One year ago today, the day began like any other day. We both got in the car and went to work at the church. We both spent our morning doing the routine administrative activities in the church office. A friend came in that day and asked us how much longer did we have to wait for our referral? We said, we thought it was going to happen last month, and it disappointingly didn’t. We don’t know if it will happen this month with the holiday season finishing up and the Chinese New Year on the horizon.
We had both kind of reached the point where we were so down about having to keep waiting that we just didn’t want to get our hopes up that it could possibly happen this month.

That friend left, and then no sooner does she walk out the door when the phone rings! My mom says, “Brandon. it’s Allison from America World.” “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! SCREEEEEAAAAAMMMMMM” This was it! We were officially going to be a Mommy and a Daddy! After an eight year wait, our baby was coming!

What a way to start out the new year!

The next day, DHL came to our door with a package, and we saw her picture for the first time!

“WOW! She’s beautiful! Thank you Lord! We’re so glad she’s ours!”

That was exactly one year ago! Boy does time fly, when your having fun being a daddy! 🙂

Below is a picture of our beautiful blessing from heaven, Becca Battle!

Hello to all of our Friends and Family!

This has been an awesome year, one that we will never forget! Most of you know that last year, we began the process of adopting a little one from China. At the close of 2004, we sere still awaiting a response from the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs with a picture of our new little family member. December was a long month!

Then on January 6, we were at the church office working when the phone rang. Brandon’s mom answered it and came and said, “Someone named Allison from America World is on the phone.� We screamed! We were both an instant bowl of mush and emotion, shaking all over with excitement! Needless to say, that was our referral call! We were now the proud parents of a little girl from Hubei China named Li Jia Yi, soon to be named, Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle. She was born on 3/5/04. That means that exactly one week after we made the decision to adopt from China, our little girl was born. WOW! Isn’t God awesome!

January and February were planning and packing and praying months. They too dragged on and it seemed that March, when we were scheduled to travel would never arrive! Then March 2nd came, and we were off to China for 16 days. The families we traveled with were all so very sweet, and we will never forget them. (We hope to have a reunion next year!) The first 3 days were spent in Beijing touring the Great Wall and other historical sites! On March 5th, Becca, as she has come to be called turned one, and then 2 days after that, she was in our arms for the first time! Becca’s Gotcha Day had finally come! We spent the next week loving on and welcoming our new daughter into our lives and seeing her province. We also filled out paperwork to finalize the adoption, and had our first official family photo taken! Then, we flew with Becca to Guangzhou where we applied for her visa to fly home with us. We then spent another week or so touring, shopping, and enjoying Becca while this final paperwork was filed. Then on March 18th, we flew home, and the instant our plane touched US soil, little Becca became a US citizen! Boy did it feel good to be home!

It took two weeks for our body clocks to adjust to a 14 hour time difference. We walked around in a daze for days! 🙂

In April, we, along with another adoptive family, the Crowders (who are very dear friends of ours), shared at America World’s Adoption Seminar about our adoption journeys! It was so much fun to share our joy with other families who were praying about adopting. We enjoyed it so much that we later became America World Adoption Associates, spreading the word through adoption seminars and small groups about the joys of international adoption! We also had a birthday party for Becca in April together with both sets of her grandparents! We decorated the house “to the hilt!� The one thing we will never forget is Becca’s face as she enjoyed getting her hands covered with icing and cake digging her fingers into her little “smash cake!� She had so much fun being the center of attention and getting loved on by both sets of grandparents! We discovered that day how much she loved balloons more than any other gift she received!

In May, we had our church’s annual Missions Conference! After adopting Becca, this year’s conference was especially wonderful because we got to introduce our little Becca to the ministers from many different nations of the world that our church supports. This year’s conference felt much like a family reunion. We were able to see some minister friends that we hadn’t seen in a very long time.

Another special day in May, was Mother’s Day. Sarah, for the first time, celebrated this day not just as a daughter, but a mother, Becca’s mother! 🙂

In June, Brandon was especially blessed. He was asked by his dad to preach the Father’s Day sermon at the church. He preached on the Father heart of God, and showed our Gotcha Day video.

