Baby on board!

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Yesterday we flew two hours from Hong Kong into the southwest heart of rural China. We are in a city of 32 million people (I know - hardly rural but aside from the city we are in the middle of nowhere). We checked into a nice hotel. Then the real fun began.

This has been an amazing journey and today we hit the pinnacle. We, along with 13 other families, met our new daughters. Malea Fu (Foo) Dou (Dough) Spear came into our family. I will not even try to describe the feelings of the moment but it was amazing. We have been waiting for Malea for two years and this morning she was bussed six hours, taken into a hotel, lifted to the 30th floor, and placed into our arms. The girls were beside themselves with joy and could not wait to hold her. They are grinning ear to ear and cannot keep their hugs and kisses off of her. Malea did not cry, she loved her first bath, and she never stops moving. Though not quite mobile, she is a goer!! She is as happy as can be and is a cuddler. She grabs onto our clothes and won't let go. She loves K and M holding her and playing with her. And tonight she fell asleep on my (Marc's) chest while sucking her thumb. What makes it extra special is seeing Kiersten and Madison love her. They would not stop telling her good night and had to keep coming back in to give her "just one more kiss." God has blessed us in a huge way throughout this journey and today was over the top. Our family is having a great time and having Malea in our family is natural and God ordained.

To briefly summarise and to do the entire experience a complete injustice - we're doing great!

It is also wild trying to communicate around here. No one speaks English. No one. I feel like I'm in a continual game of charades. For some crazy reason I rounded up a group to go to Pizza Hut (we just HAD to get some American food and Pizza Hut is one of three options along with McDs and Starbucks) and was that ever an experience! First try to find it. Then try to order four Hawaiian, pepperoni, cheese, and vegetarian pizzas and two pitchers of Pepsi to someone who does not have a clue what you're saying! But, the gang ate well; most had not eaten for two days due to stress and anxiety. Everyone had their babies and were finally able to digest food. We made up for lost meals! It is hilarious seeing grown men doubled over with nerves before they got their baby. But now, relief and we ate like champs! We're all a bunch of happy families.

So, I would like to download tons of pics but they are huge files and the computer hook-ups here are really slow. Even getting online now was a major project.

God is so good and evident during this trip. Abby is doing awesome now that the stress is over (kinda). K and M are absolutely loving life and their new sister. They are the BEST and are such a joy to have with us. And Connie is terrific and is loving the experience. And, we're all well now! All sickness' are gone. Phew!

Thanks for your prayers. I will do my best to keep this thing updated but keep in mind the difficulty I have getting hooked into the system. I'll do my best. Love to you all and we'll be in touch.

From the other side of the world by people who can't believe they're here and who are blown away by the entire experience,

The Spears!