Gotcha Day 2014

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us...  I Keep singing this in my head. God has completely done more than I could have imagined. It was such a LONG morning as we wasted time until 2:30pm to head to the Civil Affairs office. Our guide LuLu (who doesn't speak great English) picked us up to go turn $8,000 into Chinese money (yikes!) and then head to a very small very run down building in a very crowded area to meet him. As we were entering the building I wasn't nervous at all because the anticipation was so exciting. We thankfully asked her (so we could have our camera out) when we would see him and she said as soon as you enter the building he is there waiting for you...

So we entered the building and there he was in the exact same shirt he has been in all the pictures. He said Hi' momma right as he saw me. MELT my heart. The orphan worker said that he was so excited all the way there to meet us...they had been telling him all about his family. They said all his good friends had been adopted recently so he knew what was going on. He is so calm and does the most precious little smile. We have not seen the inside of his mouth but have noticed that he does have some missing teeth. It was very obvious that the orphanage dr loved him! She kept hugging him and telling him he would see him tomorrow. He is so sweet and precious and we are in LOVE! This has been the spiritual and emotional blessing I have received.

Neeley and Kirby will be so excited because the boy LOVES him some fruit snacks!

Tomorrow we will go and sign the paperwork that makes it official and pay the money to the orphanage. I wanted to hug all of them for loving Shepherd the way they did. You could tell that they had done a great job, Lulu said that even though they are sad and will miss him they were so glad he had a forever family. What a blessing to our family! I already cannot imagine life without him!

He has been so cute with all his toys. SueSue gave him a little dog backpack and he filled all his toys and candy with it immediately and put it on his back. He has had it on all evening! It rains a lot here so we are hoping to get out of the hotel to sight see but we will see. Kunming is known for its beautiful flowers but it rains almost everyday from May to September.

Great wall and Number 12

This guy and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary in style! On one of the 7 wonders of the world! It was breathtaking. Our guide really wanted us to see the original wall. Past 701 steps and lots of walking you come to where the road has not been renovated and it becomes a small 2 foot wide trail. It was so crazy to think people built this road. I was so tired all along many of the towers but Bill, our guide, was so excited to show us the original wall. Bill became our friend and I would tease him about his "hot date" he had gone on Saturday night. He kept having all the posses he wanted us to take of him. I sweat in places I didn't know possible! Rusty...well if you know him well you know it wasn't pretty. We went straight from the wall to the airport....so gross! We met some Aggies on the wall and told Bill all about being an Aggie. We had him saying gig 'em and even gave him an Aggie football shirt for his gift. I am pretty sure that Rusty and I shocked the Chinese people in the bathroom changing and applying LOTS of baby powder. We have had such a great time sightseeing. We have been so surprised by how impatient this culture is. THEY WILL RUN you over...there are no please' or thank yous'. We are getting more aggressive and it makes me miss Texas! We got to our hotel late in Kunming and now we are sitting waiting for gotcha day''. We are so ready to get our hands on sweet Shepherd. We have met/have a college friend here too that we will meet up with on Friday who are all having gotcha day today! Can't wait to meet back up with everyone!! Thanks in advance for all the love and prayers.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Today was a more emotional day than I thought it would be. There was something so raw. A wide range of feeling; like we were abandoning our own kids to go get another, to being crippled by the fear of Satan, second guessing whether I was a good enough mom to handle all these little lives, to pure excitement of finally meeting Shepherd, and then wondering about his little heart.

I know that we are where we are supposed to be...perfectly relying on God to fulfill our every need. I get giddy thinking about all of Shepherd's new friendships, watching the story of God unfold in his tiny little heart. I am also sad thinking about the friendships he will be leaving behind. The only faces he has probably ever known. I am preparing my heart for the day we go to the orphanage and see all the faces we cannot bring home with us...children whose reality is so different from Shepherds now.

We leave early tomorrow morning to start an adventure of a lifetime...who knew on our 12 year wedding anniversary we would be taking pictures on the Great Wall of China. God's plan is so lavish for us. From the very day we moved forward with this adoption God has been unfolding one blessing after another. From church blessings, to friendships, to a crazy housing situation that perfectly met paying the remaining portion of the adoption, to a crazy spiritual year that was steeped in truly understanding God's sacrifice and pursuit of our hearts. So (emotional right??) if you want to follow our journey this is where I will be updating. How many more will be saved?? One less...we will meet Shepherd on July 21,2014...Gotcha' Day!