Sugar lips! Enjoying the hotel breakfast buffet.
Our hotel.
Bye bye USA!
We don't have a lot to report at this point. Just that we made it to China safely after a long, long, LONG and cramped flight. It wasn't horrible...just not something we want to do again any time soon...like for at least 3 weeks. Haha!
Wow, I didn't realize you were traveling that soon! So happy you are there safe and sound. When is your gotcha day? I know you must be so happy and excited!
hey, can't be worse than a 15 hr flight with a 10 month old who is very mistrustful of you! How is Gracie holding up? I keep thinking back to that short flight where all our babies cried! Wish we were with you!
Today was adoption finalization day. When we adopted Gracie, we had Gotcha Day and the adoption finalization on the same day at the same time. Now, China often gives families a 24 hour "honeymoon" of sorts. This was the exact spot when Gemma's first adoption was disrupted last November. We were afraid that she would have flashbacks to that time. Also, we had to go back to the same office where we received Gemma yesterday and where she had, ahem...a meltdown. We were really terrified that she would definitely remember the fear she expressed there yesterday. We were praying HARD all morning and all the way to the office.
Well, once again, God proved himself faithful (like I really need him to prove himself again and again, right?)! But he continues to show himself faithful and merciful--Gemma was absolutely FINE at the civil affairs office today. No flashbacks, no meltdowns, no sadness. It was as if God wiped her memory clean of that fear, just like we tried to wipe her t...
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Saviour I will call upon Your Name Keep my eyes above the waves My soul will rest in Your embrace I am Yours and You are mine -- Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) Hillsong United Okay, if you haven't read Part 1, go here . Otherwise, let us continue. So, it's January 2013, and I decide to share my thoughts on my book ( Knowing God ) and my convictions with Simon. He's kind. He hears me out. He's not flippant nor does he ignore me. But I can kinda hear him saying to himself, "That's nice, sweetie. But why don't you just keep your convictions to yourself, mm-kay?" I realize I better start praying. So I pray. And pray. And pray. And I visit many blogs that I like to follow. On one such blog, I am m...
Whew! What a day! In the words of the wisest 7-year-old I know, today was "tough--tough but good." Having gone through a Gotcha Day before, you'd think we would know what to expect, right? Well, right and wrong. We knew she was timid, introverted, and shy; we knew she had a previous disrupted adoption; we knew she was scared of foreigners. What we didn't know was how that would all manifest itself. Well, it was something. There were lots of tears...from Gemma and from us. There were a LOT of prayers. And the biggest thing I can say is THANK GOD FOR SIMON! He was my rock, and he was Gemma's rock too, even though she didn't know it at the time.
We arrived at the Civil Affairs Office with 1 other Lifeline family. We saw Gemma before she was handed over to us, and she looked happy. After she was given to us, it was mayhem for a while. To preserve Gemma's dignity, I won't go into details. Let's just say our hearts were breaking for her. The fear in he...
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