Our first day with Zachary...

Finalizing Zachary's adoption.

We have now been with Zachary for one full day!

For the most part, he has done great, but he did have a tough time after he went to bed last night. He started crying and wanted to call someone on the phone (we don't know whom). He was very upset, as anyone can imagine. There is a little girl next door named Hannah, who is also 8 and is being adopted by Nancy. Hannah is from the same orphanage as Zach, so he knows her and can communicate with her. She came over and calmed him down. After she left, I laid with him in his bed and after about 10 minutes he was sound asleep. He slept peacefully through the night (probably due to the prayers of his ba-ba/daddy, who could not sleep at all, but just kept praying for him). It was hard to see him grieve, but we would have been surprised if he didn't grieve at all. This morning, he awoke refreshed and, once again, happy as can be! We will see what tonight brings. We are praying that the grieving will be less intense.

According to Zach, we are his ma-ma and ba-ba and he is a delight. Today, we finalized his adoption and are just so excited to call him our son. He can't get enough of his photo album which contains pictures of his sisters and his new home. He carries it with him everywhere and shows everyone.

The photo with the 3 children is of Zach and Hannah, who is next door to us at the hotel, as well as another boy from their orphanage. His family is coming for him next week.

We leave the hotel tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. so we are hoping for a peaceful sleep. we travel by bus to Dalian, where his orphanage is. It is supposed to be beautiful, so we are looking forward to the trip.

Thank you so much for your prayers, everyone. We are so thankful for so many who are lifting us up right now. We can feel them.