Gracie Li Dancing 1

I think she's adjusting quite well...

Chinese Hand Painting

We saw this artist creating these incredible images by only using his hands. No brushes, etc. Amazing.

Just Love Coffee Roasters

Love kids? Love coffee? We do too. There are an estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world and this number is expected to grow. Just Love Coffee Roasters is Helping Orphans and Their Forever Families by giving a portion of purchase to help families with their adoption costs. Check out our store and forward this to others for us.

Visit our store at: https://www.justlovecoffee.com/gracie

First Week Home

Pic: Gracie wearing jie jie's (big sister)shoes.



Video: Gracie's Silly Walk

We've been home for a little over a week and things are finally starting to settle in to more of a routine. Gracie Li is adjusting really well and has been able to meet some of her family and spend time with them. Last Sunday our church family threw us a surprise welcome home/shower party after the service. During the morning gathering I had shared some personal spiritual reflections from out time in China complete with some video clips. It felt good to be back.

One funny moment occurred during the service just after I had prayed I look up and Gracie had somehow made her way up to the front where I was speaking and when I said 'amen' and opened my eyes there she was looking up at me. So I picked her up and officially introduced her to her new church family. She really enjoyed playing with the other kids and they did such a nice job of including her.

While Gracie has adjusted really well night time is still challenging. She usually screams a bit before settling down, but each night gets a little better and she hasn't been waking up crying as often during the night. In fact last night she only woke up once and was able to get herself back to sleep.

Gracie love to pretend she's cooking. We're not sure what she cooking up but we suspect its congee or stir fry. She love to be a big girl and share her food and she likes to feed her ba ba (that's me). I've gotten used to eating soggy crackers. It's an acquired taste. She won't take no for an answer either and she gets a rally frustrated hurt look when I don't eat what she's offering to me.

We went to La Costita Sunday night and introduced her to Mexican food. She loved the rice and fajita chicken. She also wanted to try a bite of my fajita. She pointed at it and opened her little mouth up wide and waited. It was so cute.

Gracie also gets excited whenever someone comes home. The other day when jie jie (big sister) got home from school Gracie could hardly contain herself and started smiling and giggling then ran around the screaming with joy. So much fun.

Quick hitters:

The first thing I noticed upon returning: English

The first meal I had after returning: Philly cheese steak from Quizno's.

The beds in the hotels in China and smaller and harder than the beds in the US. The double beds in Beijing we're slightly larger than a twin bed. The beds in Nanning were twin size and very hard (we took turns sleeping on the floor which was about the same). The beds in Guangzhou were the best ones. Still small but closer to double beds.

There is WIDE interpretation about what 'Western Breakfast' means in China. Nanning was the most unusual. They had one small table with some toast and cereal. Hot foods you had to figure out for yourself. Rice noodles taste good for breakfast!

Chicken was very interesting. They deep fried them heads and all including the comb and feet. Talk about strange looking food. We didn't order any because we were chicken :-)

Final Leg Home

Pics: Gracie and Diana on flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo. Gracie sleeping en route from Tokyo to PDX.
Right now I'm writing this in the skies just outside of Japan. Gracie is sleeping (yeah!) a sleeping baby on a long flight is a good thing.
Gracie is so beautiful and we are so blessed to be her forever family. Just writing this almost brings me to tears. Between a lack of sleep and the emotions of this event I'm not sure just what to do :-)
While we were riding the bus last night from Guangzhou to Hong Kong I glanced over at Diana as she was holding a sleeping Gracie and it hit me just how right that it all was. All of the time, paperwork, anxious moments, delays, more delays, more paperwork, and all of the money boils down to this moment of a precious little girl asleep in her mother's arms.
It didn't matter any more that Gracie had been abondoned by her birth parents at a carwash. She is now ours forever and when we clear US Immigration and Customs it will all be final. As it is right now there's no turning back but those final moments of waiting will be so worth it.
At the Portland airport Gracie will meet her new grandparents and some other members of her forever family. She'll probably be scared but that won't last for long once she realizes how Christmas works :-)
Often when I look at her I wonder what's going through her mind how much she remembers of her life the way it was and what she thinks about us.
One thing I know is that this journey has been a powerful reminder of the lengths to which God went to express His love to us and if this is in some small way how He feels when His orphaned children come home then His heart is blessed beyond measure.

Homeward Bound

We're sitting in the Hong Kong airport getting ready for the first leg of our flight home. First stop Tokyo then PDX.

We went to the Guangzhou zoo yesterday and saw the panda bear and some other great animals. It was really nice.

We also got Gracie's Passport and Visa.

Looking forward to getting home. Last night was crazy we had to go through customs to get into Hong Kong and then our driver had no idea we were going to a hotel. But we finally got checked in and got a few hours of shut eye and 430 wake up call.

See you all soon!

One More Night in Guangzhou

Pics: Family picture day and with the Doerr's the other Oregon family.

Today was 'wall' day. When runners race in a marathon there's a point in the race when they're close to the finish but their bodies are telling them that they can't go any farther that's the point in the race called the wall. That's how it felt today. It's been a great trip but we're ready to come home and settle in to a routine.

Today was our swearing in ceremony at the US Consolate. The room was full of familes all adopting children. The woman who administered the oath began by giving a little speech about the US foreign service which seemed to drag on forever. I was holding Gracie and she decided to fuss and start getting loud which prompted the woman to get on with the oath. No I did not pinch Gracie she did it on her own.

Tomorrow we get Gracie's US passport and visa which means she will be a US citizen the minute we touch down in Portland, OR. Hooray!

Today Gracie said 'ma ma' for the first time, of course Diana was in the other room and didn't hear it. But at least Sarah and I heard it and could tell her.

We also took group pictures today with all of the familes and kids. It was quite a crazy few moments.

Gracie didn't take a nap today so she's pretty fussy tonight. She has been chatting alot today and when we walked by the duck kitchen she reached out her hand and pretended to eat the duck. She also started hopping around like a bunny in the room this morning. Too cute!!

Tomorrow evening we get to take a 'public' bus from Guangzhou to Hong Kong they told us the ride is 3 - 4 hours long. I'm hoping the bus is like a Grayhound bus, but we'll see.

We'll spend the night in the hotel at the Hong Kong airport. There will be one other family from our group staying at the same hotel so we'll have some company.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to make an update before we head out on Saturday morning, but if not we'll see you at PDX at 7:50A on Saturday, Nov. 7. NW Flight 0786

Quick hitters:

The Chinese buracracy is more efficient than the US one.

Shopping in China is raw capitalism at work. More so than America. Almost everything is negotiable.