In August, we held our first small group fellowship for adoptive families and waiting or potential adoptive families. We had 10 people there, and we enjoyed talking to one another so much, that it lasted one hour longer than planned. No one really wanted to leave, because we enjoyed each other’s company, and the stories and info that were shared were so rich!

Also, this summer, many of our relatives met Becca for the first time and welcomed her into our family.

In October, we held our first official adoption seminar as AWAA Associates. It was held at our church, The Lord’s Glory Church in Humble, TX. We had the privilege of tying the seminar together with a benefit concert with Christian Artist, Clay Crosse, and God enabled us to raise over $2100.00 to help other families adopt. One of these families was Clay Crosse and his family. They just recently returned from China with their beautiful Sophie May! Congratulations to the Crosse family! The concert was held on Friday night and then on Saturday, October 29, at 10 AM, we held a Spirit of Adoption AWAA seminar. Clay and his wife Renee shared about their adoption journey, and the Crowders also shared about their trip to China to get Kayla, their sweet new daughter! Ten interested families cameto the seminar, and two of them who had previously been undecided, made the decision to begin their adoption journeys. That made the weekend worth it all! Our whole church got behind these events and we really appreciate all of the time and effort they put forth!

In November, both Brandon and Sarah’s parents came over and had Thanksgiving Dinner. We have so much this year to be thankful for with Becca now here in our family forever. It was such a joyous occasion. Also, we had a lot of prayers going up as well, due to the fact that our dog, Precious had contracted a blood disease that was threatening her life. But God! He healed her! We received a miracle during that next week, and she who was at death’s door is now getting back to her “old self� again! Yea! Praise the Lord! The vet said to Brandon: “Brother, we have experienced a miracle!� God is so good!

This month, we enjoyed having a reason to decorate for Christmas! Becca helped as we decorated the tree, and her face lit up as it was lit up! Brandon was telling James Benson, one of the daddies in our China travel group, how wonderful it was to experience Christmas as a daddy for the first time, and see it from that perspective. There was nothing more priceless than seeing Becca experience the joy of her first Christmas: her eyes lighting up as we lit the tree, her eyes filling with wonder as she looked out the window of her room and saw the Nativity Scene and then with joy yelled “Jee! Jee! (That’s “Jesus� in baby language). James also pointed out to me how he now has even more appreciation for Joseph this Christmas. He was an adoptive father too, you know!

We also had a wonderful Christmas party with America World families who live in the Houston area! We hosted it at our house, and had 26 people come (11 kids! Wow! Awesome!) ! We had families there who had adopted from Russia, Ukraine, and China! One little girl from China was dressed in the same Santa dress that Becca had on! They looked like twins! 🙂

This has truly been a year we will never forget! God has blessed us, and it’s because of His grace that we are now blessed to be parents of this little girl that we know He has enormously wonderful plans for! He has already used her to touch so many people! It is truly a beautiful joy to wake up everyday and watch her discover those plans one step at a time! Thank you Lord for 2005, and thank you for blessing us with this beautiful gem from heaven named Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle!

May God bless everyone of you, and may this Christmas be filled with childlike wonder and unfettered joy for you and your families! Can’t wait to hear about and see what the Lord does in each of your lives in the coming year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,
Brandon, Sarah, and Becca Battle

Wow! What a neat week we have enjoyed with Becca going to Georgia to meet more of her new extended family! We began the week with going to see Mama Lou, Grandaddy Bill, and Uncle Bob, her great-grandparents on my dad’s side. It was really special to me for her to meet them. Mama Lou was the lady instrumental in praying for our family(Mom, Dad, and I) to get saved. Grandaddy is the oldest father in the family, the “patriarch.” Becca loved meeting both of them. What was really awesome to me was to see how my Grandaddy responded when he met Becca. To have the oldest meet the youngest was a neat moment I will never forget! All the time we were there, when he would walk in to the room and see her, he would brighten up, and say something like: “She sure is a pretty little girl, isn’t she!” One time he told Mama Lou: “Brandon and Sarah got the prettiest girl in China!” Grandaddy Bill is a man of few words and to have him say these things about my little girl meant so much to me!

Another moment that will forever be engraved in my heart happened as we were just about to pull out of their driveway. Grandaddy hurried out and stuck his head in the back window of the car, and said, “I want to see the baby one more time.” That touched me more than I can post in words! Suffice it to say, I will never ever forget it!

