Videos of Kaegan and medical exam

Pictures of Kaegan

Trip to Zoo

I am so sorry for the delay in the posts. We have been busy. Trying new resturants, visiting the zoo and playing with Kaegan.

When reading books to prepare us for the adoption we learned that the 3rd day with your child is called "A New Day." Meaning that the child is now becoming comfortable with you and the bonding process has officially began. This is so true for Kaegan.

The sun finally began to shine on Tiayuan so we decided that we would take Kaegan to the zoo. Fun huh! Well, the sun was shining, yes, but the temperature was still around 25-30 degrees. It was cold. We all bundled up and had to check out the Giant Panda. While we were there we noticed that Kaegan began to warm up a little more to us. We played and let him run around by himself. He does not like to walk without holding ones hands. We had to make him walk and run without us. Once he learned he could run he enjoyed it. We finally began to smiles more often and hear that precious giggle.

After the zoo we decided to eat at another local resturant that was wonderful. We were very pleased with this one. We had noodles and rice of course but it was much different. Oh what we would do for a big fat greazy double cheese burger. Kaegan is eating everything we put in front of him. We are trying to put a little weight on him. He is so tiny.

Oh yeah! Before we left for the zoo we received a very large gift basket from our family and friends. It was the largest fruit basket I have ever seen. I am so sorry that I did not take a picture of it. We tore into it so quickly that a picture never crossed my mind. The grapes were huge!!! Thank you so much for all who pitched in with the gift. It was perfect. Kaegan loved it too.

After the long day we made it back to the room and packed up our stuff to head to Guanghouz. We are so excited to be flying there. It is sunny and beautiful. There are american resturants and lots of shopping.

See you in Guanghouz!

The Blessings of God

Anybody that knows us knows that Tiffany has been taken care of this Blog and it is amazing. I am not only blessed with a very handsome little man but an incredible wife that puts God before all things and it shows. There is not enough time to spend writing about the love that God has given me for my beautiful bride. I truly am the luckiest husband on the face of the earth. I wanted to leave my mark on the blog by sharing what has been going on in my mind over the last few years, months, weeks and days. So Here we go...
My desire for a child started years ago when Tiffany and I lived in Shreveport. You see we had friends that lived next door that showed us what order the certian relationships we have are supposed to be in. How a relationship with God was first followed by your relationship with your spouse, then your children. I had bought in to the lie that your kids come first and I was afraid that a child would hurt our marriage. Oh how my neighbors lived such an amazing Godly example. I have learned how to go to the Bible for everything and Pray continually for God's direction. God has put special people in our lives just at the right time to help teach and show us many things. Sometimes the lessons where small and sometimes they felt enormous. Sometimes God used people that believed different then me to teach us and God's Word has many examples of that being the case. I could go on and on about the people God used to develop us over the past few years but I believe they all know who they are because we have told them (or tried too). The last big impact for preparing for this little man came from left field. You see a few weeks back my beloved pastor's daughter Jessica went to be with the Lord. As a daddy to be it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that God can give us a blessing but he can also desire to have that same blessing with him. This was the first time I became afraid to have the blessing of a child. So I went to what was tried and true and that was God's Word. Here is what God shared with me... In Proverbs 3 it says to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight" and Proverbs 4 says "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths". I have read these verses before but they never were as real as they are today. I have found that when I am on God's path it is not necessarily easy but straight. I realized at that moment that God had an incredible path ahead for us and Kaegan and I needed to have the courage to follow this path. We want you all to know that Kaegan is not ours but God's and we intend to raise him the way God expects us too. Like the journey to Kaegan we will need help and support from all of you with Kaegan. I can not express into words how God has blessed us with INCREDIBLE Family and Friends...Tiffany and I are speechless........

ThankYou all for Loving us the way God does...It makes the path a wonderful journey....

My prayer for Kaegan is that he will come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior!!!!
My prayer for Tiffany and I is that God would continue to mold us into the parents He wants us to become.

Praise God for the people he has in our life....................

Gotcha Day in detail

Sorry for the delay in the post. We have been spending the day with our son. YAY!!

Yesterday morning Marty and I woke up again at 3:00am. We have learned that it does not matter what time we go to sleep we are still going to wake up at 3:00am. Having woke up so early you can imagine the anxiety and anticipation that we had. When the breakfast buffet opened we of course went to eat. I did not eat too much because of my nerves. I did not want anything to disrupt the moments ahead.

We were scheduled to leave at 2:15 from the hotel. It has been a two year process and this day was finally here. However, those last few hours seemed like an eternity. Finally, 2:00 rolled around and we loaded up Kaegans back pack, grabbed a sippy cup full of juice and headed to the lobby. Emma was there waiting. We grabbed a taxi and drove to the Civil Affairs office.

The room was simple and a little bare. Marty, Emma and I were the only ones in the room. We of course arrived early so we had to wait. It also snowed last night so it took Kaegan a little longer to travel into town.

