There's Madness In The House...

March Madness, that is! Once a year, life is turned upside down in our house and everything is scheduled around the college basketball games. Jody also has all of us fill out our brackets before the tournament begins. Some of us do it with a randomness and some of us do it with calculated thought (any guess on who does what?).

Jamae has won twice in the past which usually makes us shake our heads. This year I decided to go with all the higher seeds except for Ohio State which I brought to the final game. Not good since Ohio State lost in double overtime tonight. Jay is winning in our family right now. He is the only one who did not pick Ohio State to win tonight. Where is his loyalty? Well, he might not be loyal but he is the only one who won.

The other fun today was that we celebrated Ming's 1/2 birthday - today he is 13 1/2! As you probably know by now, here at the Bowser house, we celebrate 1/2 birthdays with a special dinner and 1/2 a cake. When I asked Ming what he wanted for dinner, I was surprised to hear him say that he wanted vegetable pizza. I thought for sure he would pick Chinese food. So we celebrated with pizza and homemade ice cream cake. It was a great day as the kids had the day off from school and Ming spent time on the phone with his friends in China. What a fun way to start Spring.

A New Semester

Today starts the second semester at school. How could it possibly already be the second semester? A lot of changes start today.
Ming is being integrated into 2 regular classes. Whippee! I can't believe that after only 5 months in American school, he is already ready to join the regular 6th grade classes. He will be going to Math and English. English is with our family favorite teacher, Mr. Krogh. Madison is a tiny bit jealous. Please pray for him that it will not be too overwhelming and that he will do well.

Today starts Jay's last semester of high school! This has been a year of grieving for me as this will be Jay's last year at home and our last year as a family as we know it. So I started this morning a little emotional - Jay on the other hand is excited. He is very ready to be done with high school. Please pray for him as he has 3 dive meets this week and he is feeling a little under the weather.

Our high school is on block scheduling, so today starts new classes for Jay and Jesse. The high school is also implementing a new lunch schedule, breaking the one lunch time into two. A bummer for Jess - the friends he usually eats with have the other lunch time. I offered to come eat lunch with him, but he declined my offer. What's up with that? :)

The other three kids continue life as normal, counting the days until summer. And on a 10 degree day, summer sounds great to me!

Imagine My Surprise!

I was reading the Chapman's assistant Grace's blog entry about the Shaohannah's Hope dinner this past Saturday night. She was showing the decorations used for the dinner. Imagine my surprise when I saw Ming's picture up on the stage. Shaohannah's Hope chose Ming as one of their 'kids' 2 years ago when he first became available on our agency AWAA's site in August 2006. Shaohannah's Hope has called thousands of people to pray for Ming these last 2 years and also gave us a grant to bring Ming home. We will be eternally grateful to them. If you are looking for an organization this Christmas to donate to, I strongly urge you to consider Shaohannah's Hope.

Here is a copy of the picture that I sent Shaohannah's Hope of Ming that they cropped down. It was taken back in July on a family trip that we took to a park just outside of Spokane. We actually had already posted this pic on our blog back on July 31st. And now it's being featured at a Shaohannah's Hope dinner. Too cool...

A Double Blessing!

Today was a day that we have waited for and anticipated for a long time - for two very special reasons. Today Alisa met Ming for the first time and we were able to meet Alisa & Scott's sweet daughter, Adeline.

For two years now, Alisa has prayed fervently for MIng. She first saw his picture on America World's website about the same time that I did. God put Ming on Alisa's heart in an intense way- so intense that she could not stop praying for a forever family to be found for him until she found one for him. Imagine our surprise when we realized that God intended our family to be Ming's forever family and that Alisa had been praying for our family all along. Alisa has continued to pray for Ming the nine month that it took to process our paperwork. While we were in China, Alisa was admitted to the hospital for pregnancy related problems and was not able to meet Ming when we brought him home from China. How fun it was for her to meet him today.

On Monday, Alisa delivered Adeline Charlotte at 34 weeks! We have been praying for Adeline since December when her mommy and daddy told us about her upcoming birth - of course we were expecting to meet her in late Aug/early Sept. It was a long 7 months for Alisa and we were so excited to hear about her arrival on Monday. We were so thankful to visit with Alisa & Scott today and to be able to meet Adeline. She is absolutely beautiful! We continue to pray for her as she adjusts to this world and grows stronger each day - hopefully to come home soon.