Here is a picture of Becca and her Great Grandaddy Battle:

Here is a picture of Becca with her Great Grandma Battle, “Mama Lou”:

[To be posted soon!]

More about our trip to come in future posts!

Just a note to also let all interested in international adoption that our America World monthly fellowship group meets again tomorrow at The Lord’s Glory Church located at 461 Artesian Plaza Dr. in Humble, TX, 77338 from 5:30 to 7:30PM. For directions click here!

TO RSVP:

E-mail us at thebattles@awaa.org or call us at 281-798-6014

The last monthly meeting we had in July was our first and it was such a blessing to meet more adoption-minded couples from the Greater Houston area! Sarah and I would love to see you! God bless!

I just wanted to take this time to invite anyone who loves adoption and who loves good Christian Music to two different events happening in October at The Lord’s Glory Church in Humble, TX. The church is located at 461 Artesian Plaza Dr. , Humble, TX 77338.

The two awesome events are:

1. Friday, October 28th, 2005 at 7:00PM, we are having award-winning CCM Artist, Clay Crosse, LIVE in Concert.

Admission is FREE!

A love offering will be received, and all of the funds will go towards helping couples in the process of adopting through America World Adoption Association with their adoption costs.

Clay and his wife are in the process of adopting through America World and will soon be heading to China to receive their little one into their arms!

For more info on the concert call us at: 281-798-6014 or e-mail us at thebattles@awaa.org

2. The next day, Saturday, October 29th, from 10AM to 12Noon, The Lord’s Glory Church is hosting America World’s “Spirit of Adoption” International Adoption Seminar! Clay Crosse and his wife will be testifying about their adoption journey at this seminar!

Here is a direct quote from AWAA’s website about this informative seminar:

“We invite you to a free seminar. Whether you are just beginning to consider adoption or have decided to adopt, this seminar will be of value to you. We will present an overview of what God’s Word says about adoption in a multimedia program called The Spirit of Adoption, which includes a moving Hallmarkâ„¢ presentation of Steven and Mary Beth’s [That’s CCM Artist Steven Curtis Chapman, and his wife, Mary Beth] story of adoption.

Is God punishing you through infertility? Is adoption God’s Plan “A” or Plan “B” for placing a child in your home? What is God’s definition of Mother and Father? Is an adopted child your own? These intriguing questions will be answered along with many others. You will also hear families share their personal and profound experiences.

You will be able to get a glimpse of the entire adoption process, including the end result, because there are usually quite a few babies and children in tow with their proud parents! Call to register today. 1-888-ONE-CHILD.”

You can also register for the seminar on the web at: www.awaa.org/events

For directions to the church click below:
www.glorychurch.com/find.htm

For Clay Crosse’s Website click below:
www.claycrosse.com

For America World Adoption Association’s Website click below:
www.awaa.org

Hope to see all who can come to these events! It’s going to be a weekend to remember!

God bless! I promise, for those who have been looking and asking, an update on our Becca is coming soon!

Check out the link created to the right! We have updated photos of many of Becca’s Buddies who were with her in China!

God bless all of them! We miss them!

America World Adoption Fellowship Group
Humble, TX

Parenthood is a calling divinely orchestrated by God. Whether through the miracle of adoption or of childbirth, parenthood is both an exquisite gift and an extraordinary responsibility. Adoption is also a dynamic and transforming process; a process that will change the parent as much as the child. It is not an end in itself, but the beginning of a new life. This metamorphosis from orphan to daughter or son, from “parent-to-be� to mother or father, can be intimidating and at times overwhelming.
For this reason, it is our desire to provide an environment where people can cultivate the Godly parenting skills this lifelong journey requires. Through our adoption fellowship groups, individuals will find a loving and supportive community; a place where they can grow as parents, spouses, friends and most importantly. . . as children of God. It is also a place to come together for prayer and encouragement. At America World, we believe that adoption changes much more than one’s view of parenthood. It can expand our ability to love, enlarge our perception of the world, and ultimately, transform the basis of our faith.

