Dear Lucy Hope,

Welcome to our family!! Today was a wonderful day because now you are a part of our family. We are so excited to meet you and we knew immediately that you'd be perfect for our family. We have a lifetime of memories to create together, starting with Gotcha Day today.

Take a look at the pictures, because we are simply speechless over this little wonder of God! We'll try to post more pictures later.

God Bless You,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and now Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Less than Three Hours Now!

Dear Lucy Hope,

We're only hours away from becoming a family of six! At 2:00 pm this afternoon, local Guangzhou time, we will be introduced to you and you to us for the first time. We cannot wait! Here's a few photos from this morning. We're all very anxious, excited, and admittedly a little nervous. We're going to the store to get some things we'll need for you and then we'll have a short lunch. After that, we'll rest a little and then go to the Civil Affairs office where we'll be joined by 17 other families who are also meeting their new addition for the first time. Everyone is greatly excited and you can tell that everyone is also a little nervous. What should we expect? How will you react? How will we react? Lily and Lia seem very excited, but what about when you're actually with us? Too many questions, but we are overjoyed about learning the answers to them.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope
Green, Party of Six

Tea Parties and Changed Flights

Dear Lucy Hope,

We are on our way, sweet baby girl. Soon, we will see you face to face. I'm not sure that you know yet how your life is about to change. All the adoption books tell us that sometimes it's really hard on a child  to be adopted because everything that they are familiar with is suddenly removed from their lives. We know that and we are planning to comfort you and love you to help you transition to your forever family. In fact, Lily Grace and Lia Faith are planning their own ways to welcome you, including teaching you about life at the Green's and playing with you and sharing their toys. They have many things they want to do with you starting Monday. They may have you occupied 24/7, so I hope I at least get a word or two into the conversation. Here are some pictures that we took on the way over!

 A Tea Party at 32,000 ft. This wasn't my first tea party, but it was my first at this altitude and speed. Granny bought these tea party sets for Lily Grace and Lia Faith to play with on the airplane. Connie and Austin were asleep, so they missed the tea party. We even had real, hot tea provided by the nice flight attendant. She wanted to join us, but had duties to tend, so she just left us the tea - and some lemon cookies to sweeten the deal!

It's time to get to the hotel. I'm tired! 

I think this picture was taken in Beijing. We were trying to figure out whether our baggage had been sent on to Guangzhou. It turns out that we had to claim it in Beijing and re-check it ourselves to Guangzhou. I thought that was going to be the case, but the United Airlines representative in Birmingham had told us that it was checked all the way to Guangzhou and that's what the tags said. So, there were a few confused moments on our initial arrival into China's capital city of Beijing. Eventually, we reclaimed our luggage and headed toward the Air China counter.

Our last flight of the day - Air China from Beijing to Guangzhou! We're so happy that mommy put us in this cart. No more walking, yea! 

When we got to Beijing, we found out that our next flight had been delayed an hour due to a combination of weather and a big, important gathering in Beijing of government officials from all over China. But the Air China representative quickly realized that we were on the delayed flight and took it upon himself to get us changed to an earlier flight. He was certain that our original flight would be canceled altogether because of the bad weather - it was also snowing in Beijing. We were very happy to have his help.

In Chicago, we met Ruth, who was on her way back to China to see her family. Ruth is married and living in the U.S. now. She was interested in adoption and shared with us that she and her husband were considering it. She immediately fell in love with Lily Grace and Lia Faith and they were equally smitten by her. When we got to Beijing, we ran into Ruth again at the Air China counter. Now, you have to know that the airport in Beijing is massive, so the chances of us running into Ruth again were minimal. It turns out that she was able to help translate the Air China representative's explanations of the delayed flight to us and was greatly helpful in getting us to Guangzhou. Besides, it gave her some more time to spend with Lily, Lia, and Connie, while Austin and I worked on the change of flight. Without Ruth and the Air China representative's help, we probably would have spent the night in the airport in Beijing - not a good thing! So, we were greatly appreciative of their help. Both were very sincere and wanted to see that we got where we were going. They were a great blessing.

Not long now, Lucy Hope. Soon...

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Leaving for Guangzhou

February 29, 2012

Dear Lucy Hope,

Today, we finally began the last part of our journey to bring you home, traveling to China. We packed our bags and left Athens on the first leg of a long, long journey. In fact, some might say that this is the longest journey that anyone could take without leaving the earth. You are on one side of the world and we are on the other. When it’s morning here, it’s night where you are. We speak English, you understand Chinese. But none of that will prevent us from coming to you now. We should arrive in Guangzhou, China on Friday night, March 2, around 10:00 pm. That's about 28 hours of traveling, including layovers. We'll be able to rest up for a few days and then on Monday, March 5, we'll get to see you and become a family together. We're so excited!

Granny came by the house to bring a few toys to Lily and Lia for the airplane ride. She’s so excited about you too. Then we went to church, the very same place we started this journey on December 24, 2010, and prayed with our pastor, Bro. Eddie Gooch. He prayed for our safe travel and for your transition to your new family. Memaw cooked spaghetti for us tonight before we left. It was delicious. She also made a new cake recipe – you are going to love Memaw’s cooking.

