The First Date

The Sightseeing today was pretty good.  Our group is great, made up of folks from Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin.  All have families and all of us have boys, our daughters will be the first girls...names for the daughters to be are Julia, Juliet, Paige, and Pheobe (one family is adopting twins), and of course there is our Bo. Anyway, it was very cold and all of our touring involved walking around outside, with the exception of lunch.  The entire day would have been better if it were warmer, but it is what it is and I walked up the Great Wall of China.  Lunch was good and I didn't get sick, even though the restaurant we went into was suspect at best.  But I didn't hear a dog's bark or a cat's meow so I figured I was ok.  It was kind of a family buffet with several different dishes placed in the middle and dig in.  I have remained ok, but Nicole isn't fairing quite as well...she's not sick, but she's not well.  The price for trying everything out there...There should be some pics of the touring.  If they don't come up when you read this, hopefully Clint will have some of them up soon....but none of Bo yet...but that is soon!  We fly out at 8:40 am local time tomorrow morning to meet her, so up really early again tomorrow morning.

The good news is that we will meet Bo at 4:00 pm Nanchang time, that's 2:00 am Nashville time for those keeping score at home.  Nicole, well excited is a major understatement.  Imagine all the Christmases that you experienced as a child and all the excitement and anxiousness wrapped into one moment...take that and multiply it and that is where Nicole is right now.  With as little sleep as we have had over the last week and she still lies in bed at night and anticipates our present, knowing that she should be trying to fall asleep.

I'm excited as well, but I'm also a little nervous.  Let me see if I can explain.  When I was in Middle School I was scared to death of girls.  I found it difficult to even talk to them.  If they'd ever call my house, I'd basically hang up on them.  In high school, it got a whole lot easier to talk to girls but I froze when it came to dating.  If I found the way to get on a date with a girl (I don't know that I have ever really asked a female out on a date...it was always a bet or a joke or something) I fretted over that first date for days...and then acted like a Chris Farley character, or maybe Bobby Boucher from Waterboy.  Anyway, until my Junior year of high school I was a disaster...and really never got much better.

I gotta tell you, that's how I feel.  Tomorrow at 4:00 in Nanchang, China I am going to have my "first date" with my daughter....and I hope I make a good impression.

God, for now, I continue to pray for rest.  And if I don't sleep, provide me with the strength and energy that I need.

God, I've been praying this for awhile, but it's getting late in the 4th quarter and I really need you to intercede and make Bo feel at home with Nicole and I.  Again, I ask that you make her feel that she has always been meant to be our daughter and that we are calm. Work in a supernatural way.

God, please be with Jackson and Gunner tomorrow during their basketball games....make it go well for them. Encourage them as they are forced to be a long way from their parents.

Finally, I pray that you keep Satan out of this.  I ask for protection over all that will be going on, particularly during the next few weeks.  God build your protection around that little girl, around Nicole and I, around our families at home, around all the details of our trip...I pray that this goes so smoothly that the only explanation continues to be your miraculous hand.  We claim this promise:   "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Phil. 4:6-7

We are trying not to be anxious...

Thank you to everyone for reading, following our story, and praying for us.  To God be the glory!