Part of the Family.

Notice the heading is "part" of the family - not "the center" of the family. Hailee is learning about being a member of the family, but she definitely wants to be the center of attention. Oh well, these are the challenges of parenting!

After three days of letting her cry in the crib, consoling her in the middle of the night, and letting her cry some more, we finally managed a normal sleep schedule (actually, she sleeps about ten hours per night!)

Sleep, play, eat, repeat - seems to be the order of life for our girl!

Just two days ago, she started eating solid foods. This is exciting for a parent, don't ask me why...

No surprises at the doctor's office. ...but we are going to restart her immunization as if nothing has been done up to now. You know how some people update their service record on their car just before they sell it? You take one look at it and suspect foul play, because all of the entries are exactly on schedule with respect to dates/mileages, but it's all in the same color of ink, the same style of handwriting, and sort-of "perfect" - as in "too perfect". ...That's a good description on Hailee's immunization record that we received from the orphanage...

Seth has become the ultimate big brother. He's great! No jealousy so far, just a constant desire to hold Hailee and be involved with her daily life. I'll update you in six months on this - right now, it's still the "honeymoon period".

Moms and Babies

It's Tuesday morning in China. In less than 24 hours, if God wills, we will be boarding our flight back home. Lacy Rose is already looking Americanized. Haley is OK with whatever. The real question is: Are we parents ready?

Growing Every Day

Well, today she said "Da-da", held her bottle, and tried to sit up on her own. Not to mention the constant smiling and laughing when we played with her. This girl is really connecting! I know that we will see signs of adoption-oriented problems at some point, but I'm thanking God that, so far, things are much better than I could have ever asked for them to be. Some would say that I am just being a "glass half full" kind of guy - but that's not true; right now, I'm a "cup running over" kind of guy!










On a more solemn note, I grossed the entire group out at a Japanese restaurant tonight when I ate the head of a Goliath-sized shrimp!

A few of us also went to the Electronics District today, and found amazing deals - like Sony 8Gb USB memory keys for $33! Yes, Steve, I'm bringing one of them back for you...

Confidence!

Today marks Cindy's renewal of confidence as a mother. While we were at the clinic getting medical approval for Hailee to travel to the US, the doctors were not very sensitive to the kids. I guess that they see so many kids each day, they have lost their bedside manner. Cindy was not amused to say the least. Can you see the "don't mess with my daughter" look in her eyes?

Unbelievable!

Pete, one of the fathers in our group, decided to put together a worship service for tonight. ...and it was incredible!

Just when I started thinking that few people outside of our church were serious about worship, God used a whole collection of folks from all over the US to humble me and show me that there are lots of folks who are very serious about focusing all of the attention on the Lord. (NOTE: The paragraph above has caused some hurt feelings within my circle of friends. Still, it is an honest account of my arrogant thinking, which is sin against God that He broke down and replaced with humility while I was in China.)

Pete's encouragement to us was three-fold:

• Keep following the leading of the Lord.
• Enjoy your children, they are gifts from God.
• Live in a manner that humbly shows Christ to everyone who sees your family.

I was blessed to get to pray for two specific items:

1. That the hearts of the children and the adoptive families would be open to fully receive each other.
2. That the chain of generational sin would be broken within each of us, and in our new children.

Then, after open testimony time (which was great!), Kevin directed each father to come forward and collect the communion elements to administer to his own family. The reality of servant-leadership within each of our homes really came alive to us all tonight. It was the Church glorifying God with overflowing hearts.

Marc Quigley led the worship in singing, and started his time by asking the families to shout-out the states that they came from. A majority of the US was represented in our little service tonight.

Palmer closed us in prayer - and sent us out with confidence and clarity about what we are doing here, as well as the God who sustains us.

...And God was lifted up above all else.

The picture that Hailee will shoot us for when she's 20!

Here's the shot that will get me in trouble when Hailee is older. But, it's so cute that I'm willing to risk it.

Today we took her to the US Consolate's clinic to get her medical approval before returning to the states. She weighs 14 lb. 8 oz., and she's 26 inches long. That's pretty small for 9 months old!

Everything went OK at the clinic, and we haven't seen any roadblocks so far.

Hailee is getting more interactive and smiling/laughing more every day. We're having a ball, but we miss Seth alot... It won't be a complete adoption until we are all together. She has alot to learn from her big brother!