Tonight is our final night in China. We received Jude’s passport and visa today, so we should have everything we need to get him home.

We finished out our last day by a morning at the zoo, an afternoon rest, then dinner and shopping with friends. Michael was able to entertain Jude while I packed everything up tonight. Overall, a great way to end the trip. We will be leaving the hotel at 5:30 am to head to the airport, then fly to Beijing, endure a 6 hour layover and customs, then a 14 hour flight to Detroit, a short layover and a 45 minute flight home. After about 27 hours of travel and waiting in airports, we should be home!

We are feeling a bit anxious about our long flight, but are praying for a surprisingly smooth time of travel for Jude. Please pray for Michael who has come down with a yucky cold at the end of our trip.

Jude has shown lots of great signs of bonding and attachment lately- it warms our hearts to see how far he has come. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.
 Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.
– 1 chron 16:9-11

We are ready to begin the next leg of the journey with Jude at home, and all of us together as a family. As always, we are continually amazed at the kindness of friends and family. Thank you for your kind words, for prayers, and for reaching out to the kiddos while we are gone. Ava and Jesse have done great. A big thank you to my parents for watching them for 2 long weeks! And to Julie and Jason and Rick and Terri for filling in gaps. They have been well loved!

We will leave you with a couple of photos:

Cry-face 😦 Hopefully we won’t see any of this on our flight! Let’s pray for a miracle!!

Photo op- Christmas display in our hotel lobby

Love you guys! Looking forward to seeing you all! xoxoxo