Hi All,
It's Tuesday afternoon here. (mOnday late-night for you) and we sure are receiving multiple reports of snowfall. WOW! Is it starting to break up yet, I wonder if our plane will make it in if it continues.
We finished our paperwork for Max's visa yesterday. 2 hours of filling out forms. Amyjo did that while daddy and Karen kept the natives from getting restless. whew! two hours and a lot of money later, we recieved the call this morning that all the papers got the stamp of approval, so we can expect things to go smoothly tomorrow at our embassy appt. We will be interviewed as a family as to our reasons for adopting a boy with special needs and our intentions as parents with regard to this child. It should all go fine..if not, I trust Esther will charm them, as she has everyone this trip. People continue to be quite enchanted with her and Lauren too, wherever we go. Yesterday at the park, Esther took a bubble machine we bought and had a mob of young brightly dressed children chasing her to pop the bubbles. This went on for at least a half hour and through two bottles of bubble solution. It was really sweet to see a bunch of chinese children and Esther in the middle of it. I couldn't help but smile, as she is just like her dad, loves a crowd and is more than able to command its attention.
Joe pulled off a ping-pong game with a local guy at White Mountain yesterday. And this morning
he met up again with some hackers (hacky-sac) which are very popular here. Amyjo still wants to join up with a tae chi class. Down by the river on the walk, there are always people exercising this way in small and large groups. Old and young, just out in the park doing their daily exercise. Who needs a gym.
We are all ready to come home, though we're not as anxious since we are all together here. I can't imagine the trip without Esther. What an excellent decision.
There is a couple here who has been detained because their little girl has chicken pox. The government won't let them leave. They have been quarantined in their hotel room since they arrived and have had a miserable experience here in Guangzhou. We all feel so bad for them. Please pray for William and Dawn Sciokowski.
So later this afternoon, we will hit a shopping mall and take advantage of Chinese prices on all the things we've come hoping to score on. Can't wait! More later.

Oh, OK, yes we arrive in Grand Rapids airport on Thursday at 2:30pm, and anyone who would like to come to welcome us is invited to be there. We will be exhausted, as we will be repeating Thursday by then, but we will be so excited to see everyone and we will have our best traveled face on! We love you. and if you can't come, we love you anyway and you will meet our precious Maximus soon enough.
Love,
The JOES