It doesn’t matter what part of the process of adoption you are currently in. You are invited and encouraged to attend whether you are just starting the process, are in the paper pregnancy stage, or have already brought your child home. Each of us can benefit from the other and the fellowship will be deepened greatly.

Saturday, July 23rd from 5:30 PM to 7 PM.

The Lord’s Glory Church

461 Artesian Plaza Dr.

Humble, TX 77338

www.glorychurch.com

Please RSVP to Brandon & Sarah Battle at thebattles@awaa.org.

We are so excited about this and we look forward to having more of these meetings on a regular basis .

Today was my first Father’s Day! Wow!I can’t even begin to type out my feelings inside today! It’s such an awesome thing to know that I am a daddy now. It’s also an awesome responsibility. Every night, my wife and I pray with our little one while she drinks her night bottle. She seems to sleep more soundly and peacefully because of this. Anyway, we have been using a book by Germaine Copeland. I think it’s called: “Prayers that Avail Much for your Children”. It’s an awesome book. It has short blessings that you can pray over your child in the morning and in the evening. Anyway, when we pray with her at night, many times I think about what an awesome responsibility it is being a daddy. I had the privilege of preaching the Father’s Day message today at church. I felt so like someone else who has been at this longer could do a better job, but His grace was sufficient!

I was asking the Lord what to preach on during the week, and I kept hearing the word Father. So I took that word and began to just chew on it. I thought about the qualities of our Father in Heaven that we as earthly fathers should emulate. Each letter in the word “Father” stood for a different quality that I preached about in my sermon. Anyway, as I prepared this message, I thanked God for the fact that I as a daddy am not alone in this deal! Just the knowledge that someone who has a ton more experience than me was there to help me, my Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit; this knowledge was a great comfort to this “newbie” as it were.

As I hold Becca in my arms when she’s sleeping, I wonder sometimes what God has in store for her? She has come down a long journey already, and I know He has a purpose for her life that if I knew the whole of it, it would really blow me away! I look at her and say to the Lord, “How can I be a good enough daddy to her? a good enough example to her? I feel so inadequate!” God then gently reminds me the answer to these questions: :”You can’t, you can’t and you are! That’s why I am here!” And thank God He is there for us! His Son is the best, so I think His Example as a Daddy is probably the best!

My Dad is probably one of the best dads I know on this planet, but I know he would agree with me on the point I just mentioned, and there have been many times when I have needed an answer to a question, that my earthly father and I would go together in prayer to my Heavenly Father and find the answer together!

That’s my prayer today: that I as an earthly father would do like my dad does, and point my child to the Heavenly Father, so that we can seek His answers to the questions of life together.

So, my ultimate destination in this journey of thought that I have taken on this Father’s day is this: “I am not perfect as a dad, but thank God even when I’m not, I know the One Who is! He made me! He made my little girl, and He can help me strive towards perfection as a very amateur newbie of a daddy!”

I hope this made sense. Just had to get my thoughts typed out through my fingers! Thanks for letting me ramble! See ya again soon!

Here’s a picture or two of Becca!:

Her first trip to the beach:

Becca with Daddy at the beach!:

Becca and Mommy on her first trip to the beach!

Our Forever Family in Galveston together!

God bless!

I just finished a movie showing our journey to China to get our beautiful daughter, Becca! To see it click the link below or to the right that says: “Becca’s Movie!” There is a highspeed internet and dialup version. Enjoy seeing one of the most memorable events of our lives: Becca’s Gotcha Day!

Becca’s Movie!

On May 5th, Aunt Darlene came to visit her new niece, Becca, and stayed for several days! Becca really loved getting to know her! We took Becca to the zoo while Darlene was here. She loved the monkeys the best! She saw a group of them running in circles and chasing each other and just laughed her heart out!

Below are some pictures that Aunt Darlene sent us:

Becca with her favorite toy(the best 97 cents I ever spent!), her red ball:

Here is Becca with another favorite toy, her stuffed panda that she found and fell in love with at a shop on Shamian Island in Guangzhou:

Of all food, Becca loves noodles most of all:

And here is Aunt Darlene reading a story to Becca:

Becca enjoyed going to the zoo with us and her Aunt Darlene:

We are so thankful for our loving extended family!

We can’t wait for them all to meet Becca face to face soon!

