Chinese adoption finalized!!

We finalized the Chinese adoption today!!  Sofie Grace Munson is finally ours!!  5 ½  long years of hopeful anticipation was suddenly worth every moment as we hold  and love this little girl!  She is perfectly perfect for our family – like she has been a part of it all along! (Which from God’s view point she has)

She is a cuddle bug!  She loves to snuggle right into whoever’s lap or arms she happens to be in.  She loves to blow bubbles, get kisses on those adorable cheeks, make sounds “ma ma ma, pa pa pa” (we are feverishly working on co co, but we are not there yet!), kick her flexible little legs high into the air while laying on the bed or sit completely in the splits (I’m not kidding!), to be lifted high into the air and then slowly come down, look upside down/backwards at everything, and giggle infectiously at her big sister!

Did I mention that she does not cry at all, and that she sleeps soundly through the entire night???  Thank you, Jesus!!

She is tiny, tiny, tiny!  Although she is 13 months old, she is the size of a six month old at best!  She is like her sister, Chloe, who does not each much!  We will get her fattened right up once we’re home!

Sofie arrives!!! "Gotcha Day"

Good morning all!

We have great news to share with each of you.  After waiting over five years we finally can say Gotcha Sofie Grace! Our Gotcha Day was incredible today!  Thanks to each of you who prayed for us today!  The bonding with our sweet daughter went without any issues.  It was as if she knew us, before we even met for the first time.

She is now sleeping peacefully in our hotel room in a crib with us.  It is incredible to have her home!  Tomorrow is adoption day as we complete our adoption paperwork with the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs.  We leave at 8:40 am on 5/31.  Then we will start spending some incredible bonding time with sweet Sofie in her homeland.

We are sorry that we are unable to post this message to munsontexas.blogspot.com as we are blocked in China from accessing Facebook or our blogspot.  Thanks to some incredible friends, who are posting our blogs for us to keep each of you in the loop!

Please continue to follow our journey on the munsontexas.blogspot.com as we will be sending our daily blogs to be posted for all who are interested in our journey to see.

We are blessed to have each one of you in our lives and can't wait to bring our sweet daughter home so you can meet her.  BTW, this jet lag is a killer!

Jim, Lesli, Chloe and Sofie

Arrival in Nanning

Hello All,

Today is Monday May 30th at 6:44 am.  We left Beijing at 7:50 am arrived in Nanning at 11:10 am and meet our shuttle and travel guide Cindy at the airport.  Cindy is very nice.  She is a native of Sofie's province.  Cindy went to the orphanage in Beihai which is 3 hours from where we are staying in Nanning.  She said Sofie will be arriving at 3:30 pm today!  She also brought additional care details from her Nanny's, which will help us prepare for her arrival.  When we checking in a crib was brought to our room and everything is becoming very real as we anticipate meeting Sofie for the first time.

Yesterday was a day of rest as we explored around our hotel in Nanning.  It is a more modern city than expected.  Even a KFC, Pizza Hut and underground Wal-mart Supercenter which was Chaos ... lol.

Last night we were all very tired and ready for a good night sleep.  It's like going to bed at 10 am in the morning for an 8 hour power nap after pulling an all nighter....lol.

We inch closer and closer to our Gotcha time today.  As we make our last minute preparations we are all so very excited and blessed to be here and can not wait to meet sweet Sofie Grace.  The camera and video are ready to roll.

Stay tuned.....more to come

Jim, Lesli and Chloe

Arrival in China

Good morning friends,

As you wake up, we are just about ready to sign off for the night.

We would appreciate someone posting this update to our munsontexas.blogspot.com site for those following our journey and not on this email.  Hopefully when we fly out tomorrow morning to Nanning (Sofie's province), that accessing facebook and our blogspot will be possible.  We learned today that Government blocks sites like this on a province by province basis.  Without a VPN, we are out of luck.

What an awesome day today.  First on our agenda was a visit to the Forbidden City.  Everyone there fell in love with Chloe.  You would have thought she was Selena Gomez! The off to Tian amen square, then off to the Olympic Park and then climb the Great Wall!  Chloe scaled the wall like a pro leaving us in the dust. Check out a few of our photo's attached.

We feel like we have acclamated to being 13 hours ahead of ya'll in Texas. Our wake up call is for 4:30 am, off to the airport to catch a 7:50 am flight to Nanning.  We arrive at 11:20 am and will be staying at the Nanning Marriott Hotel to rest up for our Gotcha Day on Monday May 30th.

We can't wait.  More to come.

Jim, Lesli, and Chloe (the Rock Star)

Today we embark on an awesome journey

Today we embark on an awesome journey! "Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
   for I put my trust in you". Psalm 86:4

Counting the days!

We praise the Lord this morning as we approach a journey that only He could orchestrate.  Our family is soooo very excited that we have been choosen to be his vessel from the body of Christ!

As we prepare for our departure, please continue to pray for His daughter Chun Lian (aka Sofie Grace) and her orphanage. 

Counting the days....

Next Wednesday we leave for "Sofie Grace Gotcha Day"

Our God is an awesome God!  He Reigns on Heavens Above!! 

After waiting for over 5 years, we have only 1 more week of waiting!  As our excitement builds, next Wednesday May 25th we leave for China.

Last weekend we completed our move (part 2 of a 2 part move) into our home in Silver Lake.  It was so awesome putting Sofie's crib together so the nesting has begun.  We have been saving clothes for the past 9 years waiting for the arrival of our sweet daughter.  Who knew that we would be blessed in such an awesome way....only God. 

As the clock continues to tick, we continue to praise His name for allowing us the privilege to be his vessel in Sofie Grace's life!

More to come......

Jim, Lesli, and Chloe's Excellent Adoption Journey!

Only 15 days til we're leav'in on a jet plane

Only 15 Days to go til we take off for China to meet Chun Lian (aka Sofie Grace)for the first time! We so very excited for our gotcha day!

Each day we inch a little closer to making our adoption journey a reality.  We recently booked our airfare and have a confirmed itinerary for our trip.

We leave DFW at 6:35 pm on Wednesday 5/25 on AA247 to Los Angles, change to China Southern Airlines and arrive Beijing at 11:55 am on 5/27.  5/28 is a sight seeing day in Beijing.  Then begin our in country travel and fly to Sofie's province on 5/29 and gotcha day is tentatively scheduled for 5/30.  We spend 4 days and then fly to Guangzhou for remainder of our in country travel. June 4th-6th the country shuts down for Dragon Boat Festival.   Our appointment with the US Consulate is scheduled for June 9th.  Our return flight departs on 6/10 from Guangzhou at 9:00 pm, arrives Los Angeles at 6:50 pm then departs Los Angeles at 12:55 am, arrives Dallas at 5:50 am on American flight AA2408.

Our wait has given us all a new meaning to the word Patience.   God has provided us all the encouragement we have needed to finish what he put on our hearts back in November of 2005.  We are so thankful to each of you who have provided financial support, prayers and encouragment to make this journey a reality.

Please continue to pray for our family and most of all Sofie Grace and her orphanage.

We hope you will continue follow our journey on our  blog at http://munsontexas.blogspot.com/