Home Sweet Home.......

We are home and could not be happier. We were greeted at the airport with baloons and flowers fit for the arrival of a princess. Debbies Mom and Dad, her brother Mike, Aunt Barbera, Cousin Loretta, Aunt Helen, God Mother Holly and many other wonderful friends. We are so thankful for being so blessed with our friends and family. Abby was a little shy but she did great. She also did great on the 24 hours of plane rides and layovers. She is such a wonderful little girl.

We went from the airport to Debbie's moms to spend a little time with everyone, Abby wasn't crazy about the car seat but she made it. Her amazing brothers Brandon and Jonathan suprized us and showed up. She already loves her big brothers.

From there we drove home and Abby got to see her new home and her new bed. I think she likes them. We had signs in the yard, signs in the house, food in the refrigerator then Lauren brought some more food. Later our Friends Jimmy and Carolyn and Steve and Ellyse came by with more food. Also while we were gone Mr. Steve came over and cut the yard. The neighbors came by with gifts and smiles. We are just overwelmed by the love and support everyone has shown Abby. We will never forget this and we will make sure that she knows how much she is loved, not only by us but by all of you. She is so strong and resillient it just continues to amaze me. We finally got her to bed about 9:00pm last night after 30 hours with one good nap in mom and dads lap on the plane from China and few cat naps.

She slept all night until 5:00 am this morning in her new bed in her room. She woke with a smile on her face. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to know this is not a dream. God is so good and we know He is watching over her and us. Through all of you, He is showing us His love. Believe me, we could never have done this without Him and you all. So all I have to say is, To Him all of Glory, and I promise we will always strive to be His example of love to Abby.

Debbie has been such a great Mom. She was up at 3:00 am this morning because she was scared she may not hear her if she cried. She did finally cry, but it wasn't until 5:00 am. Of course dad never heard a thing, I was dead to the world. I did wake up about 6:30 to Abby in her high chair smilling away watching cartoons on the TV, Debbie washing clothes and writing thank you notes. How blessed am I? While I am doing this Blog mom is out riding her around in her brand new stroller.

Today we are going try to get our lives just a little back to normal. For Breakfast I had some wonderful baked french toast (by Joe) with an ice cold glass of milk, can't get either of those in China. We get some clothes washed and our house in order, and I am sure have some more visitors to meet our Princess.

Thanks again for all of your prayers, help, and support. We will never forget this. I will continue to post here to keep the folks out of town posted on Abby's progress, just maybe not as often.

Bye for now and God Bless.

WE ARE PACKED AND READY TO GO!!!!!!!!

We are ready for the next phase of our journey to bring Abby home. Our intenerary is, they pick up our luggage at 2 pm, we check out at 2:30 pm. Then we go to the US Consulate to pick up Abby's Visa at 3 pm. After we get the Visa, we go to the Airport to catch our 9 pm China Southern flight to Los Angeles. We get to LA around 6pm the same day, we travel back in time, how about that. We have a 6 hour layover in LA, and leave there at 12:50 am on Contenintal for Houston. We arrive in Houston around 6 am, and fly from Houston to BR at 7:40 am. Debbie's Mom was nice enough to bring our car to the airport and will be there to meet us. From there we will go to their house for a while to visit with Granny, Papa and other Family.


We love you guys and thank you all for your prayers. Please pray just a little more that today will go well. We know this will be hard on us, especially Abby, but God brought us this far and we know He can get us home safe.




Can't do a blog without at least one picture. Our little China Doll.....

Good morning folks. It is Tuesday afternoon and we are getting very excited about coming home. To night we are taking a Diner cruise with our group on the river. Dennis, our guide here says it is very beautiful at night. We will see many ancient buildings and lanterns along the river for the Autumn Moon Festival. We took a walk this morning around the hotel and we did not realize how beautiful it was. Took some pictures of our girl in her new little outfit that mom bought yesterday for 40 yuan or 6 US dollars. It is hand embroidered. She also had some fun this afternoon. Dad had a massage today and it was great. Ready for the trip home.

2 of our suitcases are packed. We just have to get the rest of our stuff in one other suitcase. We had to buy an extra one - $10 so we are just hoping that it stays together for the plane ride home. We have run out of American formula and she is not taking any Chinese formula so pray for us while we experiment. I think we will be OK if we can get to LAX. She loves french fries and mashed potatoes.

Tomorrow we will finish packing, then we have to go to and get Abby's Visa - Then, we are off to the airport. See you guys SOON!

Love, Mark, Debbie, and Abby!!!!!

Must see Video!!!!!

Had to post this now. She was having a ball with Mommy. Make sure you have the sound turned up.

More Paper Work but another step closer to home.

It is Monday afternoon for us and things continue to go well. Abby continues to get stronger every day and we see new things almost each hour from her. We spent yesterday taking her Visa picture and we also did some great shopping. Today we went and completed Abby's medical exam and then did some more shopping

We also visited the White Swan hotel for the traditional Red Couch picture. It is a group picture of all of the families in the group. It was a wild. All of the children were tired and hungry by then so we had a bunch of screaming babies. But we were able to get them calmed down and did the picture.