More pictures to come!

Today, Becca celebrated again being one year old, but this time it was with her Mommy, Daddy, and Grandparents! She had such a great time! I can’t believe that in just 3 days she will be 13 months and in 5 days she will have been with us for one month! We have finally recovered from the jet lag, and Becca is sleeping through the night! Hallelujah!

Anyway, on to the pictures!

The grandparents gather round to sing Becca “Happy Birthday!”:

Becca loved her cake!:

Bring on the presents!:

Becca loves her birthday bear that her Grandma and Grandpa Battle gave her!:

The party was really fun!

Becca and everyone really had a fun time together!

Thank God for the beautiful little girl He has blessed us with!

Keep lookin! More soon!

The pictures speak for themselves! Check out how happy Becca was to be playing with her grandparents!

She loves her Grandpa Battle!

She also thinks her Grandpa Mattson is pretty special too! She loves him very much!:

Grandma Mattson feeds Becca her favorite thing: Ni Ni! (that’s “milk” in Chinese!) She loves it when you say: “Do you want a ni ni?”

Grandma Battle plays with Becca and they have lots of fun together! Becca loves to hold your hands and walk!:

Today we woke up at 4:00AM, and needed to be downstairs in time to leave by 5:30AM on the bus for the Guangzhou airport. Our first flight was from Guangzhou to Tokyo. We had 18 babies on the plane with us. All of them were so good! The only sad part was that when we landed in Tokyo, some of the families that we had spent the last two weeks or more with would be catching a different connecting flight from there. Everyone in our group was so nice to hang out with! We will remember those friends we made on this trip for the rest of our lives. I am hoping that we can have a reunion someday.

From Tokyo, we caught a flight to Detroit. This was the longest flight. I think it was about 11 hours or more. Becca was such a trooper during all of the flights! I was amazed! She rarely fussed. In fact, she probably fussed less than Mom and Dad did! I told Sarah that she was probably thinking, “Is this America? Am I now gonna spend my whole life flying around in a hollow tube way up in the air?”

The neatest thing happened on the flight from Tokyo to Detroit. We had 3 babies on the row across from us that were from Korea. They were being escorted home to their new adoptive Moms and Dads. They were so good! They slept most of the way. I was in awe of the ladies who were escorting them, and how good they were at feeding and changing and calming 3 babies all at one time. I wish we could have seen the faces of the new Moms and Dads when they met their new babies for the first time. It brought back memories to me of our Gotcha Day. There is nothing in the whole world to compare to that feeling!

This timezone change thing is so funny! The time we landed in Detroit was before the time we took off from Tokyo 🙂 ! That is so strange!

Another neat thing about this flight was that the moment we landed in Detroit, Becca became a US citizen! Thank God for the government making it easy for adopted orphans to become citzens! Here is a picture of the moment Becca became a citizen:

We will receive a certificate documenting this moment in the mail in about 2 months!

The last flight was from Detroit to Houston. We had a longer layover than planned due to our plane having maintenance problems. I was so tired at this point that when I stood up I was sort of dizzy!

The flight home to Houston was great! It was so good to know that this was our last flight! We arrived in Houston about 1-1 1/2 hours later than planned. When we came down the hall into the Baggage area, both sets of Becca’s new grandparents were waiting with faces beaming and cameras in hand! It was Houston Gotcha Day!

Below is a picture of Houston Gotcha Day!

It is so good to be home! The biggest challenge though lays ahead from what we hear: getting Becca used to the new time zone that is 14 hours behind China! In other words when its night in Houston its day in Becca’s former homeland. Needless to say, her clock is totally turned around! Hopefully her little body clock will learn to adjust soon! Pray for us! See ya again soon!

Today, we went to the US Consulate on Shamian Island in Guangzhou for the taking of the oath that certifies the truthfulness of all of our adoption paperwork. The wonderful thing about this is that this will enable Becca to get her visa to the USA, and also make it so that the moment the wheels of the plane touch the soil of the United States of America, our sweet baby Becca becomes a US citizen.

When we arrived there at the Consulate, the wait was long in a very small and crowded room. We were so packed in there, that one of the waiting mothers in our group fainted from the heat. Good thing we had several nurses and a surgeon in our travel group!

