blessed

Just a quick update....They are in their hotel room getting ready for bed right now. The trip has been 1000 times better so far as compared to last time. The airport had improvements and that was wonderful! Their delay for maintenance yesterday in Chicago only lasted about 30 minutes.

Anna Grace rested well on the flight, but Hayne fought it until about two hours before they landed. He was completely lethargic and they had to carry him through the airport. Angel only dozed off a couple of times, but never really slept. She said the boys refused to let her rest because they were so excited. Hal slept well, but Adam fought sleep the entire flight. I am not sure about Ashton, but she sounded exhausted in her email and said she couldn't wait to go to sleep.

They stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner before they went to their hotel room and were surprised at how tasty everything was. The hotel room's heat was so unbearable that they had to get the hotel maintenance to break the seal on the window to get it to open to the chilling outdoor weather of 10 degrees. It really must have been HOT in there! Mary helped bathe the children and got them ready for bed while Angel "unpacked" or rather organized their luggage a little better. There wasn't a dresser or chest in the room to put their clothes in. Strange!

When they wake in the morning they will eat breakfast (if they can) and meet Andrew from 9:00 to 9:30 am. That will be between 8:00 to 8:30 pm for us TONIGHT!!! Social workers in China spoke with the family and told them to be prepared that this event would be harder than they probably expected because of Andrew's age. Please pray that their meeting will be peaceful and happy for everyone. This is really it! Today is the day! I will update as soon as I have something from them after they have the newest addition to the Rice family! A new son! A new brother! A new Grandson! A precious soul that will be a part of all of our lives! ~jodi