Home...

I apologize for the delay in posting to our blog for all our faithful prayer warriors, supportors and readers. The last week has been a whirlwind. Our trip home was LONG! And I had prepared what I was going to write... but then jetlag kicked in and well, it's just not worth it now. lol

But what is worth it, is to say that both Kai & Eli are transitioning very well. In fact we are amazed at how well they are doing. Not to say we have not had some rough or difficult spots, but over all we are so blessed!

Instead of trying to tell everything that has happened in a week, I will just post a bunch of pics for all to enjoy. And say, if you are on Facebook, friend me... Cuz I take pics and can post to fb from my phone a lot faster, and time is a coveted commodity for me right now. :)

Eli's first night in HIS bed, and that's Abby our 8 yr old Boston
and he has begged to sleep with a dog every night since. :)

Kai's first night in HIS bed, in his room, and that's Jean-Luc another Boston at his feet,
who now sleeps in a crate in Kai's room every night.

Levi, Kai & Eli all dressed for first church service since home

Kai writing his first Bible memory verse for school

The boys enjoy watching superheros on TV.

Eli, Levi & Kai holding paper chains, a Patton Christmas tradition

The boys and I went for a walk on 12-12-12

Eli doing his Draw Write Now in school.

Kai is photo bombing the pic Eli asked me to take of him & Andy, the boxer

Eli's first haircut was very entertaining...
scared at first, then laughing cuz the clippers tickled

Kai enjoyed getting his haircut cuz we didn't shave all his hair off

And these pics were just having fun at Holiday in the park

Love all my kids!

Notice teh bunny ears Kai is giving Zoe... lol

this pic was taken today when I went to go check on the boys
and found them playing Legos with 6 month old Dallas hanging out with them.
Love my kids and Bostons!

Now gotta run off to a Christmas play at church. I will try to update more often. But in case I miss you, Merry Christmas and remember who and what this season is really about...

Oh, real quick, that reminds me:

At breakfast this morning, I was teaching the boys Christmas is about giving, because God gave us His Son Jesus. I was using my translator app. After leaning on me, Eli picked up my phone, pressed the speak button & said "I love you" in English & smiled...

Awe, my heart melted and reminded me this is why we sacrificed and worked so hard to go across the globe to bring two strangers home and make them family. I love my new sons!

God bless,
Sherry

Last night in China!

Well, I will try to catch everyone up...

The boys each passed their TB skin tests yesterday. Yay!

Steve brave daddy that he is, took them with the guide and another family, because there was not room in the van for all 6 of us and the 3 of them, plus our guide and the driver. So we agreed, I would stay in hotel with Zoe & Levi.

Monday afternoon Zoe & I did some shopping, with the wonderful Ann of .

Last night we took Chinese take out dinner up to the roof of the hotel. It was too cold to swim, but there was a Foosball table and we had fun just playing and hanging out up there.

Today we made it to, and thru, our US Consulate appointment today...

The car ride to the US Consulate was almost an hour, due to the awful traffic. We got there, got in line & then made it into the waiting area with all the other families. The wait was not real long, and the people were very nice. The kids were great!

Only one little question about Eli's paperwork & the guy says it should all be good. Tomorrow our guide will pick up the boys visas. Yay! So we are ... done with paperwork! Woohoo!!! I am so happy!

Our guide will pick up the boys US travel visas tomorrow.

On the way back to our hotel Eli got car sick... common occurrence. My poor little guy... :(

So after arriving we took a walk to go book shopping... scored some Ultraman books, American stories in Chinese/English, a few education discovery science books in Chinese, Kung Fu Panda, etc.

Then McD's hamburgers & ice cream for lunch, and back to the room. The kids played Legos, video games, card games, watched TV, we put together puzzles & we ate Chinese take out for dinner again, but in the room tonight.

So tomorrow we will sleep in, eat breakfast, and pack...

We have to Check out of our hotel at 2pm Wed China time (12 midnight, CST).

The boys Visas can't be picked up until 3:30pm, so we will be hanging out in the hotel lobby for about 3 hrs. Pray for the hotel... lol

Our guide said she hopes to be here by 4:30pm.

We will load the luggage and people into a hired Van, which will depart at 5pm (hopefully...) and drive us to the China/Hong Kong border. Then apparently we have to move to a new van, yep all the luggage and people, and then continue traveling to the Hong Kong airport. All total drive time we are told is 3 hours.

Thank God I found some motion sickness meds at a Chinese pharmacy this afternoon, with Kai's help of translating. He can help sometimes and it is a HUGE blessing. :)

We will get to the airport with plenty of time to check in and maybe get some food. We depart Hong Kong at 12:55AM Thur (10:55am Wed CST).