Later a representative of the US government issued the oath to us, and to tell you the truth, though the oath was short, it was a holy moment! Tears flowed down my face as we exited and it dawned on me the immensity of what just happened in that split second of time. Right then and there, Sarah and I had officially in the eyes of the USA become the parents of a beautiful little one named Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle. Though we have never experienced a biological birth together, something awesome was born in that room: the blessed reality of a new era graciously given to us by the Lord to parent this sweet little girl. What an awesome moment! One I will never forget! Sorry no pictures today! They would not allow us to photograph anything in the Consulate. God bless! Photos of Houston Gotcha tomorrow! Tonight our bags are out the door by 9PM for the bellmen. Tomorrow at 5AM we leave for the Guangzhou Airport. See ya tomorrow!

What does, “da daâ€? mean in Chinese? Babies say it all the time here and it means, “playâ€?, and that’s exactly what we did today. Incidentally, if you’re wondering, “babaâ€? is Daddy in Chinese and not “Dada,â€? although I have found myself answering to both. We ate breakfast at Café More where we are staying in the Dong Fang Hotel. This hotel is huge, and every morning we have had breakfast at their free buffet! The buffet also is huge with both Western and Eastern foods. I have enjoyed an omelet and sausages quite a bit while here! We found out also while here that Baby Becca likes Ho Fen! Ho Fen is a noodle dish that was available every morning on the buffet! Becca loves to be hand-fed noodles and to suck them into her mouth like a vacuum cleaner! 🙂 What a riot this girl is! She also likes eggs anyway they come, and she likes Congee. Congee is a Chinese staple. It is the same consistency as oatmeal and most of the time I believe it’s made from rice. I think also it can be made from other things as well. My favorite congee had beef and egg in it. It sort of tasted like my Grandma Margree’s Chicken and Dumplings. Anyway, back to Becca! She will eat just about anything you give her! She’s an eating machine! Her profile said that most issues with her can be solved with food. They are so right! She is such a good and healthy eater! Thank God for that!

After breakfast, we had to wait for two hours in our room while our paperwork was being filed with the US Consulate by our guides in Guangzhou, Amy and Lineker (Thank God for these two! They have worked tirelessly to help make everything go so smooth for us all, and they do this all the time! Wow! We salute our guides, Amy and Lineker(Guangzhou) and Sherry(Beijing and Wuhan) and Eric(Wuhan)!) They needed one of us to wait by the phone in case there were any problems with our paperwork. No problems, Praise the Lord!

We spent the morning and afternoon with baby, playing and eating and sleeping. I also spent some time running errands getting necessities at the store for us and baby, and let Sarah wait by the phone in the room for the first hour of the 2 hour waiting period. Sarah spent of that time after I got back in the playroom with her little princess!

We ate take-out lunch from McDonald’s near the hotel, and got our group picture made in the afternoon with all of the babies from the Wuhan, Hubei group and their families. Nine families in all! What a group! We have had a great time, and we will miss them all!

(We also have spent time with the nine families who adopted from two other provinces as well. Everyone has been a joy to be around and will be missed!)

Below is that group photo!:

Here is a photo of all of the Hubei Babies!:

Here is a close up of our Becca with some of her other buddies from Hubei!:

Here is a group photo of the Nanjing group:

After the photo session, most of us went to a Thai Restaurant here in Guangzhou called The Banana Leaf for dinner. The food was very good, and a little spicy. We had jasmine tea with the meal and that helped put out some of the fire brought on by the spices. Below is a photo of Becca in her “ready to eat� pose at the Banana Leaf!:

Here she is eating Cheerios with chopsticks!:

Here is Becca smiling for the camera!:

Tomorrow, we go to the US Consulate for our swearing-in ceremony for Becca’s travel visa and her trip home! Wow! Time has flown by! Sarah and I were saying that in part we are going to miss China, but at the same time, it will be good to be home again! God bless all of you! See ya tomorrow!