Adeline Charlotte Shaw


Alisa with Ella & Elijah


Ella watching Ming play his DS

After we spent time with the Shaw family, we took the kids to the Riverside State Park. We discovered this park in May when we went to Spokane for Celebrate Life Day! I love all the sights, sounds, and smells this park offers. The smell of the pine trees, sound of the rushing water from the river, and the beautiful suspension bridge over the water. We picnicked here in May, but today we went back to hike. It was a fun, relaxing way to end a day full of blessings.

A beautiful park


All smiles!


Mitchell enjoying the bridge


The winner!


Beautiful sisters


A relaxing day

Amazing!

We can't believe that we have been home two weeks already. We spent the first week trying to get back on Washington time. That is never fun! It's amazing that the body doesn't always want to sleep when you tell it to and wants to sleep when it shouldn't. Thankfully we had only one night when Jamae and Mitchell decided at 2:00 am that they didn't want to sleep anymore and should be up for the day. We had many nappers that first week, especially Ming. I think he was physically and emotionally exhausted. Thankfully that is all behind us.

This week has been full of summer fun. We have been swimming which is a favorite of MIng. It was fun to watch his face as he experienced our Surf & Slide Water Park for the first time. He loved the water slides, the lazy river, and even tried the flowrider. We told you he was brave. He got in line with Jody and Mitchell, but after watching a few people surf, Jody said that Ming wasn't so sure he wanted to try it. After some urging by Jody, he jumped on and did great! I was really proud of him. He's working very hard on his swimming because he wants to go off the diving board and go on the drop water slide. I'm thinking that will be next summers adventure. Ming was very excited to see that Jay was a lifeguard, although he didn't believe that really was Jay sitting on the chair until Jay raised up his sunglasses.

Yesterday was Jody's day off. Ming grasped quickly the concept that 6 days Father works, but on Thursday no work! Yeah! We went disc golfing. Ming told us that he played frisbee in China, but never disc golf. He was really good. He has a great throw. I'm getting the impression that he is a natural athlete. He can also ride a bike. Our first day home he jumped on a bike and was off. No need to teach him how ride. I'm not sure when he learned or how often he has been able to ride a bike, but he sure knows how to ride. He's full of surprises.

We really enjoyed attending church on Sunday for the first time with Ming - something we had thought about alot the 9 months we were waiting to bring him home. Of course our thoughts always centered around how Ming would react to attending church with us, not knowing if he would even know what a church was. Now we know that Ming attended church in China. Besides saying to me as we walked into the service, "No- English!", he handled the service great. Jody showed a slide show of our time in China and Ming seemed to enjoy seeing himself on screen. I think it was good for him to see the whole trip together like that, hopefully getting a better understanding of how thankful we are that he is now part of our family. Jody and I were also blown away that Ming was singing the songs - we believe in English. We have to believe that he was reading the words to the songs off the screen. We were amazed.

We allowed Ming to call his children's home in China soon after we got home, so he could let them all know that he is safe. This is the third time that he has called them - the first time was the day after he left Living Hope and the second time was the morning we were leaving China for Hong Kong. I think he wanted to say goodbye. This time he was very excited to call. I can imagine that he misses them very much. We could tell that he talked to many different people and used the word for amazing alot. We can only hope that he was telling them over and over how amazing is his new life and family.

The language continues to be a huge barrier. We so wish we could sit down and have conversations with Ming, but that will come. From what we can tell, he is adjusting great. The last 4 weeks have been amazingly smooth. We are so thankful for the easy adjustment to Ming becoming a Bowser. He is working hard on his english. Here is a picture of Jamae teaching him through one of her computer games.


The patient & adorable teacher


Thanks for your continued prayers. We are so excited to be in this journey!

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

After 7 flights, 5 hotels, unknown miles, and many different modes of transportation...we have arrived safe and sound back in good ole Moses Lake. Thanks be to God.

Our last 2 days at the Hong Kong Disney proved to be a wonderful time for our family. It was a perfect ending to what was, in many ways, the perfect trip. The main thing was the Ming seemed to have the time of his life. I believe Caryn mentioned in an earlier blog that when she told Ming that we were going to Disneyland, he actually teared up. My sense of it was that our time there was everything he hoped it would be. The rides, the shows, and just the energy of it all. And we capped it all off with a late night swim before the piano shaped pool closed down at 10pm.

