Flip the switch, oh please!

Trying to get a new baby on the "right" side of the clock is very challenging, especially when you are exhausted! I'm not complaining mind you, even if I was, I'm not sure the words would come out in the proper order! Either way, we're trying to get Cupcake to sleep at night (for more than a half-hour at a time) and play during the day. She's not too thrilled with the arrangement, but in the long run it'll work out for the best. In the meantime, if anyone knows of a magic switch to flip to make this process a blissful memory, I'm willing to hear you out! Haha!

And greatly to be praised!

We were so thrilled to be able to get to church this morning! We tried to streamline the event with outfits laid out the night before, bottles prepared, and diaper bag packed. Getting into our daily routine is going to take some getting used to.

Cupcake slept well from 9:00ish to about midnight, then decided that was enough of a rest! I got her back to sleep until about 3:00 a.m. After some adjustments and a night time snack, she went back to sleep. Me? Well, heck I was up, why not make Sunday lunch? So in the darkness of the night, I'm digging through the freezer looking for something to make. I'm preparing the crockpot, doing some dishes, and brewing some iced tea! Iced tea....mmmm! I've had a craving for that since about this time last week! I checked my emails and updated some photos, then the middle of the night crash hit me like a city bus! I crashed until the boys woke me about an hour before church.

Church was fantastic! Love praising God with our church family! Indeed we are blessed! We have much to be thankful for! It also reminded me back to the church in China, too, remembering how dedicated they are to the faith despite consequences.

Cupcake was really good about the whole "let's meet EVERYONE" day! She met a few families during sunday school opening, then napped the remaining part of the hour. She then greeted everyone with smiles at the beginning of church and the end! She finally crashed her social life debut with a exhaustive nap! It's hard to be that cute!

This afternoon, we took SG to summer camp! It's his first (half) week away from us, including overnights. When asked if he'd like us to come visit, he politely commented "No, please don't. I just need some time alone with my friends." OW! 'like a sucker-punch to the gut! Ow! My baby is growing up way too fast and the more I try to stop the hands of time, the more I hear time laughing back at me. He was brave to go to camp alone, without us, and I'm thankful he is confident enough to do it! It's just as a mommy, it breaks your heart.

Back in the USA!

Note: any inaccuracies, mistypes, or errors are the fault of running on empty mixed with jet lag. Errors should be given grace.

We started our last day in GZ at 5:30 a.m. to leave for the airport at 6:15. We got all our bags packed (okay, okay, we added a new suitcase to the mix! Guilty!) We got checked in and boarded the flight for Beijing on time. It was bittersweet leaving GZ (and China), but it was steps closer to home. Cupcake gave me a couple of surprises on the plane, a #1 and #2 leaking diaper! Yeah me! 3 outfits in 3 hours! Gotta be a record After wearing part of my lunch I shared with her, my outfit was toast! Add jet lag to that and I was styling!

Cupcake did a fantastic job on the long 14 hour flight! She slept about 12 hours of it! SG did great too!

Having sunlight for a whole day takes some getting used to! They do dim the lights and close the blinds when it's "naptime" for everyone. But when someone opens a shade it's blinding. It was amazing seeing that it was -84 degrees outside and we were going over 600 mph!

We made it! We landed about 5:00 ish on Thursday! I cried a bit just because it was great to be home in the States! Bringing her HOME at a last!! We made it through customs easily. Immigration took awhile, but we expected that. We cleared all our luggage and rechecked it on to our city. We raced to get to the get to find we were delayed from 8:30 until 10:45. The transfer plane was coming in from Columbus. Then it was 11:00, 11:30, possibly midnight. We were so tired we took turns napping in the terminal. When the plane finally arrived they needed to work on the plane. We finally ended up taking a back-up plane so we could depart sometime in 2009. Hee hee! It didn't really matter to us, we slept the entire way to our destination. We just felt bad about our friends and family at the airport waiting for us! We got home around 3:30 in the morning. Cupcake had slept quite well throughout our travels so she was ready to play and not sleep. SG insisted he could live on "China time" forever, even here. Oh please! This was very interesting.

