Fun and 'Final' Times

 At the end of June, Andy & all the kids went back to Arkansas.  Joseph needed about 6-8 weeks to process all his citizenship paperwork, get a passport and then get a Chinese visa to return...so that meant a lot more time apart than ever hoped!  Kelly went to the US at first to attend orientation at the University of Arkansas and then....she came back to China for 2 weeks with me!  It has been such a blessing to spend so much time with my girl before she heads off to college this fall!
We've had lots of talks and walks.  Watching

movies, going to the fake market, eating at all the favorite restaurants and finally getting to some places on the 'bucket list'!  First weekend was Chengdu to hold a panda!  There were probably ~30 pandas at the Giant Panda Research Base...including this cute little 9 month old on Kelly's lap!  She just LOVED it...he was cuddly, heavy and surprisingly his fur was not soft!  After holding him, she just couldn't stop saying "He was so cute!"  They are fun to watch in their habitats and apparently even more fun to hold!  In Chengdu we also visited Kuanzhai Ancient Street (with the most Chinese looking Starbucks we

have seen) and had famous Chengdu snacks (mapu tofu, sichuan noodles).  Chengdu also has a large population of Tibetans so we  toured the Wen Temple & Monastery (seeing funny sites like the Buddhism Counseling Center...don't know why we found that so funny but we did), took pictures of Monks (again don't know why I find this so interesting!), and wandered through the pedestrian shopping streets (complete with prayer wheels and prayer flags) surrounding our BuddhaZen hotel.  All the while covering ourselves with the protection of our Jesus and praying for the people who are so lost!
We then traveled up to Beijing the next weekend to visit Shepherd's Field.  Kelly had been there twice - 2004 on our first visit when adopting Zoe and 2008 on our second visit when adopting Abigail.  It is just such an amazing place                                
                        and the kids there are filled with so much love and hope and smiles.  At one point a team from Beijing International Christian Fellowship church was there with their guitars and we were singing worship songs and Cody (in the picture at the side, the big guy with Downs Syndrome) is holding his paper and singing at the top of his lungs (not the actual song words!)...it was definitely one of those 'thank you Jesus' moments that are so special!  We spent lots of time holding the little kids, reading books with big kids and Kelly also spent a bit of time just talking with some of the kids that couldn't be picked up but would smile and respond anytime they are talked to.  On our last night there we also experienced the worst rainstorm in Beijing in over 6 decades...as you can imagine that caused a bit of havoc at the airports as over 80,000 people were there due to flight cancellations/delays.  So we're greatly appreciating the miracle we received that our flight was only 2 hours late!  And now back in

Shanghai we are wrapping things up...before I head home for two weeks and Kelly heads back for good.  As imminent as it is, I still try not to think about it - coming back here in two weeks without her, my amazing daughter & friend - just keep moving forward and trusting that God will give each of the strength we need just when we need it.  That doesn't mean there haven't been a few tears shed (okay, yes for those that really know me, a lot of tears).  So for now...our final post for this second year in China!  Next year will be different in so many ways as we plan for it to be our final year and will be without one of the key members of our team!