WE ARE HOMEWARD BOUND!!!

So...tomorrow morning we are getting up very, very early and heading to Hong Kong in a van. It should be about a 3 hour ride. Next, a very, super, super long plane ride that we are not looking forward to!! We have lots of snacks, diapers, wipes, bottles, juice, Benadryl, and toys. This will hopefully keep us and Jazlyn busy for the 14 1/2 hours!!!!! It's kind of weird when you leave and come back all in the same day :)
We had our last dinner with all the families tonight and it was a lot of fun. It will really be neat in 5....10...15 years to see all these kids growing up, developing and being love some much by their families God has place them in! God has truly blessed us this trip and given us a precious, wonderful gift!

We are so excited for the moment all five of us are together at once. This will be my favorite moment!! We can't wait to get our arms around our boys :)

*****We should be arriving at the Cincinnati Airport on Wednesday, June 22nd at 5:22 pm. (We are flying United Airlines from Hong Kong to Chicago - then Chicago to Cincinnati.) We would love to see any friends and family who are able to make it at the airport and join us as we celebrate Jazlyn coming to America!!!

SEE EVERYONE ON WEDNESDAY!!!!!!

Today is Monday, June 20th! We are getting closer and closer to stepping on American soil!!
Yesterday was Father's Day. Scott was sad to be away from thge boys, but he was excited to have his little girl in his arms. :-) The boys made cardsd for daddy. We got him a book and PJ/s that have "l love daddy"on them from Jazlyn. I had the boys do a little video for him before we left, so Scott was excited to see their cuteness! It was a great day for Daddy!

We also went to t a museum yesterday called the Chan Clan. We had some Chinese hot tea, woalked around, in and out of shop. It was a super super hot day! Later our whole group went down to the street market. They had some interesting things for sale. Snake skins, chipmunks for pets, fried spiders to eat and anything you can think of on a stick!! It was interesting to say the least! This place is so crowded and packed. The main part is like Time Square. At night it's really neat with all the neon lights on the buildings. It is definitely the place to hang out! We got to finally have some decent pizza. Scott was so excited. They had a sit down big Papa John's Restaurant in the square, so we filled our bellies with some pizza with actural pizza sauce and not just ketchup as the sauce. :)
Today we had to rise early to get to the Embassy. We had a swearing in ceremony with the official there and then we filled out some paperwork. It's official! Jazly is now a U>S> Citizen!!!!!! Afterwards, we shopped around (Jazlyn got a new doll), had lunch, took naps to get refreshed and then had dinner with a few of the couples in our group.

Today, I really hit my wall. I am ready to be home more than ever! It's been an amazing trip, but I am ready to see my boys!!! Jazlyn is opening up more and more each day and is progressing a lot. We are having a blast with her and can't wait for you all to meet her! :)

So last night we left Guangxi and headed for Guangzhou! In the second picture you will see all the families we were in the hotel with us. They are all headed to Guangzhou too, but different hotels. It was sad to leave Belinda. She gave us really big hugs-she also gave us a dress for Jazlyn as a gift. We thought that was really sweet. Jazlyn's first airplane ride was great! She was an angel and never cried. After we landed we had to wait on the other couples to land so we had a few hours of waiting and it was late, she did so well though. She fell right asleep on me and slept in my arms until we got to the hotel.
We are staying at the victory Hotel. The hotel is super nice. There was a stroller and a crib waiting in our room when we got there, all ready for Jazlyn. The beds are nice and soft which was a blessing cause at the other 2 hotels they were very hard!

This morning we woke up and got to see all the babies. (We didn't see everyone last night, because some got in later than us, due to a cancelled flight.) It was so neat to see them-everyone was doing so well and the bonding is going great with all the families - God is GOOD!After breakfast we headed to the medical examine. They checked her height (30") and weight (23 lbs), temp, ears, mouth, etc. It was just a routine generic exam. She did really well.
In Guangzhou it is more westernized. More people speak English. They are use to a lot of adoption families around, because this is where the Embassy is located. They have a Starbucks, Subway and a couple more American type food places. Even though we have enjoyed the food while in China, we are ready for a big hamburger, chicken fingers or something like that! :) We got to eat at a place called "Lucy's" and we had some onion rings, fires and chicken fingers!! It was really good! Scott hasn't hardly had any ice cream, so he got himself a chocolate shake and Jazlyn, of course, had some shake with daddy! Jazlyn got to ride in her stroller for the first time today and she didn't fuss a bit! Mommy was happy about that because now we can go shopping a lot back home! This is a neat place to walk around, shop and eat. We are very excited to be here and are enjoying the time we have.

Yesterday, we went to a museum and learned about this Province (Guangxi). We learned about differeent cultures, the Chinese New Year, etc. We learned about one thing special they make here in this Province, which is called "The Love Ball". The girls give it to the guy they fall in love with. We purchased one for Jazlyn and a couple for decorations. They are very neat and pretty. Scott carried her around in the sling for awhile and she did great! A little bit later, she fell right asleep on my shoulder while I was carrying her. I love when babies sleep on your shoulder. :-)

When we got back to our room, we got a fun surprise-a package!! It was the bear we had sent her a few months back!! They also sent a picture of the orphange and a little card from her caretaker that we requested. This really made our day to get all of this for her.

Everyday she is doing less and less crying. She is smiling more each day. I was able to really kiss on her checks and squeeze her and really give her some good lovin' today. She was all about it! :) She better get use to this, cause one of her brothers (Brylan) loves, loves to kissy on babies!

Her Chinese name means "beautiful" and Jazlyn means "flower", so she is our "beautiful flower"!!

