Pictures and videos

Just a cute video of Josiah singing for you to enjoy. He fits right into the family! Caleb wrote this on the message board before we came home from the airport. It was so special to see how he had been praying for his little brother.

Big brother

After being home a little over a week, Caleb is settling into being a big brother. Of course there were a lot of adjustments finding that all of the attention didn't revolve around him - but now he is really enjoying Josiah. He likes to pick his clothes in the morning and he loves to play with him. He thinks it's the best to have Josiah copy him doing everything. The only thing we haven't talked him into is changing diapers!

We too have had a lot of adjustments having a toddler around. The hardest thing has been trying to get him in the right time zone and sleeping through the night. In China he slept very well - both at night and at naptimes. We are praying he can get back onto that schedule! Besides the sleeping, Josiah has really settled in well here. He acts as if he's always known he belonged here. It's amazing to us to know that God chose him to be our son from the very beginning. We are so thankful for His picture of adopting us as His own children. He loved us - flaws and all - and even though we feel some days we are not up for the challenge of raising a toddler, God's grace and His love for us keeps us going.

Josiah will fit right into our family as he loves to sing and listen to music. He loves to just sit and "sing" sometimes and he even plays the djembe with Caleb. We can't wait to get them both on stage! Perhaps we will have the Nelson worship band someday. . .

Home at last!

Thanks so much for your prayers in getting us home safely. Our overnight delay in Tokyo did end up being a blessing as we were able to get a good night of rest and take an easy day before our departure. We were also blessed to get seats with some extra room and were actually quite comfortable. Josiah slept well for most of the flight until the attendants told us we needed to wake him to get the bassinet down! It was about 2:30am according to his clock. He handled it unbelievably well - with no crying!

It was a long haul at the LAX airport, but after finally getting through immigration and customs we were on our way to Denver -- but of course not without a few more delays due to the thunderstorms. We left about 35 minutes behind schedule but the captain thought we could still make it in good time. When we arrived over Colorado, the thunder cloud was hovering over DIA so they put us in a holding pattern and sent us on a detour to enter the airport from a different direction. When all was said and done we landed in Denver around 8:20pm. We were so thankful to be on Colorado soil!!!

Josiah was such a trooper throughout the whole trip. He didn't sleep much during the flight from LA but was very content to sit in our laps for most of the time. Thank you all so much for praying for him. Now please pray that we can get his timeclock reset to sleep during the nights.

Caleb met us at the airport with two good friends of ours - and we were so excited to see him. It seemed he had grown much taller in the days we were gone! Even though very sleepy-eyed, Josiah warmed up to Caleb quickly and was laughing almost the whole way home with him.

Today we just enjoyed being together and showed Caleb some fun things from China. Please pray for us to be wise in instructing Josiah and for all of us to make this transition to having a toddler around the house. Josiah is really doing great. We can't even believe how different he is from the first day we received him. We are so thankful to finally have him home!

One More Day of Rest

Well folks, it looks like we got to spend a night in Tokyo. Unfortunately, it's the rainy season out here and that translated into delays and an overnight stay. But we are now scheduled to arrive in Denver on Friday night, so at least we got a good night's rest out of the deal! Our spirits are good and we're looking forward to getting across the "pond" and getting home. Please continue to pray for safe travels - we look forward to seeing everyone soon and introducing the newest Nelson!

Homeward Bound!

It's been a few days since we've had the chance to post as there have been some emotionally draining circumstances here. But God has been faithful to provide the grace and strength we need to get through it all. We wanted to ask for your prayers as we prepare to leave China early Thursday morning. Tomorrow we have our consulate appointment to take an oath and receive Josiah's visa. Then it's time to pack up and get ready to leave. We have to leave the hotel by 5:30am on Thursday, so please pray for us to have the strength we need to get through the long day of traveling - especially little Josiah.

We've definitely felt your prayers thus far. Josiah has blossomed into a very happy and intelligent boy. Even in the short time that we've had him, he's already taking to instruction and showing us his fun personality. Please pray for all of us during our adjustment time back at home. We can't wait to see Caleb in action as a big brother!

