We're coming home tomorrow!!!! We are so excited. I am so sorry for the lack of updates....internet has been very intermittent We are actually at a different hotel tonight, so its doing much better. I can access email again!

I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers over the last several weeks/months. We couldn't have made it through without them.

Piper is doing well...she is such a sweet girl and we are very blessed. Just like we did with Emma, we will be the only ones holding her, changing, feeding, etc, for several weeks just until we feel she has fully learned we are mama and daddy.. For Emma, it was just what she needed. Piper is doing so well, but we have to make sure she knows we are more than super nice nannies...ha! Soon , though, everyone will get to hold and squeeze this squidgy cuteness!

Please pray for us as we travel home.....

love you!

I thought I would be the "champion blogger" while we are here....but it turns out we are a little busy...ha! The VPN I purchased is in and out, and I am having a hard time posting. Right now I am logging on remotely to our computer at home....(don't I sound smart??? ha! Its all Paul!)

I promise to load pics as soon as this computer starts acting right, but I wanted to let you all know what's been going on the last few days!

We finished up in Guizhou on Thursday and left for Guanzhou early Friday morning. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10 am and we got there around 830. It was super foggy, so all of the flights were grounded for a while. 10 came and went, 11, 12, you get the picture. All of a sudden, a line formed at our gate, and the plane there was boarding. We thought, yay!!! Well. THANK GOD they scan the tickets before you get on the planes. We kept hearing this nice little dinging noise, and everyone was getting on. Our turn came up, and this buzzer went off. The guy at the gate didn't speak English and just started shaking his head and pointing at our tickets. I got a little beside myself. Turns out, they had announced they were going to load another flight at our gate. We go and ask, and they say, sorry, but yours is the next flight from that gate. Okay. SO about 30 minutes later, the flight number on the board changes again. another plane starts boarding from our gate. Luckily the monitors updated this time, and I saw they had changed our gate. We had to go downstairs and get on a bus to be taken to our plane on the whatever you call it. Piper did fantastic! Ems and Ava made friends while we were waiting and they had a blast...its so funny. OUr girls are quite popular here. They were putting on "shows"...singing and dancing, and the kids (and even some adults) were enchanted! Taking video and pictures. SO funny! We have a couple of little hams on our hands.

Our hotel is great...we have a much more space here, and have met some nice families. Our hotel isn't the "norm" for adoptive families, but I think its catching on, b/c the dining room is full of other adopting families in the mornings.

Piper's medical appt was yesterday and it went well. We got a good report, and were thrilled! She got 4 shots,and although she has done well, I still hate they did them now.

I am going to work on pictures in a bit, and will load some from the ZOO in guizhou as well as Guangzhou so far. We are going to the zoo here later in the week, and the girls are looking forward to it.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers...we love you all! I can't reply on FB right now, so I don't want anyone thinking I am ingorning your sweet posts! I see them, and appreciate them and you!

sorry for the gigantic pics...something is up with the VPN I am using, and I am having trouble with the blog and fb...I will post more when I figure this out...

Today we completed Piper's adoption...she is officially Piper Rose Fei Mussell!!! (Rose was added by her sister and Daddy last minute)

She is doing really, really well! She really gets her feelings hurt if we put her down, but other than that, she really has done great. We celebrated a little yesterday for her birthday. We also went to a local park that has a few rides....Emma and Ava had so much fun. It was good for them after being cooped up, I think. Today Paul took them out for ice cream while Piper slept, and they got to be in a photo shoot...ha! Several people wanted their pictures taken with them...I gather not many Americans make their way here.

The caregivers from Piper's orphanage gave us the best little book...it has several pictures of her in the orphanage, from when she was younger and while we were waiting for her. You can tell that they knew her, loved her, and really took good care of her. She was pleased to see them today, but ready to go back to her Daddy when it was time!

And now, what you guys really want...I am including pictures from yesterday and today. Thank you again for all of your prayers...we love you!

We have our Piper!

Its been a very long day, and I am sorry I am just now posting. We got to the Guizhou Center of Adoption Affairs around 230 this afternoon. We walked in and she was in the lobby. As soon as I held her, I knew she was home. Unfortunately we didn't have the still camera ready, but we did get video of the "gotcha moment" and will try to post it later.

Piper did SO well....she whined just a bit, but overall has done beautifully. She cried pretty hard when we got back to the room, but fell asleep in my arms....which is a huge accomplishment. I will admit, she is already a Daddy's girl...the little stinker. But, she is doing great with me too, so I am thrilled.

The girls are doing great with her. They want to hold her, and she will let them, but then its gets a little overwhelming.







We still need your prayers! I will post more as I am able, but please still keep us in your prayers. I love you guys!

We leave the hotel in about an hour to go get Piper. There are so many emotions right now. I am excited, terrified, you name it. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but they skyped her for us the day we got in province. She was so cute! I saw her smile.....I am so glad I was able to see that sweet smile before today....when it may take a bit for us to see it.

The girls are still doing really well. They get a lot of attention here in China....People stop, point, stare. Today, a large group of people gathered around to look at them, and Ava, being her Ava self, waved very sweetly and yelled, "Buenos Dias!"....It was so cute. Amongst the stress, it was exactly what I needed!

Thank you for your prayers. We love you all!

We received our travel approval yesterday! Although I was hoping for it, logically I thought we had another week wait. Basically this is China saying we can come. So, now all we are waiting for is for the US Consulate to give us an appointment time....we could be leaving as early as next Wednesday, as late as Nov 10th. Either way, we are about to get our baby! We are so excited and so thankful. Will update more as we get more info.

We got an update today on Piper. We had asked for new measurements, but they essentially sent the same measurements they sent in July, so I don't know how accurate they are. Unfortunately, the only pictures they sent were of her feet only. We had requested that when they sent pictures to us that they send some with her feet uncovered so we could see how they looked and speak to the doctors here about our course of action. But, they did resend her referral picture and it was much more clear this time, so I am posting here. I am sorry, but I am certain we were somehow referred the cutest baby in all of China. I am also going to post a picture of her feet....as I mentioned before, she has club feet. And this mama? Really wants to kiss those toes....

Hi!

I am new to this blogging thing, so be patient with me! This is how I will share our news of Piper with friends and family.

As a lot of you know, just yesterday we received our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China...such a huge day for us! This means we have been approved as adoptive parents in China for our little Piper!  We have been hoping the letter would come, but honestly we didn't wait nearly what we could have waited! The average wait time is around 39 days right now, and we got ours at day 25! So I am very, very thankful for that!

Yesterday I drove to South Georgia to meet Paul to have him sign our paperwork, and overnighted them to our agency. Today they will mail out the first part of our next few steps. The first thing we wait on is an approval from immigration. This usually takes about 3 weeks. I won't go in depth, but there are a few more steps after that.

What we are needing prayer for is this. October-December in China is crazy for travel. The month of October is almost completely out because of trade fairs and festivals. This November, China is hosting the Asian Games and in December the para-Asian games. We dont' know yet if this will make it where we can't travel until after the first of the year, but we are praying not! Please pray with us...We want to be able to get to Piper and love on her just as soon as we possibly can.

Thanks everyone!