Secondly, we are praising God today for renewing our spirit and reminding us that ultimately we are here to serve Him and raise our children to know Him and serve Him. That being said, when we are wrestling our new 6 year old son for 30 minutes on an airplane, we are reminded that it is not about us, our image, the people staring around us, or the comfort of the other passengers, it is simply about loving our son through his fears, grief, and will power. We are praising God tonight for convicting us to follow His will and adopt a child, this amazing 6 year old, even when we are ready to throw our hands up in the air and run from his punching, hitting, kicking, biting, and choking. God gently prods us to love this sweet innocent child anyway, just as God loves us when we reject Him, hide from Him, run from Him, or try to do things our way. Thank you Lord for your gentle reminders to live our life for YOU!
That being said, we have arrived in Guangzhou and we can see blue sky, sunshine, palm trees, and many other adoptive families going through so many of the same struggles. It is so good to know that God surrounds us with others going through the same thing at the same time, in order to strengthen and support one another.
View of our plane in Hebei Province. Praising God for a safe departure in such poor visibility. The day prior, the highways and airports were shut down due to lack of visibility.
View 3 hours later in Guangzhou. Ahhhhh! :)
Fu Lian's first airplane ride. He enjoyed the headphones, and listening to the selection of stations/music.
We are able to breathe easier and have settled in to our nice hotel room. We ordered Papa John's pizza and watched Croods as a family. Fu Lian wore himself out today with his physical shenanigans, and asked to go to bed early. The rest of us cuddled on the couch and enjoyed some down time. Tomorrow Fu Lian has a doctor check, and then we plan to head to a local park and enjoy the great outdoors and fresh(er) air!
Hey, so glad you made it to GZ! I'm sure you will have more fun activities there to keep you busy! Make sure you ask the Holt staff about the safari park, if they haven't mentioned it to you. It's definitely worth spending part of a day there, and I think all of your family would enjoy it. If it makes you feel any better, Amelia had some of those aggressive behaviors when we met her, too. She would try to hit us and even hurled a toy across the table at the hotel restaurant and broke a glass goblet to pieces. Granted, a toddler was much easier to control than a 6-year-old! He will soon learn what his boundaries are. He is probably acting a lot out of fear and grief at this point and is unable to communicate to you how he feels. Praying for ALL of you -- I know it's so hard! Have you tried using Google translate to talk to him? You can type something in English and the computer will speak it in Mandarin. Might be helpful for those times you are without your guide. I am getting meals set up for you when you return, and we are praying for you every day!
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