After that, we hit the road toward Birmingham. It took about two hours to get our hotel just by the airport. There we slept for the night (if you call 1 1/2 hours the night!) before waking at 3:00 am to catch our plane to Chicago. On a funny note, when we got to our hotel, we noticed a sign asking for forgiveness in our room for the infestation of … ladybugs!!! The hotel said they had adopted the ladybug as their official pet and explained the benefits of what the ladybugs provide. They even noted that the ladybug actually brings you good luck. How funny!

Upon checking into the hotel in Birmingham, we learned that the airport shuttle from the hotel did not start running until 5:00 am – an hour too late for us. We had to quickly develop another plan for someone to pick up our van at the airport. Thanks to Martha Chumbley for agreeing to come to the airport and get the van. And thanks for paying for the parking fee - Connie gave me the cash to leave in the van, but I misunderstood and gave it as a tip to the shuttle driver. Mental note, no more financial decisions at 3:00 am!

Lucy, we're on our way to get you now. Just a few short days filled with lengthy travel and excited thoughts!


Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope
Green, Party of Six

Travel Approval!!!!

February 6, 2012

Dear Lucy Hope,

We finally got approval to come to China to get you! As I was on my way out to the airport for a short business trip, your mommy came running out of the bedroom saying “We got it! We got it!.” She had just received an email from Lifeline telling us the Chinese had invited us to come over and pick you up! We found out that March 5, 2012 would be a very special day for us because that’s the day that we’d get to see you finally. We were told in the email that we’d need to be in China on March 3, 2012. 

So, now we can begin to make plans to come and bring you home. You will become a citizen of the United States of America on March 13, 2012 (well, almost) when we take you to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. We have been waiting a long time for this day, Lucy Hope, and now it’s just a few short weeks away. Can you believe it? Lily Grace and Lia Faith now understand how close we are to seeing you and for them that means a new little sister to play with and to love. For us, it means another ‘sweet baby girl’ to love and care for. Austin says that he’ll be your first favorite because he was Lily Grace and Lia Faith’s favorite. I think he may be right, you know he already loves you too!

We can't wait to see you Lucy Hope!

Soon.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Happy New Year - 2012

December 31, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

It’s the last day of 2011. We were really hoping that we’d be able to spend part of 2011 with you, but we still wait. We decided to ask the U.S. National Visa Center if they would hurry up and work on your visa, so we emailed them. And guess what? They replied immediately, even on a holiday and gave us hope that they would work on your case. The officer was very nice and was curious about you, so we sent her a picture. She was especially impressed by your beauty and was eager to see you get to come home. So, we’ll wait and see what happens. Maybe in the next few days, they will tell us something.

Meanwhile, Happy New Year sweet baby girl.

We Love You,

Mommy and Daddy

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six

Christmas Blessings

December 25, 2011

Dear Lucy Hope,

Merry Christmas! I hope that you are happy today and that somehow, you are able to know that half way around the world waits a family for you that already loves you more than we can explain. But even more important than that, there’s One who loves you even more – Jesus Christ. Today, we celebrate His birthday. “Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born unto you. He is Christ, the Lord.” This comes from the Bible in Luke chapter 2. It’s one of our favorite verses. We cannot wait to share it with you! 

We did get up early and thank God for what He has given us, but somehow, this Christmas wasn’t complete for us, knowing that you were there and we were here. If only we could have been together on this day. We kept our usual traditions on Christmas day, such as playing with toys early, then heading over to Granny’s for a quick breakfast and a short visit. Then, it was back to our house to play some more and get ready for dinner at Memaw’s. In all this, we do know that God has a day planned for when we will get to see you in person and that day will be perfect, because it will be a day of His choosing, not ours. Still, we can’t wait.

Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith were happy to see that Santa Claus had visited them in the middle of the night. There was no snow this year like last year, but it was still cold. Lily Grace spent the morning learning to play with her new DS game, while Lia Faith played with her new dollhouse. She named one of the dolls Lucy Hope. Meanwhile, Austin began practicing with his new camera. He plans to take a lot of pictures of you and of China when we’re finally allowed to come and bring you home. So, you’d better practice smiling!

Our present? I went to the mailbox because I hadn’t been in a couple of days and I found a letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services. It was a letter telling us that our petition to declare you our daughter had been approved! Yea! Now, both the Chinese government and the U.S. government have officially recognized that you are our daughter! That’s our great Christmas present for 2011. Imagine the thrill of praying on Christmas Eve 2011 for you to be a part of our lives and then finding the final approval of that plan in our mailbox on Christmas Day 2012!!! 

You are special, Lucy Hope, and these events are proof of that. We are so excited to see you, sooner than ever now! But we still have to wait for an appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou and for the Chinese to issue us a Travel Approval (TA). Hopefully, some of that can happen before the Chinese settle in for a long New Years Celebration!

Merry Christmas Lucy, We Love You.

Mommy and Daddy and Austin and Lily Grace and Lia Faith.

Love,

Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, Lia Faith, and Lucy Hope

Green, Party of Six