Arrive Seoul, Korea- 5:20AM (4:20pm Wed CST)
Depart Seoul- 11AM (10pm Wed CST)

Yup, 5 hr lay-over...

We are scheduled to arrive at DFW, Terminal D - 8:20AM Thur CST (Flight Korean Air 31)
Note: Then we have to process thru Immigration, Customs & Baggage... I'm told 30-60 min.

But the moment the boys feet hit US soil, they will both be US Citizens!!! Yay!!!

We invite anyone interested to welcome them home.

Then we drive home 1.5 hrs in OUR van, and some help for luggage. (lol)

I think I counted like 33 hours of traveling by the time we get HOME Thur. Pray for us...

Well, our VPN keeps going off... it's taken me two hours to post this.

 

So please keep us in your prayers and I will update soon after we get home. Thank you ALL!!! God bless you tenfold for all your prayers and support. Kai & Eli are adjusting very well. We get hugs and kisses at night. They are happy all day long. They are both very excited about the plane trip to America tomorrow. In fact we have been trying to get them to go to sleep for over half an hour and they're still giggling. (lol)

God is so amazing!

I am happy to be going home, but certainly have a new appreciation for home... America that is!

God bless America!

Signing off from China,

Sherry

 

3 more days to go...

Sorry for no new pics or updates. It's so hard to have to go to lobby to check email and what not. But only 3 days left...

Can not wait to get with our two new boys home, join our two waiting boys and have all 6 Patton kids under one roof.

Yesterday we went to the Safari Park. It was AWESOME! Steve took a ton of pics, but I will have to wait to upload them. We saw TONS of tigers, all different species, including cubs and babies even. We also saw lots of Pandas. We fed monkeys and giraffes, which was totally cool! I mean where can you do and see these things? It was an adventure getting there with our 6 and a fellow adoptive family of 3... all trying to stay together on the very busy metro/subway with two changes on a Sat in Guangzhou, China! But we made it and it was a blast and we are so glad we went.

Today we had another adventure as we took TWO taxis, because there are 6 of us, to the Victory hotel on Shamian Island to find the christian church. Problem is my taxi dropped me, Zoe & levi off at Victory west and Steve's taxi dropped him, Kai & Eli at Victory east and we had no way to communicate... Thankfully after abotu a half hour we found eachother and even made it to the church. lol We missed the music and arrived at the tale end of worship. Got to hear/participate in the scripture reading. The service was Chinese/English translated. The church was PACKED out! The sermon was good. It was about being ready for Jesus coming back and how we do not know the hour and we should be on watch and not be distracted by wordly things. Great word! :) We left as they were getting ready to begin communion. Not a conversation we were ready to have with our two new boys just yet.

Then we just enjoyed walking around and taking in the beautiful sites of Shamian Island. We took lots of pics of us with statues and just having fun. There was even a Starbucks for us big kids and a playground for the little kids... lol

We stopped for lunch at the famous Lucy's. Kai & Eli ate chinese, Steve, Zoe, Levi & I ate american. lol But we all ate till we were full. Then we walked back to the Victory west and took ONE taxi back to our hotel. It was tight, but well worth no more mishaps of loosing eachother.

We have just relaxed at the hotel for a few hours. The kids have played, while Steve & I are still working on the issue of how to get our large family and LOTS of luggage to the Hong Kong airport Wed night.

Trying not to get stressed over that issue, at least it means we are getting close to going home. Yay!!!

Tonight we are meeting some other adoptive families for mexican dinner... yes, you read that right, MEXICAN dinner here in Guangzhou, China. Steve is so very ready for something different to eat. lol It is close to the other families hotel, so we will take a taxi again. I think ONE... lol

Tomorrow morning the boys have the TB checks. Please pray for no problems. Eli's is not even noticeable, but kai's is bruised still. Both have complained of arm pain from their shots and have had tylenol each day and night. My poor boys. :( Tomorrow afternoon Zoe & I will go shopping with Ann of Redthreads, while the guys chill in the hotel. And we hope tomorrow eve to meet up with some more adoptive families for dinner again. We shall see I guess...

Tuesday is our US Consulate appointments. That is the most important reason we are here in Guangzhou. They interview us, check all the boys paperwork and issue their visas to enter the US. We can not leave China with the boys without those visas.

So that's the update. Sorry no pics this time. Maybe tomorrow... if I can find some time to sit in the lobby again. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. We feel them!

Love to all,
Sherry and family