An Adoption Story
Guangzhou has so much to offer. Yesterday, we explored a quaint part of the city called Shamian Island. It’s an island that is surrounded by the Pearl River on one side and a canal on the other. The architecture was beautiful and looked like what you would see in Charleston,…
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We have been enjoying the past few days with Violet in Guangzhou. Her personality has really started coming out as she becomes more and more comfortable with us over time. The flight here went very well. We even successfully navigated a last-minute gate change in Lanzhou. The flight was 3…
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We’re packing up our bags this afternoon and will be flying a couple hours to our last city, Guangzhou, tomorrow morning. There, we will go through the process of obtaining Violet’s US documents in order to return home. We had a quiet morning here, going for a long walk and…
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Violet officially became part of the family yesterday as we finalized her adoption at the Civil Affairs office. The Civil Affairs process was relatively simple. We had several important documents to sign along with the director of the orphanage. Not only did we have to sign our names, but we…
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Violet is finally here! And she is awesome. It was about 2:30 when we got the call that she was a few minutes away. Our room in our hotel has a great view of the front street, so naturally, Nicole and I were glued with our faces pressed against the…
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Yesterday, we had another incredible day of sightseeing. We walked all day in quite the heat again, seeing extraordinary architecture in the historic Beijing center. Our first stop was Tiananmen Square. It’s within the top ten largest city squares in the world and just an absolutely massive space. Our second…
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It was a hot one today – 102 degrees! Though hot, we really enjoyed seeing The Great Wall and Olympic Village. Today also marked our first day of authentic meals (lunch and dinner). The meals were served “family style” with large bowls in the center of the table. Our guide,…
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Thank you for your prayers surrounding travel and entry today! After a little more than 15 hours on a couple planes today, we’ve made it to Beijing! It’s amazing how tired you still get after sitting for so long. It was a very smooth and non-eventful day today and we…
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June 14, 2017, is travel day. Wow. 591 days after we officially began our adoption journey, Nicole and I will head to China. Amidst the packing, re-packing, calling on friends that have gone before us to ensure we don’t forget anything essential and combing through our documents for what feels like…
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In March of 2017, we received a phone call from America World letting us know they had a file for a beautiful little girl who is almost 2 years old. Her story is a pretty spectacular one. But more on that later. At birth, she was medically fragile due to a…
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