More of Hope's First

Her First Haircut

First Surgery

So proud of her FIRST cast!!!!

Miss Pattycake

First Easter

I loved the Easter Bunny

Hope's first few days in the USA

First of all we want to thank everyone who has prayed for our journey and supported us in our journey. Our trip in China went great!!

Thanks to Bruce's father's frequent flyer miles we ALL got to travel home in first class. It was incredible! We all felt sort of famous especially Hope, since all the flight attendants kept coming to meet her. Bruce loved sharing our journey with everyone. Lord willing, some seeds were planted for Christ.

After the flight we really got the royal treatment, we got invited to go in the cockpit. The pilots were so nice. 

After being on a plane for over 20 hours we arrived home to a wonderful greeting by all our friends and family. Thanks to everyone for coming to the airport and meeting us. Hope truly enjoyed the homecoming. She is not afraid of much. She is definitely a people person.

Hope loves to giggle she was so excited to see her new house, room, and playroom. On Monday I was hit real hard with jet lag but everyone else seemed to do fine. 

We have done many "firsts" with Hope this week. Meeting her new dogs, going to the grocery store, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the snow, going to church and her not so favorite - the doctor. 

Almost Home!

We are counting down the days now. Only 2 more days until we get home. We have had a wonderful time together but everyone is ready to get home. We completed our last official paperwork yesterday at the US Consulate and as of today at 5:00 p.m. we received the final paperwork to bring Hope home.


As we have been preparing to come home we had our interpreter Shyian come to our room and let Hope know a little bit about what it will be like when we get to Nashville. The first thing we wanted her to know was that we have 2 dogs. There just aren't that many dogs running around over here because they usually end up on the dinner table! A local joke about the Cantonese is that they will eat anything that flies except an airplane and they will eat anything with four legs except a table! We did not want her to be scared of our two dogs. Back up just a little bit. Last night we got some pictures from Bruce's aunt and uncle who are so graciously taking care of our dogs (thank you Charlie and Debra). We showed Hope the pictures of the dogs but did not really know if she understood. So, when the interpreter asked her if she was scared of dogs or if she had ever seen any dogs. Hope replied that she was not scared and that she had 2of her own. Shyian asked us if she had been in foster care and we said no. Hope said she had a white dog and a brown dog. Shyian asked her again and Hope replied in America! It was wonderful and amazing that she has bonded so quickly and feels 100% apart of our family, already. PRAISE GOD!!!

We are leaving early in the morning (5:45am) to fly to Beijing, then spending the night and flying out of Beijing on Sunday morning. We will arrive in Nashville at 3:05 Sunday afternoon from Chicago and will be traveling on American Airlines. Hope and the rest of us are ready to come home!!

Only 5 More Days!

Yesterday we went to visit the Yuexiu Park. It was very similar Cheekwood in Nashville, just with a Chinese flare. Hope really enjoyed smelling all the flowers.


Last night we went to a local Cantonese restaurant. It was really good but we did not partake of the gigantic earth worms or snakes! Hope does not seem to care what food is served, she will basically eat anything, except snake.

Today we had a "free" day. So we slept in and then we took a cab to the Guangzhou Zoo. It was Abigail and Hope's 1st taxi ride, they really enjoyed it. The zoo was an aesthetically pleasing zoo and most of the animals were familiar, except they had caged Pandas and Chihuahuas. We had difficulty reading the Chinese map so we couldn't find the Pandas until the very end. They were so cute. The children really enjoyed seeing the animals.

Hope is feeling really comfortable with our family. She is joking around, laughing, playing chase, jumping on all the beds and kissing all of us. She has definitely adjusted well with the transition of leaving the orphanage and becoming apart of the family.

Hooray only 5 more days until we are HOME!!!!!!

Are we "Home" yet?

We made it to Guangzhou around 11:00 Friday night. There were 9 adoptive families following our interpreter with all of our luggage but the airport exit rules had changed. The hotel bus was unable to pick us up in front of the airport. Our group went up and down 5 elevators and ended up exactly where we started. Different employees kept sending us in different directions and it took over 45 minutes to finally connect with our ride. Needless to say we were very tired by the time we checked into our hotel room.

It doesn't feel right because we are staying at the White Swan Hotel which seems like "Disney World" to me. It is a very nice 5 star hotel located on an island resort. We have a wonderful view out of our window of the Pearl River.

On Saturday, Hope and I went to have her final medical exam in China, that will allow her to enter the USA. It was a very small place with two doctors and about 50 families trying to get their final check-up as well. Hope did a wonderful job by listening well, following directions and was very patient throughout the entire process.

However, all day long we knew Hope was acting different and we were concerned with her melancholy attitude. Our interpreter asked Hope why she was so sad and it was as exactly as we had thought. Hope believed the plane ride from Beijing to Guangzhou was the flight "home" and she woke up in another hotel room in China. She was very disappointed that we were still in China and is ready to go home to the USA. The interpreter told her that we have one more week and we will travel on 3 more planes before we will be "Home". She smiled and has been her jolly, singing, dancing self ever sense.


That afternoon Abigail and I went window shopping. We met the store owner who said he would write our new daughter's name in Chinese Calligraphy for free. When we told him her name was Hope he asked if it was from the Bible. When we responded "Yes" he said he was a Christian!

This morning we traveled to a folk museum. It was very historic and we got another taste of Chinese culture. The facility originally was a school for higher education that trained ancient Chinese Scholars. When the Communist took over they changed it into a printing factory but today it has been restored and it is a school for aspiring artist.

This afternoon we went to a local playground along the waterfront. The children had a wonderful time playing and walking along the river front. We had dinner at a local diner called Lucy's which serves American food. We ate with two other adoptive families who have become our friends on this journey.

Every night when we pray, Hope will follow our lead and kneel beside the bed with her fingers crossed. She will say thank you Jesus for Mama, Baba, JeiJei and GuhGuh.

We can't thank God enough for this special little girl He has blessed us with.