The reason adoptions in China are taking so long is they can have more than one child here now, so there is not as many babies to be adopted as there was 6 or so years ago. Depending on what their family name is, will determine how many kids they can have. (The government tries to keep it all equal and controll the number of people.) If you have a child and aren't allowed to have the child, you have to pay a lot of money, so that's why people give them up for adoption. They aren't legally allowed to give them up for adoption so that is why they leave the babies at places (like a park). Also, schooling for the kids is not free either. They have to pay for all their schooling from preschool to college.

We have able to talk with friends and family on skype quite a bit. Facebook is banned in China, so we have no access to facebook or our blog. Thanks to my family for updating everything for us. We would still love for everyone to make comments and leave messages. We will read them when we return.

Today (Friday, June 17th) we are just hanging around the hotel. We have a flight tonight at 6:55 pm. to Guangzhou. I hope Jazlyn does well on her first airplane ride! We are excited to meet up with the couples we were with at the beginning and see their new babies. :) I think this last part of our trip will go very fast.

If anyone sees our boys, please give them a BIG hug from us!!! Enjoy the pictures...

Another great sleeping night for Jazlyn!! We first went for breakfast in the hotel-Jazlyn did an awesome job sitting in the highchair-we were happy! Went to meet Belinda in the lobby at 9am. We headed to a park called the Green Tree Park. The landscape was amazing! We were able to feed lots of fish in the water. The water, bridges, restaurant and all the trees were beautiful! We got to take pictures by whatever Chinese animal sign you are according to their calendar. Jazlyn is a Tiger so we got her crying next to the tigers. :) We went up a 9 story tower and we could see all of Nanning city! The weather was so humid, the air was so, so thick and hot, but it was a great time!
Next, we asked Belinda to take us to the super Walmart!!! We needed to look for a couple of things. Jazlyn did great in the cart-she's a shopper!!! Yeah! We looked around at more stores trying to find some shoes for her, but no luck today. :(
After a busy hot morning, Jazlyn took a 3 hr. nap! When she woke up, we got to play together with some of her toys. We got her some stacking cups at Walmart and she loves them. We got more smiles out of her today and a video of her laughing - it is the cutest thing! (excuse the beginning part of the video-still trying to figure out my camera) (Video too big to include will try it later)
Today was a pretty low key afternoon and evening. Enjoying the down time together, getting to know and understand each other more and more. We are thankful and glad for our time with her.
We miss our boys so, so much. We just can't wait to see them with their new baby sister!! One more week!!!

Playing blocks with daddy!!

Her first bath with us!

Sweet baby girl!

Her very first smile!

Finally, taking her bottle :)

Made my day that she fell asleep in my arms!

We skyped with whole family from Cinti, Tenn. so they could all see her together!

It's official!!! We have the certificate of Adoption!!

Doing so much better with Mommy today!

UPDATE #5

Today is Tuesday, June 14 and we had a great day! Jazlyn slept ALL night and never made a peep-12 hrs. straight!! We woke up and had to be in the hotel lobby at 8:45 to go back to the hotel where we were yesterday, where we got Jazlyn. We met with the orphanage director and the local official for an interview and had lots of papers to sign and thumbprint.
Everyone was so sweet and nice. We received the Certificate of Adoption - it is official!!! We gave gifts to all the ladies and they also gave us a book on her city, a photo album of some pics of her in different stages and also one with her caretaker and the caretakers son. We were very thankful, because we were not expecting those pictures. We asked about the bear we had sent her months back, and they said they will try and send it to the hotel to us. I really hope we get it. :) We also got the disposable camera back that we sent in our care package too - excited to see what pictures are on that!

After a busy morning, we came back to the hotel to bond as a family, play together and try to figure out the bottle feeding situation. :-) We first were able to Skype all my family in Tennessee (Corky, Judy, Mammaw and Pappaw) and in Ohio-Wesley's (and our boys), Beebe's and Mom and Dad. Love, love Skype! They were all able to see Jazlyn over the web cam in our arms (even though she was fussy off and on)!! The most precious part was Ian wanted to sing Jazlyn a song so he chose "Jesus love me" and it was so sweet! She stared right at him on the computer the whole time and was so quiet and still just listening to her big brother. :)

We were able to Skype Scott's cousin Leanna and Anthony and also our friend Andrea. It was good to see and talk to peeps back home. If anyone would like to Skype we wouldlove to hear from you...Skype name is...lissajw123. Just don't forget we are 12 hrs. ahead so it gets a little tricky. :-)

She really did so much better with me today holding her and loving on her. We did get her to take a bottle which was a huge, huge blessing cause we were worried about her not getting fluids. I was also able to rock her asleep in my arms for her nap today!!! I was a happy mommy!! Lots more exciting things today...we put her on the floor to play with some of her toys. She played so good and sat for a very long time and that's where she gave us her very first SMILE! Later Scott was playing with her - he was putting toys on his head and letting them fall onto the bed. She gave us the biggest belly laughs. Her laugh is cute and very contagious - it was hilarious! Earlier today, we tried putting her in a highchair at breakfast and she screamed, but we decided to try again tonight at dinner and she cried a little at first, but sat so quiet and and was good while she ate-yeah!! We are really dreading the car seat when we get home! She got her first bath tonight. A few tears, but she did a great, great job. They said she might not like it cause she's not use to such a big tub- she did great! Scott was drying her off and she peed all over his lap-hilarious for me, not so much for him!! :)

We feel so blessed to have gotten a smile, belly laugh, sitting in a high chair, drinking her formula, a bath and lots more lovin' from mommy in just 24 hrs. of getting her in our arms. These sound like such little things, but in the adoption world these are huge steps for babies. We are so thankful! Thanks for ALL prayers. Enjoy the pics....