China...here we come!!!

Hi Friends and Family!

The time has FINALLY arrived for us to travel to China to meet our son. I am beyond ready, excited and a little overwhelmed:) Mostly overwhelmed by God's faithfulness through this long process and for the AMAZING friends and family He has put in our lives for "just a time as this"! We could not do this without SO many of you. If nothing else...your prayers are most definitely NEEDED! I could make a huge prayer request list but I do not have the energy at this point. Most importantly pray a hedge of protection over us as we travel and over our children/caregivers that will remain here in the states. Pray for Levi's heart, mind and understanding of this whole process and that he will bond to us quickly. Pray that his foster parents will have the strength to let him go after 4 1/2 years. I know their hearts must be heavy right now:(

Tomorrow evening Lance and I will tuck the kids into bed and be off to Chicago. You can see our itinerary (post below) for the next couple weeks. Yep, it will be a trains, planes and automobiles kinda trip...our own "Amazing Race!":)

If you would like to follow our journey while we are IN China, here is the site to bookmark:

http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/levi/

Click on the red "our journey" to enter and then "in China" at the top of the next page. Hope you can join us! We WILL be able to check email from China...so send us quick note if you would like;)

I do NOT think I will be able to access Blogger from China...so I will not be able to update this blog.

Love ya all and thanks for your love, support and prayers!

Lance and Lisa

lperry6@comcast.net

Itinerary:)

August 26th: Leave for Chicago @ 9:30PM, after we put the kids to bed, and stay at the park-n-fly hotel.

August 27th: Leave for China via Chicago...14 hour flight!

August 28th: Arrive in Beijing and catch a flight to Shenyang.

August 29th: Free day...catch up on sleep and prepare for Levi.

August 30th: Receive Levi!

August 31th: Adoption Day...Levi will officially be a Perry:)

September 1st: Sightseeing...

September 2nd: Orphanage Visit, Finding Spot???

September 3rd: Get Levi's Passport and Flight to Guangzhou

September 4th: Shopping and Sightseeing...

September 5th: Levi's Medical Exam, Visa Photos and Consulate Paperwork?

September 6th: Shopping and Sightseeing...

September 7th: Consulate Appointment (our guide will turn-in our paperwork:)

September 8th: Guangzhou Safari Park Zoo

September 9th: Consulate Interview/ Oath, Get Levi's Visa and take a train to Hong Kong to overnight.

September 10th: Fly HOME!!! We should arrive in Chicago around 3PM:)

Dates are subject to change and probably will...knowing International Adoption and travel in general:) 3 more days!!!

From the Inside Out...

I had to choke back the tears yesterday at church while the band played this song. It has been in my mind ever since. This is definitely MY prayer! I certainly fail some days and I am SO thankful for His amazing grace in my life. Lord...be with me over the next few weeks and help me to be your hands and feet in a land so lost and in need of you. I am not DEAD...so I am not DONE! I will be obedient, even when it is not easy. Thank you for all the amazing ways you have worked in my life and changed my heart From the Inside Out:) I love you! AMEN!!!

FIRST Day of School!!!

My kiddos are all getting SO big:( Landan, my 7th grader, was off to his first day of middle school yesterday morning. He headed out to the catch the bus about 6:45AM. I do get up with him about 5:45AM and make him a good breakfast to start his day:) I think I will really learn to enjoy this one on one time with him in the early mornings. Thank GOODNESS for coffee! LOL! He had a great first day and everything went smoothly for him. I do pick him up from school each afternoon. He gets dismissed about 2:40PM but during football season, I don't pick him up until after practice at 5PM. I am bummed that I will miss his first game:( GO TIGERS!!!

Landan before his big day...

Leytan is a 5th grader this year and the triplets are all 2nd graders. Leytan has heard that this is the hardest year of elementary school so he is a little nervous about what this year will bring. And the triplets are nervous about getting actual letter grades for the first time this year. I got to meet all their teacher the night before the first day of school and they all seemed like nice ladies. Leytan actually had Lorelle's teacher a couple years ago:) They all had a good first day. And I am not gonna lie...I enjoyed my jog, solo errand running, shopping and lunch with a friend too;)

Leytan, Lilyan, Liam and Lorelle before heading off to their first day...

