Wonderfully made

I give thanks to God... For they are fearfully and wonderfully made: wonderful are His works. Psalms 139:14
So grateful God allowed Greg and I to be part of the lives of these two. Oh the things HE has taught us through the miracle of adoption.

Urumqi~

Greyson's providential city~

 Adoption Day~

 Buddies~

 Ruthey and Greyson are becoming fast buddies.

Thank you for prayer as we continue this journey in China.

 

Pics from Shepherd's Field~

Ruthey with the boys!

  

Greyson and Gideon, the preschool teacher.

Kim, Ruthey, and Song, a precious baby at Shepherd's Field.

Precious best friends at Shepherd's Field that have families too!

Worn out!

Shepherd's Field is an amazing place and so thankful sweet Greyson was there waiting for us!

Great day in Urumqi

Yesterday was a fun day hanging out in the city. Urumqi is huge and much different than the rest of China. This is definitely a unique experience. We are making the best of it and taking it all in.
Now... More about Greyson. He is a lively and extremely friendly little guy. He's going to keep us on our toes for sure. :). He is teaching Ruthey Chinese and she is teaching him English. They are having lots of fun together. Sibling rivalry has begun as well.
Today we are off again for another adventure. We covet your prayers.

Pictures

Here are pictures from yesterday~

Civil Affairs

Yesterday was our official "gotcha day". We did paperwork all day long. The two littles did really well considering. So... according to the Chinese government Greyson Coy Shun Li Franks is our son!!! Praise God for this precious gift. We are in his province of Xinjiang. After we get his passport on Friday, we fly to Guangzhou where the US consulate is. I can't say alot other than it seems very dark here. No other Americans in sight. With our adoption with Ruthey, there were other American families adopting as well in the hotel. Not here. An adventure to say the least. We are enjoying seeing a very unique Chinese culture. Several different kinds of people here with Russia and Kazakhstan being so close.
We could use lots of prayers. Brady is sick this morning. Please pray specifically for him today.
Today, we are going to the bazaar to shop (IF Brady is up to it).

Cool hair

Shepherds Field

Currently, we are at Shepherds Field Children's Village. What a wonderful place! We are so grateful for all the care these precious people have given to our son. He has received lots of love here and we praise God for that. We are unable to view the blog or Facebook . Both are blocked... I hear from Kailey and friends that there are some great pictures of us meeting Greyson.
I (Kim) taught Greyson's English class yesterday. Ruthey so loved being part of the class... She had ALL the answers:). Brady acquired a new friend in Tess (a sweet little girl). She wouldn't leave his side. Greyson loves all his clothes and especially his new monkey backpack and shoes. He had to show everyone in the restaurant last night his shoes and had the taxi cab driver laughing hysterically. I have no idea what he was saying but obviously it was funny. He is a spirited little guy.
Ruthey and Greyson were instant friends....melts my heart!!!
Please pray for us as we bond with Greyson. Pray for his precious heart as we leave Shepherds Field for his province tomorrow. Also...please pray for his nannies that have cared for him basically his whole four years of life. I'm sure that will be hard to see him leave. Pray for his foster brothers and sisters as well. I know all will miss him.
Shepherds Field Children's Village is truly filled with the presence of God. The founders (Tim and Pam Baker) and all the staff here are exhibiting the hands and feet of Christ to these precious orphans. I encourage you all to check out this great foundation (www.chinaorphans.org).
Praise be to God!!! We are humbled He called us to this place in our lives. What a gift we've received through this sweet boy. Adoption is once again changing us. May we never be the same.

Our Beautiful Son~

We arrived safely in Beijing and then to Shepherd's Field where we met our beautiful son Greyson~

 Much more to come! SO tired!!!

God is SO good!!!

Greyson... Here we come

We are currently at Huntsville Airport waiting to leave. Our flight leaves for Detroit at 11:30. At 3:30, we leave Detroit for Tokyo... Then to Beijing. We are so excited in anticipation to meet our new son Greyson. As a mom, I must say I'm having a hard time leaving Kailey behind at college. This is a first. We will sure miss her!!

