Gotcha Day!!!!

Hello everyone...

Almost six years later, we are so happy and blessed to introduce Kaylee Elizabeth Qiu Baroni. We had an amazing day on Sunday not just of us, but for the other two families who are traveling with us, who also received their baby girls as well.

Gotcha Day started early...we left our hotel at 5:30am and headed to the Beijing Airport for a 7:40am flight to Nanchang. We arrived in Nanchang around 10:00am. We made it to our hotel around noon and had to wait about 4 hours to meet Kaylee. Kaylee left her foster family that morning and we learned today that she cried pretty much the whole way from Fengcheng (her town) to Nanchang...about an hour drive. We also learned today that her foster mom is 45 years old and Kaylee was surrounded by a traditional Chinese family...foster mom and dad, foster parent's biological children and their children...so you can imagine the environment that she was used to and taken from.

Click on the link below to see how one amazing journey ends and another begins...

Gotcha Day Clip

Our first night with Kaylee was a bit difficult. Not a lot of sleep if you can imagine for all three of us. Our prayer for Kaylee is for her to form a very special bond between Stacie, the boys, and me so she will trust us like she trusted her foster mom and family.

On Monday, we made it official with the Chinese Government that we will love Kaylee and we will never abandon her. So, Kaylee is officially our in the eyes of the Chinese Government. Our next step will be to make it official with the US Government next week.

Stacie and I want to thank everyone of you again for your thoughts and prayers. Some of you have been with us since the beginning and some of you have only been with us since our move to Panama City...all of you mean so much to us and we so much appreciate your love and support.

We hope you enjoy the pictures below:

Proud parents of a beautiful little girl. The little Chinese outfit that she arrived in was so cute. We were told she now weighs about 20 pounds. When we were holding her it sure seemed like a lot more...well underneath that cute little outfit was six layers of clothes...the Chinese ensure their babies are dressed very warmly.

Kaylee after coming back up to the hotel room. We like her little Mongolian boots. The look on her face explains it all..."Who are you people?"

Making Kaylee officially ours...

After a very long day and an even longer nite...Kaylee decides to sleep....

Beijing China Day 2

Good morning (China time) everybody...it's Gotcah day for us...we are so excited. It is 4:45 Sunday morning (Jan 29)...we are preparing to leave the hotel to go to the airport to fly down to Nanchang to meet Kaylee. We will get her at 4:00pm China time which will be midnite Panama City time.

Yesterday Stacie and I and the rest of the travel adoption group had a wonderful day touring more sites of Beijing...it was cold but yet another wonderful day.

We first visited the one of the 8 wonders of the world...the Great Wall...over 5000 miles of wall...we both had a chance to walk this great wonder, I can only imagine how difficult it was to build particularly when all of it was accomplished to good old fashion way...alot of manual labor.

After that we had a traditional Chinese lunch...they sure do like their rice. The Chinese traditional meal is similar to the American Chinese cuisine...things like snow peas, sliced pork, rice, pepper beef, rice, dumplings, rice, chicken nuggets, french fries...and did I say rice. All in all, we were well fed.

After that we went to Olympic park to see where the Summer Beijing Olympics took place...we didn't stay long but got to see the Bird's Nest (stadium), and the water cube (place where Michael Phelps won all his gold medals).

We finished off the day by seeing an international acrobatic show....Wow! Our guide said it takes about 10-15 years of training for just a couple minutes on stage.

We have really enjoyed our time in Beijing...the touring was great and meeting all the other wonderful families was a great experience as well. So we are off today to welcome Kaylee Elizabeth into the Baroni family. We are so grateful to bring praise and glory to God our Father for this incredible calling.

Mark getting ready to climb the Great Wall...it was a bit more challenging than it looked...or maybe that was Mark getting just a little older.

Stacie thinking about climbing the Great Wall...

Olympic Park...the Bird's Nest in the background and the water cube in the foreground

Beijing China

Greetings from Beijing, China

We safely made it to Beijing and are getting our bodies adjusted to the 14 hour time difference. We have also met with 10 other families that will be adopting as well. As we have gotten to know these wonderful families, it has been awesome to hear their adoption story.

Today, we all had an opportunity to see some of the famous sites of Beijing. We toured Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tomorrow we will be seeing the Great Wall and the site of the Beijing Winter Olympics. We are off to Nanchang on Sunday to finally meet Kaylee.

Here are a few pictures from today:

Our first meal in China...Dog Meat Pot...No not really, just thought some of the side market menu items were a bit interesting.

Our first mode of transportation...the very reliable rickshaw!

Stacie and me ready to rock and roll on the rickshaw...man it was cold today...I think this morning it was around 25 degrees...just a little bit colder than Florida

The wonderful families that are here with us adopting from all over China. We will go our separate ways on Sunday then meet back up in Guangzhou on the February 3rd to finalize all of our adoptions at the US consulate.

One of the many beautiful buildings in Tiananmen Square.

The entry gate into the Forbidden City...

Abundantly Blessed

Hello Everybody,

We are on our way (currently in San Francisco) to meet our precious little girl and bring her home! Wow...the past two weeks have flown by and a lot of preparation has gone into our trip. Mark and I are so very fortunate that Grandma and Grandpa came into town to watch the boys while we are in China.

Sitting in my hotel room, I am able to catch up on a few thank you's for what transpired this past weekend. I was given an incredible baby shower for Kaylee...Oh My Gosh...it was so amazing. I was completely overwhelmed seeing all of my friends and the words of encouragement that were given to me...thank you from the bottom of my heart. Everything about the shower was so special from the decorations, to the wonderful homemade pies, to the canvas my friend painted for Kaylee's room, to the favors my sister-in-law made. My family and I feel abundantly blessed!