We then had a traditional Cantonese lunch. Abby enjoyed 3 bowls of congee and a some steamed egg. Most she has eaten at one meal since we got her.Tomorrow we are going on a Dinner cruise on the Pearl River. Should be fun and very beautiful, I will take some pics.

Guess that is it for now, enjoy the pictures of our little princess.

Bye for now.

First Time on a Plane was Great!!!! Another Daddy Blog.

Today we made the trek from Nanchang to Guangzhou. It was Abby's first plane ride. In the picture she is checking out the safety features of the 737. Can't ever be to careful. She did great. It was a short flight but it was great to see her fly and not get scared.

Our hotel here is much nicer and the area around the hotel is very nice. Of course Abby found her hat and made herself at home as soon as we got to the room.

We went and had lunch after we got here at a place across the street that has American food. It was so nice to have a good steak. I think Abby is going to be a real American Girl. She loved the juice from the steak, ate some baked potato and some broccoli. We can not tell you guys how much fun we have had with her. She has lit up our lives. For those of you that may not know this, Debbie and I both felt we were called by God to do this. Like any calling, some times you have doubts about wether you can do it. Now that we have her, we can see a little part of Gods plan and it is so amazing. Abby was given to us and people tell us how lucky she is, but I must say, after spending this past week with her, we are the lucky ones.

I think we will enjoy China more here in Guangzhou. The chinese people in Nanchang were wonderful and it has been great to see where Abby came from. Echo our guide was very sweet and beatiful, we can only hope that Abby will grow to be such a beautiful girl. Echo started to cry as we told her bye in the airport. I am sure they were tears of joy. Her last words to us were "Love her please". She has nothing to worry about, not only will we love her, we have our family and great friends ready to shower her. It will be great to bring her home and make a little Tiger fan of her. She is growing more every day. It is almost like watching a new born develope in fast forward. We have watched her go from not being able to sit up on her own to sitting up by herself. Yesterday she was laying on her stomach and just rolled over, came up on her knees and then sat up. Today she looks like she is ready to crawl. I think it will not take long once she's home, to start walking.

Tomorrow we are going to make Abby's Visa photo. Then they are taking us to Liwan Plaza. This is a wholesale market with items like pearls, jade, clothes, shoes, etc.... Oh boy, more shopping. I am just enjoying spending time with my little girl and her awesome mom.

See you all soon.

We are Packed & Headed to Guangzhou

We shopped for Porcelain today. Got a really nice piece for our house to remember our trip to China. We then went today and purchased another suitcase - $12 to pack all our purchases. When we returned to the room, Abby decided it was hat time. She had us laughing so much. We are now packed and ready to go to Guangzhou. We got Abby's passport today and will go to get her Visa and she will be examined by an American doctor at the Embassy in Guangzhou.

We are ready for the humidity in Guangzhou and just hoping that the room A/C is better than what we have. It never really gets cool consistently. (Elease, it would even be warm for you.) Nanchang's weather has really been pleasant. It has been more comfortable outside than inside. As you can imagine, none of the shops have A/C and are very small spaces. When Shanghai experienced a Typhoon, we felt the winds and they were very comfortable.

We leave tomorrow morning about 10:00 am for the hour to hour and half flight. We are told that the Autumn Moon Festival begins on the 25th and that there will be parades, etc. so it will be neat to be there with Abby.

She is really doing better today. I actually got her to eat some scrambled eggs this morning. First real food that she has put in her mouth (other than croissants.) We have survived on McDonald's & KFC and the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

By for now, will post from Guangzhou tomorrow.

A Night on the Town!!!!

Hi all, today was a great day. We all got some much needed rest, and Abby is getting better all of the time. She is getting so attached to us and she seems so happy. We are trying very hard not to spoil her to much but it is very hard. She played and made baby sounds and laughed a bunch today. She is sitting up much better on her own.



















We also got a good copy of our Official adoption picture. We think it came out great. Our first portrait with Abby.



This evening Echo (our Chinese Guide) took us to see the fountains on the river. Abby was dressed to kill and ready to go in her stroller. It was amazing. Much like the fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas for those that have seen them. We had people coming up to us asking where we were from and school girls asking to take a picture with us. Felt a little like being a movie star :-))). Abby enjoyed it but it was at her bed time so she was a little tired. It was neat to see the local people enjoying themselves and to be part of it. The girl in the pictures with Debbie and Abby is Echo. She is doing post graduate studies in Linguistics, mainly English. She is very sweet and has been extremely helpful to us.











Tomorrow is our last full day in Nanchang. We are going to do a little more shopping, get Abby's passport and get our stuff packed to leave Saturday morning for Guangzhou.

Well time to get some sleep. Thank you all for your love and Prayers. We do feel that God has watched over us through the entire journey but especially this week. God Bless and see you soon.

Happy Birthday, Granny & Uncle Daryl

Today, we will take it easy. Last night was tough. She didn't get her naps due to the zoo and other visitors to the room. She won't eat too much other than liquid foods. She has a full mouth of teeth and loves croissants, but doesn't chew them. She puts a piece in her mouth and waits for it to melt away.

