Merry Christmas!

We have been so blessed! We have a Savior Who was willing to put on skin for us!

We are so blessed to have a God Who is all-powerful, all-knowing, completely in control, and completely good! We stand in awe.

We have been having a wonderful day of celebration. It is indeed a Merry Christmas here!

We have a son(!) and this is the first day he is not in the hospital or visiting a clinic.

We have a daughter who is head-over-heels in love with her baby brother. We have been marveling at the fact that there has been no jealousy on her part—with so much attention being on Andrew’s first smile, giggle, standing, walking, etc. Cherish joins in the cheering and laughter as we enjoy Andrew’s transition into family life.

There are SO MANY things we are thankful for. We will try to list some of them below:

1. We are now in Guangzhou, and we have a hotpot that boils for 5+ minutes. Thus, we can brush our teeth and make bottles for Andrew without having to purchase bottled water.

2. I (Julie) have figured out how to keep Andrew and me dry. Because he is so tiny, he has been peeing out of his diapers, through his clothes, and through mine as well. Derek and I have tried size 3 diapers (which are for his weight—but which is all in his head and rib cage), size 1 diapers, and now “newborn” size diapers. All the diapers are too big for him. Thus, I now put on a “newborn” sized diaper, cover that with as size 1 diaper (perfect fit over the other diaper), cover those with a size 12-month plastic diaper cover (which is too big), and cover all that with his onesie. In so doing, everything is held up close to his body, and he and I now have clothing that as of today is remaining dry.

3. We are thankful for a tub with super-hot water and shampoo for washing out clothes. Sometimes, when you are in desperate need and can’t wait for 2-3 day laundry service, you are so grateful to wash clothes by hand.

4. We are so thankful for the McDonald’s Christmas Eve dinner we had and for the Papa John’s Christmas dinner we had. (George and Carileen are not too big on Chinese food, so they got their cravings filled the last two days.)

5. We are so thankful—beyond words—for the working of God in Cherish’s life. She has caught 0 germs during all this time and had 0 asthma attacks! With her auto-immune disease, she usually catches everything that comes near her, and she expresses the illness within hours of exposure. She has been exposed to so many illnesses from our group, as well as Andrew’s bronchitis, etc., and not once has she contracted anything. This is HIGHLY unusual, and we KNOW it is God’s hand of protection on her.

6. We are thankful for all your prayers and e-mails of concern. With so much going on, we have not had much time to respond, but do know we are reading your e-mails and comments and feeling your prayers!

7. We are so thankful for my sister Jen who is updating our blog—since we do not have any access to our blog or Facebook.

More later…with pictures.

But for now:

Bye Bye: