Welcome to our story...

God has richly blessed us with a big, fun family...
We have 10 children... 3 homegrown & 7 born in our hearts!

Blake... our oldest is 25 and has a heart for the Lord. He enjoys; church, family, mission trips, making music, playing guitar & drums at church, and writing.

Brianna Faith... is 21 and has a compassionate & tender heart. She's a wonderful big sister. She began talking to us about adoption when she was 11 yrs old. She is "Faith in motion"

Brent... is 17 - he's an awesome guy! He's in highschool. He has a special heart for family and God. He loves sports! Brent loves to laugh & is full of life!

Bethany Lidia... now 15, joined our family in August 2006 at 9 yrs old. She's from the beautiful country of Guatemala. She started school for the very first time (at 9 yrs old) and is now in 9th grade. Lidia's passion is sports & dancing!

Benjamin Ross... 15 yrs old. We first saw his picture in April 2007 & came home in May '08. Ben is deaf, but his special need is that he needed a family. Ben loves making home-runs & hanging out with family & friends. Ben is from Tianjin, China.

Briella Xiyao... our beautiful 15 yr old daughter from Fujian Province, China. She joined our family in July 2009. She's always wearing a big smile! She has a passion for the deaf & very proficient in sign language. She loves basketball!!

Bellamei Ying... our Inner Mongolian princess. Bellamei is 14 yrs old and held my hand for the first time on July 18, 2011. She has melted into our big family seamlessly and it is truly an honor to be her mommy.

Brinley Grace FuChuan... is 9 years old and joined our family in July 2007. She's from Jiangxi Province, China. She has the most gentle, sweet spirit... she's an angel!

Bayla Shea Chao-Yu... our youngest. She's 9 yrs old, 5 months younger than Brinley. Bayla's from Hunan, China & came home at 11.5 months. She's bright, funny (and spicy!) We can't get enough of her hugs & kisses.

and our caboose... Braxton Emanuel Jordan - 8 yrs old? (see post below) He's from Guangdong Province and is now officially our son!

This 1 min video shows how we've GROWN!

Taking the train tomorrow to Guangzhou

Well, it's almost midnight here & our guide is picking us up at 9:15 am. Not sure why so early because the train doesn't leave until 1:08. We had fun today - went to a local neighborhood that had basketball courts and there were lots of guys there playing. George, our guide, lent us his basketball and Ben got in there and joined with the others. George had planned on doing this with Ben, but he had to assist another family, so we haven't seen him today. He had a good time and the weather was ideal. There was an old man there, just waiting outside the fence area the whole time and people would give him their empty water bottles through the fence. He looked very poor and old and was just waiting and pacing for anymore to come through the fence. When we finished and were walking out, Ben pulled all of his Chinese money out of his bookbag, stuffed it in his empty water bottle and handed it to the old man. This is why I love this boy. We then went to the Kungfu show, which was pretty neat. Ben and I decided that we liked it, but liked the acrobatic show better. We stopped to eat at this tiny noodle restaurant before the show. Ben ate a huge bowl of noodles & some mystery meat on a stick. He added so much hot sauce to the noodles that he was just pouring sweat. But he loves it that way! While there, Ben kept noticing a local family sitting closeby to our table, who was giving their daughter beer - she looked like she was maybe 9 yrs old. We returned to the hotel and Ben wanted to go eat something (again) and I hadn't had lunch or dinner, so we headed out and found KFC. Then Ben wanted to go to the walking street again. It is totally fun, so we spent a few hours doing that. I am exhausted :) It is very interesting to see how the people look at the 2 of us... they're really curious about us signing to each other. When an aggressive salesperson (if you've been here, you know what I mean) approaches us & I don't want to "deal" I just sign only and pretend that I'm deaf too. Several nice merchants asked me if he is my son. They seem so surprised, but friendly. We didn't take too many pics today, but here's a few from this afternoon. I really like the one of the lantern & the church. I think it's beautiful. The street is lined in lanterns. The basketball picture is a mural on the side of a building. The huge crowd was dancing again tonight. Ben and I have concluded that these people don't sleep! But I do, so will close for now. Will blog again from Guangzhou.

5 comments:

Adrian Roberta said...

Lisa (I know your sleeping right now) but I've encouraged a new member, Jan to connect with you regarding a 2yr old boy she is trying to gather more information about, who is at Z. Hope that was o.k.? (-:

Adrian Roberta said...

btw, your son is amazing! The story of the waterbottle is one I won't forget.

Gary and Lisa Fink said...

Hello, we are praying for you all. Tell Ben Hello from us. We will head to game at 340, game starts at 430pm. we love ya'll.

Brenda Frazier said...

Hey Lisa and Ben, Briella called us on the vp today to tell us you will meet Braxton soon. We are so excited for you! Thank you for the wonderful pictures and stories of your adventures.

Jocelyn Jordan said...

Dearest. Lisa and Ben, I have loved all of your pix and commentary. Look what I missed! The picture of Chinese characters talking about, paraphrase, "If you have heart trouble or cerebral problems, please be Careful of this long walk at The Great Wall of China!". I can certainly second that message. I cannot image even tackeling the Wall! Then the pix of the lady forcefully grabbing the jacket of the person she was with and trying to help them down, step by step was , I am sure, your view of what it would have been like if I had gone! Oh my, what sights you have captured! Ben is as adorable as ever. He looks like he was pretending to be asleep on the plane "bed!". How fun he is! But, he is the original BEST kid ever to give his money to the helpless man at the basketball courts. No one could have taught him those values, he was born with the super kind heart he has, and he is 15! What God has in store for him is huge! Looking forward to your receiving little Braxton. I marvelled at the hole in the floor of the bathroom on the train. I know just what it is for. The rest of the bathroom looked modern! The hotel you are in is beautiful. Such a large living room space. Guess that Ben will sleep on the couch! Oh what great stories you have to share! I look forward to your coming home! Love, Jocelyn (Grandma)