Caryn and I then stayed up way too late getting everything packed back in our bags for a very long day of travel. I think we got 3-4 hours of sleep before the 4:45am alarm jolted us back into the land of the living. We were down in the lobby by 5:45am for our taxi ride to the airport. And thus began our "Two Friday" day. The first Friday was the 14 or 15 hours of air travel that took us from Hong Kong to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Seattle. We landed in Seattle at 9am, less than an hour after we took off from Hong Kong (taking into account crossing the international date line). It's a good thing we had our time travel glasses on!



Touching down in Seattle began our "2nd Friday"...and it also was essentially the moment that Ming became a U.S. citizen (made official when customs stamped his passport and cleared him for entry). The weather in Seattle couldn't have been more perfect...80 and sunny. It truly was a wonderful welcome back to the States. We were all worn a bit slick, but not too bad considering the journey. Customs took a bit longer than we anticipated, but the great news was that by 11am, we were claiming all of our luggage, and being greeted by the Bailey family who brought our car back to the airport for us...complete with some nice fruit and delicious chocolate chip cookies (thanks so much!).

We still had a 3 hour drive up and over Snoqualmie Pass, and down into the Columbia Basin. But not before the joy of $4.40 gasoline, and some Starbucks. The drive...and in fact ALL of our travel...was smooth and completely uneventful. You really can't ask for more than that. We rolled into a pleasant and wonderfully sunny Moses Lake around 3pm this afternoon.

The rest of the day has been: 1) fighting off sleep, 2) showing Ming his new home, 3) fighting off more sleep, 4) enjoying a delicious meal compliments of the Alcorns, 5) getting our PJ's washed, 6) allowing the kids to play off some pent-up energy (they got some sleep on the flights...Mom and I didn't get a wink), and 7) just now getting them all tucked down for the night with Ming in the bed that has been waiting for him since last September 15.

As a family, we thank God for his watch-care over us.

We also thank all of you for following our journey, and holding us up in your thoughts and prayers. We have been completely blessed, and are acutely aware of your support. This concludes one chapter, and begins another. We can't promise a nightly blog as we've maintained these past 2 weeks, but we'll update regularly...so please check back often. Ming is a very brave young man...more brave than any of us realize. He has faced all of these massive changes head on and full of courage. We have no doubt that will only continue. Please pray that he gets a handle on the english language in a God-accelerated manner. And pray for our family as we now work him smoothly (we hope) into the operating systems of our family.

And one more thing before we finally put our heads on our pillow after being up somewhere around 32 hours...if God is tweeking at your heart regarding adoption, please at least be willing to pray about it. There are so many children in this world that are longing for a loving home. Ming is one of millions. He and Jamae are two that God intended for our family. Might He be intending one for yours? We are the first to admit that it is a HUGE leap of faith. But that's precisely the life that our Master has called us to. We follow an unpredictable carpenter. And what a ride it is.

Some Random Thoughts

I (Caryn) thought that I would post this morning (while I am awake) some random thoughts about our trip.

*This morning is the first morning since we got here that we all didn't wake up between 4-6. We slept until 8-9, although Jody & Madison did just tell me that they both woke up around 5-6, got up for a while and then went back to bed.
*The funny thing is that because we have been getting up so early, last night we had planned to go to the local park around 6:30 this morning to see the locals. The park is filled with thousands of people exercising, sword fighting, and ball room dancing. We slept through that this morning. I guess we will have to set our alarm tomorrow.
*The breakfast buffet at the hotel is very large and plentiful. The first morning, Ming filled his plate up high with western food and ate it all. I doubt he had ever seen that much food at one time before. The next morning, I showed him where the congee (chinese rice oatmeal) was, thinking he might want that since it is what he is used to eating. He told me he did not want that! I don't blame him at all. That stuff looks awful. I remember when we were in China with Jamae, I took her off of congee the first day because the stuff looks nasty.
* So far we have eaten two chinese dinners. They were excellent. The funny thing is that Madison liked the food (she claims to not like chinese food) and Jamae didn't like the food (she claims to love chinese food. She's chinese after all, as she would say).
*We have also eaten at KFC, Papa John's, and Dico's ( a chinese fast food place). Ming had been to a McDonald's before, but never the others. He liked the food. That is good news since I don't really know how to cook chinese.
*We learned that on special days, like American New Year, the children in his group home would be taken to McDonald's for a special treat.
*So far we all feel good. That has been a blessing.
*To say that Ming loves his Nintendo DS we bought for him would be an understatement. We have a hard time getting him away from it. We do see it as a blessing though. It allows him a way to pull into himself. Being with all english speakers must be very difficult.
*Ming came to us with a backpack filled with school books, a bag with stuffed animals, a bag of clothes, and a box of treasures. We still haven't seen all the treasures yet.
*It is very, very hot and humid here. Being from dry Moses Lake, we are suffering and sweating.
*We have 2 connecting rooms which has been wonderful. When we were here with Jamae, we were not able to get connecting rooms until the end of the trip. We have one room with a queen bed, a roll away and a couch that Jamae is sleeping on. The other room has 2 twin beds and a roll away.
*The beds are HARD! They make me wake up with a backache. I think Ming must think they are very soft, because when we saw his bed yesterday, it is a piece of plywood with a bamboo mat on it.

