Touring Hong Kong

We had a terrific day of touring HK today. We started with an amazing breakfast at the hotel to fuel our day (more about that later). We started our tour with a trip to the top of Victoria Peak.

Red symbolizes 'happy' - this is a happy house on the side of the Peak.

Each place we visited, took us a 45 min. to 1 hour bus ride, which Carter loves by the way. Parker has a new best bud Simmon who will be with us the entire two weeks. I'm so glad that he has a friend along!

Last family photo as a family of four!

We went to Aberdeen Fishing Village and did a boat tour. My picture of the village from the peak was so hazy that you can't see the village. The guide was telling us that the fishing market has dried up. There were at one time around 17,000 fishermen and now the number is under 2,000. Younger men don't want to fish because there isn't money in it and the market isn't there anymore because of the water pollution. Some people live on their fishing boats.

Parker & Simmon - the sign behind them says 'Jumbo Floating Restaurant'

The matching white high rises was very much what I expected to see everywhere.

We went to a fine jewelry manufacturer to see how the jewelry is made and then we went to an open market.

Hong Kong

We are in a terrific Hyatt in Hong Kong. It was of course an incredibly long day but I'm so proud of our family in that we didn't loose it until we got into the hotel room. I have a couple of photos to up load later but will just say for now - 'we are here.' Off to site see!

The boys did really well on the flight. Carter only lost it for about a half hour. Of course, that felt like hours when he's screaming! He wanted off of the plane and couldn't understand why we couldn't get off. He kept saying, "I weady!" Now that it's done, I think we can survive round two plus one more kid! No turning back now!

Goodbye ATL

T minus 5 hours. Bags are packed, the house is in good shape and John's conference in DC in behind him! It seemed like we worked for months to get some things finished at home and over the last three days, it has all come together even down to having the garage clean. Just that same few days ago, I had said, it's not going to be done and I'm OK with that. I'm saying a praise to God that He is giving me this little desire of my heart. I will love coming home to a clean organized home.

I still can't even put into words what this feels like. Our hearts are so full and there are pink clothes in our luggage! We are saying goodbye to Atlanta for 16 days but we will all be together! The second thing I'm majorly thankful for today is that we are able to take our boys with us on this amazing journey! For me doing this without them would have been one of the most difficult things ever. I'm so thankful that Parker will have this memory for a lifetime!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who are praying for our journey and we can't wait to for you to meet Gracie Lin when we return!! We love all of you!!

The room is done!

Finally, Gracie Lin's room is complete except for hanging the quilt that I cross stitched and Nanannette put together. Grandpa Marvin finished the painting today which was a huge blessing! I thought I had a better photo but the dresses hanging on the wall above the light are my Mom's baby dress and my baby dress (I think). On the shelf next to the "Jesus Loves Me" sign is a little figurine with a 'September' sash. This little doll sat on a shelf in my bedroom as a child and I don't ever remember not having it. Since we share a birth month, I can pass it down to my daughter. The silver bunny on the shelf and the snugglie with her name are the first to gifts that she has received. The giant bear is BoBo. If you saw my pictures months ago on FB, the boys have Yogi in their room. Here is a photo of the missing quilt:

John's Thoughts

I wanted to share some parts of God’s word that have really come alive through the adoption process for both Carter and Gracie Lin. There are references (Jeremiah 1:4-5 for example) that talk about how God loved us even before we where conceived. I used to have problems with these types of statements. Sure you could love a baby that is growing in the womb, but a baby that isn’t even conceived how do you do that? I took these things on faith but would scratch my head. When Paula and I first decided to have a family we said, well if it happens great; if not, that is okay (boy was I wrong). We didn’t know how many kids we would have, but our thinking was maybe 2 would be nice. For me, the aspect of loving them started once the pregnancy test came back positive (for Parker). Then we were unable to have any more children, we started the adoption process for little Gracie (5 ½ years) and we have loved this little girl ever since (long before she was born). Over the last 5 ½ years we have been on this journey to adopt a little girl and over the last 5 ½ years my love for this little girl, who only turned one 2 weeks ago, has grown to the same level as Parker & Carter.

The power of prayer! I remember when we told Parker that we were going to adopt a little girl asked if we could adopt enough kids to fill every seat in our Expedition (5 more). We kindly informed him that we would adopt a little sister for him. He promptly told us he would pray for a little brother and sister. We said “that’s nice but a little sister is what we have planned” …. Boy where we awesomely wrong!

Then when we decided to adopt domestically, we were getting a little discouraged about the whole adoption process. About that time we heard a sermon about praying to God for encouragement. Before we went to bed Paula and I prayed together for encouragement – 3 days later we were holding Carter in our arms. Through the whole adoption process I see God’s ultimate plan for us – if the China process had not taken this long we would not have our wonderful tornado. We are about to adopt our second child - this is similar in my small mind to what God has done with us.

Packing

My list is getting checked off for the last time! This is page 4 of 6! For months I have been buying items to pack hiding them away in the suitcases still in shopping bags. Today, John and Parker sorted all of my purchases into piles of food, medicines, toiletries, toys, and baby items. It was fun to see them all come back out of bags and then to start placing them in suitcases that are actually about to go to China! Believe it or not, there is still plenty of room for our clothing and I was encouraged to find that one of the bags only weighs 27 lbs. so far! There is a 44 lb. weight limit. Gracie Lin, we are on our way in minus four days!!

Pink

I spent a good portion of my weekend painting and putting together Gracie's room! Things are still a ways from being done and I'm not sure they will be finished before we leave but it's getting there. Hopefully I can post a couple of pictures before we go. Late last night while the rest of the house slept though, I had a Mommy of a DAUGHTER moment! I put the pink crib sheet on the bed, hung a pink flower coat hook and put the pink cover on the changing pad. It was exactly 10 years before our match to Gracie Lin that John and I had a discussion about having children. At that point, we both just said, let's put it in God's hands and see what happens. We were blessed with Parker right away, sooner that either of us expected. Then after much waiting and many emotional ups and downs, we were blessed with Carter just over two years ago. Now, our world is expanding again and into new territory! I am praying that God will lead me in being the best Mom I can be to both the boys and Gracie! He knows that I need lots of guidance! :) John and I talked about how amazing it is to walk this journey that He has us on! Sure there are days that we are tired and things don't go as expected or as we desire but our cup is overflowing and we love every minute!