Chayah's Home!!

She's home at last!! We met them at the airport and it was so much fun! Chayah's my girl for sure!! :) She has been attached to me, literally, since we met! I am absolutely loving having her at home! She is so sweet and will just reach over, grab my hand, and kiss it! I am so in love with this girl!! She is precious and is doing so well! I am so proud of her!! She is scared of our dogs, two black lab mixes, but even since just last night, she is already so much better with them. At first, she cried when she even saw them- they were pretty scary to her! But today she has been on the ground, walking around the room at the same time they are, and even throwing a treat to them earlier. So little by little she is getting more used to them and less scared of them. She has been very happy, except when the dogs come up to her, at which point she loudly screams and wants to be picked up very fast. She is my little sister and it is so amazing that she is finally home!!!

Three big sisters, anxiously waiting to meet Chayah!

Me and my girl!

Chrissy and Chayah

Chayah, Me, Sarah, and Chrissy

Chayah, Me, (Charity hiding behind me), Faith, Sarah, Joyeaux, and Chrissy

Me and Chayah on the way home

I love her so much!

Kisses :)

Chayah coming home

Sarah coming home after a long trip, listening to jie jie's music

More kisses from Chayah

Sisters :)

With her new baby doll

Me and my little sisters!!!

Chayah, finally home!

She's Home!

Just a very quick note to say that we just got home from the airport-- Chayah is home and doing great! She is such a sweetie and I am so in love! She has attached to me and is now always with me- sweetest thing ever!! It is so amazing to have her finally HOME!! I promise I'll try to post more, including pictures, later tonight after Chayah goes to sleep. ;)

The Red Couch

My family on the Red Couch at the White Swan. I love this picture!

Travel Group :)

My mei mei's are so cute!!

Chayah, Kennedy, Ezra, and Sarah-- They are so cute!!

I love these red couch photos! For those of you that may not understand, the red couch is at the White Swan Hotel (there are several of them there, actually) in Guangzhou and it is a tradition of adoptive families to take pictures there.
Now, today is Friday and tomorrow, they are coming home!! We are going to be meeting them at the airport and I can't wait! It is going to be so amazing to meet Chayah and to see Sarah and my parents again! I've missed them a lot! I am so excited about tomorrow morning (their flight lands at approximately 11am central time). They're almost home!!!

Around in Guangzhou

Two beautiful dancing princesses :)

Enjoying the warm weather in Guangzhou

The family :)

At the White Swan in front of the bird cage

Pictures!

At the Beijing airport

The Pearl River

Mom, Chayah, and Sarah looking out on the Pearl River

Dinner at Lucy's

They made it safely to Guangzhou and are now staying at the White Swan Hotel. Chayah had her first can of pop (Orange Sunkist) and was treasuring it! They got the Going Home Barbie-- Something that I have been dying for us to get. Yesterday they went to the Guangzhou Zoo. Today they had Chayah's medical exam. We talked to them on skype just a little while ago and they were heading out to the Liu Hua Park- it is so beautiful and we had a great time there on our last trip.

Guangzhou!

They should be arriving in Guangzhou right around now! I can't wait to hear from them... hopefully with more pictures that I am absolutely dying to see!! ;)

More Pictures!

Beautiful sisters together and matching at last! ;)

Mommy and both of her girls!
Don't you just love it that Chayah is wearing a bow?! So cute!!!

Gotcha Video

Here is the video of Chayah's gotcha!! It starts out with the nannies at the orphanage first seeing Sarah again (Sarah was at the same orphanage as Chayah) and then goes into getting Chayah! It's pretty short, only 1 minute, but is so cute and absolutely precious!!

Update!

• They went out to dinner on Gotcha Day and in the bathroom were flush toilets. It was a very funny thing that the toilet flushed and so mom and the girls stayed in there for a little while, just flushing the toilet and giggling. ;)
• Chayah is little! She is a head shorter than Sarah. Sarah, at four years old, is wearing sizes 4 and 5 now, with about a size 8 1/2 shoe. Chayah, at six years old, fits into size 3 pants and size 4 shirts. Her feet are also itty bitty, fitting into a size 6 or 7 shoe!
  
• Chayah likes her new name- "Chayah"
• On Adoption Day(Monday the 12th), they started out in Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei Province. They had to go back to Langfang to apply for her passport and then into Beijing to stay until Saturday. It was alot of driving and they ended up not getting to eat dinner til 8pm. Chayah got sick and threw up. She said goodbye to her nanny and there were lots of tears.
  
• We talked to them on webcam last night here, which was Tuesday morning for them. She came up to talk to us at first with mommy, but then decided that running around the lobby (that's where they are getting an internet connection) with Sarah was much more fun! Before we got off though, she came over with daddy and played with us through the webcam. We had our first sister-bonding moment with sticking out our tongues and making funny faces. She is a silly girl!!

Gotcha, Chayah!

Chayah with Baba and Mama!

And Mei Mei too!

They're all together at last!!! Notice how Sarah is kissing Chayah's hand? So sweet!!!

Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Chayah with the nannies and the kids at the orphanage

They have her!!!! It is so amazing to finally see pictures of all of them together at last! God's plan is so amazing!!!! Chayah came right up to them, said "Mama!" and grabbed my mom's hand!! She has been very happy, no tears! All smiles and laughter! She and Sarah have been holding hands. :)

They're getting her soon!

It is 11am in China-- the time that they are supposed to be getting Chayah!!!!!

Skype

We are using Skype with webcams to talk to my parents and Sarah. Yesterday afternoon here, while 4am in China (they couldn't sleep because of jet lag), we talked to them on the webcam and it was a lot of fun! Sarah kept saying, "they're not real" about me and my sisters on webcam because she thought it was a video of us. To prove that we actually were real, she started asking us addition and multiplication problems (which she does not know). I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures of my Sarah while talking to her. She's my cutie!! Just a few more hours til gotcha!!!! They're coming Chayah!!!!

Sarah smiles for me on the webcam :)

"They're not real..." We are, buddy! We are really talking to you right now!! ;)

This is Sarah jumping on the bed in the background, at 4am after a flight to China. I thought it was really cute how this turned out, and if anyone has seen Steven Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella" performed in concert, it reminded me of that. ;)

The Miracle of Adoption

As I was laying in bed, I started thinking about my parents and Sarah in China. They are in Beijing and it is 5pm on Saturday, Jan. 10th. Suddenly, I realized that in a few hours when Chayah goes to sleep for the night, it will be her last night at the orphanage. Tomorrow (Saturday night, my time- Sunday morning, China time), Chayah will be in my parents arms and reunited with Sarah. After all of the waiting that we have been through, finally, in practically just a few hours, Chayah will finally be with our family! It blows me away to think about this, because, it shows me a glimpse into God's beautiful miracle of adoption! Chayah is now six years old. I do not know what her thoughts on having a family have been her whole life, but I do know that she has watched the babies (Sarah Lu, for example) be adopted, while the older children remain in the orphanage. I do not know how our "gotcha" moment will be, whether it will be hard on everyone or a smooth and easy transition, but I do know that God has placed Chayah in our family. In just a few short hours, all of the waiting will be over and Chayah will be with her mommy annd daddy and mei mei, Sarah! Of course, I still have to wait a little longer until a day coming up at the airport, but Chayah's wait for her family will be over and our wait for Chayah will be completed.

Safe in Beijing

We just got off the phone with my dad. It was a little late (10pm), so they were all sleeping (until my dad woke up) and we're going to try again once it's morning there. We only talked for a moment but they are safe in Beijing and Sarah has done really well with the flight and all the travel in general. I'm so proud of my girl! :)

Landed!

Just a quick post to say that according to the United airlines website, their flight has landed and is now taxiing to the gate in Beijing, China!! They are so close to Chayah now!!! I'll post again as soon as I hear from them!

Take-Off!

I just got off the phone with my parents and Sarah Lu. They are at the airport and were called to board the plane! Sarah was so sweet on the phone!! When they gave the phone to Sarah, I said, "Hi Sarah! Where are you?" (seeing if she would tell me about the airport and what she thought of it) and she said, "I'm on your head!" and then a moment later, "I was just playing a joke on you." Yep, that's my Sarah! She's a silly girl!! I am going to miss her so much for the next two weeks!!! I asked her if she thought the plane was big (cause she could see it out the window) and she said, "No... it's small, they're all small.. But it's actually big!". She was enjoying chocolate milk and a cinnamon bun. :) They're leaving from the same gate that we left in for Sarah's adoption, so I can imagine just what everything looks like. I miss that time, but this is so amazing and I cannot wait until the 24th when both of my sweet mei mei's will be home with me!! I made them promise that they would write to me as soon as they could in Beijing, so until then, they're flying on their way! :)

And it begins...

1/7: My parents and Sarah Lu leave home to stay near the airport.
1/8: Flying to Beijing!
1/9: Arrive in Beijing
1/10: Free day in Beijing
1/11: GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!!! Receive Chayah at her orphanage in Langfang. Drive to the capital city of Hebei, Shijiazhuang. Stay there overnight.
1/12: Adoption Day! Drive back to Langfang to apply for Chayah's passport.
1/13-16: In Beijing.
1/17: Fly from Beijing to Guangzhou.
1/18: Free time on Shamian Island.
1/19: Chayah's visa physical and photo.
1/20: Consulate Appointment.
1/21: Go to the US Consulate to take the oath.
1/22: Depart Guangzhou for Hong Kong.
1/23: Free day in Hong Kong.
1/24: Flight home!!!!! I finally get my Chayah!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I'll be posting on this blog- When Love Takes You In- as much as possible, hopefully at least once a day. Although I am not going on the trip, I will post emails and photos that my parents send to me. I cannot even believe that this is finally happening! It seems very surreal that after all of this waiting, my parents and Sarah will actually board a plane tomorrow and not too long after, be IN China! And just a few days later, have Chayah in their arms!!!! And then... she will be HOME!!! Our God truly is an awesome God!!!!

Five Days!

Even more new pictures of Chayah! She is so adorable!!

Only five more days until my parents and Sarah leave for China! Wow!!!! I can't wait until she is home! But for now, I'm off to help with the packing. :)