Bible, Travel, New Friends and First Day Home

When we were packing on Wednesday night I realized I did not see my bible. I thought perhaps in all of my hurry I had accidentally packed it. Well when a text woke me up in the middle of the night I looked around for my new Bible but couldn’t find it. We are home now and still no bible. It was stolen. Please pray that it ends up in the right hands. I assume someone needs that bible more than I do.

Sophie woke up fever free but still wasn’t quite herself.

My friend Cindy from church put me in contact with a mom from Kutztown about 1 hour away. This mom and her daughter travelled to rescue a 13 year old boy before he aged out. Dearest Winston is in a wheelchair but he is very bright and has the sweetest smile. We were able to see them twice briefly while in Guangzhou but since we were all staying at the same hotel and since we were on the same flight we were able to enjoy a fun dinner together in Hong Kong. Conner, Emily, and Sarah took a late night train into Hong Kong. They really did not get to see much, much to Conners chagrin. Conner has also been able to share the gospel with a male prostitute and a female prostitute via Weechat. Please pray that these precious souls would turn to Jesus! I was able to share the gospel with a flight attendant and a young couple. Precious seeds were planted. May God draw all these souls to himself.


We woke up with plenty of time to check out of our hotel in Hong Kong especially since the hotel was attached to the airport. We were checked out by 8:30 for our 11:15 flight. We met up with our new friends the Lang’s near the United ticket counter. We were checked in and needed to get through security and then another level of checking of passports. The security line was rather short and as we got to the front of the line I told Christian to put his iPad in one of the bins. He said “ I don’t have the iPad”. I quickly asked Conner and he said “ I got mine out of the safe”. I had assumed he would have given Christian the family iPad. Well before Conner went through security he raced back to the hotel and back to the room to look for the iPad. We all started praying. The rest of us went through security. The line was crazy long to get through the second passport check. The security line was growing too. All I could think of was whether Conner would make it to the gate on time and if he would find the iPad. We had not eaten and one of our only options was to get into a very long line for McDonald’s. The Lang’s spotted Conner with the iPad (praise God!) and we all 8 of us raced to an elevator to get on the shuttle tram to the gate. We then got off the tram and raced to two more elevators to arrive at the gate as they were preparing to pre board those in wheelchairs and with babies. We boarded only 15 minutes after getting to the gate. It was a packed flight home with no spare seats. Not the luxury we experienced on the way to Beijing.

Praise God sweet Sophie travelled like a champ. Hardly any fussing. She snuggled and slept quite a bit of the trip. Poor Conner and Christian came down with something and both boys were running fevers. A difficult way to end the trip. Praise God we arrived in Newark and got through immigration in record time. By the time we had our luggage and got to the door Tim and 6 of the kids arrived to pick us up. What a sweet reunion! We enjoyed a yummy lunch at the same Chick Fil A we ate at when we came home with Kiara. So neat to be on this journey again. So wonderful to serve a mighty God who loves us and loves all the precious orphans in the world.


We just spent our first day home unpacking, snuggling and reconnecting. Christian and Conner have been running fevers all day. Please pray for their healing. I am so thankful for each and everyone of my precious children and so thankful that we are all home. Please keep us in your prayers in the days and weeks to follow as we help Sophie connect with us and as we help her to grieve the loss of all she has ever known.

We are also praying for you to rescue children into your own family through adoption. We are praying that you may all know the joy and blessing of adopting a precious child. To quote the movie An Adoption Story, “ Adoption is risky, it takes love, it takes tremendous risk. But when you see my kids you see that adoption is not a word, It is not a calling, it is not a cause. Adoption is just about each individual kid and who they can be. Our world needs them. And I am so so fortunate that I got to walk alongside of them on this journey. I am far more blessed than they have ever been for being my children.” It is our prayer that through this blog that we have been a voice for the voiceless. It is our prayer that you would hear and see these precious children as God sees them as children with souls in need of a family. We love you all and thank you all for your prayers and support!

Please also pray for Conner as he continues to follow the Lord’s leading. He plans to continue to be used of the Lord in ministry. He is looking for supporters to come alongside of him to help him raise support. Please check out this link to buy cards to support his trip to Thailand. You can check out what he is doing. www.limecards.info or you can donate directly to our PayPal at gthooh@aol.com Thank you!