We went to Shamian Island today to shop! Shamian Island is the famous place in Guangzhou where many adoptive parents and international visitors go to shop for China Souvenirs. We had a great time buying clothes for Becca and some other great souvenirs! One awesome thing that happened for “Baba� (that’s me!) was that on the way to Shamian Island, Becca fell asleep in my arms! One of the daddies who had biological children already, Rich Haske, had told me before, “Just wait until she falls asleep in your arms! There is nothing like it in all the world!� He was right! Boy, I wish that I could describe the new type of love, the father-for-daughter love, which I am now experiencing. It is something beyond mere words. When she fell asleep in my arms, I began to think of what an awesome trust our Heavenly Father places into our hands when He gives us the responsibility of raising a new little one and watching them grow and learn from our example. The awesome magnitude of that trust hit me in that moment, and also on the other side of the coin, the awesome blessing of that trust. WOW God! Thank you for the blessing of fatherhood! May my life as “Baba� and “Mama� Sarah’s life serve as a Godly example to our daughter that she can look at and follow into the good and perfect plan that You have for her in her future! The fact that God would bless me with such a beautiful little girl is just another trophy of His grace and mercy being bestowed on me in my life! Below is a picture of Becca asleep in my arms.

Here is Becca smiling at one of the lady salesmen in a shop there!

She also had other admirers as well:

Here is Princess Rebecca “Cinderella” Catherine Jiayi Battle trying on her slipper for her dedication service coming soon at The Lord’s Glory Church!:

Becca loves Mama!:

One thing about Becca that you’ll notice right away: she loves people and people love her! Life for her is just one big fun time! May she always have a life full of the Joy of the Lord! We can’t wait for this coming Sunday when we can take her to church for her first service at The Lord’s Glory Church! We also cannot wait for her to meet her grandparents!

Blessings to all who have written us! Wow! The love you have shown us via e-mail overwhelms us! It’s so awesome that our little one has so many people that care about her! Thanks again for everything! See ya tomorrow!

I close with another family photo:

We love all of you! See ya tomorrow!

Today, we went to get baby’s visa photo and medical check done. She made the decision from the moment the medical checkup began, that she did not like that place or the nurses or the doctors. She cried and cried and cried. Bless her heart! We did find out that she was, as of now, 19.5 lbs. with clothes on and 71cm. long. What a little bitty precious petite darling she is. She checked out A-OK! Praise the Lord! We thank everyone for their prayers.

After the medical exam, we all went to a tea house where they taught us the history of Chinese tea, and explained how to tell a quality teapot from a cheap one! Interestingly, a teapot from China that is a quality one is made from clay, and the more it is used, the darker the teapot gets. Our guide said that a person can actually make money in China by drinking tea because the more he uses a teapot, the higher its value goes up! A teapot is an investment similar in China to a good antique! Just a bit of Chinese trivia there!

After that, we went home and ordered in delivery from Danny’s Bagel, a great restaurant that only delivers. It is located here in Guangzhou and is owned by an American man. The food is a taste of home and is a comfort to people like us who have been away from the USA for a short while! We ordered Mac and Cheese and Chicken Quesadillas and a Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich! Becca loved the Mac and Cheese! This kid can eat! For the first time in Becca’s history with us, she actually refused food this morning at breakfast! This was a first! We wondered when she would get full, and today, for the first time she did! She is such a joy to have as a child, and is a very happy baby and a healthy eater! Thank God for this!

Pictures of medical check and tea house below!

Nurses Check Rebecca’s Head Circumference:

Nurses Check Rebecca’s Height and Weight:

Entrance to Guangzhou Tea House:

Waitress Serves Samples of Various Chinese Tea:

Happy Family Photo:

Becca Meets Bird!:

See ya tomorrow!

God bless!

Today, we went to the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum. It was contained in the one of the oldest buildings in Guangzhou. When we went in, the entrance opened up into a courtyard containing many covered patio rooms with ancient pieces of art throughout. From there we went to a six-story mall called the Guangzhou Friendship Store. It was a government owned mall, where bargaining was not generally allowed. The top floor was all baby stuff! Due to high prices, we did not buy anything here. However we did go downstairs to the Grocery Store there and buy formula and water and diapers and coke and baby food, etc… This grocery store was a little more expensive than Carrefour, China’s version of Wal-Mart. It compared more with Kroger or HEB. Still pretty inexpensive by American standards though, I think.