Kailey leaves China

Currently, Kailey is on her way home from China.  I do know she was very sad to be leaving.  She just loves those precious children and I'm sure it was even harder leaving her little brother there.  Please pray for her as she travels back home. 
We have so missed her, but are even more grateful she had this wonderful opportunity.  Please pray for our precious Greyson.  Personally, I'm concerned about his little heart being broken with Kailey coming home.  Kailey made him a "countdown calendar" so that he can see that we are coming very soon.  His preschool teacher has agreed to mark out the days and countdown to our arrival. 
We cherish your prayers.  Please pray that God would prepare him for our family as we unite soon.

CA and plane tickets

It's official... the Franks are going to China!  We received our consulate appointment confirmation on Tuesday, the 31st.  Greg booked tickets yesterday... hotel reservations are being made... plans are definitely underway to go get our boy!!  We leave for China on August 22nd. 
SO SO much to do before we travel.  Kailey comes home August 12th and five days later, on the 17th and 18th, we move her to Covenant College.  Where did the time go?  Even though we are so proud of Kailey and her accomplishments, we are going to be so sad to let her move away.  I'm going to miss her terribly!!  
After we move her in that weekend, we will then be boarding a plane four days later to go get Grey.  As one can imagine... very mixed emotions here in the Franks home...  Good thing is that Kailey will only be two hours from home.  :)

Kailey meets Greyson

Many of you know we have prayed that Kailey would be able to go with us to China.  Well... the timing just was not going to happen the way it needed to for Kailey to go.  She has to be at Covenant College to move in to her dorm on August 17th.  We were saddened at the thought of her not being part of this adoption journey to get our precious Greyson.  BUT... God is good.  He had another way and personally, I think it was even better for Kailey.  She was given the opportunity to go to Shepherd's Field and serve for two weeks as an intern!  Of course, mom was super nervous about her traveling to China without us but Kailey assured us she would be just fine and being the Army brat that she is, we knew she could do it.  Life in the military prepares you for things like this and she has such an adventurous spirit.  Anyway... she flew out Sunday, the 29th and arrived in Beijing on Monday afternoon around 2:00 pm.  Shepherd's Field picked her up at the airport and took her to the village.  She called us super excited to tell us she would be teaching preschool art.  AND... you guessed it, guess who would be in her class?  Her little brother.  GOD BLOWS ME AWAY!  Later that same day she was able to meet him!  Her heart just melted and in an instant another little Chinese orphan caused that quishy heart of hers to grow even bigger.  She was in love.  He too, loves his new Jei Jei (big sister in Chinese). 
The next morning (China time) and evening our time, she calls and tells us that Sara (from Shepherd's Field) would be telling Grey(aka Greyson) about his new family in about an hour.  I began to pray for his heart.  He has been at SF since he was two months old.  How scary for him it must be to think of leaving all that he knows. 

An hour later around 10 pm, after everyone had gone to bed, I was in the kitchen and "just happened" to see my phone light up.  The screen read "Kailey Franks wants to facetime".  So... I answered.  Kailey tells me they are getting ready to tell him and we could watch through facetime (similar to skype).  I yelled for Greg to get up, ran upstairs to get Brady; however, I wasn't willing to wake up Ruthey.  He could just see his Mei Mei asleep.  :)  THEN... there was his sweet face.  Tears began to flow from mine and Greg's eyes (yes, a soldier does cry at times).  Brady gets on and says ni-hao to Grey.  I show Grey Ruthey's sweet face sleeping soundly.  We begin to tell him we love him as Sara translates.  Not too many other words came.  It was a treasured moment to see this precious child's face and know that before the foundation of world, he was created to be our child. Thank you Jesus for this calling of adoption upon our lives. 

                                 Kailey and Grey's first picture together... look at those smiles!!

  

                                                                     Grey meeting mommy

                                                                  He's a little unsure here

                                                        Our first "picture" with Grey

                          I sent a family photo album for him... I hear he keeps it under his pillow