Homebound

Well now Barbee Ruth is sick, both of her ears are infected. We may never get out of the house. Well since it is raining I guess it is not too bad. I'm enjoying watching Andrew change before my eyes everyday, it is truly amazing to see what can happen with a little bit of love and care. I'm so so thankful that God called us to adopt these precious children.
Well I'm going to make some muffins....we are going to have breakfast for supper tonight.

May God Bless You!!
Nancy

Wondering Why!

Yesterday I was wondering why some people do not understand God's calling? I have a family member that does not agree with the decision we made to adopt and it just breaks my heart. I pray that God will change his heart. As you can tell from the picture below Andrew is feeling better. Still doing treatments every4 hour but his cough is better and he does not have fever. PTL! Now Barbee Ruth has a cough, maybe it will not turn in to anything. "I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies." Psalm 18:3
Have a great day!!!
Nancy

Welcome To American Bugs

Well it is official we have caught an American bug. Andrew has pneumonia. Here is a picture of him doing a treatment. He does not even fight me, it is amazing how well he is doing. God has answer our prayer with a smooth transition even with this illness. God is so good to us and we don't even realize it most of the time. Remember to thank Him for something today. God Bless
Nancy

HOME SWEET HOME

We are home and things are going good.Andrew is doing so well. He walks around the house like he has been here all his life. He sleeps really well all we do is put him in the bed with a kiss and he will go to sleep. Praise God, I could not handle two that do not sleep. Barbee Ruth was up at 3:30am and did not take a nap until 2:30 this afternoon. I think she is still on China time.
We had a warm welcome at the airport by family and friends. Andrew went straight to his Big Brother Nick Nick and has followed him all around the house. After the airport we went to Wal-Mart we needed a few things. We are so happy to be home!
Nicholas made us a sign and had the breakfast table full of all kind of things.

Look at all of Andrew's new clothes!!!! Barbee Ruth got a new dress. Thank you Nick Nick!!!

Nicholas had to get Andrew some Nike shoes, they are so cute and fit perfectly.

My boys, Andrew is so in love with Nicholas. He calls him Mama but he calls all of us that except BR she is Mei Mei.

I wanted to thank everyone for all the prayers and support over the past few weeks! God is so good and has blessed us greatly. Also pray for Andrew he has fever tonight and a bad cough.
Nancy

LAST DAY

Well it is hard to believe that we are headed home in the morning. It has been a long 13 days. We love China but it is time to come home to the rest of our family and our friends. We had a great day shopping and spending time with the other families. Here are a few pictures of our last days.... Our 4 boys: Zane the 13 year old, Andrew, Kai and Maddox(he was not happy). Our travel buddies.

Eating at Lucy's ----- American food!!!!!!!!

Big Brother Andrew

You know you are in China when the trash can is cleaner than the bathroom to change your babies diaper. This is the Prikles with Maddox. They are first time parents and are the cutest little things.

Well we will be home soon and will miss China because it is our babies home land but we are ready to see the USA.

Please pray for Rickey's dad, he is back in ICU and not doing well. We pray that he will improve and that Rickey's mom will have strength.

As I look back over the comments that have been posted I'm thankful to everyone who wrote such encouraging words but mostly to those of you that have prayed for us I praise God for you.

Praise God !!!!!!!!!!

Nancy

STARBUCKS

Yes we found the Starbucks and it was so Good!!! I have missed my coffee and Mexican food of course. We are doing great and Andrew gets better every day. We went to The US Consulate today because we did not have the right form so we had to go get a new one. Well it was just like being at the DMV back home. Take a number and sit down and wait and wait. We go back tomorrow for the ceremony and then fly out of here Friday morning. Praise God!!!!!!!!

Please pray for Rickey's dad. I don't know a lot but I do know he had a reaction to chemo and is on the ventilator in ICU. Rickey is very worried about him and wants to be at home.

Please Pray!

Nancy

Guangzhou China

Yesterday was a long day. We made it to Guangzhou and the White Swan Hotel around 9:00pm last night and everyone was worn out. Andrew fell asleep the minute the plane left the ground then Barbee Ruth fell asleep on the van ride to the hotel. We have done our medical exam and finished the paper work so we are good now until our consulate appointment tomorrow. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries for lunch today YUM YUM~!! This area is beautiful with a lot of green plants and flowers. We will head out in a while to explorer. The White Swan Hotel is nice but the rooms are really small. Sleeping Boy

Famous examination area

Waiting our turn. His weight is 12.5 kg. (27.5 pounds)

Andrew did not even cry when they did the exam. He pulled his shirt up so the could check his temperature. Not one doctor looked in his mouth at his palate??????