While waiting another couple arrived who were also adopting a boy from the same orphanage. Their names are Jimmy and Stephanie Pirkle. They are naming their son Maddox. We were all four talking and getting to know one another when the door to the room opened. A lady walked in and had two little boys follow behind. I noticed Kaegan right away. Emma looked at me and said that is your boy. I fell down to his level and began talking to him. It was an amazing moment that I will never forget. Marty and I are the luckiest people in the world to have been blessed with this precious gift.

As you can see in the previous video he was quite scared. Thankfully for me he did not cry. Atleast not verbally. Children in the orphanage are known to cry "silent tears". These are emotional tears that you cannot see. For Marty and I these tears have been the hardest part for us to deal with. Once we got back in the room and began to play with him his personality began to show. We were so excited to hear him laugh and see him smile. We were not expecting either one until the third day so to recieve that on day one was incredible.

Oh Yeah! He went potty!!! He is potty trained. All we did was take him to the toilet and sat him on it and he took care of business. This is very good for us considering we have no idea to ask him if needs to potty. Sign language/motions have come in handy.

It was now time for a bath. Well, the tears came out immediately. He did not like taking off his shirt for his bath. We preformed teamwork and had a quick successful bath. Marty grabbed him to dry him off and just held him until the tears stopped. We then dressed him and all was well.

It was great to finish out the night with our family and friends on the computer. Thanks to yahoo messenger they have been able to see us everyday. Each one got to witness us placing him down for his first nights rest. He did sleep the whole night thru. Marty placed him between us and we just stared at him both in tears praising God and thanking him for this precious gift.

We ended the evening in a family prayer and finally the song we have been waiting play. "Safe and Sound" by Matthew West. I posted it on the blog as well. We would love for you to listen to it.

We are so blessed to have each one of you in our lives. Words cannot express the joy that comes from your comments. We love and thank each one of you for being a part of this journey.

Gotcha Day Pics!

Here are some pics from this amazing day. It is 3am and my boys are sleeping. I wanted to add pics for all the Kaegan Bloggers out there. I will post a play by play of yesterdays events soon.

I would like to introduce to you:

KAEGAN MICHIAH HE LIANG KENT

A Day in Taiyuan

Today was an easy day. Marty and I again woke up around 2:30 a.m. and waited for the breakfast buffet. Our buffet is very good. It has the best fried rice and fried noodles. I know that it sounds crazy but I have really enjoyed it.

This morning Emma met Marty and I in the lobby and we walked to the bank. It is time to get our money exchanged for the Big Day tomorrow. YAY!! We also have confirmed the paperwork and booked our flight to Guangzhou on Friday.

After the bank we decided to do a little shopping. We drove to the mall that is located near the Wal-Mart. Actually, the Wal-Mart is in the basement of the mall. Crazy huh! They have an escalator that is flat for you pull buggies up to the parking lot. It is really funny to watch. We did not purchase anything but did have a good time. We found a Baskin Robbins and introduced Emma to Cookies-n-Cream Icecream. She loved it.

We had have such a good time with Emma. It is sad that she will not be continuing on with us to Guangzhou. We will have a new guide there. Emma surprised us today with a restaurant that is a local one to the area. When she mentioned that she was taking us there we asked if she had taken other families. She said no and that we were her first. This was actually her first time to the restaurant too. She asked us to trust her when ordering our food so we did. We told her to make sure that the meat was cooked and that it involved noodles. To our surprise the food was good. The first dish did look rather odd. It was clear thick noodles of some sort in a dark sauce. I tried it first and it did not taste too bad. The second dish was meat in a dark sauce with slices of onions and Chinese pancakes for you to put the meat in and roll up to eat. This was very good. I had two of them. Marty like this dish as well. The first dish Marty did not like. The third dish was sweet-n-sour pork. It appeared to look just like it is in the states. It was a thicker sauce and a little sweeter. Next, the dumplings and the noodles arrived. I did not eat a dumpling because I was too busy eating the sweet-n-sour pork and the noodles. The noodles were made from scratch and had a wonderful meat sauce on it. It was as if we were eating chicken-n-dumplings but with meat and a meat broth. We all three loved the noodles. I was so proud of Marty and me for trying all the food. We have been so careful since arriving to China. Drinking only bottled water and eating only foods we know are safe. This was a huge step for us and we really enjoyed it.

We then walked back to hotel. I took some pictures of the City and the hotel for you guys. You can see that it appears to be foggy but it is not. There is a thick smog over the city. Taiyuan is a coal mining city and the air is very much polluted. The sun is shining today and you cannot see it.

While at the hotel we invited Emma to join us in the room. She talked to Mom, Amency and Beverly on the computer with us. She is so cute.

Marty and I are now in the room relaxing. We have been preparing the room for Kaegan. We are so excited that we will have him in less than 24 hours.