SG was so excited to see Pappy Moo and his puppy! Gidget ran around and around licking him! She was just as excited to see him. Cupcake got to meet Gidget, our puppy, too. Gidget missed us very much, but was well taken care of while we were gone! She was overly excited and Cupcake wasn't too sure about all that. She will get used to it all very soon.

She really didn't know what to think about her nursery. She just looked around and around, not really sure where to start. I know someday she'll appreciate all the shoes and pink dresses! Haha!

We'll get time to introduce her slowly to everything. She was not thrilled, however, with the crib, or maybe it was just the thought of sleeping. We laid her down about 4:00ish. She was still fussing/drifting in and out of sleep until about 6:30ish this morning. I gave up and got up with her. This will take some time adjusting, but she is doing great!

She discovered her walker this morning. She had one in China (we were told) and she lit up when she got in it and went! Go! Go! Go! She likes it on the kitchen floor. She is very excited to have independence!

This morning she spent some tummy time with me and Gidget while the boys caught up on sleep. SD had a really bad headache last night from the flight, so we are hoping that is gone this morning.

It's chilly to us here. In China the heat was so surrounding that now we're a bit chilled by the temps in the 70s. I'm sure we'll soon adjust to that too. Adjusting is our new game! We look forward to so many new things ahead of us! We'll post pictures as soon as my world catches up with my schedule!

Thanks again to everyone for their encouraging comments and prayers! It meant so much to us to know you were praying for us! This was a trip of a lifetime and we will never forget even a moment of it! God is so good and it's true, He's just as big in China as He is here! He is truly a God full of mercy, grace, and love!

Praise the Lord, we are in China!

We have some real praising to our Lord for a basically uneventful flight and safe travel!!! We are having trouble keeping a connection here, but we'll try again tomorrow to see if we can upload some photos and share some great stories already. We love you all! Talk soon!

Bedime 8:24 p.m.??

After tearful goodbyes by SG with our puppy Gidget, we are winding down a wonderful and relaxing evening at the hotel. Roomie and Grandpa Moo joined us as we swam, had a nice laughter-filled dinner, and did a bunch of jumping on the beds! No~not us!?!

We are getting up bright and early at 4:00 a.m. to leave for the airport to catch our flight to Newark, NJ. It's hard to believe that the time has really come. Reality is settling in and nerves are creeping up too. We are coming, little Cupcake! At last...

We really want to thank all of our friends and family for their prayers and encouragement. Please keep it up as we begin our inter-continental journey. We can't wait to bring home lots of stories, memories, and especially our cherished child. God keep us safe and may His peace surround us! We love you!

Last Night Before We Leave for the Big City!

The bags are packed and loaded!  At last!  

SG decided a plane ticket would be better than going in the luggage!  He didn't think riding in the cargo would be much fun after all!

We leave for a hotel near the airport tomorrow, and our flight leaves on Friday morning!  

Enjoying some outdoor fun! 

 

We will be longing for this kind of 

leg-stretching while we're 

       on 

            the 

               14-hour flight!  

If Trees Could Scream~We may find out soon!

            

Superdaddy just had to prove he could jump over this maple tree!  

He said he did it so that 20 years from now when it has grown up, 

he can still claim to have jumped over it.  

I have yet to understand boys.  

I've not once looked at a tree and said, "hey, I bet I can jump over that!"  

                      Go figure.

Busy Builders!

Strollers, and Diapers, and Baby Gates, OH MY!

 

We are getting ready!  

We are truly grateful to have this stroller!  

We look forward to putting lots of miles on it!

Gidget thinks this baby thing is pretty interesting!

But not really sure what to expect!

Kind of like us! 

      

Who's afraid?

With all the excitement and anxiety of the upcoming trip, fear has come up in conversations several times with Supergus these past weeks.   He has concerns about adding a sister and of course travel apprehension has been discussed, too.  Trying to be brave fearless parents that speak the truth, we remind him that God is in control all the time and that He will be with us here and in China and in all the airspace in between.  

After thinking long and hard on the subject, SG has decided that SD and I have fears, too.  He has decided that SD is deathly afraid of flamingos, and I am terrified of having people throw crackers at me.  We'll shudder in fear from this day forth...  

