This is the Hubei group that we spent the most time with. They are a great group of people. They helped each other when it was needed most.

Samuel, Josiah and Grace on picture day with all the families.

Josiah is glad to be back so he can play with Friskie the cat. Grace likes the cat and wants to pull her hair.

Samuel is taking a wagon ride with Grace for her first ride. She liked it for a moment.

First, I want to thank everyone for their prayers while we were gone. We could tell that people were lifting us up to the throne of Christ. Please continue your prayers as we adjust back to central standard time. JET LAG is hard to adjust to and that is an understatement. It has been hard for all five of us. It has a nice sound to it... five of us. Our new bundle of joy is sitting in my lap as I write this entry. She would much rather be in the bed asleep at 2:45 in the afternoon because it is about 6:45 in the morning in China. This is a picture of Grace playing with a toy with the boys. One of the first toys that she is comfortable playing with. For some reason, she is scared of toys. She will play with spoons, chop sticks, boxes... you get the idea but not toys so this is exciting.

We are home!!! China was a great place but there is no place like home. Sounds familiar...like something off the Wizard of Oz:) China had great food and a lot of neat places to see but the most important thing they had was my daughter, Grace. She is the most beautiful girl in the world. I am very thankful to God for her. Thank you all for your prayers and help. May God bless you. We have been home less than 24 hours so I will add more to the blog later.

The boys are watching tv in Chinese. Every now and then you can catch a show in English.

They are dancing to music on a dvd. Grace's first dance.

This is a beautiful courtyard inside of the hotel in Guangzhou.

The boys are having a great time playing on the outside play area. They have made a lot of friends young and old. They are a big help with Grace.

Grace likes her Papa's hat and anything else he has.

Grace has gone from barely crawling to walking with a little assistance. After this picture, she only wanted to hold one hand. She also likes Pringles and oranges.

This girl loves her french fries. She wants to eat everything that I eat including toast with strawberry jelly.

Hello everyone, this is Barry and I'm doing my first post. The picture is Grace drinking her first cappuccino. Actually I finished the coffee and put her formula in the cup but she enjoyed drinking out of the cup. There is no doupt that she is a gift from God. I loved her before I ever laid eyes on her. Soundra says she already has me wrapped around her finger.

Hey everyone. I forgot to mention we are in Guangzhou the last leg of our journey. Grace seems to bloom more everyday. She becomes more confident and courageous. She is crawling a lot and laughs when we toss her up. She is beautiful and we can't imagine life without her. Josiah is getting sick so please pray for him. We skipped tours today and hung out at the motel because we needed family time. We had a great time and went to a play area inside the motel for the kids to play.

I am teaching her how to put make-up not that I wear much. We are having girl time.

Grace just after a diaper change. Look Mom no clothes. Isn't she beautiful? We think so. I am sorry my internet stuff has been so brief but we stay tired.

This is where Grace was found just outside the gate of the orphanage. It is illegal for the people to give them to the orphanage directly so they have to do it when no one is looking which would be hard to do. There are almost 1.4 billion people in China. We are so blessed as a nation and we do not realize it. We live in a very prosperous country and still a godly country.
We are having a blast with Grace. Everyday, her personality comes out more and more. She laughs and explores more everyday. She is an answer to prayer. I need to sign off because I am about to take a taxi to get KFC with someone from our group. We leave for Guangzhou today.

Two very proud brothers. They have been a very big help. A friend loaned me a laptop to download pictures to this. It also has English words on it. Yeah!!!!
How beautiful but I am just a little partial. We are doing well just tired. We seem to be constantly on the go.

We have a beautiful daughter. She is doing well and has taken to our family well. She is sleeping well and does not cry often. Grace has shown that she can be stubborn so I know God gave her to the right family. The boys are charming people as always and have been a great help. Barry is very good with her and she has even pulled on his beard some. She thinks it tickles when he kisses her. It is wonderful to hear her laugh. She is crawling but not walking. Please keep up your prayers because we are seeing the fruit of them. We have not put pictures on the blog spot because I can not read Chinese. I am sending this to a friend to see if she can post it. I pray so because I know everyone wants to see a picture.

Summer Palace is the name of the place we are visiting but it was very cold. We are having a good time but ready to go and pick up Grace sometime tomorrow. We have a great group of people to hang out with. Computer work in China is very frustrating. :)

We are here and arrived very late. I will download pictures later. What a long trip. We have made a lot of new friends. Please pray for Samuel and I. We both got motion sickness which baffles me. I have flown several times and it did not bother me. Samuel is doing better but I was up most of the night losing my day's worth of food. I stayed in the motel this morning while Barry and the boys went with the group. I feel much better now. This is a year's worth of praying and doing the paper finally coming to fruition. Thanks for your prayers. Yeah!

God is good! Wow! Tomorrow, we leave for China. We have been waiting for this day for a long time. Please pray for a smooth transition for Grace into our family, a safe trip and that we can show Christ love to others. We will be adding to this blog while we are in China so that you can keep us with us. By this time next week, we will have had Grace for a couple of days. May God bless and thank you for your prayers.