Heading Home Tomorrow!

Hey! I found a way to access my blog from China! Woohoo!

We are getting ready to fly home tommorow morning, and leaving from the hotel EARLY so I am trying to pack everything up tonight. I have already laid out our clothes and Gideon is showered and in his pj's and lying in bed alternating between playing Angry Birds on my phone, which is his new love, and reading him the Chinese comic book I bought him.

He was VERY excited to learn that we are leaving tomorrow! He was grinning ear to ear and and so visibly happy when I told him. I am glad he is happy instead of apprehensive or anxious. And I wonder if he realizes what a long plane ride it is going to be?? Probably not. Will have to warn him about that one.

Today was a pretty relaxing day. We had our breakfast and then met Elsie for a little sightseeing. We saw the memorial here in Guangzhou, built in the early 1900's to Shao Shen (sp?) who tried to bring Democracy to China but failed. Beautiful building and garden! Then we climbed up the hill-- think steep and a TON of steps like the Great Wall-- to see the monument up there too. I tell you, each time I come to China I seem to climb steps a lot! Heehee! But the garden there was beautiful too, so many nice flowers and trees-- like mango and banana trees, and lots of people out enjoying the garden today too. I wish the US had more people out enjoying its gardens and parks like they do here. Everywhere you look people are playing hacky sack, badminton, or even dancing in the parks as they were today. Couples were ballroom dancing to Let it Snow-- I kid you not-- in the park. Elsie laughed when I told her that it was a Christmas song and a little too warm for that right now-- she said they just like the tune for waltzing and probably don't even know what they are singing. Heehee! Seriously though, the elderly and retired people here are so often out and about, excercising in one way or another, getting together at the parks in large groups for some fun or relaxation. That is probably one of the keys to their longevity and we in the US could use more activity for our elderly, more fresh air and sunshine too!

So after the park and monument we came back to the hotel and went to get some lunch. Then the afternoon was just us hanging around the room, reading and watching some tv in between spirited games of Connect 4. Gideon really loves it!

Tonight we went for dinner and wandered the shops a bit, then came back to get ready to leave. It will be a long day tomorrow, so I need to get to bed early tonight.

I have all our paperwork now in my hot little hands-- my sealed brown envelope that I dare not open before reaching immigration in the US, the copies of his medicals and chest x-ray, his passport and Visa-- all ready to roll! And we didn't have to go back to the medical center for any more vaccinations yesterday after all, thank goodness! Elsie even said that the one doctor there behind the counter that was looking over his record even said that he hoped he didn't have to have it, he didn't recommend it. Well I agree, so I am glad too!

So that is about all for now. I will post pictures at some time when I get home after I put them onto the computer. Right now, just looking forward more than anything to that scene in the airport where my kids and hubby get to lay eyes on him for the first time in person!

One more thing as a sidenote....... on recommendation of a friend and also after watching some of his videos on You Tube, I bought the book Crazy Love by Francis Chen and brought it with me to read on this trip. Well, I am already finished with it because it is such a quick read and a fabulous book! I practically underlined the whole thing there were just so many good points in it, and I plan to do a couple blog posts here about it and how much it has moved me once I get settled at home.

But just in short, the book is really telling us that if we want to be Christians, truly Christians, then we need to give up our lukewarm lives and live radically for Christ. And that whenever anyone says that, they are looked at as "crazy" because in our society, people would rather be comfortable and fit in and just do as everyone else does rather than to stick out or sacrifice anything to make a difference. And he says that is not TRULY what Christ wants. He wants us to love others more than ourselves, to give all that we have of ourselves to make others lives better and spread the message of His love for us. He wants us to step out in faith, not always have everything you are doing so planned, so that you can truly learn to have faith and see God move mountains in your life!

And above all, He wants us to give HIM the glory, not ourselves, so that we and others know that whatever we do is only done because God has enabled it. God is the provider, not ourselves.

Well I have been able to apply so much, if not all of that book to adoption-- especially this one of ours in particular. God is the reason that we came to get Gideon. We weren't prepared, for sure, and it wasn't something we had been planning. God put it in our hearts to go get him and God made sure that HE would get the glory for the adoption's completion, as it should be, by putting certain obstacles in our path that could only be overcome with Him as our guide.

Chan says in the book that some of our greatest joys come out of our previously greatest despairs, and that is true in this instance for us. There were enough obstacles put in our way to make us despair, and they were obstacles that we could have never overcome on our own. Only God could have helped us remove them and He did.

Through this adoption our faith has been strengthened immensely and I feel strongly that this was one way for us to really step out in faith, trust Him completely and let us show His love and compassion and his power. I am so greatful that we decided to take those steps and let God lead.

If you haven't read the book Crazy Love I highly recommend you do so. It really put in context for me what the true meaning of Christian is and gave me a fresh look at how we should be striving to live our lives if we are truly following Christ's teachings.

I ask everyone to pray a little more for us and for our trip home tomorrow, that it is safe and uneventful and that we pass through immigration with no complications! Thanks again!!