpack to show us hers again.

The Director told us the kids like to see her watch. It's one of those fancy smart watches. So, they played with that for a little bit. It was a much more relaxed atmosphere and a beautiful end to the day. I'm very thankful we got to back up.

The orphanage director going through Josie's book of our pictures one last time before we go.

It was time for good-bye and Josie did great. I am hoping it wasn't confusing, but even if it was for a moment, she readily hopped back in the van to sit by big brother. As we drove away she looked out the back of the van. This was well worth the trip and she handled it like a champion.

再见 zài jiàn !

I must also give kudos to Kevin who was on camera duty (not his favorite duty) because of Josie's clinginess to me. And also because he worked diligently to suppress his cough. You would hardly have known he was sick. Josie missed her nap and so the ride home was not quite as peaceful and happy as the trip out there. But we made it. Kevin went straight down for resting and TJ, Josie and I headed out again for dinner in Nanjing.

It was moments like these where I was again thankful at God's provision for us. TJ is such a good helper and travel mate. He has his moments of pushing the goofiness too far, but we admit it's difficult to stop doing something when it makes Josie laugh so hard. It's been a joy to have him around.

The kids at home have successfully transferred back to their home and Papa T and Grandma Sue have swooped in with bundles of energy for their 10 day shift. Right mom and dad? They've brought their dog, Gracie, who offers a great comfort and distraction as the kids go through moments of missing having the whole family together. We're almost at the half way point here.

We found out one of the problems with our internet, but it's still unpredictable. Thanks for all your encouraging comments on the blog and facebook. It helps us feel supported and we hope it's blessing you too to see God's hand at work.

Write us anytime - it's fun to hear from the home front and honestly, there is quite a bit of downtime :)

Blessings!