The family is ready for breakfast. We will write again soon.

July 1

Today was a great day as we tried to take in some of the sights of Fuzhou. We did this for us and for Ming. We certainly want to visit some of the highlights of Fuzhou, but we especially want Ming to have memories of Fuzhou, his home city. After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel buffet, we went to the Panda Zoo here in town. They have 7 of the 100 pandas left in the world. A few of the pandas from the earthquake area have been brought here. We saw one of these pandas - he has lost a leg and eyesight in one eye because of the earthquake. The zoo director was very glad to have us visiting his zoo and really went out of his way to accommadate us. Our guide told us that he was treating us like he would royalty. Here is a picture of the zoo director with Jody, Jay and Ming.

We really enjoyed spending time seeing the pandas. The director even brought us to a place where we could see them up close.



Ming had never had the opportunity to see the pandas, so I was so glad that we were able to see them with him. He seemed to really enjoy it. We also had our guide tell him that on the way home, we are going to Disneyland. How fun to see his reaction. He gave me (Caryn) a huge hug. He said that he has always dreamed of going to Disneyland. I am so thankful we put that in our trip.
We then went to see the "hero" of Fuzhou's home and went to a tea ceremony. It was very interesting. Jesse and Mitchell did not seem to see it as fun, but Ming enjoyed it. He likes tea, so we bought some dragon tea (the tea of Fuzhou) so we can make him some tea at home that he is used to.
After a lunch of KFC, we came back to the hotel to swim. Ming had told us that he knows how to swim. I believe that he has been in a swimming pool before, but he doesn't know how to swim. I only had to rescue him one time and then he learned his boundaries. We had a wonderful time relaxing in the pool.

We decided to take Ming down to the rec area and see if he really knows how to play ping pong like we had been told. Wow! he is really good. Jody did manage to beat him, but he gave him a run for his money. Ming also wanted to try pool although he had never played it before. He caught on really fast.

It has been such a day full of blessings. Ming is such a wonderful boy. So full of life. I know that this change must be very hard for him, but he is so brave. I feel like he is completely embracing us as his family. He understands what is happenning and seems to be okay with it. The language barrier does make things hard as we can't talk to him like we would if we both spoke the same language, but we are getting by with our limited chinese and gestures. A smile goes a long way. He is getting along wonderfully with the kids, in fact he is playing on his DS with the boys right now.

Please think of him tomorrow as we go to visit his orphanage. We have come to learn that he has been living in a wonderful group home these last 3 years, who have become his family. I know he is excited to show us where he has been living, but it will be a very sad day for his as he says his final goodbyes. Yesterday, after we came into the hotel room after receiving him, he immediantly tried to call someone on the telephone. He could not get the number to work. Through our guide, we found out that he was trying to call one of his caretakers at the orphanage to tell him that he was ok. Thankfully, today he was able to call them and connect with the caregiver. I am so thankful that he feels loved and cared for by the workers at his orphanage. I am fully confident that he will be able to also love us, his new family.

Thank You Moses Lake Alliance Church!

As we make our final preparations today to head off to Seattle tomorrow (to pick up Jay) and then on to China (on Saturday afternoon), we wanted to express our deepest gratitude to our church family. We have been OVERWHELMED by your love, care and support for us and for our son, Ming. Last September, the day after we came to the conclusion that we are the family God had in mind to adopt Ming, we received a check for $920.95. Why that amount? It's because that is Ming's birthday...9.20.95. From that day on, we have been astounded by your generosity.

So as we go, we know that you, Moses Lake Alliance Church, are going with us. When we embrace Ming...you are embracing him as well. And we will be so very excited to bring him home, and introduce him to all of you who love him so dearly. We truly couldn't be doing this without you.

From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for Living the Call!

