New Pictures!

Steve and Colby taking a morning walk on our last day in Shenyang, his hometown.

A picture before boarding our plane from Shenyang to Guangzhou. We flew on China Southern.

After attending a Christian Church service, we asked the pastor to pray over Colby in Chinese. It was a very long, wonderful prayer! We got the whole prayer on video and someday will get it interpreted.

Colby thinks he is ready for a swim in the pool - but actually is very afraid of the water once we get there.

The flight attendents all loved Colby and asked if they could get a picture with him. They wrote a nice letter to him in English. He did not enjoy his first plane ride at all - was very fussy!

Guangzhou At Last

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to let you all know that Steve and Kendra made it safely to Guangzhou, China. This is the last city they will be in before flying home on Thursday. Unfortunately, Steve and Kendra are unable to blog at this time. All blogging has been blocked in the city of Guangzhou. Kendra hopes to forward pictures sometime this evening and I will post them as soon as they arrive! They said to tell everyone that little Colby is precious and continues to adjust well to life with his new family! Hooray!

Two important places in Colby's life !!!

We were told on the first day that we arrived in China that because of the Swine Flu, we would not be able to visit CJ's orphanage. It was explained that no one may enter except the workers for fear of bringing in the virus to the children. We have wanted so badly to see where Colby has spent everyday of his life so far. There is one, big orphanage here in Shenyang where all of the orphans live and it is 45 minutes outside of the city in the country. There are over 400 children who live there. We have had to meet with the orphanage director, Miss Tan, 2 different times to complete all of the necessary paperwork for the adoption. Both times we met in the city and both times I asked her to please allow us to visit the orphanage but she told us each time that the government would forbid it. As we were saying good-bye for the last time, I asked her if we could please just drive by the orphanage to take pictures from a distance. This time she said OK and that we could walk around the property - but not go inside. So this morning we rode out to the orphanage to walk around and take some video and pictures. It was so precious to me and I am so grateful that we were given this opportunity! God definitely gave me the desire of my heart and I am so appreciative! We then left the orphanage and drove to the location where CJ was found about 20 minutes away. It was in the corridor of an apartment building. The spot is called his "finding spot". That was so special walking around that area as well. We will post those two memorable locations.

We're all enjoying CJ !!

We have now had Colby for 3 days! The first day we got him, he was just quiet and watching everything and everyone with his big, beautiful brown eyes. He was soaking it all in. He did not cry at all (except for one time when he ran into the coffee table and got hurt). We were amazed at how "laid back" he was. Nothing fazed him - He was cool as a cucumber. Over these last 2 days, we have seen him come out of his shell and act more typical of a little boy his age! He is very active, loves to run, play, throws his food on the floor when he is done eating, bangs on the walls with his toys, is fussy when he is getting tired and wants to be held (usually by Madison -- her arms have become very sore!).

HE IS SO MUCH FUN AND HAS A CUTE PERSONALITY!! He loves to put on Madison's shoes and walk around the room. He also likes to put on Zack's shorts - We have to hold them up for him to walk around. He constantly flashes us with a smile - Madison stated that Colby was going to have a lot of wrinkles when he's older from smiling so much! The first and only English word that he has learned so far is "Ball". Yes, Zack taught him that one and they play several times each day with the beach ball that Amy gave us to bring on the trip! Thanks Amy, it is a big hit! Zack says that he can already tell that CJ has a good arm and that he has the potential to be a good baseball player!

We all love him very much!! He is a joy and we have no doubt that God intended for him to be a part of our family.

HE IS FINALLY OURS !!!

Colby is a wonderful little boy!! He is so sweet and smiles all the time!! He has adjusted very well to us!! Way better and faster than we expected!! Special thanks to everyone who prayed for his transition! We have not been able to blog before today because the Chinese Government had blocked all blogs in and out of the country as well as Youtube. Today is the first day that we have been able to pull up our site on the computer. We have so much share with you but we are leaving in a few minutes to visit the Shenyang Aquarium with CJ. We will post a few pictures now and then another blog later today! Colby is a real sweetheart and we all love him! We were told that the children usually become attached to one person in a family first and he has chosen Madison!

We've Got Travel Dates

This is C.J. 's latest picture - 19 months old!

We are so excited to finally have actual dates for when we will be traveling! We have our plane tickets, too! We will be leaving from the Columbia Airport in South Carolina at 8:31 am on May 27th! We land in Beijing, China, at 6:40pm on May 28th. Gotcha Day will be May 31st (when we actually get to lay our eyes for the first time on Colby and get custody of him from that moment on)! In the afternoon of June 10th, he becomes legally our son! And on June 11th, we will fly home! We all cannot wait to finally bring him home!