Big Wild Goose Pagoda

A small outing to a place called big wild goose pagoda where we saw the head budah Monk. Our guide said that 98% are of Hun nationality and have no belief. They informed us that Wyatt is Hun. It was a beautiful park with lots of outbuildings where believers came to light insence and worship. Families flew kites and relaxed in the park together. For me it was humbling thinking of all the lost who were roaming this city, if only they had a lifehouse to attend.

The last 4 days we have noticed that Wyatt flocks to this one certain girl in our group named mckenna. We looked in the baby book provided by the orphanage director and she is in it. She was adopted in our travel group to a family in Charlotte north Carolina. On the first day here we gave Wyatt a small backpack full of small toys that Aunt Barb gave him. He is very protective of them, always knowing where they all are. Every time we see her he pulls out a toy to share with her. It warms my heart like no other to see them together. They hold hands and smile a lot when together. She is such a special friend to him. I love them together:)

 











 Last, the best part of being a mom. When your son finds comfort and falls asleep in my arms:) life is so good! I love that the lord chose me to adopt, it is a far greater plan than my own!

Hotel and a Day of Rest

Jb and I have truly enjoyed our hotel. Our pool and spa area is just peaceful and relaxing after jet lag, no sleep and the craziness of traveling and stress of this adoption. We found this perfect spot next to the hot tub in the pool area, with relaxing chairs. The best part is clearly that we had the entire place to ourselves!

Then there is this cutie pie just loving his new life! When we left today we took naps then walked to this mall close by for dinner! You should see how everyone swarms around us to see if our kids are Chinese. Then they usually smile and say "oh so lucky" well the truth is no matter how  much money, time and stress it cost it is us who receive the greatest blessing and it is worth every penny:)

Today's findings: you can still smoke in restaurants , traffic lights in Xi'an tell you how many seconds s left til the light changes, public rest rooms don't have toilet paper and baked beans are served for breakfast?

Tuesday

This photo might be the cutest thing I have ever seen! My friend Jill and her daughter Lauren bought it for him at build a bear and by this photo you can see he loves it! He snuggles with it in bed and we pretty much drag it all over china! Today we went swimming and it went with us:)

I was a little hesitant on going to the pool but Wyatt loved it! He wasn't afraid of the water and even went under? No tears or fear! He showed a little bad side as he laughs when he splashes you right in the face!

 

This second photo of jb holding hands with the kids was taken in front of our hotel. It was a moment I realized our new family of 4 is so blessed to be together! Wyatt likes both Lucy and I but has an unusually sweet infatuation with jb. He calls him Ba ba and follows him around looking for his constant attention. When they laugh together it makes my heart happy! He will repeat a lot of words in English already, which is something I didn't expect. He fits right in and it seems like we have had him his entire life! So far we have had the official adoption signing and passport photos taken. We are in Xi'an until Friday. We have been so busy and on the run. Today was the first time of relaxing together:)

Monday

Family

Today was filled with so much joy! Jb said our family grew by 25%, I say there is a entire new meaning to finding out what a father, a mother and a sister is. We have held hands hugged and lots of ching chings (kiss)! We are so blessed to have a child that sleeps the entire night, eats everything you give him and have had several successful trips to the potty:)

We found out that his name means happiness and it is very fitting. He speaks perfect chinese from what our guide says, although to us it is just hilarious trying to figure out what he says! All the first experiences thru his eyes are so fun to watch. Bubble baths, pizza, pop, balloons, he loves his sister and even shared some of his cool toys with other kids when we went to our appointment today. There is a little girl mckenna that he grew up in the orphanage with he gets excited to see her when we meet up with them. It warms my heart to see how brave he has taken this and I look forward to seeing him flourish in time. We are so pleased that he appears healthy, very active,energetic and smart.

I wonder if the care package my friend Aaron sent him helped him recognize and adapt to us, when we got him on gotcha day he walked right up to jb and called him baba (father) it was awesome!

Today he already repeats words in English like balloons, water and potty:)

Thanks to all who are. Praying for us, he is not a Vinnie, everyone is healthy and well!
Life will never be the same for the Brown family!

We Have Him!

Hi all!  This is Georgene's friend, Jennifer, playing scribe for her!  So exciting to see Wyatt with his family!!  Here is Georgene's post:

This is a day you dream about your child running to your arms kissing and hugging you. It breaks you when you have waited nearly a year and he puts up a fight like no other! Look at this photo of Wyatt's foot then you can see how beautiful this meeting went

Then jb offered him chocolate and peanuts and the kid made a 360, even calling jb ba ba, father in Chinese!

After a bath and pizza we all were exhausted and ready for bed!

Here we go!

As my friend Jenny would say at work " here we go"lol




Chicago to Beijing!

We can't hardly believe this day is here:)

Last week Lucy yelled at me telling me that it wasn't very nice to change my story from 3, to 2 weeks then one so we made this-




Then this morning we jumped for joy when we saw this!



She really gets it:)

Today we will celebrate the next 15 hours from Chicago to Beijing today being 3 years together with Lucy. What a fun flight being stuck together:) my favorite love language is quality time so I should be filled up by 4am!!

Stay tuned...
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Tickets are booked!

The time has come and our tickets are booked. It dawned on me that 3 years ago this same exact week we were preparing to leave for china to get Lucy.

Next week as we celebrate her 3rd Anniversary of Gotcha Day, we will be spending that quality time (14+ hours )aboard a Boeing 747 in route to Beijing for a 2nd adventure.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate than getting her a brother! Lol

The greatest blessing will be watching Lucy experience this trip knowing the excitement and anticipation was the same as we went to get her.




Just a scared little girl two years old waiting for her forever family!



Now a 5 year old princess with a light that shines so bright you need to close your eyes!

If we only knew what was about to happen.

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Baoji city

As we patiently (lol) wait for our departure date I thought to share a few things about our son Chen Huanqing soon to be Wyatt Brown.

In late summer John and I turned down a couple of little boys due to their special needs being more than we felt we could handle.

Then on August 22 we received word about Huanqing a 3 year old boy (DOB 4/1/09) with a minor hernia that was already repaired.

We instantly knew he was a perfect match for our family!




When I saw this photo, I actually thought to myself that he looks like Lucy's brother and they belong together! He is currently located in an orphanage in Baoji city, in the Shaanxi Provence in China.





On October 7th I began You found me home, a face book page to help pay for trip. On this page I posted homemade gifts that I knitted in hopes of making a couple hundred dollars. Never in my wildest dream would I have expected what would happen...

Special order after special order started poring in, a friend started knitting to help me make items and I started putting baskets together with items such as these neck wraps


And headbands!


In 3 months a total of $2,700 came in to help with various fees which we applied to our visas, and other travel fees! Praise the lord that he allowed me to use my talent for his work!

In December Lifehouse church completed the "Be Rich" series that was the the most humbling gift towards our adoption. Over the series guests and members of life house gave $10,000 to help bring Wyatt home. John and I both are blown away by this. We are grateful, excited and encouraged that when you follow the lords plan for your life he opens doors and opportunities like no other!

Www.lifehousepeople.com

Last week We received word that our final travel plans will be ready any time now. We are ready!

Talents

I love when you see someone's God given talent is so clear as day.

I just have to share:)this family photo was taken on Christmas of John, Lucy and I.



So on New years eve my dear friend Chris Turner doodled up this little creation in about 5 minutes with a few markers. I just loved it!



What a blessing:)