People who love our sweet baby.

Paul.

Our foster care liasion (she is fantastic), the friend who is taking care of him for the summer and loves him like a son, and our sweet  friend who loves and advocates for orphans.

Keep our little guy in your prayers as we are still hoping and praying for his future.

As far as our time in the US, it's been fantastic.  We've seen friends, had deep talks and just had fun.  Elisabeth has reconnected with friends from Columbia and St. Louis.  One of my friends hosted a tea on Saturday and I saw several Chinese women that we had loved and had good relationships with while we lived in  Columbia.  That was wonderful.  Talking about China with people from China who have now immigrated to the US was great.  

After the tea, I drove to St. Louis.  I stayed up until 1:00 AM with my super fun friend Julie and her two daughters.  It was fun to laugh and see how wonderfully the girls have grown up.  In the morning, we dragged ourselves over to the Chinese church that we call home and saw many friends.    This week I am working on a curriculum project and trying to see more friends in the area.  Two more weeks until we see Paul!

One thing that really stands out to me is how much I miss the deep friendship of many women in my life.  Some of the people I have seen have been friends since childhood.  Others since college or graduate school and others since the birth of Elisabeth.  It just takes time and history to have that kind of friendship.  

The other thing that has struck me is the level of struggle that my friends are going through.  Struggling marriages, struggling kids, struggling lives.  It's an honor to share in my friend's lives.