bodner003

The days have become such a blur. Travel, paperwork, bonding, sight-seeing... I'm thankful for my calendar and clock. On Friday afternoon, Suzi, Samuel and I flew from Nanjing to Guangzhou, where we are spending the rest of our time in China. All adoptive families have to spend week 2 in Guangzhou because this is where the American Embassy is located. The flight was pretty uneventful, especially for Samuel. We chose the window so he could be amazed at our flying. He was amazed by the back of his eye lids. Seriously, before we took off and until we landed. Hooray for sleeping babies! We made it to the airport where our guide was waiting with our itinerary for the week. We checked in to the Garden Inn and began the 2nd leg of our trip. There are 9 families here who are with Lifeline, the same agency as us. We all stay at The Garden Inn (5 star hotel) because Lifeline gets an amazing group rate. On Saturday morning, we met our group in the lobby at 8:20AM. From there, we took our tour...

Wednesday was supposed to be for sightseeing in Nanjing but I felt like that wasn't best for Samuel so we stayed behind and rested most of the day. Thursday was a huge day for us and I'm glad we chilled before that because we needed every ounce of energy we had stored. We woke up Thursday morning (stomach in knots), ate breakfast and met our guide in the lobby at 7:00AM. We drove 4 hours to Samuel's orphanage, which is northeast of Nanjing. The city was beautiful, compared to many cities I have seen in China. It's on the east coast of China so most people there are fishermen or cater to tourists. The drive was uneventful and Samuel was an angel, as usual. Lianyungang Social Welfare Institute has a new, beautiful building that was built about one year ago. We didn't get to see the old facility but suspect Samuel was never there anyway, since he's so young. The orphanage visit was short and not very thorough. Our experience here was very different from our visit t...

Before I start writing about the whirlwind I am currently experiencing, I'd like to say thank you. Thank you for the meals and support back home. Thank you for the many prayers that are being lifted up for our family. Thank you for the encouragement through Facebook. I can hardly keep up with all the messages and comments. Please keep them coming. I can't respond to all of them or click "like" on every comment but I do see them all and appreciate every word. The support I am feeling half a world away is truly miraculous. Thank you. Yesterday was Gotcha Day. It was messy, and hard, and beautiful, and glorious. Samuel grieved deeply for losing everything he was familiar with. It was exhausting. For both of us. He is terrified of strangers and had clearly formed a bond with his caretaker. So many tears. So much fear and angst in his little heart. I honestly don't have much to say about the day because it really just felt like survival mode. I am unbelievably grateful...

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) I woke up this morning at 3:00AM in a dark hotel room in Nanjing, China. Reality had finally sunk in. And I lost it. I sat up and began sobbing. I sat there in that dark room with tears streaming down my cheeks. I grieved many things that hadn't really come to the surface yet. I grieved for Samuel, who is being transported to Nanjing this morning. I grieved for his confusion, his sense of security, his safety. I grieved not having my husband here. I grieved that I don't have his shoulder to cry on and that he doesn't get to hold Samuel today. I grieved the exhaustion and intensity of this trip. It was hard. Dark. Sad. And as He always does, God spoke to me in a gentle but firm voice. The Lord immediately brought me to a place of repentance. He led me to His word and humbled me. "I lift my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the ...

My laptop is dead and our converters aren't working in Korea. I'll be able to figure it out once we're in China but for now, I'm typing on my phone. Just wanted to give an update here, as I'm not sure when my next opportunity to write will be. Suzi and I left New Orleans Friday evening. The trip has not been gracefully uneventful, but full of grace, nonetheless. We flew to Los Angelos and laughed quite a bit on that flight. Suzi is one funny gal and we enjoy laughing at the other's delirium. I think I'll start a journal to remember all the quirky and hilarious experiences we have. We did make it to LA safely and barely made it to our next flight, but not before Suzi got her things confiscated and had a pat down in a private room. Fun! We hustled from there and made it on to our Asiana flight to Seoul, Korea. LAX is a huge airport yall. I thought Atlanta was something to brag about. They got nothin' on LAX! Our 13 hour flight to Seoul was quite an adventu...

Dear Friends and Family, It is with great anticipation and excitement that we write this letter to you. As you know, Laura will be traveling to China Friday to finalize our adoption and bring home our son, Samuel! We are deep in the trenches of preparing for his arrival. We feel like a big part of that preparation is to prepare YOU for his arrival as well. There are so many unknowns and we love all your excitement and questions about his homecoming. We feel it will be beneficial to Samuel if we can be open about our expectations of friends and family upon his arrival.  We have gone through extensive training with medical doctors, psychologists, therapists, and social workers. We have learned what we can expect from adopting an orphaned child, as well as how to cope with expected behaviors. In the first 14 months of his life, Samuel has experienced great trauma. He has experienced abandonment, medical issues, and no family to bond with, just to name a few. Being insti...

Weighty day. We worshipped with our church family this morning. The joy it brings to be in communion with other believers is a reminder of why we should be there every Sunday morning. The joy in itself is weighty. Every Sunday. But today there was more. It's the last Sunday I'll be in this place of worship, with these precious brothers and sisters, for many weeks. This family has been so supportive of our call and has carried us through what they recognize to be kingdom work. I love my people at New Covenant Presbyterian and I will miss being there for awhile. I have been in communication with other adoptive parents over the past couple days, specifically discussing where our children came from. Hard places, y'all. Really, really hard places. The discussion, although none of it surprising, has been very heavy on my heart. I believe God has put this on the forefront of my mind this week because of  my prayer . He is preparing me for the darkness I am about to wit...

So many emotions stir when you get this close. It feels like yesterday we brought Emily home. All the same feelings of excitement, gratitude, nervousness, come rushing fresh again. We received that coveted call today. Our social worker informed us that we have TA! This means China has granted us travel approval to come scoop up our bundle. Sweet Suzi and I fly out the evening of Friday, August 21st. All things are in order. Sorta. Of course, we are now trying to get things in order here. We are busy in school so the kids don't get too far behind. We want to give them the time off while I'm in China and also several weeks after we get home. What a neat opportunity we'll all have to be hunkered down at home together while Samuel learns to adjust and attach. Besides school, I'm busy packing, completing paperwork, buying gifts for Chinese nannies and officials, organizing babysitters and meals, tying up loose ends at work, and just snugglin' my babies whil...

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24) I have a prayer. I have a deep desire for my time in China. Yes, I'm praying for safety. I'm praying for Samuel, and for my family back home. I'm praying that God would complete and fulfill our adoption of Samuel and bring him home to be with us forever. But I want more. I want to be reminded that Jesus is more than enough, all I need in this life. I want to see the world through His eyes while I'm there. I pray that He would expose me to the worst, show me the pain like never before. I pray He breaks me over it. I want to see "real" and I want to feel a fraction of the compassion that Christ has for these souls. I want to remember the darkness I see in China, long after I leave that burdened, beautiful country. I want to leave China diff...