January 31, 2013 -- Bittersweet Day + a Tooth :)

Well, if everything goes smoothly tomorrow this will have been the last day here at THOGL.  I  truly cannot believe it.  This has been my home for almost 3 months and it has been Grayson's for his entire life!  This has been the strangest, longest, most awesome experience of our lifetime (so far).  I am still in awe of the miracles that happen in this place every single day.  God is so good and faithful, even on the hard days.  We never dreamed this would be our adoption story.  Full of twists and turns, mountains and valleys along the way.  There is no doubt that God has chosen Grayson to be our child here on earth and we know that God will do amazing things in his life.  I mean, just look at how strong satan has been trying to keep him from us!

Today we spent most of the day packing our room.  As you can see from the picture yesterday we had a LOT to do :)  Hey, what do you expect when living somewhere for 3 months??!! It was quite the task and we are not even completely finished yet, but we will finish in the morning time.  We had a late lunch and headed down to the lake to eat at the Salex one last time.  We told the owner this was our last day since our adoption should be final tomorrow.  He bowed to us (in a Chinese way) and said, "Thank you very much and congratulations".  Pretty sure he was our life-saver at least once a week :)...............and I think he knew it!  

We took pics today with the nannies and volunteers that have played a vital role in raising Grayson from birth.  These women are such Godly women whom I have come to respect and love like family.  They have been my rock on some days and have made me laugh till I was crying.  They have given me hugs, advice, cried with me, prayed over us, made me laugh, and mostly loved our Grayson as their own.  I know it's a bittersweet time for them as well.  I pray they will know just how amazing they are and that they will always hold a special place in my heart.  

After that we continued to pack and organize again.  I headed over to supper just so I could sit with the kids and Jenna one last time.  I took Grayson along and Jenna held him most of the meal.  She didn't know we were leaving tomorrow so I think that might have upset her a little, but she is really tough and said she is happy for us :)  I tell you what, some of these kids are truly amazing and have great hearts.  I just wish they had the chance to have a real family, but that wasn't the cards they were dealt in life.  It's tough for me to understand that, but they are happy here and are well taken care of.  The day was busy here with us packing upstairs, lots of babies downstairs, and I also met with Ted to go over final paperwork and Grayson's file we will take with us home.  I only got to see a small part of it because there is so much to read about.  It was really neat though to see all the "chops" and signatures, final decree's ,etc.  Soooo much paperwork!  And hopefully we will have even more paperwork tomorrow to bring back!  

My nerves are going to be on high-alert tomorrow as we will head to pick up Grayson's final medical papers and take them to the AIT building.  AIT has an "in-service" training day and is technically closed, but has "said" they will finish our paperwork for us!  Please, please be in prayer for this to actually happen and go smoothly!  This will determine whether we will fly home and arrive Saturday night OR we will be changing all flights to Hong Kong and then have to return to Taiwan to finish the paperwork sometime next week.  This will be a crazy day so please pray for God to continue moving mountains and give us a peace about it all.

Grayson has been in a funky mood the past few days.  I will say that we have been carting him everywhere and running around to try and complete the adoption.  He is also cutting teeth really bad.  And guess what................WE HAVE TOOTH #1!!! It made it's appearance late tonight :) Just in time for our 20+ hour plane ride!! :)  

Prayer request:

1. Safety traveling to Taipei

2. Grayson's medical paper will be done properly and ready for pick-up

3. AIT will process the paper quickly and give us the final packet tomorrow!

4. Pray for our families who are sitting on pins and needles awaiting the final news and also pray for Mom, Grayson, and I as we are all nervous as well :)

We thank you in advance for the time you will be speaking with God on our behalf!!!!  Updates will come asap tomorrow.  

This is a new cafe they had just started building when I got here in November!

Drying lettuce...........on the car (what other way is there?)

Eating at the Salex 1 last time :)

The owner of the Salex (he knew he was our favorite cafe to eat at!)

Last picture with Showhwa :) One of the most amazing woman I know!

Picture with Syou-Mei -- Grayson has been loved by some amazing women and I am so grateful!

A wonderful lady who volunteers here that has known Grayson since birth. (Renee)

Mom enjoying the beautiful day at the Salex

Jen-Jen --- She also volunteers at the orphanage.  She was actually the one to bring Grayson to THOGL.

Last picture here :)

Taking down my "house" decorations!

Mom cutting these dumb straps off the stroller :) hehe!

Grayson playing while we are packing!

The new orphanage coming along!! WOW!

Last picture with Jenna.........She's pretty awesome :)