We Are Home!!!!

Emme was one very happy little girl Friday night! She had the biggest smile when she saw her Daddy at the airport! And it got even bigger when she saw her brothers and sister! She amazed the doctors and nurses with her quick recovery from such a major surgery. That is all God. So many of you have been praying for her and words can't express what that means to us. So many have blessed our family with meals, trips to the store, babysitting and sweet words of encouragement. Thank you.
While I was gone Colter managed to come down with pneumonia and Wade went in today and has Strep throat! The kitchen counter is looking like a small pharmacy.
Please continue to pray for our Emme as we await test results. They have sent it all over the country and no one has seen anything like it. She is sporting her new helmet that she has to wear 24 hours a day...yes, she even sleeps in it. This is to protect her brain as the surgeon removed a large part of her skull. I think she wears it pretty well....and yay for a quick fix to a bad hair day.
One night this past week I was really struggling and God brought Psalms 16 to my mind as I was paging through my Bible. What a great passage! And then a sweet friend shared a blog post her hubby wrote...www.lifeatbiggerdirt.blogspot.com. We travelled with this sweet family in January when we went to China. What a privilege to now count them as friends. His post really blessed this Momma's heart that night! If you get time go check out his post and read that passage in Psalms.

Fruit Bowls and Fire

Here are some pictures of Emme's plane ride to Guangzhou, eating at the McDonald's next to our hotel ( yes, healthy food is available all over the world), at her medical exam for the U.S. Consulate, in our hotel bathroom (she was soo very excited to see the bathtub!) She loves taking a bath!
And the last picture is what the hotel will give you when there is a fire (yes, fire...) It started in our hotel room from faulty lighting. We are now in a new suite...with a huge bowl of fruit. We are thankful Cody was there when it started and everyone is safe! So thankful for everyone's prayers. Emme is doing really well!

Travel Day

This is our last day in Henan...we leave for the airport at 3 pm and get in to Guangzhou tonight. Emme is doing really well and is such a sweetheart!

Emma's A Smith!!!

Monday morning, in Zhengzhou China, I watched a brave, beautiful little girl walk through the doors of the Civil Affairs office. There are no words that can describe that moment that you meet your precious new child for the first time...but God is so very good. And how humbled I feel to know He had this planned before time began. She is so cute, so smart and so funny. And is a perfect fit for our crazy crew!
As of Tuesday morning she is officially a Smith!
Today we drove over four hours round trip to visit Emme's orphanage and Maria's Big House of Hope.
We also stopped at Emma's finding spot which was in front of a hospital.
Touring the orphanage was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It is so hard to not break down when you see so many beautiful children that need the love of a family. The nannies were happy to see Emme, but there is no hope there. And no place for any child to live. We did see a room with children who had different neurological problems and one clearly had Autism. I will share more later, but right now my heart is so heavy for these kids. There is such a need for families to step out in Faith and open their homes and hearts to a precious child. They just need the love of a family.
Our last stop of the day was Maria's Big House of Hope. The moment you walk through those front doors you can feel hope and God's presence in that building. It was such a gift for me to see where our girl spent part of her life. The children are so very loved there. If you are not familiar with Maria's Big House of Hope you can visit www.showhope.org for more information on the life changing work they do in orphan care. And it is life changing. I am so very grateful to the staff and nannies at MBHOH. And grateful to all of those who support MBHOH. It was such a priviledge for me meet those sweet kiddos I've been praying for.
I will share a few pics and post more tomorrow. I did find my camera cord last night...in the bottom of my dirty clothes bag (which is where all camera cords go)
I am missing my family back home so very much!!

Hi From China!!!

I can finally post from China!! We are leaving the hotel at 9:30 to get Emme! 7:30 pm Central time! I can't believe this moment is finally here! I have been up since 3 a.m.! I will post pics as soon as possible.

Leaving For China!!!

We received Travel Approval December 23rd! I haven't had a chance to post because we have all been taking turns getting the stomach flu...again!! And one surgery and emergency dental visit thrown in there.
I am leaving the 4th for China and will be back home the 21st! We will meet our precious girl on January 9th and on January 10th she will no longer be an orphan and will be part of our crazy family. Pray for Emme as she is about to have her little world changed in so many ways. What a blessing it will be for us to welcome her into our family after praying for her for so many months! Looking forward to meeting some great families in our travel group, one who happens to be named Melissa Smith....(yes, there are two of us!) and who has a daughter at the same orphanage as Emme. She is also adopting a son too!
And pray for Wade as he will be holding down the Fort!(and possibly a kid or two!) We are blessed with an awesome church family and friends who will be feeding the crew and helping Wade out.
Next post will be from China!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Pics!!

A sweet family went to visit their new son's (adorable new son) orphanage and took some pictures of our sweet Emme, who just happens to be at the same orphanage.  I am so thankful for this precious gift!  It's been four months since another sweet family took pics of Emme.   This sweet Mom also prayed over our girl and that is even more precious to me.

  Our Article 5 was picked up yesterday ...which means we are officially waiting for our Travel Approval to come get our girl!!  This usually takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks...sometimes more and sometimes less!  Please pray for the less.....:)