Red Couch and HOME

Today was our last official day in China. Tomorrow bright and early we will pack our bags and leave China. We arrive home Saturday night at 9pm. We are SO excited. Can't wait to hug all of our family!
I will explain more about today later when I have better internet and more time {like I will the rest of the trip} but for now here are our red couch photos...ENJOY!

Next step...HOME!

I really apologize for my lack of posting this trip...I will go back, post, and give my reasons why:)

LOVE for the last time from China!

Slacking 3; Safari!

Today we went to the Safari park in GZ. It was absolutely amazing. We got there at about 11am and stayed until 4pm. It was so much fun and there was SO much to do. We spent the day feeding baby tigers, petting koala bears, going on a safari through Asia and Africa and feeding giraffes! While feeding the giraffes long branch like things {which were 15 yuan} my dad found it would be hilarious to put the brand on my head so the giraffe would come after my head because it was food. Background; I am terrified of big animals, but wanted my picture with these giraffes because they were so amazing. So as he put this branch over my head a huge giraffe comes sweeping his tongue to my head/neck. I literally fell to the ground in absolute horror and couldn't breathe for quite awhile after...on the bright side i am sure it brightened everyone else's day! ;) We also discovered that Ting Ting does NOT like animals...any of them quite honestly and she screamed a lot of the safari. Unless we were a good 10 feet away and separated by glass. Lovely. We met a fabulous little monkey baby who I wanted to take home and actually begged for...apparently he wouldn't make it through customs...sigh. As you can tell it was such a great day! We loved all of it and would suggest it to ANYONE who is in GZ.
We then got to meet the amazing Cross Family for dinner and walked around Shaiman Island. It was so nice to be around Americans {we don't have a group this trip..sadface} and to meet their precious children! They are such an amazing and inspirational family.
It was a fabulous day!!

Consulate

Today, at 9 am we made it official...

this little girl is OURS. 

for forever and ever AMEN.

How GREAT is our God!!!! 

           

We fly home Saturday!!

We love you so much Ainsley Faith Ting RICE!!

{ps. please scroll down to see the updates from the past week due to my slacking! so sorry!!!}

Slacking 1; Last Days in Xi'an

Due to the fact that I am such a pitiful slacker at this whole blogging thing while in China {seriously...internet is something awful and i forget} I figured it would be nice of me to update y'all on our happenings..past and present.

So here is our pictures of the last days in Xi'an, Ting Ting's first flight and all that jazz. All pictures because they tell the story way better than I could ever hope to...

One Week

One Week ago today our lives were forever changed in a little room in Xi'an China when a tiny baby girl was placed in our arms.

One Week ago today this baby could not walk, talk, or sit up.

One Week ago today this child was no longer alone.

 One Week ago our family was completed.

One Week ago Ainsley Ting came into our lives for forever.

 One Week ago.

 Today, this little girl has a name. she is not only sitting up, but she is talking and walking.

Today, she is a miracle.

Today, this little girl has a name. she is not only sitting up, but she is talking and walking.

Today, this little girl is SO loved and so treasured. She is our daughter and sister.

Today she is no longer shy and reserved, but very loud and very spicy.

Today, this little girl has changed my life and is celebrating her first Christmas with a forever family.

God is good.

sunday snapshot

Merry Christmas Y'all

This year, I cannot help but fall on my knees in thankfulness to God. He has done miracles in our family this year. Last Christmas we were at home with all of our family and our newest addition, Andrew, who was celebrating his first Christmas. We were so blessed and so thankful to be there, but I still felt that tug in my heart like I had for the last year that we just weren't complete. SOMETHING was missing. My Mom was convinced I was crazy because I mean hey, we had just brought home Andrew less than a year before and we had 5 kids. That's enough.

Oh How God had other great plans.

Fast forward to June 3 when I found a little girl on a special needs list...that sweet little girl stole all of our hearts. We stepped out on faith. Against all odds and the will of most of our family. When we began the thought of having her home for Christmas was not looking promising and most said it wouldn't happen. But here we are. 6 months from the day we saw her face holding her, loving her, and celebrating the birth of our savior with her. This year our family is complete. All the way in China. She's with us. She's here. and She has been my savior this year. She has brought our family together in more ways than we could imagine and the Enemy has fleed because GOD is above it all. He is the one who formed Ainsley Ting in the whom and He loves us. We could not be any happier than we are right now sitting in our hotel in Guangzhou China. Oh how my heart sings. We have been blessed beyond imagination.

