October Festival at Church

We all had so much fun at Church tonight!!! Everyone looked so cute in their costumes. Well, I wouldn't call Michael cute in his costume but he sure did look the part.

Leah's Baptism!!!

I have great news to share!!

Leah made a decision to be baptised this past Friday!!

We had so many wonderful friends come over to celebrate with us....Thank you!!!!

Leah wanted to share before her baptism Ephesians 2:1-2 and 8-9. As a family I want to thank everyone for praying and a huge thanks to Megan and Josh Holt,Jan Smith, Courtney Turner and all the teen girls for being their for Leah.

Raybon's First Day of Hearing!!!

Well, Tuesday was an amazing Day!!! It is so hard to put into words the emotions that flooded over me. In late June we went for the first time to an Audiologist and sat in the hearing booth with no response to sound. It was so sad to see that he couldn't hear and didn't respond to any sounds. We then had scheduled a ABR under sedation. The results showed that he was not Profoundly deaf but moderate in left ear and moderate to severe in right ear!! These results were so encouraging because we knew that hearing aids would be a possiblity. We were not against the Cochlear Implants but prayed that the hearing aids would work. So, on Tuesday August 11th we went into the new Audiologist office that specialized in hearing aids for children and put in his aids. Our next step was into the hearing booth to see if he would respond to sound. Oh my goodness when the sounds started to come and he turned at every sound!!! I felt chills on my arms and tears in my eyes. God is so good!!!!

His hearing is like a newborn baby hearing for the first time so he hears the sounds but doesn't know what to do with it. He is having speech therapy and will attend Atlanta School for the Deaf in November. They will bascially continue his signing and teach him to speak.

I'll keep posted with the updates.

First Day of School!!!!

Some more photos of everyone's first day of school.

First Day of School for everyone!!! Our home was filled with excitement this morning!! Everyone was up way way early to start the day. I can't believe Summer is over!!!

We are home!!

We made it home finally!! We flew out of China on Wednesday and should of been home on Thursday but we missed our connecting flight in Korea!! We then had to stay the rest of the day and night to catch the flight Friday. We had no luggage because that was on the flight to Atlanta. We took showers but had to put on the same two day old dirty clothes.We were exhaused but we are all doing great.

A huge thankyou to Dale and Fred for picking us up last minute from the airport!! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking such good care of Leah. Thank you Michelle for loving Abigail like your daughter. She had a wonderful time and loved being a part of your family!! Thank you Brandon for taking great care of the animals and home while we were gone. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful group and friends and family!!! We couldn't of done it without you!!

We love each and every one of you!!!!

On the Way Home

This is post is from Sharon...

I received a call from Cathy Tuesday night @ 11:00 which was Wednesday morning China time. She said their computer had crashed so she couldn't email any more posts. Wednesday was their consulate appt. and Thursday they began the journey home. They should be back in the US sometime today. I know everyone will agree that we wish them the very best homecoming and new beginning of their lives.

Blessings,
Sharon

Medical Exam

Everyone is doing great today!!

Ray had his Medical Exam today and did great!! No tears!!

Ray is such a trooper. He weighs 27 pounds and 32 inches.

They think he may be able to hear in his right ear!?!

He communicates so well with us even without signing. We are trying to teach him some basic signs. The Doctors were amazed at how well he did and how cooperative he is. He is such a joy!!!

Today we took him to the pool. He is fearless and loved the pool.

Madison is right now putting Ray to sleep. I am so proud of her!! Every night she has put Ray to sleep. She rubs his head until he goes to sleep. It is so cute.

Made it to Guangzhou!

Well, yesterday was a busy day. We flew out of Zhengzhou and made it to Guangzhou. Hannah had a hard day yesterday. She was very tired and Ray was trying to take her toys. Hannah decided that she would like to give Ray back!!! Today Hannah is doing a lot better and thinks she would like to keep him!!! Whew!!!

