Day 10: One last spin around… {& a discovery}

So today was our LAST day in our son’s provence:(. So sad! Sad to leave this place he has known as home for 2 years—sad to leave our dear friends who we have been with for the last week…and sad to leave the cozy apartment and pack all 5 of us in a hotel for the rest of the trip. It was so nice for Parker and Loo to have their own space and for us to have Zeke in our room—nap time was easy and Parker and Loo could still play..so now our creativity will begin.

So I have more pictures to post–but it’s very late in Guangzhou. (We obviously made it here–safely…minus the turbulence and the awful plane ride. Y’all if that 2 hour flight is ANY foreshadowing of what a 18 hour flight journey will be—y’all need to start praying NOW for a different experience. Oh my. I just want to apologize to anyone on China Air flight 4903 to Guangzhou. It may take 24 hours for my blood pressure to chill out.)

BUT before we went through THAT experience–we had a wonderful journey to a historic part of town. It was great for the first hour…

I’ll upload more pictures later. Today has been a hard day I’m afraid. The historic market was so fun for the kids–but Zeke got tired and melted. It wasn’t nap time–but it was just too much. If you think about never going to stores or outings for 2 years (or like EVER in your life)–and then you go to a action filled market–it was just too much. We went home for lunch and nap time for Zeke–and the kids got to have one last hurrah with their sweet friends…our friends kiddos that they have been playing with all week.

We packed up the apartment–straightened up (the family that lives there is having a baby in the US and will be back in a few weeks…so THANKFUL we were able to stay there!)–said our goodbyes to everyone:(…and then Matt took us to the airport. Our flight–was a 2 hour flight. And y’all we made a discovery. Zeke is NOT a flyer. It was HARD. Sweet boy cried, fussed, yelled–you name it…the entire time. I was having a hard time trying to balance the crazy–and Parker looked at me and said, “Mom. He’s doing great. How would YOU feel if two Chinese people came to get you when you were 2 years old–and took you from place to place where you didn’t know anyone or anything. Do you think you might cry like that too?” Y’all. This boy is 8 years old–wise beyond his years. Going to make an amazing leader, husband and daddy one day don’t ya think?! SO–for the rest of the trip–I let Parker’s words sink in. Yes. Yes, I think I’d be kicking and screaming too. We see the beauty down the road–but right now there’s also a lot of broken. And these parts–they are just hard. I know we could have not stepped into the messy, hard parts. But life, love…real love–healing, turning brokenness to beauty…well–it’s just not always fun…or easy. I think I could turn off my computer right now and cry to be honest. Today was just a hard day…and momma is off to rest. Because tomorrow is a new day. And He is enough for it.

I have so much stirring in my heart about how worth it each of my children are. It makes me really sad that some people missed their worth in the past–and some will miss it in the future. But I have this really amazing privilege to get to be the one now to tell them how worth it they are–how loved they are–and how blessed I am to get to be their mom. This trip with Loo bear and P has done much for our relationship too. They are pretty awesome kids–and how blessed I am to get to be their momma too. How thankful I am for all my friends and family who have supported us–and always loved us. I’m so thankful. So blessed. I think about the things that we some times get our panties in a wad over–bickering, gossip, fussing, jealousy…whatever–and life is just too precious and too short. There’s too much broken around us to ever add to it. Too much healing that needs to happen not only around us but also in us. We need to constantly be looking for how to love others, serve one another and how we can do life–really do life–TOGETHER…in real community. Now that post is for another day…but for now I’m just going to leave you with this:

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

So when you have thoughts run in your head–when you are tempted to compare your experience or life or whatever with others–when you hear others bicker or gossip–when you are tempted to bicker or gossip–when you are frustrated–when you are tired–when you feel defeated…REMEMBER THIS VERSE. Memorize it. Write it down on a sticky and put it on your bathroom mirror–and on your frig and in your car. Let those thoughts that bring you down go to the wayside–and instead think on things that are pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy…and be challenged and encouraged by them.

Love you guys! Okay–so I was ABOUT to poke fun of my hotel room here in GZ being the size of a cruise ship. BUT instead–I am going to practice Philippians 4:8. I’m thankful this room has a/c! And while I’m bummed Zeke wouldn’t sleep in the crib because the size of these beds..I’m thankful I have 2 precious children who begged for him to sleep with THEM–and they are ALL THREE sleeping away together. God is really, really, really good. He’s good in the hard–and even though I wanted the hard to go away today–we made it through–and tomorrow is a new day:)

xoxo.

Andrea