Weary but pressing on

We are so thankful for how God has orchestrated our entire adoption process and has confirmed and convicted us all along the way that somehow out of millions of orphans in China, thousands of miles from our home Fu Lian is meant for us.  We reflect on this today as we are very weary and tired and ready to get home.  We know that we need to go through this time in order to finalize the adoption, but Fu Lian's behavior was extreme today and the language barrier for correcting has been tricky.  Fu Lian has no sense of danger or harm and is quite aggressive and immature, even for a 6 year old.  We just want to protect him, us, and the very breakable things in and around the hotel. :) We rely on God during this time, knowing that He sees the big picture, and he will see us through this and give us the energy to strive ahead. Some positives of today:

1. Today marked our last day in the Hebei Province, and we are counting the minutes until we can fly out tomorrow to southern China.  The air quality in this city is off the charts (literally) and actually delayed air travel today.  We are praying that the smog will be thin enough at 11:30 AM to allow us to depart. Guangzhou's air quality is not nearly this poor and we may even see the sun and sky there!

Our beautiful view.

2. We let the children play in an indoor obstacle course in the mall today.  Sean choose to do a bungee trampoline instead.  It was a great way to run off energy and have a little fun outside of the hotel room.

Sean on the bungee trampoline

Bri on the obstacle course

Fu Lian and Ethan inside a 2 story spider web 

Climbing to the top!

Jonny on the rope wall in the obstacle course.

3. Starbucks! Even better... I enjoyed it with a fellow adoptee parent who is here for only 2 days.

4. We broke out the glow sticks today and Fu Lian played with them for about 2 hours, before he decided to bite one and make a mess. :)  It was fun entertainment for awhile though.  He put the rest of the glow sticks under his pillow, so we are not sure if that is just for safe keeping or a midnight plan of glow stick fun.

With flash

Without Flash

5. We taught Fu Lian to play a memory game.  He understood the rules quickly and wanted to play continually.

6. Fu Lian gave his daddy a kiss today.  He loves to show affection with hugs and kisses.

7. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner to make up for the lousy one last night.  I never thought I'd like the food in China, but overall it is delicious!  Fu Lian's favorite are pork dumplings.  I'm hoping someone back home can teach me how to make them!

8. God gave His only son for us so that we may not perish but have eternal life.  For that we are grateful, as no matter what hardships we are facing here, God has already gone ahead to pave the way for us to live eternally with Him in heaven.

9. We all slept more hours last night than any other night we have been in China.  Granted, it was not consecutive hours, but at least we were able to fall back asleep!

10. We got to FaceTime with Nana and Jaja this morning!

11.  Funny story of the day is that women drivers in China are not considered to be very good.  They are traditionally known to have a difficult time in parking lots with the small parking spaces.  So in the mall there is a specific parking lot just for 'lady's.

Walkway to the nice and roomy 'Lady Parking', with a full time lady attendant.