BUSY!

I think the word "busy" sums up our life since we have returned from China with Sam.  We returned on Friday, and I went back to work on Monday....and the kids went back to school the same day.  John has been able to work from home until my school lets out for the summer, so this has been a HUGE blessing.  We only have 4 more weeks until school is out, and it can't come too quickly for me!  Sam is still doing so well.  He has just jumped right into family life with no looking back.  He sleeps well, eats even better (He's now 21.3 pounds), and has the chubbiest cheeks!  Rileys class had a field trip to the zoo last week, and John was brave enough to not only go on the trip, but to take Lily and Sam as well....and he also watched one of Riley's friends while they walked around the zoo.  They all had such a fun time, even though they were completely exhausted when they got home! 
We had our one month home study visit, and it went very well.  China has some new requirements since we adopted Lily, and now post-adoption visits are required at 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years.  So, we will be friends with our social worker for quite a while!
This week, we had another HUGE blessing.  Sam had a cardiology appointment for an in-depth evaluation of his heart so we could get a better idea of what is going on with him.  After about a 2.5 hour appointment- ultrasounds, EKG, blood oxygen levels, etc, the diagnosis is that "SAM HAS THE HEALTHIEST HEART OF ANYONE IN THE ROOM".  Yes, that is correct!  Completely healthy heart.  This is what we have been praying for, but there were still plenty of tears when we hard that diagnosis.  This is such a blessing for Sam, and for us too.  Now he is cleared to do all the things that little boys love to do...run, play soccer, football, basketball, etc.  We couldn't be happier for him. 
Lastly, I wanted to let you know about a blog that I think you will enjoy following.  My sister Allison and her husband Kris have begun the process to adopt a little girl from China.  Her blog is www.fromeastandwest.blogspot.com    I will add the link here, but wanted to let you know that they have partnered with 147 Million Orphans to work toward bringing their little girl home.  For every order that is placed through their link, they will receive 30% of the sale price to go toward their adoption expenses.  Please consider bringing awareness to orphans in this way and helping another one of God's children come home at the same time!  (And, the t-shirts are adorable too!)

Blessings-

Meredith

Update.....better late than never!

I have tried to get some good pictures to post, but I wanted you to see what I am up against.... These are typical pictures...

Lily took this of herself....
This is pretty much the only good picture I have gotten recently....of Riley dyeing Easter Eggs...in her traditional Chinese dress of course...isn't that how everybody does it?

I was trying to get a good one of the two of them, and this was the best one I got....Why is Lily sticking out her tongue?

So, the pictures may not be so great, but the kids are. We are still trying to recover fully from being away, but the kids are doing great! They are enjoying their new little brother, and are adjusting to having one more somebody to play with...Sam is sleeping well, and eating even better! He likes bland foods right now, but we are slowly adding new things to his diet. He is not fond of fruit or ice cream! Too sweet! Lily is especially enjoying being a big sister. She always wants to feed Sam and help him do things. She truly is a great helper to us!

I am going to try hard to get some good pictures for my next post!

Blessings-

Meredith

WE ARE HOME!

Jackson Relaxing in the Hong Kong Hotel
Leaving the hotel

I think I was delirious facing the plane ride

With our luggage

Last pictures of Sam in China

Stepping off the plane in Newark 16 hours later.....Sam is an American Citizen!

Our Welcome Home!

Our stocked fridge!!!

My little monkeys

Keep in mind that these were taken well after midnight!!

Thankfully! We are so happy to be here! It was great to see our girls and my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and neice when we arrived! We were tired and finally got to bed around 1am. We had been awake for about 31 hours. It was a long trip, but Sam did great on the long flight. On the short flight to Atlanta, he was pretty much DONE! That's ok....our goal was just to make it!

We slept in this morning and then had a wonderful breakfast thanks to my sister and some precious friends who came over and left a huge WELCOME banner, tons of snacks, a sweet poem to Sam, and stocked our fridge! Not to mention meals ready-made!!! AWESOME!! Thank you!

A huge thanks to my parents, sister, and everyone else who made this trip possible! We love you all and are thankful you are a precious part of our lives!!

We are blessed and thankful!

Meredith

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We are now looking out the window at the Hong Kong Airport. We will take a shuttle in about twenty minutes across the road. Then our flight leaves at 10:25 am Hong Kong time.
Then begins the 15.5 hour flight. Then our 2 hour layover. Then our 2 hour flight.
Talk to you on the other side of the world.
John
PS - this is the only post that Meredith let me do this time :)

We made it to Hong Kong....

