Wu Hui 
Xuan is now Willow Rae Hui Xuan Kruggel, just like that! After 20 hours of traveling across China by train and seeing some absolutely unbelievable sites (while also having a blast; all four of us crammed into a bite size cubicle with bunk beds), we arrived in Lanzhou at about 2:30 p.m. and were swiftly whisked to our hotel. By a little after 4:00 p.m. we were greeted with little Willow (right in the hotel), who was not too pleased to see us (as you can see here). We immediately interpreted that as a pretty good sign overall, and proceeded to gently draw near her; both Victoria and I were pretty captured by the moment and almost moved to tears. Barret was our photographer, and Poppy was bouncing with joy 
yelling, "Can we keep her? Can we keep her?" ("Yes, Poppy, we can keep her.") Willow was very cautious of me (Tom), but gravitated right to Barret (and he's so good and gentle with her). Some paper signing and a few photographs later, we were up in our room for an quick bathing with the two little girls (seen here). It was in the tub that we really began to see Willow come alive. She smiled, laughed, played with toys and relaxed in our presence. We ate some dinner, put the girls in their matching jammies, and we're off to bed (completely wiped) with a calm bond of love in our family that causes us to just say, "Ahhhh, thank you Jesus."
We'll write more later, as we just have to get some shut-eye (tomorrow's a big day). In the meantim
e, your prayers were heard and they've been answered. As I write this blog entry and get ready to sign off, there's a quite in the room as the three girls are sleeping together, and Barret's out like a light. I'm a very content man.
I hope this post goes through. Aside from quickly writing this and uploading some photographs, I cannot even view the blog myself due to internet connectivity weakness. Because I want to make sure this entry gets posted, I'm unable to creatively capture all that's happened in the last 36 hours, but hope to do more of that in later posts. Please stay tuned.
We love and thank you all,
Tom, Victoria, Barret, Poppy & Willow (and Austin & Annie)
Xuan is now Willow Rae Hui Xuan Kruggel, just like that! After 20 hours of traveling across China by train and seeing some absolutely unbelievable sites (while also having a blast; all four of us crammed into a bite size cubicle with bunk beds), we arrived in Lanzhou at about 2:30 p.m. and were swiftly whisked to our hotel. By a little after 4:00 p.m. we were greeted with little Willow (right in the hotel), who was not too pleased to see us (as you can see here). We immediately interpreted that as a pretty good sign overall, and proceeded to gently draw near her; both Victoria and I were pretty captured by the moment and almost moved to tears. Barret was our photographer, and Poppy was bouncing with joy 
yelling, "Can we keep her? Can we keep her?" ("Yes, Poppy, we can keep her.") Willow was very cautious of me (Tom), but gravitated right to Barret (and he's so good and gentle with her). Some paper signing and a few photographs later, we were up in our room for an quick bathing with the two little girls (seen here). It was in the tub that we really began to see Willow come alive. She smiled, laughed, played with toys and relaxed in our presence. We ate some dinner, put the girls in their matching jammies, and we're off to bed (completely wiped) with a calm bond of love in our family that causes us to just say, "Ahhhh, thank you Jesus." We'll write more later, as we just have to get some shut-eye (tomorrow's a big day). In the meantim
e, your prayers were heard and they've been answered. As I write this blog entry and get ready to sign off, there's a quite in the room as the three girls are sleeping together, and Barret's out like a light. I'm a very content man.I hope this post goes through. Aside from quickly writing this and uploading some photographs, I cannot even view the blog myself due to internet connectivity weakness. Because I want to make sure this entry gets posted, I'm unable to creatively capture all that's happened in the last 36 hours, but hope to do more of that in later posts. Please stay tuned.
We love and thank you all,
Tom, Victoria, Barret, Poppy & Willow (and Austin & Annie)
2 comments:
First of all... I love that they have matching jammies and now matching parents.
Can't wait to meet your sweet Willow. What a blessing to see Poppy take the role of 'big sister'.
Love you more,
Mare
Hi Kruggels 7!
Today at church we sang the song "Turn your eyes upon Jesus", and we were thinking of you all, praying for Willow to see Jesus in you and feel His comfort as she met you for the first time - looks like our prayers were answered since it didn't take very long for her tears to turn into smiles and laughter - and no ice cream this time! Barret, Tim commented on how delighted you must have been to have Willow take to you so quickly - we totally understand why. May you all have a good rest and a continued safe and delightful journey back home. Tom, Tim wants to know how far you ran today? Love to you all,
Tim and Mary DuFault
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