She finally slept from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 this morning. I have her a bottle and she slept off and on til 7:00. I finally was able to get a shower and fix my hair a little bit. Abby slept with Daddy this morning. She thinks Mark is funny and he is able to get her to laugh out loud. She says Momma when she wants to get out of the bed - it's kinda between a scream and crying. We are going to try and get her back on her schedule today.

We are supposed to get her passport today and then we will travel to Guangzhou with the other families on Saturday.

We will post more pictures later. Just wanted to put something out this morning.

Love ya'll and ready to come home.

Abby, Mark & Debbie

Abby's first trip to the Zoo.

Today was a day of learning for us and for Abby. She learned about the animals at the Zoo, and we learned much fun she can really be and also what happens when she gets hungry.

As for the Zoo, she enjoyed the outdoors and cruizin around in her stroller but as for the animals she was not to impressed. She got to see Tigers and Lions and Bears oh my. She also got to see a Giant Panda, Mom and Dad even thought that was pretty neat. The Panda came right to the window and laid down right in front of us. They are so cute and cuddly but with very big claws. Abby also got to feed an elephant with some help from mom.

Once we made it back to our hotel, they delivered some clothes we had made and we had some play time. She was in a great mood and we got some really good pictures. She actually laughed out loud at some silly stuff daddy did. She also kept playing with the pictures book with pictures of her big brothers. She especially likes the one of Jonathan. We were on cloud 9.

Then came nap time, or so we thought. She was very fussy for a long time before Debbie realized she was hungry. She has eaten more today than the first 2 days combined. Guess she's getting use to us. Anyway, once her mom figured out she was just hungry, everything was fine.

We miss you guys and are so looking forward to bringing her home.

Love, Mark, Debbie, and Abby.

Daddy's First Blog!!!!!

Hi everyone, well Debbie is getting some much needed rest, so I thought I would do a blog for a change. First of all, please forgive us for not posting yesterday. We were just a little busy and did not get a chance. From dad's point of view, I am just blown away by our little girl. She is amazing and so beautiful. My heart has been so full of joy from the first time I saw her. I am truly a blessed man as you can see.

We spent the day yesterday, along with many other parents doing paper work, paying fees, and signing documents. The people in the picture are all adopting parents. It is so wonderful to see people from all over the world coming to bring these little girls and boys home.

So with all of that done. Abby is officially ours. We have the paperwork to prove it. Next, we have to get her passport and visa, then we will be on our way home. Sounds simple, but nothing is simple over here. Just like the wait to get the referral, once you get here you get to wait some more. But, it is all worth it.

This a picture of the official document. They took a great picture of us, wish I had a bigger one.

This morning (Tuesday) we went to Teng Wang Pavillion. It is very famous in China. It so cool as we learn all about Chinese history. A pavillion was used by the millitary and the Government for meetings and events. I saw some Temples and Shrines while in Thailand but this building has no religious connection. The architecture is classic Chinese and it is right on the Gan river. The orginal pavillion was built over 1000 years ago. While there we saw a show with traditional Chinese music, singing and dance. Abby wasn't impressed, she slept most of the time. We did find out today she can get an attitude. She got mad at us and boy she would not even look at us for a while. As for us, We enjoyed the show and the tour very much. We also did a little shopping for some things to bring home. Tomorrow we go to the park and do some more sight seeing.

As for Abby, she continues to get to know us and I think she is beginning to bond with her mom. She gets very upset when Debbie even try's to give her to me. Once I have her, she calms down and melts in my arms. Then of course I melt. She also is beginning to reach out for Debbie and that is a big milestone. She does continue to have pain when she poops but we will get that fixed when we get back home.

Well thats about it for now, love you all and can't
wait to get Abby home so you can all meet her. Abby says good night and God Bless!













Another Video for Uncle Harry......

Doing Great!

Well she went to sleep without any problem and woke up about midnight because she had moved herself where she was hitting her head on the crib rails. I moved her and she slept until 5:00 am. She is still adjusting this morning. She didn't like her first bath. She is trying to figure out who these people are and as long as you hold her she is OK.

I believe that she is going to be a Daddy's girl. For those of you out there who know Mark really well, well he had her watching ladies' golf last night.

We are getting ready to go down for breakfast and see what we can get her to eat. Mark is going to get a few more copies made before to go to Civil Affairs and take care of the money issues. Depending on how she is doing, we may go look for some shoes. She doesn't have any that fit her. The crocs I bought her are too big. I think in some stuff, she would probably be 9 mos. She is just so precious. God is Great! Mark and I both cried last night when we put her to sleep about how blessed we are!

Can't wait for ya'll to see her! She is very shy and timid. We have a ways to go before we make a Stevens or Blanchard out of her. Love ya'll!

Mark, Debbie & Abby

Video below.

Presenting Abigail Elizabeth Lina Stevens!!!!!! She is ours forever and she is Truly a little Angel.

We got her this afternoon. She was a little timid at first, but she is doing just fine now. Mark and I have even gotten her to laugh. She is very little. She is 17 lbs. and her 12 months old clothes fit her. She is playing with her toys and we have told her about her big brothers. Pictures say a thousand words so here they are.