Amazing!

Supergus and I watched as the evening primroses opened last night.  

It's really amazing to watch them open so slowly.

Three plus one is...

This time next week, we'll be in the air on our way to Beijing~ We're really going through some mixed emotions.  Of course we are excited and overjoyed to bring Cupcake home, but there is anxiety of the trip, nervousness about the unknown, etc.  We certainly are not holding the "know it all" card here.  We know we are in for a shock emotionally and culturally as are all people who travel somewhere for the first time, but how do you prepare for that?  How do you prepare for every scenario and for a baby that doesn't come with accessories AND cram it all in a suitcase that weighs less than 40 lbs.  Hmmm...  

Cupcake's Garden Nursery

With a few details to go, the nursery is about done.  It's been fondly referred to as the "Butterfly Garden".  Just need to add our baby girl and it'll be complete.  

Evening on the Lake!

We had a great time out on the boat tonight with Cousin B!  We didn't catch anything, but a Blue Heron was mighty disappointed when it thought it caught dinner off a parked boat only to realize it was a rubber snake!  We're looking forward to more dinner cruises in the future!

The little things are big...

I cherish the evenings when my daddy and I enjoy the sunsets together, even from different houses!  

He called me to look out the window, but I was already outside capturing this shot!

~Praise the Lord for His artistry!~  

Changing of the Guards

We were sad to say goodbye to our wonderful first grade teacher, Mr. Hockeystick!  SG enjoyed the year so much!  We did too!    SG brought to our attention that beyond teaching, Mr. HS  was funny, creative, clever, and made some really great pancakes!  We heard about the pancakes for quite awhile after the dishes were cleared!   It seems our elementary school is filled with superheroes of many sorts!  Many, many thanks to you Mr. HS!  You are a fantastic teacher and your students next year are blessed to have you!

Riding on the emotional roller coaster of goodbyes we added hellos to 2nd grade!  

"I heard Mrs. #42 is the best!  (#42 is not her age, in case you were guessing!) Did you know that?  Did you know she can play basketball? Did you know she plays games?  I can't believe I got Mrs. #42!  Did you know she does a play with her class?  She can act too!  totally!  It's going to be so great!  Did you know Mrs. #42 smiles a lot?  Did you know that she is funny?  And she can leap buildings in a single bound, is a ballroom dancer, and is a part-time magician-veterinarian-ventriloquist-artist?" Okay, maybe not the last sentence is a quote, but wow!  

Oh how we've heard about the 2nd grade teacher today... into the night!  It's wonderful knowing that he is excited about going to school on his last day of first grade!  Enjoy these lovely praises of joy now, Mrs. #42, for the first time you assign homework, we'll be there to comfort you as you will no longer be the Princess of Education, but you'll always be a good friend!  We'll love you no matter how many spelling words, sentences, and math problems you send home for us to do!  You truly are a great teacher, but I'm not sure about the leaping buildings part! The magician-veterinarian-ventriloquist-artist, I might believe!  

~Here's to another year!  but let's enjoy the Summer first!~

Moving on up!

Supergus graduated from First Grade on Monday!  We are very proud of him!  They all took a "giant step foward" into the Second Grade!  The children take that step very seriously, especially since it means Summer vacation is that much closer!  

Tomorrow, we'll find out who his teacher is for next year!  

We're finally getting packed!

Ever feel like a pack-mule?  We're going to test out the role very soon.  List after list of items we'll need, might need, probably will need, probably won't need, and won't need in this lifetime. We're kind of liked an OCD Santa who can't bare to stop at checking the list at only twice.   Either way, we have our bags mostly packed AND they zip!  

We got our itinerary today, too!  We will actually be meeting our little Cupcake on June 15th! Receiving that detail took our breath away!   We're going to check out the points of interest and the hotels to see more details.  We were stoked to learn there is a karaoke place at one of our hotels.  We're going to be knocking the socks off China with our vocals and dance moves.  Okay, it's going to be horribly awful, but we'll definitely give them something to talk about.  Mama Leoni and her husband the Skipper will have to join us in our performance!  Yeah you know who your are!  Start warming up your vocals now and get out the dancing shoes, we're going on the road!