Home At Last

We are finally home!!  I was not able to blog in China, so I will try to catch everyone up this week.  I will also post many pictures and video.  Bella has bonded well and is adjusting to her new life in the Mann family.  We are off schedule and hope in the next few days to be able to sleep at night!  I have 5 exhausted children, but they have been little troopers.  It was funny this morning:  Haley and Sierra were doing laundry at 3:30 am without any complaints!!  They were wide awake and just going about their business as usual!! 
More posts and pictures to come soon!

Breakfast!

Breakfast was wonderful!!  It was so good to get something to eat.  We were all very hungry by this morning.  We have a few hours before we go to the train station so we are going to check out the hotel.  It is surrounded by water.  It's really beautiful looking out from any window! 

We Made It To Hong Kong!!

What a long flight, but the kids did great!!  We are checked in at a Marriott Hotel by the airport.  It's very nice and includes the internet!!  I wish I could do this in China.  I don't think that it will be possible to blog in China.  However, my mother-in-law is planning to post for me if I am able to send her emails. 

We leave on a train tomorrow for China.  It takes about 2 hours, so another exciting adventure for the kids!

I will try to post and update as much as I can.  We will get Bella on Monday which will be Sun. night for all of you.

Updated Photos of Bella

She has grown so much!  She is 14 months old.  She looks so much like Caleb.  It's amazing to me!!  We leave Thurs. morning at 6am to go pick her up which is Caleb's Gotcha Day (3 yrs ago)!  Her Gotcha Day should be March 28th!  Please pray for her little heart to be prepared for her new family. 

Shower For Bella

Faith Temple gave Bella a wonderful shower on Saturday!  She will be the best dressed little princess for her 1st year in the United States!  Thank you all for coming and sharing in this special time.  (Leah Blair was also a hostess that is not pictured.)  A special thanks to Keith and Dee for using your weekend to travel Home!  Also, a special thanks to my dear friends, Brian and Terri McDonald, for coming!  That's one way to get Greg to show up at a baby shower Brian!!  He was so thrilled to spend time with you. Just a few more days and we will be on that plane.  A week from Mon. is our Gotcha Day!!

Travel Approval

We received our travel approval!!  We will leave on March 24th at 6:00am.  It's amazing because based on when our Article 5 was picked up we should still be waiting!!  God has moved on our behalf.  We are actually leaving on Caleb's Gotcha Day!!  (Three years ago)  God has moved mountains for this adoption to take place!  We give the Father all the glory through His Son, Jesus Christ!!
We will be staying at The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.  It has a website.  It's beautiful and I believe we will do fine with the food on this trip.  I hope I will be able to post over there.  If not, I will try to send pictures through email.

Orphans of God

Emme Grace Forbes

Please watch this video in honor of Emme Grace Forbes.  Our dear friends adopted her the same time we adopted Caleb.  She has since gone on to live with Jesus!  Pray for the Forbes family!http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/emme-grace-forbes/688020d6c614ff62bdb8688020d6c614ff62bdb8-417932706024?q=Emme+Forbes+youtube+video&FORM=VIRE1

Bella's First Birthday

Today is Bella's first birthday.  We wish she was already with us, but we know God's timing is right.  The kids decided to give her a little party today so that she would have it in her memory book.  I have added a couple of pictures and a video to share.

Letter of Acceptance

We received our LOA today.  Praise the Lord!!  Now it goes through immigration and back to China.  Once that is done we will wait for travel approval.  This should take about 3 months altogether.  It looks like we will possibly travel at the beginning of April.  We are so excited!!

Posted Video

The video I posted is of a couple that adopted a little girl from the same orphanage that Bella is from.  You can see where she is living now until we can go get her!!  Please continue to pray for her.

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