Last Post From China

This is it. My last post from China! It's 2:30 pm on Thursday here, which means 12:30 am on Thursday for you all. 

We are currently packing up, in about an hour we will leave Guangzhou by van and head to Hong Kong. 

We fly out of Hong Kong late Friday morning and due to the time difference arrive in Chicago at almost the exact same time. Talk about jet lag!

I want to take a minute to say thank you. Thank you so much to both of our parents for keeping the boys. You literally put your lives on hold. We could not have done this without you! We miss the boys so much but knowing they are in such good hands has made it easier! 

I also want to thank everyone who has been following our journey. We have been completely overwhelmed at the response this blog and Penelope Mei's story has gotten. They comments have been so appreciated, we have read every single one! 

As the first part of this journey ends, a new one begins. A new way of life as a family of 6. We could not be more excited to have our whole family together at last! 

One more thing I need to say. We have had so many kind words and nice things said about us during this process. While I completely understand where the sentiment is coming from, we could not be less deserving. We are certainly not better than anyone else for doing this. We are not heroes and certainly not saviors, I'm pretty sure Jesus still has the market cornered on that. We give Him all the credit for this. 

The truth is, we are parents who wanted a daughter. It just happened our daughter was on the other side of the world. What else could we do but go get her? 

Penelope Mei on the other hand, she is the brave one. 

In her short life she has experienced more loss than most of us will ever know. First she lost her birth family. Then she lost her nanny and her friends at the orphanage, the closest thing to a family she had ever known. 

Now she is losing her birth country. 

She was handed to people who look different, sound different, and smell different. 

She could have chosen to shut us out. 

Instead, she is choosing joy. Over the past 10 days, we have been watching her come to life. She is an absolute treasure!

Penelope Mei is not the lucky one folks. We are the lucky ones! 

So on day 15, only one more sleep till we board a plane to bring Penelope home for good to her forever family. 

Be patient with us as we adjust. This will be another huge change for her. We don't know yet how long it will be before she understands that we're the real deal. That we're here to stay. That we're mom & dad. 

Until then, we may stay close to home. Or we may get right back into the swing of things. We're going to try to follow her cues and do what's best for her. That may mean we're the only ones to hold her, feed her, and change her diapers. It may look like we're babying her more than a 2 year old should be babied. But after 2 years without anyone to feed her, hold her, change her- I think she deserves a little babying, don't you :).