God is so Good!

I don't even know where to begin! God has blessed us beyond measure....we are so humbled at this time. Ty's smile lights up the room - he smiles from the inside out. He is just adorable.

At 1:45 our phone rang in our room and our guide told us that Ty was here! The entourage was headed to the conference room on the 5th floor and we could meet them there. We grabbed our things - and looked at each other knowing that this would change each of our lives forever. We walked into the conference room and saw several people - along with a boy with a gigantic smile! He walked up to us and said "Mommy?" and then "Daddy?" And then he looked for his "Jie Jie" and then said "Sister." He was very sad that she wasn't here. But we explained to him and he can hardly wait to see her!

Time seemed to fly as we were in the room. Everyone was talking at one time. And everyone seemed to love him very much. He has been so well taken care of and he is very excited to come to America. He told us that when he was found the second time and he got his operation on his feet he dreamed he would go to America. He told us that he had been abandoned twice and it was important to him that this didn't happen again. We promised him we would never leave him and he told us that made him very happy. He is very sweet and polite.

We spent a bit of time in the conference room taking pictures with everyone there. He showed us gifts from his foster Grandma. She explained that he had specifically asked for these gifts from her and we told her we would treasure them. He has sung many songs to us. I will try to video this tomorrow. It is too sweet for words.

We asked a few more questions and the foster family asked if they could keep the photo album we had sent to Ty of our family. Luckily, I made a color copy at home before I mailed it to Ty- so we were happy to let them keep it. He has a small photo album with pictures, a few clothes, some food he likes. He has a photo of him and a man who was his teacher who was named John. John works with the foster program here and is from England. John apparently plays the guitar because Ty has mimiced this many times to us and repeated "John." John does a mean rendition of "Old MacDonald."

Ty got a little sad when his foster family left - but was ready for his new life. We explained to the guide about the name we picked for him - and he likes it! He will call himself Ty - but you have to use LuLu to get his attention. I think it will be a smooth transition for us.

Our guide accompanied us to our room and spent time with us. We would all talk and Ty would make quite a few jokes. Michael said he makes friends wherever he goes - and that is obvious. We looked over his things and Michael translated some report cards. They all looked pretty normal - I saw some of his math and word problems and he is multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers. He knows a lot of pinyin and characters - and helps us look up things in the dictionary. We had Michael explain that communication might be difficult and we would all need to be patient with each other and keep trying. And Ty explained to the guide that he was very confident it would all be just fine. He would teach us Chinese while he learned English. Simple!



When Michael left, we had a moment of panic - like now what are we going to do!? It went fine - Ty will start talking in Chinese to us very clearly and with the most sincere look on his face. He just knows we will find a way to understand. He will act out or draw - and then we try to look things up in the dictionary. We've been successful so far! He loved the Gameboy and likes to play cards.


We ate dinner in the hotel....easier. He loved the buffet - and we showed him how to eat shrimp. He told us he was not a picky eater! He didn't eat a lot - but that could have been because when we walked into the restaurant - he saw a girl he recognized from the foster program. She is 4 years old and was there with her adoptive family. Ty asked if she was going to America and was very happy. But sad that it was not Alabama. She will be in California. But they played in the lobby after dinner and held hands. We will travel with them later this week to the famous waterfalls in Guizhou and to the Monkey Park.

There is a player piano in the lobby and Ty and I danced! He held my hand and put the other on my shoulder and led me around - and just laughed and laughed. When I twirled under his arm - he really hooted! It was so much fun. He will just giggle and smile and then hug you.

He kept asking all day to call his sister - and we were able to Skype to his "JieJie" and his "LaoLao" (Loe Loe). When he heard his sister's voice he completely lit up. He was so excited! I think Caitlin was too. I can't wait for them to meet each other. I can tell he really wants to see his Grandma and sister to talk and communicate better. I think this is going to be good!

After Skyping - he took a shower - but had told us before that he could pass on that. I explained that we got him new pajamas and if he showered, he could wear them. No problem! In he jumped...and then brushed teeth and jumped into bed and is Gameboying until I finish.

To pray is "Qi Dao" and we knelt beside our son and rubbed his sweet head and thought, "Now I lay him down to sleep and pray the Lord his soul to keep.....our precious, precious boy."