We leave for China tomorrow (Wednesday)...Gotcha Day (Jan 29) is fast approaching.

Below are a few pictures from the shower...

Wonderful decorations...

So thankful my mom could make it for the shower

Great food and cute ideas...

The wonderful group of ladies that made it happen...thank you so very much!!!

My wonderful friend (Diane) from Colorado flew in for the shower. I have known Diane since our first assignment...wow over 17 years. Thanks Diane for being such a wonderful friend.

My friend Daphne Watts painted a beautiful canvas to go in Kaylee's room. Thank you Daphne...it is perfect!!

9 Days and Counting

We are 9 days away from going to China to pick up our little princess. We are so excited!! Of course our life with our three boys continues to be busy and fun while preparing for our trip. God keeps reminding me to slow down in the middle of the busyness and realize the wonderful blessings I have all around me.

For example, getting a middle schooler (Hayden) ready for his second big dance. We are already talking about what clothes and shoes to wear. He already has his Adidis cologne and knows how to use it in abundance.

Colton makes life fun because he is so passionate and funny. Wednesday morning we were packing his lunch for school and song came on the radio and he said "Mom, may I have this dance." So we danced in our pajamas losing track of the world and the time. I thought to myself after I dropped the boys off at school a bit late that my dance with Colton was so worth it. I'm glad I was living in the moment and not worried about my to-do list.

Brandon is just all boy and still so young at heart. I have pulled out the baby toys and to my surprise he has been sitting in Kaylee's room playing with them. I also have noticed that boys really don't need toys, they just need airplanes, a rake, lots of dirt, and hair coloring to have fun.

Here are a few pictures of my wonderful boys. Thanks again everyone for your continued support and prayers.

The boys enjoying Pensacola Naval Air Museum...

Colton rocking on the rake guitar...

Can you say dirt...man, I'm in heaven...so much dirt

Hmm...which color do I like the best...red or green?

China Travel Plans

We received our travel approval and are soon (like in 16 days) going to be on our way to China to bring Kaylee home!! Yea!

We leave Panama City on January 23 and will depart out of San Francisco on January 25th to China. Mark and I are going to spend one day (24th) touring San Francisco. We then will take the 10-12 hour flight to Beijing. We will tour Beijing with other adoptive families for a few days. On January 29th we will fly to Nanchang (the capital of Jiangxi province) to meet Kaylee. After that we will fly to Guangzhou (location of US Consulate) on or about February 1st to finalize the adoption. The adoption will be finalized on February 7th. On the 8th of February we will fly to Shanghai early in the morning and then catch an afternoon flight back to San Francisco. We will arrive in Panama City on February 9th. Sounds crazy doesn't it...

Yes...we are all excited to meet Kaylee

No, we are not ready yet, but we will be....

Yes, we are nervous, excited and not sleeping (well one of us, Mark has been sleeping like a rock) much right now...

Yes, the boys are excited and concerned because we have never left them for more than 4 days...

Yes, we understand God is/will be our refuge and strength thoughout this crazy process...

Please pray for....

The logistics of the 18 day trip...lots of moving parts

The safety of our travel as well as our family who are coming in to watch the boys.

The health of the boys while we are away---Colton and Hayden both had pneumonia in December.

For all three boys who we have never left for more than 3-4 days-they are already nervous

about us both leaving.

For precious Kaylee and the hard transition she will be going through leaving her foster care

mother (the only caregiver she has ever known).

That we the feel and live out Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the

good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose".

Thanks again everybody for your continued support and prayers...

Why China?

It is now January 2012, just over six years since we began our adoption paperwork. Any day we should be hearing of our travel plans, hopefully for the end of the month. It continues to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster as we hear information, fill out paperwork, then sit and wait until the next wave of information heads our way. We have been attempting to keep our minds off the wait time by preparing a cute little room for our princess. It has been fun, but a bit overwhelming because we haven't had baby stuff in the house for almost seven years. I think we remember how it done to be parents of a baby.

Over the past six years, one of the questions that we have been asked the most is, "Why China?" We are so happy to tell our story and how God has perfectly orchestrated every little part...even the six year wait. So, here is our story...

On our second assignment (Wichita, KS) in the Air Force we lived next to a wonderful couple who adopted from China. Watching their journey was inspiring. We began to truly realize just how many children are living in orphanages. Everyone of those kids needs a home where they can experience the love offered by a family. Two assignments and three little boys (now big boys) later we were stationed at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. I joined a MOPS group through our church and met some wonderful women who were also adopting from China. At this point Mark and I seriously started thinking about adopting and decided if God lead us down that path we would gladly accept His calling. The very next assignment (Maxwell AFB, AL) I joined a women's bible study group of about 12 women. One of the women in our group had just returned from China with their baby girl. After watching the journey of adoption through so many others, seeing what love can do for a child, and truly sensing the nudging of God, we were ready to begin our own journey. The paperwork process began January 2006.

We believe God has clearly placed people in our path who have had a heart for Chinese children. It become pretty clear that we would find our daughter in China. Interestingly, as we were preparing for one of our many moves (can't remember which one...they all seem to run together), I had discovered an old college term paper where I did research about the one child policy in China. I smiled and said, "God, thank you, I see clearly your direction." Who would have thought almost twenty years later, I would be a part of my own research.

As this long journey to adopt our daughter is becoming a reality, Mark and I believe we were called to adopt, and that God lead us to China. Kaylee Elizabeth Baroni is the perfect little girl that God is getting ready to place in our lives.

Thanks for reading this somewhat long post and thank you for your emails, phone calls, prayers, and words of encouragement. Hopefully, another post soon with our travel plans.