We are coming home today--all six of us!!

Today will be a very long day but a very exciting one. We are packing our final things and preparing to leave for the airport. We leave the hotel at 6:00am and fly from Guangzhou to Shanghai on China Southern. We then have a 6 hour layover. Yuck! Our 15 hour Delta flight then goes from Shanghai to Detroit and I think we land about 7:00pm. We then fly from Detroit to Orlando, landing at 10:30 tonight (Friday) in Orlando. Aside from the visa issues, it has been a wonderful trip. How could it not be? We are bringing home a wonderful new son to join our family. We can't wait for everyone to meet him. Bye for now!! :)

We got word that our visas are printing--unfortunately 13 of the 22 families here already missed their flights.

We just got word from our CCAI rep that our visas are printing and he can go pick them up now. We meet with him at 4:00 and hopefully he will have them in hand. :) Our appointment was Wednesday with flights out Friday but those with appointments Monday and Tuesday unfortunately did not get their children's visas until today. All of them had flights out last night and this morning and had to reschedule. We feel very fortunate. I know two families who were on the phone and Facetime with their congressmen last night begging for help. I am not sure if it helped or if it was just coincidence. We spent our last morning at the zoo which is where we got the exciting news. It was hot but fun. We look forward to getting home and plan on toddler-proofing our house very quickly. Will is very busy and likes to explore everything. He is so incredibly cute though. I am going to go begin packing and Lily Kate and Will are napping--hopefully I won't jinx anything. :)

It doesn't look like we will get Will's visa. :(

I just wanted to let everyone know that we had our Consulate Appointment today and they said they are printing the visas as quick as the can get them from the U.S. Unfortunately, the families that had their appointments on Monday and were supposed to leave tonight and tomorrow morning did not receive their visas yesterday and then today as they had prayed they would. Our chances are now slim since we just had our appointment today. Looks like Will and I will probably end up canceling our flights tomorrow evening and end up having to stay an extra week. So discouraging--ready to get home!!

Will has spoken his first two English words--"No Lily."

It is amazing how quickly children can pick up on a new language. Will is beginning to understand so much of what we say. It was so funny yesterday when Lily did something she was not supposed to do and he shook his finger at her and very clearly said "no Lily." We spent the day shopping at a beautiful place called Shamian Island yesterday and ate at a restaurant with American food--hamburgers, grilled cheese, french fries. We all ordered American food but ordered Will fried rice. He did not want his food but wanted what we had--it is amazing how quickly his taste buds are changing. This morning, in about an hour, we leave for our US Consulate appointment to apply for the visa--we can only cross our fingers and pray that things work out at this point. :)

Woohoo!--Last week's adoptees visas have printed and they are going home.

Good news--we have hope about getting Will's visa. By yesterday (Monday) evening, all 40 of last week's adoptees had gotten their visas in hand. That is amazing news. Thank you for all of you who were praying and sending well wishes. THey are so excited to finally be leaving China and heading home. Our guide feels fairly confident that although the system is running at a limited capacity right now, that we should get our visas Thursday to fly our Friday. Our group is less than half their size which is a plus. We are hopeful. We are really enjoying our trip and our sweet little boy. Everyday he is adjusting more and more into our family and it is amazing to see. Yesterday he had his medical test and did not even cry when they took blood. We went on a cruise down the Pearl River last night which he loved and are spending the day shopping today. Love to everyone!

No luck with visas so far. :(

Yesterday, the U.S. Consulate here opened with hopes of being able to print visas for all the families waiting to go home, but the mess with the immigration department back home has not improved and the systems are still down. Our appointment is now just two days away so we are starting to really worry because since it has been down for almost a full week, it is more than just a glitch. What is funny is that family back home says that it is not even on the news. Luckily, we are safe here and our visas to stay here and good for 30 days. Only a few families are approaching the 30 day mark because they adopted 2 children from 2 different provinces. Keep us in your prayers. Other than that, all is good. We are enjoying Guangzhou and spent yesterday touring a temple and visiting a famous emperor's house. We even got Dave a birthday cake from the hotel. It tasted disgusting (it was some strange fruit cake) but we got to sing. I think I was the only one who actually ate the cake. Will ate his first McDonalds happy meal which he seemed to enjoy. This morning, Will has to go for a medical test which he will not enjoy. Hope all is well in the states.

We have been traveling so I am catching up on my posting.

"No child in unwanted. Families are just unfound." I love this quote published by the National Adoption Center :) Happy Birthday Dave! (It is his birthday in China but not yet in the United States.) We have left Zhengzhou and now traveled to Guangzhou where we hope to complete our U.S. paperwork to bring Will back to the United States. Unfortunately, the U.S. has not yet gotten the problems with the computer systems fixed yet. When we arrived, we met some of the 40 families who were supposed to leave last Friday but have to stay for an additional week. My heart broke for these exhausted moms, most of whose families had to leave. Everyone is in limbo waiting for our government to fix the problem. There is nothing to do but wait. We have already made the decision that Dave and the three kids will leave on our planned flight Friday morning and I will stay back with Will. Our appointment is Wednesday morning so we still have a few days. On a lighter note, we spent our last day in Zhengzhou at a museum. It was bizarre to see a museum all about the history of China--I think the older kids got a lot out of it. The babies were done very quickly. Will loves the water and he loved swimming in the hotel pool. Yesterday, he went on his first airplane ride and did really well. He stared out the window the whole time. We are thrilled to be in Guangzhou. It is a beautiful city and we feel much safer and more welcome here. We even ordered Papa John's pizza last night. I must say--Will ate it but prefers all the Chinese food we have been eating. We look forward to a fun day of touring the city. Someone recently asked in a blog post about Will's disability and I realized that I never mentioned it--he has spina bifida. It is a very minor form called a meningocele and was born with a sac outside his spinal column at birth. He had surgery and has a scar but from what we have seen so far, he is a typical 2 year old. He walks, runs, and is even fully potty trained. :)When we get home we will take him to a specialist for an evaluation.