James' First McDonald's meal

For dinner tonight, we decided to go to McDonald's-it was either that or the same place we had gone last night, so we decided to branch out :-). James absolutely LOVED it! I swear, that kid ate about 4 packets of fries, 6 chicken nuggets, and a whole ice cream cone-more than any one of the rest of us! He was laughing and smiling the whole time-he crunches up his nose in this really cute way when he eats (see above!)

He's beginning to show more of his personality, too. He's a very happy camper, at least for now. He was sad when we walked back to the hotel, but he went to bed with only moderate whimpering. He's doing so well. He is very, very brave.

Well, we're all really tired...so we'll be going to bed soon...

Love,

Ali

Introducing...James Sitong!

Our first glimpse!

Holding a picture album we sent him a few weeks ago


We gave him a new picture album, too!

James likes cars!

Shaking Caroline's hand while she videotapes

Here are our first few pictures of James! See below for more and an account of the day! (The pictures are in chronological order, from top to bottom.)

Love, all of us

Wecome to the family, James Sitong!

In the VIP room at the orphanage

Tong Tong in the lobby showing his cars to his friends.

Before we got the photo taken...He was a little queasy from the car ride!


Drawing in our hotel room

Eating fruit snacks

It has been a beautiful day. I started out the morning opening my bible to 1 Samuel 1:27-

I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. It was so amazing that it began that way.

He seemed happy at the orphanage. I think he didn't know what was going on. We started out in the "VIP" room, signing papers and such. Then little James walked in! From that point on there were lots of pictures, and we gave him a backpack filled with toys and books. As we were leaving, 20 or so of his friends came out and said goodbye to James. He held his new cars up to them and said something in Chinese. We then got into a van and went take a photo for more paperwork. In the car, he got really quiet and sweat was dripping down his face. Our guide said a lot of the kids get carsick. We went to take the photo and he was getting sad and started to cry a little. She said he said he wanted to go home. He is being so brave or trying to be strong and hold it all in. He keeps wiping his eyes and whimpering. He has not has a full out cry yet, he is extremely restrained, especially for a three year old. Every time his eyes get wet, he rubs them right away-he doesn't want anyone to see how he feels on the inside. We spent the afternoon on the bed playing and he let me rub his back most of the time. It seems to be hard for him at times...he must miss his friends.

I think he is attaching to me. When I left to go to the bathroom, he started whimpering even more.

We are calling him Tong Tong, which is his nickname, for the time being. Tong Tong is very quiet and shy, at least right now. He loved playing with the Cheerios book our friend Jackie got him. He also will repeat words after you say them, very quietly.

We are so thankful for all of your prayers. We sure do feel them and we are filled with joy today. I think it will be McD tonight to celebrate. Tomorrow is touring.

Love, all of us

We have arrived!!!

View outside hotel room window

View outside hotel again-people on those bikes with the holder thing in back

At the Beijing airport

After a veryyy long day, we are now in Beijing!!

This morning we drove to my Uncle Joe's house, since he was our ride to the airport. We were very happy to find that our sweet cousins Joey and Meg had stayed home from school to wish us goodbye! Our Aunt Coll and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Joe were all there as well. We had such a fun time and it was nice to see everyone and hug them all one last time before we leave.

At the airport we got through customs, security, etc without a hitch which was nice. The plane ride was really long (well, obviously, but it seemed longer than I had thought it would be). The food was mediocre at best and inedible at worst...but I mean, what do you expect from airplane food? We also went through customs at Beijing very smoothly, which was nice.

We met our guide and she seems very nice as well...

We just got back from a Caurfore (sp?), which is like a Chinese wal-mart. Let me tell you, that was an experience in and of itself. People miss around frantically in this HUGE store, all getting a million different things. The meat/fish section was huge and they even had this big tank with all these fish that you could pay a guy to kill for your dinner. We didn't get much-just some pop and water, but WOW it's in places like that where you can tell you're in a different country!

We get James tomorrow around 10 or 11 am (which is 11 pm Thursday night your time). We are all very excited...Please pray for James as this will be a very scary thing for him.

We are all very jet lagged and I'm not exactly sure I'm talking sense in this post, so, until tomorrow....

Love, Ali

We Leave tomorrow! YAHOO!

Our phone has been ringing constantly for the last 3 hours or so with all the people wishing us goodbye! We will miss you all so much while we are gone-please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Our house seems to vibrate with pre-travel energy. We're all packed, for the most part (um...about that...) and we have nearly everything set to go. We depart around noon tomorrow-less than 24 hours!

Just an FYI: We aren't sure how readily we'll be able to access the internet (or this blog) while we're away, but hopefully everything will go smoothly. If we do run into problems, please just be patient, and we'll figure it all out eventually.