Today we did the red couch photos. We did some shopping but it is very different here this time. Some of the shops have closed and the ones that are open they are very aggressive in their selling. The econonmy and slower adoptions have really changed Guangzhou from 5 years ago. Tomorrow we all go for medical exams of the children.

Last Day in Zhengzhou

It is our last day in Zhengzhou and as much as we love it here we are starting to get ready to come home. Ray continues to do awesome along with the girls but everyone is alittle tired today. We went to the Park today in the morning and enjoyed seeing all the people playing games and exercising. We did our last time feeding the birds. The people are very nice and continue to thank us for adopting Ray. We leave tomorrow for Guangzhou..so goodbye to Zhengzhou.

Love is Growing!

Well, today we could go touring or have free time. We decided that we had so much fun at the park yesterday we would just stay and go to the park. We are waiting for all our documents to be notarized and Ray's passport to be processed. We stay here for one more day then we head out for Guangzhou.

The girl's are still doing quite amazing!!!! This Province has not had a lot of adoptions so we get our pictures taken whenever we go out over and over again. The people here are very nice!!

Ray amazes us every day with his athletic ability. He will jump and twist off anything. If he sees a stump or wall, he will climb and jump off it. The boy loves to jump!! He is pretty fearless and is not afraid of anything. He loves his bath. He is so funny. He is also very jealous!!! Yesterday Madison was holding one of the other boys in the group. He ran up to her and pinched her arm. When that didn't work, he went up to Hannah took her arm and brought her over to Madison and pointed at the boy and shook his head for the boy to leave. Madison had to put the boy down so she could hold him. Madison can hold him well because he really is so small.

Free Day!

Today was free day in Zhengzhou. We needed a free day so bad. We got up at 5 a.m which was the latest we have all slept so far. We felt like we had really slept in. Ray and girls are doing better than I could ever imagined. He is so sweet and very active!!! Oh my gosh, I am so happy Madison and Hannah are with us because he wants to play all the time. He just loves his sisters. He has figured out that I am the one that really takes care of him but his sisters are for playing. It really gives me free time though. Right now they are all playing with their Legos.

Today we went exploring Zhengzhou. We found this cool park and played for hours. Right now everyone is resting and playing.

Sending some photos of our park adventure.

It's official!!! We recieved our Adoption Certificate today!!!!

What an exciting Day!!!

Ray is officially our sweet baby!!!

The girls are doing amazing taking care of him and playing with him. I am so proud of Hannah and Madison. If you didn't know it you would think they were together there whole life!!! He is so attached to his sisters.

A little bit about his personality. Ray is so smart he can figure anything out. He plays Legos with Hannah and Madison and can build. He has great fine motor skills. Ray is extremely active and loves to run and jump off anything!!! He is fearless!! The amazing thing is he will calm down when he needs to. At the Adoption Ceremony he was so still and quiet but when allowed he will run and jump. They must of taught him a little Kung fu at his foster home because at any moment he will get into an offical Kung Fu pose, it is so funny!!

Today's a big day!!! Ray if officially our baby!!

Gotcha Day!

We have Ray!!!!! Oh my gosh he is just amazing!! He never cried once and acted like he knew the girls his whole life!!! We are all so in love with him. He is so busy and happy. He laughed and played with the girls all day. He laughs all the time!!! When they brought him in he just started running around and playing with the girls. I think it was about 3 hours before I could really hold him. He just wanted down and play. well, I could talk all day about his personality,he is absouletly precious!! I think Mike and I will lose a few pounds he is sooo active!!!

What an amazing day!!!

Today is National Childens Day in China...What a great day.

Guest Blogger: Sharon

Hello everyone,
My name is Sharon Ankerich and I will be blogging for Cathie and Michael as they are in China. Blogger and Youtube has been banned there so they are unable to post to this blog. I hope you will join them as they begin their life with sweet Ray!!!

Day 1-4

As we wait for our amazing day we did get to tour Beijing. We had so much fun with all the tours. Some of our highlights were the Forbidden City,Great Wall and the Olympic Sites.