Leaving the Garden Hotel-with RICKIVICKI (aka Miko)

Jackson resting on the way to Hong Kong

We made it to Hong Kong...noneventful. About a 3 hour drive in a van. It had air conditioning, though, so that was nice! When we crossed the border into Hong Kong, even though it is a part of China, they have their own border, we had to go through the checkpoint. We had to show all of our passports out the van window and they had to look at our faces to match us up. Then we had to pop the trunk so they could make sure we didn't have any illegal people hiding there. Then they opened the side door of the van and scanned each of our foreheads to check our temperatures. Thankfully, we had been warned, so we had all taken our tylenol an hour before....just in case. We all passed and now we are in the hotel in Hong Kong. We will take a taxi to the airport at about 8:20 in the morning...it is only about 5 minutes away. Then we will board our flight to Newark. 15.5 hour flight leaves at 10:25 am Friday morning for us (That's 10:25pm Thurs. Nite for you) We should land in Newark 8055 miles later at 1:55pm Friday afternoon. Then we will go through immigration and board our last flight at 4:29. We should be in Atlanta at 6:56 pm.......and we will be REALLY thankful to be there! Thanks in advance for the prayers, and thanks to everyone who has followed our journey to Sam. We love you and have enjoyed keeping in touch with you and reading your comments. It has made this long trip so much better to have you all here with us!

Blessings-

Meredith

Leaving Today...

Jackson and Sam in traditional Chinese dress
Sweet Sam

Brothers

The lobby I will miss so...

As I sit here with the suitcases around me, I am a little sad to leave Guangzhou. I hope I will get to return here one day. It is a beautiful city, there are some wonderful peole here, and I have now spent close to a month of my life living in this hotel and this city. Sam is taking his nap, and John and Jackson have gone to pick up some lunch. We are leaving in a couple of hours headed to Hong Kong. Should be about a 3 hour ride by car. Next post from Hong Kong!!

Blessings-

Meredith

Shamian Island

Top- Jordon's Bottom- Jenny's place
Shamian Island aka...China Charleston

YAY JENNY'S PLACE!

I made Jackson stand in all these neat places to take his picture...he was beyond thrilled....

Sam stayed awake for shopping today....he's learning!

Beautiful!

A Chinese Bride having her Bridal portraits made

There are lots of statues of children on the island

Sam and Yu Chen...He wants that water!

Today, we went to Shamian Island to do a little shopping. I LOVE Shamian Island. We went to Jordon's first...We love Jordon too! He is a Christian and he is not afraid to tell people! Also, he does every child's name in Chinese characters as a gift...so we were excited to get Samuel's name in Chinese characters and we will frame it when we get home for him to have in his room. After Jordon's, we went down to Sherry's Place and Jenny's Place. These two ladies have the best children's shoes and traditional chinese clothes on the island. I purchased 5 pairs of leather squeaky shoes for Sam for about $25.........pretty good deal, huh? I also purchased him a couple of chinese outfits for him to wear over the next few years. Tomorrow, I hope to dress him up and take some pictures in the garden at the hotel here.

Tonight we are working on packing up our things. I am truly sad to be leaving Guangzhou, but I am truly happy to be seeing my girls soon! It is so much fun to met all of the adoptive families from all over the world...so many adopting children with special needs...each with a unique story. I love seeing how God uses different families and matches them up with the children that fit perfectly into that family! I love watching the Chinese people and learning more and more about their culture. I really do love China...

Tomorrow we will leave the hotel around 4 and drive to Hong Kong. We will spend the night there and then take a 10am flight back to Newark. Sam will immigrate there, and then we will fly to Atlanta....Sounds easy, huh? Yeah......our longest flight is 15.5 hours...that's 2 hours LONGER than our longest flight over! UGH! Not to mention we will be travelling with an 18 month old! Prayers are appreciated!!

AT JENNY'S PLACE...HER HUSBAND PLAYING THE CHINESE FLUTE FOR US! http://youtu.be/53AZdqe16TE

AT JORDON'S...HE TAUGHT JACKSON HOW TO PLAY THE CHINESE HACKY SACK!

http://youtu.be/Wg4cXlBcw3c

Blessings-

Meredith

Monday- Pearl River Cruise

Jackson bought these Wimpy Kid books...4 of them for aroximately $2.50 each at the local bookstore. I don't know if I have mentioned, but if you want a bag with your purchase in China, you either bring it yourself, or you buy it at the store. So, we told the clerk that we did not need a bag (because we are to cheap!), so it was interesting, that they tied his books together for him to carry home! I wish they did this in the US- pretty neat!

Jackson's 5 Ram statue. He used his own money to buy this!

Waiting for the Pearl River Cruise -The Curtis Boys

Jackson in front of our boat

Jackson and Yu Chen...the little girl who was just adopted by another Lifeline Family- She is 4 and SO precious!

The second tallest building in the world -at least that is what they told us!- as seen from the boat

This is what Sam thinks of a boat ride....

This was John's find in the loval 7-11

Blessings-

Meredith