When we Skyped with the guys this morning our time, they looked so rested and much more relaxed! Did my heart good!

Tate is also getting more rested and relaxed! The more comfortable he becomes with his big brother and his Baba, the busier and wilder he gets!

The guys are with three other families from our agency this week. You really bond with your travel group, and the guys have three great families to do that with. In Hohhot they never saw another American all week long, and now they are surrounded by other American families! I am sure that alone is a great encouragement to Blake and Grant.

Thank you for your prayers for Tate’s medical exam! Simon prepared Tate for what was going to happen, and Tate cruised through his appointed time without one single tear! Tate even had his blood drawn, was taken from Blake to have it done, and came back without one tear to show his Baba his “owie!” Oh sweet boy, how we love your determined spirit!!

Tate fell asleep on the bus after the medical appointments as the group headed to go shopping.

The guys are on the 27th floor of the Garden Hotel. It is the same hotel we stayed at last year, but we were on the 15th floor. Their room is as luxurious as ours was last year! And the views out of the big windows just can’t be beat.

In the evening, the guys walked to a restaurant with the travel group and Simon the guide. They told me the food was delicious, and Tate did very well!! Tate is a great eater. He is eating a wide variety of things and his tummy has not been upset by any of it yet.

If you would like to see a GREAT photo of my three guys, and Tate devouring his soup the fastest possible way he could think of, go to this post here!

We are so thankful for SO many things!!! The families that are with the guys this week, the guide, Simon, and his heart to help these children through this process, for the doctors at the medical exam, and for our sweet little miracle Tate who just continues to astound us each and every day!!

They are one day closer to home, you all! One day closer.

I can hardly stand it!!

Thank you for all the support you are giving us right now! Every text, e-mail, phone call, visit, gift, and most certainly every prayer! The Lord is using each and every one of you for Tate’s sake!! Saying thank you will never seem like enough.

Six more sleeps till I get to hold our sweet precious boy!

Friday morning the guys packed up, left Hohhot, and flew to Guangzhou!

Tate was AMAZING. Such a good boy!!! Never made a peep the whole flight!

They will be spending a week in Guangzhou to work on the U.S. side of Tate’s paperwork to be able to receive his visa to bring him home!

When they arrived there, we had quite the surprise. Simon, the guys guide for this week, speaks Tate’s dialect of Chinese!!!! How AWESOME is that?? God is so good to us.

When they got to their room in the hotel, Tate asked Simon if it was his new home. Simon was able to explain to Tate that it would be only for a week until they would ride an airplane again.

The guys took a long walk around the area by the hotel once they arrived. Blake was thrilled to be back and enjoyed the familiarity of it all! They got some snacks, water, and dinner while they were out. The day had been filled with traveling, so they did not have a lot of time before Tate needed to be put to bed. They had a great night of sleep last night!

While we are heading to bed tonight, Saturday is starting in Guangzhou, and the guys will be taking Tate to his medical exam. Tate will have to have his blood drawn, as well as being checked by different doctors. The medical exam is not easy for these kiddos! It is a new, unknown, scary experience. Please say a bedtime prayer for our little one!

Today my three guys were taken to the grasslands.

They had an hour and a half van ride to get there, but Blake and Grant both said it was so worth the time traveling!

Tate does very well in the van. They do not use car seats in China, so that will be a new experience once he is home. We are so thankful that Tate does not get motion sick!

Blake said the scenery while they were driving was so beautiful. He said at first it looked like the foothills of Colorado, and then like they were home here in Wisconsin. When they got to the grasslands, it looked more like Mexico.

The fields along the way were full of potatoes, sunflowers, oats, and rape plants. The rape plants are used to make canola. The grasslands area is known for its oat noodles.

When they arrived, there was a toast for all the tourist that had just arrived.

The man with the pony tail asked Grant if he knew Kung Fu. That made me smile!!

The grasslands were full of Yurts – little tent houses that people live in.

When you are the only Americans around, you sometimes draw some attention!

I am so glad I bought and sent these sun glasses for Tate! Blake said he really needed them today. Sorry, Grant, that I forgot to tell you to pack yours!

While they were in the grasslands, they went to watch a Mongolian wrestling match. It is not like American wrestling, because it is all about trying to get your opponent to loose his footing and fall. There were six guys that were in the competition. It was narrowed down to three guys, then two guys, and then there was a champion.