Thank you, God, for blessing this sinless world with the birth of Your son and for blessing our family with Ainsley Ting.

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Goodbye Xi'an, Hello Guanagzhou!

We finally made it to paradise...well kind of. Guangzhou is the final step in the adoption and where things are made official. It is also known as a paradise. Between the fantastic shopping {!}, awesome food {no more rice}, and summer-like weather. There isn't anything not to love!
Last night we said goodbye to Ainsley's temporary home and hello to a new begininning. Oh how sweet it was to hold her in my lap as we waved " zài jiàn" to Xi'an. Here begins our new life together. It's a beautiful thing. Xi'an is an amazing place. Truly it is. I love it.
Today is Christmas Eve. More from our celebrations today tonight. Merry Christmas Y'all!

Slacking 2; First Airplane Ride

We finally flew to Gunagzhou! It was a 3 hour plane ride that was thankfully very uneventful! Ting Ting did fabulous {as always} and loved eating {haha} and coloring in her princess coloring book...oh and she loves talking on the phone! It is quite hilarious to watch. She didn't sleep at all though the entire flight which makes us look that much more forward to the 16 hour plane ride that will be coming soon!
Once we landed we were greeted by our new guide, Eva who is so precious! She is so sweet and already loves us. We can't wait to spend the week with her. We took a one hour bus ride to the hotel and were amazed when we walked in and saw how beautiful and 5-star the hotel was. We are staying at the Holiday Inn which is a perfect location! It is 10 minutes from the island and has about 10,000 little shops all around. We love it. Such a breath of fresh air after a week in Xi'an!
Hurraay for Guangzhou! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Sad to be away from family, but oh how blessed we are!

Wow.

Baby Liliana and I :)

Today was a whirl-wind emotional day. We were blessed enough to go to the Chinese Starfish Foster Home and OH MY GOODNESS. it is amazing. the work that they are doing for these Chinese babies is amazing. Today was a VERY special day at the Starfish Foster Home. It was the day they went to pick up new babies. Amanda was gracious enough to let me go with them and even "choose" a baby. Let me explain, best I can what today was to me....
Broken. I am so very broken. In many ways from many things, but one is God has broken me. For the Orphan and today I was shattered into pieces. Completely and totally. I walked into a small room where so many babies were laying waiting for someone or something and I had to choose one. In the corner of the room was a tiny baby which automatically stole my heart. I told Amanda "This one...can we please take this one" she must have known I was not going to leave her or just agreed because she allowed this little baby girl. I took the layers of blankets off of the tiny baby and picked her up. She was so tiny, but so much awaited that little girl. SO much was waiting and so much is going to be available to this little girl now because of Amanda. It might have been the best feeling in the world to carry her out in my arms. But it was also the most sickening-gut wrenching feeling in the world to leave so many behind. I feel so helpless. So small and so very just unimportant. I felt like I was emptying the ocean with a dropper. Our adoptions have changed the lives for 3 children. Which is amazing, truly it is...but there are 163 million others that wait. That have no hope. It made me that much more grateful for Ainsley Ting and to see where she is through love. Today was a good day. just hard. I am so ridiculously blessed. When we got to Amanda's I got to name this precious baby. Her name is now Liliana and she is SO loved. I watched them bathe and dress her and give her a bottle. I saw what love looks like in the face of a child. I am changed. Forever and Ever.