It's hard to believe we've been in China just over a week! It seems much longer. Please pray for us as we prepare to fly over to Guanzhou on Saturday and finish out our last days there. We can't wait to get home to Caleb! We miss him terribly.

Things with Josiah have been going well overall. We are learning more about him and finding he has a very strong will. We have found that his tantrums are usually a result of him feeling scared or insecure and we are doing our best to help him through them. Thankfully they are less frequent and don't last as long as the first couple days we had him. It's been amazing to see how much he is changing so quickly. He has become much more interactive and has even said a couple words.

Yesterday Don was working with him and playing with him here in the hotel room. He was showing Josiah how to draw on paper and he asked him to say "paper" - and he did! It was the first time he has said anything so we were quite taken back. Then today he said "Mama" which of course made my heart melt. He's trying to say more and more so we are very encouraged. The nannies at the orphanage said he never spoke to the adults there. He only did his baby talk when he played with the other children. So within three days we've made a lot of progress! He's also laughing out loud and is very playful. Now he's acting like a typical two-year-old -- getting into everything! He has a lot of energy and keeps us on the move.

It's been nice to have a couple down days after a week of busy schedules. We will gear up for Josiah's first plane ride on Saturday. Please pray he will do well. We are praying the last week in Guanzhou will go fast as we are eager to get home to Caleb and also some home-cooked meals! Thanks for your continued prayers.

(By the way, we are unable to access our blog out here in China. For some reason much of the internet access has been blocked. So our friend has been posting for us. We have not been able to read any of your replies, so if you'd like to email us on our gmail account - dtnelson1@gmail.com -we'd love to hear from you! Thanks.)

It's Official!

Today is our first free day - nothing on the agenda! Monday and Tuesday were spent getting more paperwork done. Yesterday we received our adoption certificate which officially makes Josiah our son! It's definitely been a few days of adjustments but we can see a significant difference in Josiah since the first day we got him on Monday. He is becoming more and more animated and is learning to trust us. But our biggest challenge is his habit of throwing a fit when he doesn't get something he wants. Sounds like a typical two-year-old, right? Well, it is our prayer that he will learn how to communicate in other ways than that; and as he learns to trust us we will teach him how.

It's been an extra blessing getting to know our new friends (and family) who are fellow believers. Their daughter Meilani is very animated and makes us laugh every time we're at the meal table. Josiah just enjoys watching her in action. We're so thankful that God prepared us both to meet up on this trip. The extra support is greatly encouraging.

We've had the opportunity to talk with Caleb through video chat and he's so excited about his little brother. This morning Daddy got him to smile and laugh a bit by tickling him and Caleb really enjoyed that. We can't wait for the joy our family will experience when Caleb gets to meet his little brother face to face. Stay tuned for more . . .

Gott'em!!!

Well, here I am lying on the bed with this precious little guy on top of me, drinking his bottle. (Trish is typing while I dictate. I'm not that talented!) Not only has God answered our prayers in giving us another son, but we can already see that his personality will fit well within our family. He's got a strong will like his Daddy and a quiet spirit like his Mommy.

It was quite an experience this morning with everyone getting their kids. We all drove in the bus together and walked into a large room at the registration center. We had sat down for just a few minutes when a woman approached us and showed us our family picture - and there was Josiah sitting on another woman's lap right behind us! She started to hand him over to Trish and he arched his back and started to cry quietly, thowing a fit in his own way. But then Daddy took him up in his arms and within just a few minutes he was calm and very quiet.

We sat down at the table with him and started to give him Cheerios which he absolutely loved! We found some common ground to relate with him on - FOOD! He sat quietly with us and just observed all the other children in the room. He's been a little dazed ever since...but it's only been a few hours so far. We can tell that he's a smart boy and knows what he wants (or doesn't!). But that's a very good thing - we don't think there's anything wrong with him developmentally, which is what was listed as his "specail need." He's very sharp and observant. We expect great things from Josiah! We will post more later. Thank you all so much for your prayers - keep them coming!