passage of time

it is hard to imagine that my trip with my family to China is over.  It seemed like it "was yesterday" that I was counting down the month, weeks, days before the trip and now it is over.  All the prep work for the trip now done, putting the tour books away and recycling all the paper printed out about places to see, things to do, directions to places in Chinese in case we got lost...time does go by quickly.  I hope these will be words of encouragement to those waiting to complete their adoption.  It will all be "over" before you know it.  Thank God and enjoy each day of the process.
As Ma posted yesterday, there was a moment of parental "challenge" between AG and Ma yesterday.  I suspect this will not be the last of these events.  I was wondering what kind of instructions and discipline she had received in past from orphanage/group home.  In particular, has she received any consistent fatherly type influence and instruction in the last 4 years of her life and how will she respond to my presence and directions?  time will tell.
I wish I could understand more what life experiences AG has had in the last years of her life.  Does she remember much of the orphanage experience?  What feelings does she have about the orphanage and or the foster home?  I hope with time and better language abilities, we will be able to understand her more.

Continue to pray for Ma.  Pray also for me as I transition back to work and home life.  Re-entry back into middle America has not been too hard, but there are things I miss about China (like awesome food) but I also appreciate home (like not having to boil water before drinking it).
My office has done a great job of "holding down the fort" while I was away.  God has blessed me with terrific office staff.  this trip would have been much more difficult without them.

I had a great time shopping (yes, shopping) with my boys the last morning in Beijing.  It was good to see them in action as they looked for what they wanted and negotiated with the sellers on a price.  Yet another lesson in life on this AMAZING trip.

One last thought for today.  The boys and I all ate scorpion (fried) at the night market in Beijing, and thus far, no ill effects!!  It was great as we dared each other about this exquisite cuisine that we were about to take!!!!!