Finally

I dreamed of our family having Ainsley for years. Before Andrew and even before Anna Grace. God knew. Oh my my my how GOOD HE IS. Today we spent the day at the muslim market and then to a Dumpling Banquet. It was a fabulous day of fun. The dumpling banquet was a lot of fun and then we got to go to the Drum Tower and take pictures at night. It was fantastic. FINALLY we have a family picture together. FINALLY we are complete. Oh, how amazing it is.
Ainsley {we call her Ting Ting} is finally coming out. And MY OH MY she is definitely a very spicy girl. It is priceless to see this 14lb baby girl telling everyone what to do. She loves to yell and throw things. She finds it hilarious and right now we do too {please don't think we are allowing bad behavior..this is just part of bonding} We learned a BIG thing about her today. She CAN walk, She CAN talk, and she CAN do ANYTHING her little heart WANTS, but if she doesn't WANT to do it. She isn't going to and there is nothing in the world you can do to make her. She finally stood up and started walking while holding on to things. She can kind of crawl and she has an amazing set of lungs...if you know what I mean. God has blessed us with this beautiful little bundle and we could not be more thrilled to call her ours.
China is absolutely amazing. People always ask why I love it and I will explain that in another post. All I can say is that my heart is here. With the people, the children, and the things I see and feel.
Finally, sweet Ainsley FINALLY you are here. for forever and ever and ever.

It's Official!

It's official!! Ting Ting is ours. Forever. We are completely thrilled that this little blessing will be with us for the rest of our lives. She has already brought so much joy that it is indescribable. God is good. Ting is clearly meant for our family and is absolutely perfect. I am literally one my knees in thanks to the One who went before us and chose this beautiful blessing to be forever mine.
Today was a good day in bonding and making progress. She is very smart and has the best personality. We did have some tears and a little bit of tough grieving but overall it was good. She only wants my Mom or I. She won't let my Dad touch her, which is sad but it will come {please pray for that}
I taught her how to wave and say mama. We also worked on blowing kisses. She started talking a little bit today and pointing at things. She is intrigued with all of the things outside and in our room. She loves to feel and look. It is precious to watch. She isn't walking yet, but it will come along with many other things.
Right now we just feel incredibly blessed to be able to call her ours :)
Oh, I don't know how it gets any better than this

Ainsley Faith is FOREVER in our arms!

December 18, 2011. Not a very special day to many people, unless you are my family. For today on December 18, 2011 at 4pm in Xi'an China our family was completed. Today, at four pm in the civil affairs office, a little girl named Ting Ting was placed in our arms. a very tiny little girl was carried into the civil affairs office, unaware of what was going on and placed in the arms of our family for forever. to love her and hold her for forever and ever amen. God has moved mountains for our precious girl and HE has HUGE plans for her life. I cannot wait to see them unfold. They will be amazing, we all know. We know now why our adoption process went by so fast. She needed us. We needed her. God is so with us. He has been from the moment we said yes to the moment she was placed in our arms. God is with us. For us. & loves us. What else matters? 

At 3:45pm we loaded the bus and left our hotel to make the very short trip to the affairs office. We pulled up and saw a little bundle being carried in…little did we know that that little bundle was our girl. We went to the elevator and up to the 6th floor, walked down a short hallway, turned left and into a door. as soon as we walked in we saw her. face to face for the first time. it was indescribable. She was very scared when we met her. We all kept our distance and just talked and looked at her while asking the orphanage questions. Her likes, dislikes, favorite things, background, etc. Everything we could possibly know about our girl. We got priceless gifts from the orphanage. Her finding clothes, a disk full of pictures, a scrapbook album of her growing up, and the list continues. It was amazing, wonderful, and breathtaking. My mom finally walked over to her and took her from the Nanny. Sweet girl was terrified {Who wouldn't be?!} but she was so very brave. She soon realized that we were okay and let my mom talk to her and play. No one else held her at the Civil Affairs Office. We went and got the family photo made. I went in with my parents to take pictures of it all. When we got up there Ainsley came right to me, reaching for me. It was an absolutely amazing tear jerking moment. I could not believe it. We snapped a few pictures, headed to the bus, and then to get dinner. We are all smitten with this little girl. She has stolen all of our hearts and has us wrapped around her finger. At dinner she ate, and ate, and then ate a little bit more. She loves food. Especially rice and any kind of sweet. Our guide Jojo did such a good job helping us to soothe her. We came back to the room and attempted a bath…let's just say that girlfriend has a lovely set of lungs on her and we won't be trying that again. :) We skyped some family and friends and just took in how blessed we were.

God is going to work BIG miracles through this little girl. He has already moved mountains to get us this far. 

Please continue to pray for Ainsley's heart as she transitions into our family and learns to trust us. 

God is so good. We are so blessed.

Welcome Ainsley Faith Ting. We love you so very much beautiful girl and cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives with you. I can't imagine it any other way.