All is well here.  We had a delayed flight from Beijing to Lanzhou because of extreme fog.  We arrived in Lanzhou and drove straight to a small passport photo place where our babies were waiting, and all four families received their kids right then.  Thomas Fu Zhou did not cry at first.  He played and got pictures and went to all of us.  As soon as all the other babies stopped crying, Thomas started.  He cried for the van ride to the hotel, checking into the hotel, and getting a room.  He cried when I gave him a bottle, and refused it and pushed it away.  He refused cheerios and every toy.  So I just snuggled him.  He played the saddest game of peekaboo ever.  He covered his eyes so he couldn't see me, and then uncovered them.  You could tell that he kept hoping that when he uncovered them, I would have turned back into his nanny.  Finally, I had the girls turn off the lights and gather round and we all pretended to sleep while I was holding him, and he drifted off.  Matt returned from the paperwork with a box of treasures from the SWI, which included his favorite bottle and formula.  When he woke up at 2:30 am, I gave him that bottle, and he sucked it straight down without a single drip and played and smiled and then went back to sleep.  We shall see how he feels when he wakes up and still has new mama and baba.

Fog Delays in Beijing October 30, 2011 order prints Our view as we waited until about 4-5 hours after our takeoff time before we even boarded the plane. Coming to Gansu October 30, 2011 order prints Mountains in Gansu Gotcha Matthias Family October 30, 2011 order prints The newest member of the Matthias family with Daddy (baba), Mommy (mama), Ginny (jie jie) and Elizabeth (little jie jie).

Greetings from Beijing!  We had a great flight from DC to Beijing, straight north from DC and over the north pole, so I still have never crossed the Pacific!  We made it to the hotel room before crashing thanks to our amazing guides.  Matt and Elizabeth fell asleep at about 6 pm here (6 am Eastern time), and Ginny and I got food and fell asleep at about 7 pm.  We all woke up between 3 and 4 am.  Although we had gotten about 5 hours of sleep in the 48 hours before, we are all feeling quite good.  Today we will tour the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Every person I’ve spoken to here is shocked that we are here to adopt a 4thchild, especially when they find out that we have a son.  Our hotel is beautiful.  We will be meeting our travel group in an hour for breakfast, and we are about 36 hours from meeting Thomas.  We are beyond happy and excited.

Great Wall October 29, 2011 order prints Touring the Great Wall was incredible.  I made it to the second tower and Matt and the girls went further.  The view is indescribably beautiful.   Ginny, the tourist attraction October 29, 2011 order prints As we went around the Forbidden City, the girls were constantly asked to pose in pictures with the Chinese tourists.  The girls were very shy about it which made it all the more funny and cute.  This picture is from about 3/4 the way through our tour when Ginny saw a little Chinese girl that she wanted a picture with (tourist attraction for our tourist attraction). Forbidden City October 29, 2011 order prints We had a wonderful time touring the Forbidden City today.  The Forbidden City is also fascinating.  Our group and guide are really great.  Beijing does not feel nearly as "foreign" as I expected.

Leaving for China

We are (mostly) packed and leaving for the airport in the morning.  I am excited, nervous, happy, sad... everything all at once.  I am most surprised at how much I am dreading leaving my snuggle puppy.  I cry every time I hug him.  I can't do without either of my boys, and really can't wait to have them both together.  

China Blog and Packing

Whew!  We are busy packing and getting ready.  My house is a whirlwind disaster.  We have very nearly made it to our goal of being halfway done with school before we go to China though.  While we are in China, we will be blogging from this site:

http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=691769

We have now "met" our travel group and they seem like a wonderful bunch.  God has blessed us with another wonderful support system.

We are coming, little panda!  It is so strange for me to think about how much we all love him, and how he probably doesn't even understand what is about to happen.  Every day has always been the same for him, and his world is about to change.  Please pray that God would prepare him to make this adjustment, and that He would give us great compassion and wisdom.


The panda won't be an orphan for much longer.  The even better news is that we have been adopted by a God of great compassion and wisdom.  Not because of any good in us, but because He is good and faithful.  Here is a tremendous promise from the Lord:


John 14:18-19  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

TA, we are leaving for China!

On Wednesday Oct. 12, we received the phone call that we have been approved to travel to China (TA) to bring the Panda home.  On Thursday, we made our international travel arrangements, and on Friday, we received our in -China travel package.  We leave for China on Oct. 27 and return home on Nov. 11.  We will have the Panda in our arms as of Oct. 30 (evening in China, morning in the US).  We are so happy to be close to snuggling this little guy. 

The Bunny and the Penguin will be travelling with us and are so excited to learn about and experience their brother's amazing country.  Will will get to tour Beijing for 2 days, spend Oct. 30 - Nov 4 in Lanzhou, Gansu, which is the capital of the Panda's province, and then finish out our time in China in Guangzhou, Guangdong. 

We all spent this weekend in my hometown, and were able to see many of my favorite people from high school.  Lucky for us, one is an expert on travelling in China and one is doctor, so we are now better informed than we were.  :)

Any tips and comments from people who have done this before are welcome.  Your prayers are so important to us.  Thank you all for the support- we have such a wonderful family, church family, neighborhood, and bunch of friends. 

Isaiah 55:11-13

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
   It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
   will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
   will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
   and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD’s renown,
   for an everlasting sign,
   that will endure forever.”

Update

We got new pictures of the Panda eating his birthday cake with his nannies and friends.  Very cute, but until I figure out how to blur out the faces of others for their privacy, I can't post them....  The cake was the most beautiful one I've ever seen.

We also heard from our agency that our I800 came back, although we haven't actually gotten it in the mail yet.  Good news!  Things are moving along well.  The packing lists are intimidating, though...  :)

New pics

We received these pictures with a short written update about our Panda this morning as a follow on with the RA.