MARCH 18....ANOTHER GREAT DAY IN CHINA

This morning Kristy, Jin Yi and myself went to the China Consulate for the swearing in for Jin Yi's visa to immigrate to the US.  We couldn't take phones, wallets or anything so I don't have any pictures to show.  This event took most of the morning.  We left Emma, Ellie, Daniel and Zac at the hotel along with the other kids from a couple of families.  The girls enjoyed this time to take care of all the kids and it sounds like they raided the breakfast buffet.  This week has moved pretty fast with the many appointments and the schedule we have been running with visiting Daniel's foster family and reconnecting with Elvin.  We had another China connection come back to us today...Lei, who is from China, and was at UNK as a student on an exchange program at the time we adopted Daniel, came to visit us along with her mom.  Of course there is much more to this story but I have to tell you the most important part of how God connected us with her at this time.  First our relationship got established with her back when Daniel came home with us and she helped us in so many ways to get his language going and getting him adapted to the our family.  We were blessed to get to know Lei at that time but her time at UNK came to an end and we had to say good bye to her.  We didn't know if we would ever see her again but guess what?  We haven't been in contact with her for years and whammo!! she decided to purchase a VPN and search the internet and was lead to our blog!!  Really...She sent Kristy an email while we were in Beijing and said she wanted to connect with us in Guangzhou.  What a miracle to connect with her at this time.  She is living with her mom and dad right now and is 3 and 1/2 hours away by train to us in Guangzhou.  Lei and her mom came to Guangzhou today and we all went to the Canton Tower (3rd tallest tower in the world) today and had a great time.  We were 600 meters up and on the 108th floor!!  Very scary.  We ate on the 107th floor which is the highest restaurant in the world.  We had a great time and enjoyed reconnecting with Lei and meeting her mom.  Lei has been a great influence for our kids and has been a real blessing to our family.  She showered us with gifts from China and brought a lot of joy to us today.  We are going to meet her tomorrow at a park for a couple of hours before she has to travel back to her home.  We are down to one more day in China then we travel back home.  Our flight leaves Friday morning from Guangzhou to Beijing to Chicago to Lincoln finally at 9:30 pm then we drive home.  Good ol sweet home.  Everyone is ready to be home and get some normalcy going.  Please pray for our travels on Friday to go well and for everyone to stay healthy.  When we came home with Daniel everyone got sick and it was quite the deal.  I am praying that we will have fun on the trip home and everyone will feel good and be rested and adapt quickly to all the new things Jin Yi will be dealing with at our home.  Thank you all for your continued support.  We look forward to sharing more as time allows.