Update from Guangzhou

It's Sunday night here in china, and I feel like I just need to acknowledge that God is good! We've known Mya a little over a week now, and it feels like she has been our daughter forever and we get the sense from her constant hugs and smiles that she knows we're her mom and dad. We know this wouldn't be possible if it hadn't been planned by God a long time ago! So, as much as we are into Mya right now, we just want to acknowledge God's goodness, faithfulness, and love. I don't know why I'm always amazed at what happens when we step out in obedience to do something that God is calling us to. Every single time, God shows up and life is more fulfilling! Those who know me know that one of my favorite verses in the bible is John 10:10 (look it up if you don't know it). We are experiencing that promise with Mya here in Guangzhou as much as we long to get this trip over with and get back home to be with our friends and family!

It's been a bit of a whirlwind since we arrived in Guangzhou on Friday night around midnight. Saturday morning at 9:30, we took Mya to the medical clinic with the 8 other families from the US that are here through our adoption agency. The clinic was absolute chaos. Mya basically had to get a physical, which isn't that big of a deal, but so did the 100 other kids who were there as well. Trying to keep any kid happy for over three hours in a hot/crowded doctor's office is nearly impossible.....as it was for all of the adoptive families that morning. The good news is she passed, and has been medically cleared to leave china! This is a huge blessing, as there is one family with us who found out their son has TB, so they have to wait six weeks before they can bring him home. It's been so sad to watch them try to figure this out. They don't want to send him back to the orphanage, so they're trying to figure out how to stay here for the next six weeks. Please pray for them.

We stopped at the grocery store on our way back to stock up for the week and made it back to the Garden Hotel by about 2:00. At 3:00 that afternoon, we had a meeting to get all of the paperwork together for the consulate appointment on Thursday, which took about two hours. We basically went straight from there to dinner with the other families at a Chinese restaurant down the street. As you can imagine, Mya was not happy about sitting in a high chair, and Shannon and I weren't all that happy about the food. Needless to say, Mya slept great that night!

We were feeling a bit like heathens as all of the other families went to church this morning while we slept in and made it down to the breakfast buffet just before it closed at 10:00. I got a call from one of our guides in the morning saying I needed to meet her before everyone leaves for church at 9:30 to go over some paperwork. As it turns out, Mya's Abandonment Certificate from Fuzhou showed that she was abandoned on a date before she was born. Now they have to have that document re-done in Fuzhou, so we need it to arrive here before our consulate appointment on Thursday morning. Please pray that happens so our trip isn't delayed!! After breakfast and a walk with Mya to the grocery store, we made it back to our room to play with her for a bit before naps for her and Shannon. I ventured out for a jog, which mostly turned into a walk as a tried to find my way back to the hotel in this huge city where I can only read a few signs and I don't have my gps activated!

We went with the rest of the families at 3:00 to a famous shopping street here in Guangzhou that was probably more stressful than the medical clinic! I have never seen so many people in one place at one time moving around so quickly and frantically. The bus dropped us off at 3:45 and said they would pick us back up at 6:00. By 4:00, I was ready to take a cab back to the hotel. That said, Shan found some good gifts and Mya was really good, so it was a successful trip. There were plans for another dinner, but we were all so tired, I walked over to Pizza Hut to get a pizza with a couple of the other guys and brought it back to the room. I was offered a few illegal items on the street on my way back to the hotel that probably would've made me a little more hungry for that pizza had I taken him up on his offer!

All-in-all, it has been hectic here, but good. It's been awesome to meet other families that are in the exact same stage of adoption as us, to share stories, wins, and struggles. It is amazing how quickly we've made bonds with some of these families just because of what we're all going through together. We're off to the zoo at 9:30 tomorrow morning so I need to join Mya and Shannon in bed (actually Mya is falling asleep in our bed, but she stays asleep as I transfer her to her crib, which is nice)!

So, here are the pics so far from Guangzhou. A couple from the lobby of the hotel (including the impressive staircase) one from the pool area, and a few of Mya in the room. One from the medical clinic and a couple from the shopping area today (you'll see that Mya is already into jewelry as she digs through some beads). The last one is actually from Fuzhou and shows all three of my chins, but it's so cute of Mya that Shannon insisted that I post it! I'll post some additional pictures in the morning....too tired now: