Tomorrow is Gotcha Day

The years of waiting have now finally turned to just hours. In less than 15 hours we will hold Nathan and have him with us. The anticipation is escalating as the hours tick away!!!!!!!!!!!

We flew out of Beijing this morning and arrived in Zhengzho by early afternoon. Unpacking tiny 18 month old clothes (at least compared to Drew, Lauren and Emily's), diapers and placing Nathan's blankets on the crib in the room for him were my highlights today. I guess I'm nesting here in our hotel room, getting things ready for our dear little boy.

What will he look like in real life, not just in a picture? How will he respond to us? Will he sense how much we love him? What will those first moments be like for the three of us? Only the Lord knows and that is where we are resting...is in the Lord's arms. We are entrusting Nathan and our future with him to the Lord, believing that the Lord has ordained all of us to be together. AND we can't wait for Nathan to meet his extended family. Often in China, because of the one-child policy, Chinese children don't have siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins. Well, Nathan is going to step into a world full of family. Life is going to go upside down for him for sure, in the best possible way!!

Would you please pray that God's hand of grace and goodness will be on Nathan in these next days and weeks? Everything will be new for him. Thank you for praying for our "Gotcha Day" and beyond.

One last thing. A huge blessing in our trip are the other families that we are going through this experience with. There are 16 families here in the Henan province getting their children. Our representative told us all today that we are the biggest group to come to this province with CCAI ever. I'm pretty sure we are all getting special needs children and hearing others' stories has been such a blessing. Some families are here with their kids and some came without them (like us). Some brought one or two parents along. Also, some of the children along were adopted from China and now their parents are adopting again. Out of the 16 families, four of us are getting children from PingDingShan.

We've also really enjoyed some time with one of the couples, Ron and Laurie Besonen. Keith and I have known Laurie since our days in Indianapolis. Then we met Ron once they were engaged. How sweet is it that God brought us to China to get boys with cleft lip and palate on the same travel group.

Look for our big news along with pictures tomorrow!!!!