We have been so blessed on this journey. A few weeks ago Marty and I met another couple thru Ben and Wendy Lee who are also adopting from China. They are Gene and Kristi Ellender. They also live in Bossier. We were actually on the same three flights together to China. It was wonderful to have them with us. Especially knowing that we are traveling for the same reasons. The Ellender's received their daughter today! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet up with them in Guangzhou this weekend. The have waited over 3 years for this day. Today it is well worth the wait. God Bless them and there new addition.

New Picture of Kaegan

Our Angel sent me this photo today. She saw Kaegan and gave him our picture. You can see that he is holding our picture in his hands. Only a few more days and he will be in our hands.

Last day in Beijing

Well, we woke up again at 2:30 a.m. It is wild how this time change effects you. Marty and I tried to lay in bed but started watching TV and I got on Facebook. Finally 6:30 rolled around and went to the breakfast bar. There was so much food. I ate way too much. While we there we met a gentleman who was from Tennessee. We talked for a few mintues about why we were here and he mentioned that he attended church with Steven Curtis Chapman and is in Steve Green's Sunday School Class. He is very familiar with the adoption process. He is in China on Business.

After breakfast we met up with Wynona. We rode a taxi for an hour to the Great Wall. It was the most scary ride in my life. There are no rules here when it comes to driving. There are 6 lanes all going the same direction but never mind the lines. If you need to get over you just go. I was so sick after this ride. I could not wait to get out of the car.

It was so cold at the Great Wall. We all had on gloves but could not feel our hands. Our faces were frozen so we could not talk. It was hilarious. We would try to say something but nothing came out. The Wall is an incredible site to see. It was worth the pain and suffering. When you look out over the wall it just goes on forever. It is hard to believe the age of this structure.

After the walk on the Wall we finally got to the bottom and found the Starbucks. YAY!!! I was so excited. We each got a Latte and enjoyed the relaxation. Walking that Wall was extremely hard in this cold weather.

We had to get back to the hotel and pack up our things to head to Taiyuan. Wynona was an Angel. She helped us get to the airport, get our tickets and escorted us to security. Without her we would still be there. Once we got thru security we met two more gentlemen. One has two adopted children and the other is on his way to pick up his second. The wives stayed behind with the other children. One of the gentlemen owned Christian Books Stores and began his own foundation for adoptions. It is called the Abba Foundation. We enjoyed talking with them and got their numbers. We are going to meet up with them in Guangzhou. He is also good friends with Steven Curtis Chapman.

We arrived in Taiyuan around 6:30 and this is where we met our guide Emma. She is very young and seems to be sweet. She escorted us to our hotel and plans to meet us this morning to go shopping.

Marty and I had a full 6 hours of sleep which is awesome. We just ate breakfast and are now waiting on Emma. I just noticed that Marty is asleep on the bed. I will have to wake him.

2 more days until we meet Kaegan. Please pray for my nerves and that we get some more sleep. Thankfully we have nothing planned today or tomorrow so we should be fine come Tuesday.

Thanks for all your prayers. Keep them coming.

Our busy day in Beijing

Beijing is an incredibly large and beautiful city. It is amazing how clean it is. This morning Marty and I decided to catch a taxi to the Olympic square. We saw the Birds Nest, Water cube and other neat sites.



After we finished the Olympic Villa we met Wynona's friend Jenna who toured us around the city for the rest of the day. We went to The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, McDonald's, The Silk Market and several things in between. The sites are unbelievable. I did my best to capture the beauty of this place. Here are only a few of the pics I took.

The next pictures are of Jenna and Me and then Marty and Me in The Forbidden City.

There were three things that I wanted to purchase for Kaegan while I was in China. One was a pearl necklace from China to give to Kaegan (when the time comes) for him to give to his future wife. Second, was a Chinese Bible, preferably bilingual and third, I wanted to find information about China and its heritage so I could have it for Kaegan. The Pearls I purchased at the Silk Market so I have that checked off of the list. Jenna mentioned that she will stop by her church and purchase a Bible for us. You cannot purchase one in stores. Bibles must be purchased from the Church. Another check of the list. After lunch Jenna mentioned that she had friend that had just published his first book about the Chinese culture and its heritage. She called him and he was kind enough to meet us at a coffee shop and sold us a signed copy of his new book. It took him ten years to write the book. The pictures are incredible. What is also unique is that it tells of the history of Datong. The city where Kaegan was born. The book is absolutely beautiful. I cannot wait to show it to you guys. The picture below is of Marty, Guohua Yang and Me. The last one is of Guohua with his book. I am so excited about this book. It is over 500 pages of China and its history.

By the way, Wynona, Jenna and Guohua are all christians and attend the same church here in Beijing. God is so good! I love how He puts people in certain places at the right time. His hands have been in every move we have made. I guess that is what happens when you are flying on Faith.

Thanks for the comments. We enjoy reading them. We love you all!