Praying for an AWESOME school year for my gang!!!

Family Reunion...

Last Sunday, the triplets and I headed to Marion, Indiana for the 10th Annual Bonham Family Reunion. This is my Mom's side of the family. It is held at Matter Park and the kids think this playground it the "BEST!". They were SO looking forward to playing on it, BUT it was SO stinkin HOT the day of the reunion this year:( They played a little but we did not stay for long. It was nice to see all of my Mom's sisters, my cousins and their kiddos. Thank you Aunt Marla for planning this event each year. We appreciate it! See ya next year:)

It is a large area and everything is handicap accessible...

Practicing their balancing skills...

HUGE slides...

Rock wall...

Beach PaRtY!!!

Since Lorelle and 4 other neighborhood girls all have summer birthdays, us moms decided to throw a group party for them. We invited the other girls in the neighborhood and then they each invited a couple friends from outside the hood;) I think we had 19 girls total attend.

One of the moms made the amazing cake below. Another mom MADE 2 beach ball pinatas, others provided snacks including some CUTE fruit kabobs and I put together flip flop goodie bag for the girls. I made special ones for our birthday girls:) Everything turned out GREAT!

The AMAZING cake...

Our Birthday Girls...

Group picture...

The girls swam...

And danced...

Lorelle's turn...

Lilyan's turn...

It was a GREAT time!!!

WOW!!!

Lorelle and I had an AMAZING time last night at the Justin Bieber concert! It was at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. Vita Chambers, Jessica Jarrel and Sean Kingston performed first. Lorelle enjoyed every second of the entire concert. She was SO into it! I honestly had to choke back the tears a couple times watching and listening to her. She was having such a GREAT time! We had really good seats. We were on the floor...first row and CENTER of the second section from the stage. There was a track right above us that Justin came out on a few times and was literally right above us. Lorelle would go CRAZY! She is still in awe about the whole evening and can't wait to go to another concert. She has thanked me over and over for taking her. She has also commented on how "cute" JB is about a dozen times too:) She definitely has a HUGE case of Bieber Fever now!!!

Sean Kingston...Lorelle LOVES this song!

Lorelle waiting for JB to start...

On the floating heart...

Playing the piano...he also plays the drums and dances very well;)

Just above us...

You can hear Lorelle yelling, "JUSTIN!"...LOL!!!

Awesome stage show and lights...

The End...of an AWESOME night!!!

Lorelle's Birthday Dinner...

Last night we had a family dinner for Lorelle's 8th Birthday. We let her open her gift from us before all the guests arrived. I think she was in shock a little after opening it. The tickets are actually electronic so the company sent a letter telling her about the tickets and wishing her a Happy Birthday. She read it, got a HUGE smile and ran to give me a big hug. She has said..."I just can't believe I am going to a Justin Bieber concert!" about 2 dozen times since last night:) She is SO excited!!! Her and I will be heading to Indianapolis around 3PM this afternoon and the concert starts at 7PM. We will also be seeing Vita Chambers, Jessica Jarrel and Sean Kingston. We will drive home after the show...so it will be a late night for us. I am sure it will be a BLAST though. I am excited to have this special time alone with my girl. We have BEIBER FEVER!!! LOL!

For her dinner, Lorelle chose salmon, corn on the cob, cheesy potatoes and biscuits. Of coarse, we also had a cake and ice cream:) After dinner Lorelle opened a couple gifts and then Leytan, with Lorelle as his assistant, put on a magic show for us. They did a GREAT job!

Lorelle's JB cake, it was YUMMY! Thanks again Betty's!

Lorelle had to have this piece...LOL!

Video clip of Lorelle opening her tickets...

Happy Birthday to my SWEET girl!!!

Lorelle turned 8yrs. old TODAY!!!