News from Burkina Faso & Shopping For China

Here's the update Michael, our high school pastor, sent today:
Today was a good day. We visited an alliance church where they minister to Compassion International children every Thursday. We played with the kids. Our group in total adopted 6 of the children (60 of the 200 who come have not yet been adopted). Some got to meet their child. I adopted one for the youth group, but didn't get to meet her because she went home sick. Her name is Bereniece.
We went to the Bobo market. It was crazy. People all over you there. We had lunch at the Schaeffers' (son of Grace Church pastor in Cleveland, Ohio) and dinner at the Hulls' (missionaries working w/Obergs). We went to visit a group of believers who meet for discipleship on Thursday nights in Sacabe here near Bobo. 11 men came to faith just two weeks ago. They sang a bunch and we were welcomed by the former village chief (he had to give it up b/c of his faith). we met in his courtyard. We're all tired and going out to Sirasso tomorrow (about 3 hour drive - right near border of Mali) to paint their church and will do that tomorrow and Sat. - go to church there on Sunday and come back Monday morning, So, three nights in the bush. Everyone is feeling better here now, but very tired. Thanks for your prayers!

Sounds like all is going well. Thank you for your continued prayers for Jay. We sure are missing him but very glad he is there.
Today I did a mega shopping trip to get all the remaining things on our list for the trip. I had some "fun" trying to buy clothes for Ming. The last measurements we got on him were in September when he was a little shorter than Madison and the same weight as Mitchell. So...I tried to look guess on his size from that information. I ended up buying one size bigger than Mitchell figuring that if the clothes are too small for Ming, they will eventually fit Mitchell. I expect him to be quite thin. We plan on doing most of our clothes shopping for Ming in China and then when we get home, but I want a few things in his suitcase for him to see when he first gets to the hotel room. I had a lot of fun buying him a Nintendo DS lite. I don't know if he has any idea what that is, but 5 minutes with our family and he will quickly learn. So, one more week until we leave! Tomorrow we get our travel itinerary. We'll post it when we get it.

The African Bush & China

We haven't heard anything specific today about Jay and the team in Africa. Their schedule says that they were to drive from Ougadougou to Bobo-Diolasso (pronounced Bobo-Gilasso) and get acquainted with the missionary family, Kevin & Bonnie Oberg, and the other missionary team members and have a picnic.

As they are 7 hours ahead of us here in Washington, they will be getting up soon to start Tuesday. On Tuesday they will be driving out to the bush, specifically a village called Samorogouan. Jamae is really hoping Jay sees a giraffe while he is there, but Jay has told us that he'll be lucky if he sees an elephant. I guess the animals aren't roaming around as much as we picture it.

Please pray that God will work significantly in the heart of Jay during these two weeks. Please continue to pray for his protection and health.

On the adoption front, we don't know anything new today. Will you please pray that Ming is lovingly prepared for leaving the orphanage and joining our family? We don't know what the orphanage director and nannies are telling him, but we do pray that he knows we are coming on the 30th.

Has China Called Yet?

Everyday Jamae asks me "Has China called yet?" I have finally been able to say, "Yes! China called and we are going to get Ming!
We are leaving for China on Saturday June 28!!!

Here's the story: Monday, we received a call from our agency telling us that the next group leaving for China was on June 28. My heart sunk because we were really hoping to leave July 5th. I know that sounds strange that I was hoping to leave later since we have been so anxious to get to China. The reason is because Jay comes home from Africa on Friday, June 27th and we were hoping to give him some time between trips. My main fear is that he would not be able to leave Africa on time or miss his connection in Paris on the way home and therefore not arrive in Seattle when he is supposed to, therefore not being able to leave with our family on Saturday. We have spent the last few days praying and trying to figure out the best solution. We have looked into changing his flight from Paris to fly to Hong Kong instead of coming home, but because of the cost, we have decided not to do that. So, we have decided to leave on the 28th, praying that Jay arrives home on time on the 27th.

We secured our flights today. We will leave Moses Lake on Friday morning, June 27, meeting Jay's plane at 11:35 am. Our family will then spend the night in Seattle reconnecting with Jay and will fly out of Seattle Saturday afternoon, June 28. We will arrive in Hong Kong Sunday night, spend the night, and fly to Fuzhou Monday morning, June 30. Monday afternoon we will be united with Ming! Tuesday we will adopt him and he will become a Bowser. We will be flying home on Friday, July 11. Wow! It is amazing how this has all come together after 9 months of waiting. Please pray that God will prepare Ming to join our family in 2 1/2 weeks.

Ming is very happy!

We heard back from Ann, the gal that we hired to help us with the care package for Ming. She was able to call back to the orphanage and get information for us. She told us that Ms Zheng, the orphanage director said, " She Ming was very happy to receive your package and was very happy to be adopted by you and was very happy to go to USA."

We were hoping for more but so thankful to get this message. It sounds like Ming is very happy. We sure wish that we could have told him exactly when we are coming. We continue to pray that he is very happy to receive this news about his adoption and is not too afraid.

The Long Awaited TA

We received our travel approval today. Yippee! We sure wish it had come last week so we could be on our way to China. But we are very thankful that we have it and now have all our paperwork from China that we need to bring Ming home.
We will be working on our travel plans for early July. We will hopefully be leaving for China 6 weeks.

Care Package Update

Here is the email that I received this morning from our contact in China:

Dear Caryn:
She Ming got his package from the orphange ...but the director Zheng did not know anything about your package thing ,also she did not know that you will adopt SheMing ...so she let me call her back tomorrow then she will let me know what she ming think about on his package ,love,Ann

We really don't know what to make of this news. We don't know why the director does not know of our adoption plans. We thought that the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) would have made them aware of this by now. I guess we will just need to wait until tomorrow before we start jumping to conclusions.

My heart is really in China right now, wishing Jody and I could be telling Ming this news ourselves.

Difficult News!

Our travel approval has not arrived. We have heard the words that we prayed we wouldn't hear. Because we have not received our travel approval, we will not be able to travel this weekend to China to bring home Ming. We do not understand but the decision has been made. We will now be traveling in July. We do not know the dates yet, but will post as soon as we learn. We ask for your continued prayers that our travel approval arrives soon, so we can make concrete travel plans. Yesterday I read in a devotional that while God may seem slow at responding to our prayers, He’s always right on time. We know that God has this whole situation in His hands and we trust Him even though we don't understand.

Please pray for Ming's safety, health, and emotions as he waits for us to arrive. Is he excited about his new family or does the whole idea terrify him? My heart breaks that we have to wait so many days to find out.

Ming

The orphanage received our care package today. I wonder...did they give Ming the box? What was his response?

Jamae's letter to China

Dear China,
I love Ming. You need to know that. We need to get on an airplane to come to China. I told my mommy that I won't throw up this time on the airplane. Ming's nannies love him just like my nanny loves me. They will be sad for him to be my brother but I will be happy! I want to take Ming to the Aquatic Center and show him how to swim. I'm not afraid to go under the mushroom this summer. Maybe Ming will go with me. I want him to go to Build a Bear Workshop with me and get a bear. It will be fun to have a brother with brown hair just like me. I have made many pictures to give to Ming when I see him. I know he will want to be my brother. China, can we please come get him?
Love,
Jamae

A Box Full Of Love

The day we've been waiting for. Now that we have our Referral Acceptance, we have been given permission to send Ming a package from us. We have been working on this box for months. Not wanting to overwhelm Ming, we decided just to send a few items to him to introduce him to his new family. Of course we had to include an Ohio State shirt as we wanted him to have the official Bowser t-shirt. We also included cameras hoping Ming or the nannies will take pictures of people and things he will want to remember. We made a photo album of us: pictures of Jody & me, and his siblings and dog. We labeled each picture in Chinese so Ming could become familiar with who we are. Most importantly, we included a letter to him that we had translated so he could read it. Jody wrote the love-filled letter explaining everything to Ming in great detail about what will be happening in the coming weeks, especially once we arrive in China. We want him to have as much understanding about what's going to happen as possible. We packed the box with lollipops that he can pass out to the other children in the orphanage.

We are sending the package to Ann who owns a shop in China. She will then send the package to Ming's orphanage and then call them to make sure Ming received it. Maybe we will even hear about his reaction. Ann also translated a letter for us to give to the orphanage director. How do you find the words to thank the people who have cared for Ming the last 6 1/2 years?
Ming should have the box in the next 7-10 days. We are not sure when Ming will be told of the adoption - if it is when China receives our signed RA letter, when our travel is confirmed, or when the box arrives. Either way it will be soon - please pray for Ming as he receives this life changing news.

Fedex Is Here!

Fedex is here! Fedex is here! Those were the words I yelled to Jamae this morning as we waited for the Fedex truck to arrive with our package from AWAA with our official Referral Approval from China.

When I opened the package, here's what I found:

How fun! Inside the folder was the official Referral Acceptance letter from China. Now I'm off to Jody's office to sign it with him and then to Fedex to overnight the letter back to America World. They will then overnight it to China for us.