Baby was a trooper. She shopped cheerfully until we all dropped! We came home and she slept for several hours. She was exhausted from her busy day of shopping and sightseeing, and I think we were a little bit too! She was bored at the Museum. So bored that she slept! Ha! Ha! We can tell she’s not an art buff, at least not at this age! Then again, Daddy is not much of one either! Like father like daughter!

Below are some pictures of our day at the museum. Blessings to all who read our journal!

Ancient Furniture at Guangzhou Folk Art Museum:

Ancient Bed in the days of the Emperors I think!:

Becca says: “My, museums are so boring. I don’t think I can hold my head up any longer!�:

“Yep! I was right!”:

God bless every one of you! Thanks for your prayers for us! God is good!

See ya tomorrow!

Today was one of the first slow days we have had in a while. I filled out lots of paperwork for the adoption for about four hours, while Sarah and Rebecca played for hours on end, and had some mother-daughter bonding time. Becca loves to play dress-up with pretty hats and jewelry, even at one year old!

Below are some pictures of her personal fashion show!

Just thought ya might get a kick out of those photos!

Something really special that happened for me, Daddy or in Chinese as Rebecca calls me, “Baba,� happened this evening. I was playing with her and she grabbed my finger and held on tight for quite a long time while she played. She then looked up and gave me the biggest smile which I captured on film. It was a moment I will never forget. It prompted me to thinking about the origins of love. Just where is love born? From the experience I have been through as a new adoptive daddy, I can confidently say that love is not biologically born. No, instead love is something born in the heart. It can happen in the heart of any parent, biological or adoptive. It is not dependent on similar genetics or similar heritage. Its origins can simply be summed up in the words of 1 John 4:8: “God is love.� So, in summation, if you are considering adoption, and are worried about whether or not you will be able to love a child that is not biologically born to you, fear not. Don’t believe that lie! I can testify to the fact that my love for this baby is just as strong or stronger than I could have ever dreamed! It goes beyond words! Thank God for His direction in our life as He led us so lovingly down this road called adoption into the arms of a waiting child who to us and to Him is extraordinarily precious! It could be that those of you who are reading this could have a pair of arms waiting for you that will one day reach up and grab your finger and call you, “Baba!� or “Mama!� Anyway, before I lose it emotionally here, I’m going to sign off with tears flowing! See ya tomorrow!

Below is the picture of the moment I mentioned.

Good morning Wuhan!

We started the day early getting up at 5:00AM to get our bags and our bodies ready for a long day containing two very monumental tasks. First, we went back to the Hubei Center for Intercountry Adoption to pick up the all-important red leather folder containing Becca’s official adoption certificate! Below is a picture with the notary who is a very important official in China, unlike in America, where a notary just has to pay a fee and have very little training to become one. Also pictured here are Sherry, our national guide for the first two-thirds of our trip, and Eric, our local guide in Wuhan. We also received our baby’s Chinese Passport.

After this, we went to the Wuhan Airport to go on baby Becca’s first flight! She did marvelously, and was a clown! She very much enjoyed playing with Annabelle, Rich and Michelle Haske’s adopted baby. God has made it so easy on us! I hear so many people’s horror stories about parenting, and the difficult times they have with their babies. We have had very few upsetting episodes so far. Our baby has such an easy personality, and is so flexible and easy-going! She loves to just have fun! Everything is a big laugh! She also has no problem getting along with other children. Anyway, there I go bragging again! Pardon my papa syndrome! 🙂 It peeks its way through at such unpredictable moments, but God has been so good to us, and we just can’t help but shout it from the rooftops! Below is a picture of our cutie’s first flight to Guangzhou:

As you can see, she had a great time! From there, we took a 45 minute bus ride to DongFang Hotel in Guangzhou. Our guide, Amy, is very sweet! We should have a picture of her sometime soon! The DongFang Hotel is huge! It has two lobbies, a shopping mall, and three or four restaurants. There is also a McDonald’s in the complex, where Rebecca enjoyed her first Happy Meal. Our room here is very spacious with lots of room for baby to run!

Pictures of room tomorrow!

One prayer request: Pray for an easy doctor’s appointment for Rebecca as she goes for the customary routine checkup, before being allowed to leave China with us to the USA. The appointment is on Monday. Thanks for your prayers and support!

God bless!