Well we will set out for an adventure as soon as the little ones wake up from their naps. Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers. We love you all and miss you!!!

Nancy

East Lake Park

We had a great day today! We went to the East Lake Park. It is a very large park. We walked and walked and walked today. You can see in this picture I have my sun glasses on today. It was a beautiful day here and all through the park were brides getting their pictures made. They do things a bit different here when in comes to weddings. They get pictures made in the western gown before the ceremony then change in to the traditional clothing and get married. All the dresses are rented is what our guide told us. It was really neat to see them all in the park. The groom wears white/beige just like the bride. I have put in a couple of pictures of the brides and grooms into todays post. The Werts family
Fishing Boats on the Lake

Happy couple # 1


Happy couple # 2

They have started acting like brother and sister. Taking things from each other and fighting over who will seat in my lap. And let's not forget Andrew taking Barbee Ruth's pap and laughing about it. Well that is all for today.We will be leaving tomorrow and heading to our last providence.

Pray for safe travel!!! Thanks for all your prayers!!

Nancy

Temples and Gardens

We went to a garden today and a temple. This temple was very big, I have never seen one this big. It was also packed with people from young to old. It really makes me sad when I see all these lost people. Some parents had baby's bowing down to the different idols. It made me so sad I wanted to cry. They just don't have a clue what they are missing. When I saw the babies it made me be thankful that at least two Chinese children will be saved from this kind of life.

This was in the open court area before we ever got into the buildings. There were people selling food, books, etc.... You have to pay to go into the temple.

These two teenagers were so cute, they had swapped one shoe to show "friendship". I thought teenagers are teenagers no matter where you live.

This was at the garden, they had all kinds of stones and rocks. This was a volcano balls. Rickey really liked them but we couldn't figure out how to get them home.

This is a bonsai tree, this was pretty cool. The grow bigger here in China than in Japan.

Well that is all for today. We just got back from the night market, now that is some shopping there. So many people you just get pushed on down the street.

Andrew is still doing wonderful. He didn't say but one or two words the first day but now he just chatters all the time. We don't know what he is saying but he just talks and talks. It is so cute.

Until tomorrow...

Nancy

Not much

Well not much going on today. We went to a museum and saw a coffin that was thousands of years old and all the things that were in the tomb. It was pretty cool. Andrew is such a good boy, he is doing more and more every day. He can say Barbee Ruth but most of time he calls her Mei Mei and she is okay with that now. We found cereal this morning and they both enjoyed eating it. Cheerios yum yum. We even took some for snack today. That is what kept BR alive today. We will get more tomorrow.

We ate at this nice restaurant today, it had love seats on both sides of the table. It looked more like a bar instead a restaurant. We had a picture of Elvis over our table. The food was BAD.

Well Andrew loves ice cream. We stopped after supper to get some drinks and I got them some ice cream and he tore it up (ate every bite).

Well they are both getting restless. I need to go play with them awhile before we go to bed. It has been real nice BR goes to sleep around 8 to 8:30am. She is so ready to come home. She asked me a little while ago was she going to Jennifer's house in the morning. (Jennifer is her baby sitter aka other mama) She is missing you BAD.

God has truly bless us and we are thankful to Him for everything!

Keep those prayers coming!!

Nancy

Yellow Crane Tower

Today's sight seeing was to Yellow Crane Tower. It is a beautiful tower at the top of a mountain. And yes we had to climb up their. You find out how out of shape you are when you care a 26 pound child and a back pack. As you can tell from the pictures Andrew and Rickey are bonding. Every day he comes out a little more and we see more of his personality. He likes to take BR's pap out of her mouth and put it in his. We have to watch him close. He is funny how he does it. This is a huge bell we are standing in front of, you can toss coins into area below it and while we were doing that someone hit the bell and scarred BR.

Our little fellow never wants to walk without having some one's hand. It is really cute and a good thing. His gait is some what unsteady at times too.

