Our new adventure

While we've been looking back at our trip 5 years ago to meet up with Jake, we're also busy getting ready for our new adventure — our trip to be united with Jude in Chongqing.

Along the way, our church family — small but oh so mighty — has been encouraging us and helping us out. They held a fundraiser pitting the women against the men. The idea was to collect dollar bills with the serial number that started with the letter J. It was amazing how many they came up with and how they funded their search for the elusive dollars. Maybe part of the reason for their urgency was because the losing team would have to suffer ... getting slimed by the winners.

The women ended up losing out, so they got slimed, but as luck would have it we also decided to let the kids get in on the act. If they raised enough money they got to pick someone to get slimed. So, it ended up pretty much everyone got slimed, even the men.

The great sliming was held last Sunday evening after a hot dog dinner and an outdoor concert by Cross Rock, a really awesome Christian band that put on a great show. God definitely is good.

With a lot of help from Grandma and Grandpa, Jake raised enough money to pay for Violet and I to get slimed. And, it so happened, Violet and I came up with enough money to have Jake slimed, too.

As they say, a good time was had by all. ... Kevin ... Hang on Jude, we're getting closer to that great day when we meet.

5 years ago ... The last day as a family of two.

Our one full day in Beijing was rainy and busy. We were going from one spot to another — Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. We enjoyed it thoroughly, especially spending time with our travel group — the Burns family from Texas who were in China to be united with their daughter in Inner Mongolia.

But, through it all we also couldn't get over the realization that the next day we were going to become parents. We had an early morning flight to Xi'an in Shaanxi Province and were going to finally meet Jake.

It was crowded around Beijing when we were there because we were there during the National Day holiday marking the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The line to Mao's tomb in Tian'anmen Square was long. We didn't go, we didn't have time to wait in line.

The Great Wall was truly a marvel, my favorite part of our visit to Beijing. It also gave us a final chance to get a self portrait of just the two of us.

It was hard to sleep that night, the excitement of what was in store was almost too much to bear. ... Kevin

5 years ago ... the adventure begins

Five years ago, Violet and I had just completed the first step in our greatest adventure to date. We had spent all day either at airports or on airplanes and finally made it to our home for a couple of nights — the Poly Plaza hotel in Beijing.

It was a Friday night and we were counting down the hours before we became parents. We had a whirlwind day ahead of us touring the sites around Beijing — Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

After that, it would be off to Xi'an on Sunday to meet our son.

It's hard to believe it's already been 5 years. Jake was not quite 2 when we were united with him, and now he's coming up on 7 and is a big old first-grader.

All of our dreams came true then, and now we are drawing closer to our next great adventure. More dreams are just about to come true as we count down the days until we can be united with Jude.

It's been a wild ride — one filled with lots of love and laughs and a few tears — but one I wouldn't have missed for anything in the world. — Kevin

Here it is, the Poly Plaza, our first taste of Chinese hospitality.

Birthday Gifts (cause Momma had more to say ...)

What an exciting birthday we had for Jude, that spanned over three days! While our dear son was celebrating with his foster family on Aug. 18 in China, Jake picked out his brother's cake (hope you like strawberry Jude!) and mixed it up.

The next day as Jude was wrapping up his 4th birthday, we were celebrating Jude's birthday a half a world away. We went to church where the congregation sang "Happy Birthday" to Jude's picture projected on our screen.
It was so good to share his special day with our church members, who have been working hard to help us get ready to bring him home.
After church we decorated Jude's cake and we gathered with Grandma Sherry and Grandpa and Grandma Hassler at a local, favorite Chinese restaurant and enjoyed Chinese food and birthday cake in honor of Jude.

It was a great day, and that night we went out, just Mom and Dad and Jake, and we lit sky lanterns in honor of our son on his birthday, as our wishes for health and happiness and quick travel took flight!

The next day one of the wishes came closer to coming true, as we received word our official Letter of Approval had arrived at our adoption agency, Lifeline, in Alabama.
AND, even better, we received pictures of Jude on his birthday sent to us from Helen, a dear woman in China who arranged the gifts and party snacks sent to Jude for his special day.

Jude is looking at NaiNai (Grandma Sue) and YeYe (Grandpa Bill) while wearing his birthday clothes we gave him.

 "Gnawing a bone" is what this one was labeled! lol

 

This was all the snacks sent for his party. We were told a cake could not be delivered because the orphanage is remote. They said he had plenty of help eating them but they did not picture anyone else for privacy reasons.

 This one was labeled Fuzhi's birthday dinner (melts my heart)

 With the look on his face BaBa (Dad) first said "he must be looking at me!" lol But upon further investigation, Jude is eyeing Jake with LaoLao (Grandma Sherry).

The next day was a big one as Jake started school (I'll post on that later) and we had our "celebratory" lunch with dear friend Amy. They were out of town during Jude's party but wanted to give him and Jake gifts from their travels. Thanks guys, and especially to Big Sister!!
So here is Jude's gift, which will travel to China with us:

It was such a blessed few days. Cannot wait until he gets here!!!!

Birthday

Jude Fuzhi's birthday was Aug. 18. He turned 4. We weren't able to be there, but we did send him some presents, including the outfit he's wearing in this photo. We also sent him some photos, and he's looking at the album of them. This was the first time he laid eyes on us.

We wish we had been able to spend his birthday with him, but we will next time. We're just happy the things we sent him made it and he looks so good.

Happy birthday baby!

When we were waiting to go to China in 2008, we were delayed because of paperwork and we hoped to travel and bring Jake home before his 2nd birthday. We made it by 10 days. This time around, there was really no hope of beating the birthday, so as the time ticked across the world, our son celebrated turning 4 without us yesterday, which was today in China. We hope he had a great day with his foster family, and we can't wait to celebrate today with Chinese food and a birthday cake. His gifts were sent last week, and hopefully he enjoyed them. Here's the birthday boy in his younger years and the gifts we sent him through a wonderful woman in China.

Fuzhi aka Jude 

Outfit 

Snacks for the orphanage.

(We were told a birthday cake would be too hard to deliver as the orphanage is in a remote location) 

Toys and photo album of pics we sent of his family.

A new leap

In May 2013, our world once more was blessed as we saw the face of our second child for the first time. Happy with our dossier behind us, one that with the blessings of a full life took longer to complete than we hoped, we learned the same week that our second-born is waiting for us in Chongqing, China. Our agency sent us your file, little one, and we fell in love. Your brother talks about you every day and prays for you every night, and your parents long to hold you in their arms. In July we learned that we have pre-approval for this adoption to be finalized, and just this last week we found out we soon will have the official OK. This blog became a whole lot richer tonight as we updated the status of our "son" to our "sons."

Our first family portrait