The champion asked for guys from the audience to wrestle him. One guy jumped up to do that and lost. While this was going on, Aggie, the guide, was urging Grant to go up and wrestle the champion. Blake started urging Grant to do it too! Grant said yes, wrestled the champion, and BEAT HIM. Blake said the crowd just went nuts! I asked him if HE was nuts, and he told me “It was ok, honey, I prepped him real good before I sent him in the ring.” Grant had a blast!

Here is Aggie translating for Grant before the match –

Notice his opponent has on red pants.

Grant is standing in this photo, but his opponent is not!

What a good day they had!!

Tate is doing so well! While we were on Skype I watched him play in the bath tub, get his jammies on, drink his warm milk, and then he pointed to his crib. Blake lifted him in, covered him up, and he went right to sleep. I thought my heart was going to jump through this computer screen.

I reminded Blake to use Aggie to the fullest for Tate’s sake before they leave there to head to Guangzhou. I want her to prepare Tate for what this next week will be like. Aggie told Blake that when she talked to Tate, Tate told her he is ready to go. He wants to ride on an airplane!

Aggie told Blake that Tate is in the top 1% of all the adoptions she has helped with in regard to his obedience, how much he has bonded to Blake, and his understanding of this process. This brought us to tears. You all, Blake and I are SO humbled, because we KNOW how many of YOU are praying for our sweet baby boy – and the way things are going are ALL answers to your prayers. Praise the Lord with us, will you?

The guys have seen their last sunrise in Hohhot. As we head to bed tonight, they will be in the clouds on a plane heading to Guangzhou!

Please continue to pray with us for my three guys! One more week until they are home sweet home!!

It has been a beautiful day here on the farm!

The kiddos and I have worked hard today after school, but we enjoyed being outside so much!

My three guys had a good day on their Wednesday too!

Thankfully, they got to get out for part of the day and enjoy some of Hohhot!!

First they visited a museum.

I think this is the outside of the museum! I may have to update some of these blog posts once they are home!

They did not stay there because it was making Tate very afraid.

They also did some shopping and got to see some authentic crafts being made.

Like these beautiful scarves!

Tate took a little snooze in the van. This photo made my heart skip a beat.

The best part of the day was enjoying a Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant. All three of the guys thought it was delicious!!

Tate is doing very well!! We are just praising the Lord at how well he is sleeping, how he is trusting his Baba 100%, how he is using the potty and not having any accidents, how all the new foods have not upset his tummy at all, how he will wear any clothes Blake has put on him and is excited to do so, how much he loves taking a bath and swimming, and how well he is able to communicate his needs with the language barrier.

Our sweet Tate is one amazing little boy. We are totally smitten.

Our cheerful young warrior!!!

Tate is starting to understand some phrases. His favorite is the same one that was Eliza’s favorite. “Let’s go bye-bye!” He races for his backpack that I sent for him, fills it with all he needs, and gets his shoes. It is so sweet!!

The guys have one more full day in Hohhot before they fly to Guangzhou on Friday morning. It is a three hour flight and will bring a lot of change for Tate. He will no longer have anyone who can speak his language. He will be in a whole new hotel, new room, and new bed. The food will be different as well. Please pray for our sweet baby boy. I wish his new forever did not have to start with so much heart ache!

Blake and I kind of had a mini meltdown this morning. We miss each other so much it hurts. Of course the Lord showed up in mighty ways for me today. A package for Tate came in the mail. David came over before he headed to work to do some things for us. A super sweet adoptive mama friend is writing to me many times a day on e-mail. Another sister-in-Christ sent support my favorite way – through the snail mail! Call me old fashioned, but I love getting snail mail. And this sweet friend has the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen.

The Lord also gave me the great idea to get Eliza’s photo book out that we had sent to her in China! She was SO HAPPY! She has carried it around ALL day, and talks about how Tate and her are going to play with their books, and how she is going to show Tate her book on the “puter!”

Our day here on the farm is wrapping up as the guys new day is starting. I can’t wait till they are awake and we can visit on Skype!!

We are going to scrub the farm dirt off of everyone here, heat up some “must-go,” (Our name for leftovers! Everything must go!), and snuggle in for the night.

The windows are open, there is a wonderful cool breeze, and I know the guys can see the same sun and moon that we are seeing here!!