This is the Yellow tower yes we climbed to the top carrying both of the children. I told our guide I could not make it to the top and she said I will help. She took the back pack from me and then said what do you have in here, it is heavy.

Well this is all for today. We are about to go eat. Thanks for all the prayers!!! Keep them coming.

Nancy

Chinese Dumplings

Here are my sweet baby dumplings. We bought this new stroller for about 35 dollars. I thought that was a good deal. Sorry Nicholas they are orange with tweety bird on them. That is all they had. We head out for our evening meal and it felt like like we walked 5 miles. But is was freezing cold. I got blessed out by two Chinese women for not having enough clothes on Barbee Ruth. Trust me you know when they are fussing at you even though you don't speak the language. It was too funny. Our guide had all ready told me I didn't have enough on either one of them. She had on 3 pairs of pants. I was wishing I had on more then I did. Poor Rickey didn't even bring a winter coat. Ready to ride!!!

BUNS - these things were so so good. You dipped them in that sauce then sugar.Yum Yum

DUMPLINGS - well these were not good to me. Rickey loved them. This providence is famous for there dumplings.

Well we are off to another day of sight seeing. Every day Andrew comes out of his shell a little bit more. Please continue to pray for us.

May I Introduce Andrew Carson Nan Werts

Here is our handsome little man. He is doing so good. He is so quite you don't even know he is around. He is a bit smaller then I thought. All the 3 T clothes are to big. We went today and found a belt to keep his pants up.

The director of the orphanage gave us several gifts. One is a little red bag with some soil in it from the area he lived. The second is a jade necklace that has a rooster on it and the last and of course my favorite is a scrapbook with pictures in it of him from the time he came to the orphanage until now. It is wonderful and I cried when she gave it to me. Something that he will always have from his country.

I'm so proud of Barbee Ruth she is so good. I was a little worried that she would be jealous but she tells Andrew "my mommy will hold you". She wants to be his mama tells him what to do and when.

Well everyone is taking a nap now and I'm going to try to do some writing in my journal.

Thank you for all your prayers!! Keep them coming!! Nancy

We got HIM!!

We got Andrew around 3:00pm today. He is the cutest little thing. He is the same height as BR but feels a little heavier. He has done so good. Cried only a little bit when he first got there. He went straight to Rickey first and I have so great pictures of them. Barbee Ruth has been so good, she is acting like she is the mama. He is so quite right now the only thing he has said is mama, papa, mei mei and nan nan. Nan Nan is what they called him so that is what Rickey and I have called him but Barbee Ruth says his name is Andrew. She does not want him to call her mei mei. She said my name not mei mei my name Barbee Ruth. One thing I have noticed he does is grunts a lot. If he is nervous he does it more. Well I will wait and post pictures tomorrow since the adoption is not final until then. By the way we are turning him in the an American already we had Mickey D's for supper. He tore up some french fries and cheese burger.
Thanks for all the prays!
Nancy and Rickey

Wuhan China

We made it to Andrew province around 10 am and our guide picked us up and we went to lunch. This may come as a shock to some of you but the food was really GOOD. We had something called beef and tomatoes and it taste just like Mrs. Werts' beef stew.
It is really really cold here. I thought we would freeze to death the day we went to the great wall and this morning when we got here it was 24 degrees.
Well we have all our paper work together and we will be getting Andrew in about 2 hours. Please pray that he will be okay with us.
Thanks for all the prayers for BR she still has a bad runny nose but no fever.
Nancy

Sight seeing in Beijing

We had a great day of sight seeing. Barbee Ruth did so good. She still does not feel good but no fever. The stroller got broken in to 3 different pieces by the airline so I carried her most of the day. So I'm about to drop. Thing have changed some what since we were last here. Snow was on the ground at the great wall. Please pray for us as we travel in the morning to our little fellows province and get him tomorrow afternoon. Forbidden City

Rickey and his women. This lady in the middle kept pulling him back every time he went to walk away. It was so funny.

Great Wall

WE MADE IT!!!

We are here safe and sound. Just got back from the first of many chinese dinners. It was a long day and long flight. Barbee Ruth has fever and just feels real bad. She is asleep already and slept most of the plane trip. We can not give her a treatment because the machine will not work. PLEASE PRAY for her!!! No pictures today, way to tired to do any of that. Love, Nancy