Today was the beginning of Lorelle's week of Birthday Festivities. Today is her actual Birthday. Her daddy is out of town for work, so we are waiting to celebrate with a family dinner tomorrow evening when he returns. For today...I just took her and her siblings to Hacienda for dinner. Grandma Linda also joined us:) Lorelle could not wait until the end of dinner so that she could be the center of attention and the entire restaurant would be looking at her. LOL! Seriously...she LOVED every minute! She requested a Mudslide instead of a cake. We actually ordered a couple to share;) They were SO good! Happy Birthday to my AMAZING little girl!!!

My HAPPY girl...

She was excited that the employees had signed her hat...

Enjoying her Mudslide...YUM!

My birthday girl LOVING all of the attention...

Motorcycle Princess!!!

We took the kids to ride their motorcycles today. Lance convinced Lilyan to give it a try. He gave her a quick lesson and she was off. I wouldn't say that she loved it, like the other kids do but she did a GREAT job, for her first time. I hope that we can get her back on again soon;)

Daddy giving his Princess a riding lesson...

GO Lilyan GO!!!

All by herself...

So...we now officially have all of the Fab Five riding. All the other kids rode today too, of coarse. Here is a video clip of Landan and Leytan. They are both getting so fast and Landan's jumps are AWESOME!

We headed to the pool afterward and then home to grill steaks and veggies. It was another wonderful day with the family:) SO proud of my Princess Lilyan!!! Way to GO girl!!! I wonder if Levi will like motorcycles too?! 19 more days, not that I am counting or anything...LOL!

Awww...

Isn't she CUTE!?! I pulled Lilyan's tooth yesterday. She hated that I wanted to take a picture and wouldn't really smile for me but I made her suffer through for one photo:) You should see how adorable she looks when she flashes me a real smile. She sounds a little funny now too;) Her other front tooth is also loose so I have a feeling, "All I want for Christmas" will be her theme song this coming holiday season. She was so excited! To bad our tooth fairy around these parts STINKS! LOL!!! Did you know sometimes he leaves the tooth but also leaves the money too:) Silly tooth fairly... LOL!!!

I spent the last couple days getting the kids registered for school. We have a few supplies to pick up still but have a little over a week to get finished up. The kids are all excited to know who their teachers are now and what their schedules will be like. I still remember how exciting this was as a kid myself each fall. I am excited for them:)

Oh by the way...for those of you not keeping track, I will be on a plane for China, 3 weeks from TODAY!!! WOOHOO!!!

Shedd Aquarium...

This morning, after breakfast, the kids and I headed over to the Shedd Aquarium. We arrived shortly after they opened. The view of the city and Lake Michigan was amazing from outside the aquarium.

My Fab Five...

What an AWESOME view...

Just outside...

Touching a sea urchin...

And a starfish...

The girls playing in the submarine...

Here is a video clip of the Fantasea show. It was kind of a dolphin and Beluga whale musical:)

We headed for home about 3PM and stopped at Red Robin for dinner. It was a FUN day! But I am tired and ready for a day of nothing tomorrow;) The kids go back to school two weeks from today. WOW!!!

Chicago!

The kids and I were off to Chicago yesterday morning. Liam had a 6 month check-up with his orthopedic surgeon. He has been having some occasional leg pain:( After viewing the x-rays, his surgeon is pretty sure it is only muscle issues so we will just continue to give Liam Tylenol when needed at this point and recheck in another 6 months. After his appointment, we headed downtown and enjoyed a late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I had a Guacamole Burger and it was YUMMY! The kids all LOVE their food too:) By the time we checked into our hotel, it was after 3PM and most of the museums close at 5PM...so we decided to head to an afternoon movie instead. We saw Cats and Dogs. I thought it was very average. I would recommend just waiting to rent it. The kids WERE impressed by the size of the 3 story AMC Theatre however;) We walked back to the hotel for some pool time and some room service for dinner. It was a full but fun day!

Leytan and Liam sporting their goggles...

Liam relaxing in the hot tub...

Lorelle eating her grilled salmon, asparagus, carrots and a few fries...

Pool Party!!!

We spent the afternoon with friends. It was a BEAUTIFUL summer day!

Shoulder rides...

Look at us Mom!!!

Princess Lilyan relaxing...

Lorelle doing a front flip off the diving board:)

Tomorrow morning the kids and I are off to Chicago for a couple days.

I HAVE to get to bed!