It's hard to beleive that we'll be with James in 64 hours (at least, I think that's how many hours, but this whole date/time change is incredibly confusing, and there's just no way I can figure any of this out...)

I'm so excited to meet my brother!!!!

!!!!!

Love, Ali

The Blessings Continue!

Well my dear friend Peggy surprised us and brought Ali and I to the Steven Curtis Chapman Michael W Smith United concert Saturday night. It was truly one of the most amazing shows I have ever been to (maybe it is because of where our hearts are right now! :) . What a way to kick off our journey! It couldn't have been more special and we loved it, and how neat that the show was a few days before we leave. Steven Curtis Chapman has a huge heart and ministry concerning the orphans in the world. What are the chances he would be in town right before we left! It was certainly sad as Steven talked of his recent loss of his precious daughter in the tragic accident, but again he talked of the hope we have in Christ. It was a beautiful night of worship, one we'll never forget.

One week from now we are in China!

Wow! What a week it's been-it is actually hard to grasp that this day is finally almost here. I think it set in when I was setting up the doctor's appointments for James. Unfortunately I made them for the Monday and Tuesday right after we get back, those were the only openings that first week and I want to get all of these appointments made. The doctor said it is not going to be a fun appointment. We will try to make it fun with candy. We have been so blessed the past week. Caroline's soccer team had a surprise party/shower for us and got all the things for James bedroom! We were so overwhelmed with their kindness. We love our soccer family! Our small group gave us a send off with prayer (and laughter!) and a target gift card. Mike's coworkers had a shower lunch for James and he has some totally adorable clothes and great cars and trucks! I feel like it is all the final details are coming together. Our visas arrived the other day and we will have our travel meeting this week also. I don't think I am sleeping well with all the excitement. I am reading a great book- Saving Levi- I highly recommend it for adoption readers. AND my sister in China has come into contact with the author and is actually having dinner with her tomorrow-How cool is that! Next week we will finally get to hug James in person!!!

Ali's epic pre-travel experiences

Hello All

Well, as you may know by now, our entire family is going to China to get James. We are so blessed that we get to do this!

One of the main concerns my parents had about us going to China was us missing upwards of 2 weeks of school. However, we talked to my teachers awhile back and they were all very supportive of me going.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I needed to get my advanced absence form signed by the dean. After sitting in her office for a very long while, she finally called me in. I explained the situation to her and asked her if she would authorize my absence. However, she said she would not, because our school absence policy is that if you miss more than 10 days per term you will fail that term (I will miss thirteen days of 2nd term while in China). She basically said that it was not going to happen.

She called my mom, and left a message, then told me that "she would talk to the principal" and I should "come back during lunch."

As I walked to my next period class, I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to cry, or throw up, but I still had 3 hours until lunch. I prayed that God would give me strength, courage, and patience...

I was called out of my class about 15 minutes later by a security escort (Because, even though I am a fine, upstanding citizen and all, apparently my school considers all its students to be potential delinquents. Whatever.) As I walked to the dean's, I was just praying, "Please, God, make everything be okay, I need You here, God, help me out, I'm afraid, give me courage..."

When I walked into the dean's they told me that they had made an unheard of exception to the absence policy, and that they would let me go. I was so happy, so thankful to God-he answered my prayers for patience and that the deans would make an exception!

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" -Matthew 14:31

God answered me immediately. He rescued me from my doubt.

Praise Him!

--Ali

19 more days...

Our travel dates got changed-now we're not leaving until the 29th. We were a little disappointed about not getting to travel with some of the people in our group, but I guess we just need to remember to trust God's timing. There's a reason for this-we just might never know about it.

I hate waiting. 19 more days-it's closer than we've ever been, but it still seems so far away. I just want him to be here, in our house... He's my brother and I want him home.

My mom has been starting to get James' room ready. The plethora of little boy clothes and playthings is almost alien to me. With my father being the only male in this household, we don't see much of those!

***

It's funny how different some of these kids look from their referral photos. Little kids change so fast... It makes me wonder if we'll recognize James. Even the three photos we have of him are vastly different from one another.

***

That's all, for now, folks...


Ali

James, your family is anxiously waiting too!

Time for this little boy to come home...He looks sad in this photo which is his passport photo. We are all dreaming of little James now- I think all of us here have had dreams- and some pretty goofy! We are getting his room ready and as we hear he loves cars, we are going for a car theme. Mike wants to run a train around the top of his room on a shelf! WOW- I have seen it done in a restaurant, but in our home-cool dream big and if that works, I have some other projects for him as well! Counting the days in anticipation of our journey to meet James and bring him into his family!