26
Feb

State of the Nation

We are all doing really quite well for only having been a family of seven for eight days! 

That being said, here is what that really means:

  1. Samuel is becoming more needful of Steve and I to be in close proximity to him.  He becomes more concerned if one of us has to leave the room.
  2. Samuel is eating and sleeping marvelously.
  3. We are completely out of his element and he hears people speaking about his legs a lot.  We fill him with as much love and reassurance as we can about our pride in his abilities and appearance.
  4. He is baby and he is boy – all rolled into one.  Diapers and cooing.  Preschool songs and bossiness. Needful of snuggle time and wanting to test the limits of his strength and agility.
  5. He is most definitely a dominant lefty – Grandpa H. rejoices (it only took 2 kids and 8 grandchildren!)  😉
  6. Faith is having a great time in familiar territory and yet is needing Mom and Dad to be close.
  7. Faith has really shown more interest in this little person than I have ever seen her take interest in a child before.  She’s really enjoying being a part of caring for him and playing with him.  
  8. James is struggling with the fact that he has a fair bit of independence on this trip and yet still needs supervision.  Boy – Man.  It’s a tough place to be.
  9. James loves his new brother.  Samuel reaches for him and asks for him to carry him.  Steals his glasses and James grins. 
  10. Grace is doing really very well.  She’s remembering amazing details suddenly about our adoption trip (we stayed in this same hotel) – things she adamantly refused memory of before haev now been brought to the surface.  She’s rolling with it very well and we are seeing our daughter blossom into a new settled place at times.  Amazing.
  11. Grace is very patient with Samuel.  This surprised us as we thought there would be more jealousy.  Samuel loves to stroke her hair but often will add a playful tug to a handful and she scolds him gently.  Today she told in a very mature way that she doesn’t mind him playing with her hair, but that we just need to work on helping him not pull it.  Wow! 
  12. Garnet is having a tough time shifting up a rung on the family ladder.  He is super kind to Samuel and goes out of his way to share with him and be kind and play. However, he sidles up to me whenever given the chance for an extra snuggle or a game of chopsticks.  It’ll take time and reassurance.  I also believe the visit to Yinchuan next week may help him too.  He’s anxious about the unknowns.
  13. Garnet is a super sharer.  He lets Sam have the last bite of a snack.  He wants to play on the floor with him.  He teaches him silly faces and like to make him giggle by tickling him gently on his little legs.  Samuel calls him Gege and that goes a long way in Garnet’s books. 
  14. Steve had a new experience today.  Samuel was in the carrier at the Dirt Market and wet through his clothing, the carrier and Steve’s jacket and shirt.  We happened to be in our favourite shop and the proprietor had remembered our family.  We were chatting and then she offered for us to change Samuel’s clothing and diaper right on the framing table (it’s a photographic print shop).  She even offered her winter coat to change him on and hand carried the stinky diaper outside to the trash by hand.  She was very sweet! 
  15. Another vendor saw Samuel’s runny nose (it was cold – it snowed today in Beijing!) and offered some of her toilet paper for his nose.
  16. The taxi driver we took back to the hotel cooed at Samuel in Chinese.  He also narrowly missed rear-ending a car when said car slammed on its brakes in order to avoid a bus at 80 km/hr on 2nd Ring Road. He saved us 27 RMB over our family’s other taxi by speeding and dodging though.  hehe
  17. One of the other children in our group calls Garnet “Barnacle” much to the chagrin of her parents.  She’s terribly cute.
  18. The kids are missing their cats.
  19. Grace has asked after home a few times. Such nice things to hear from a little girl who wasn’t sure which place she wanted to call home a short time ago.
  20. Have I mentioned that Samuel is FAST!  Oh, and agile?
  21. At the Dirt Market: Grace spent $14 Cdn (5 items – pretty and mostly wearable), Faith spent $11 Cdn (4 items – dainty and decorative), Garnet spent $1.50 Cdn (1 item that frightens me to no end – can you guess what it was?), James spent $30 Cdn (a pair of somethings that may or may not be removed by customs from his checked bag – any guesses?)  
  22. Our trip to the countryside is cancelled tomorrow.  We are visiting a new butterfly gardens here instead. 
  23. Your prayers, comments and e-mails have meant so very much to us.  Keep them coming!  We’ve been praying over things you’ve shared with us too.

Off to bed after some quick laundry in the tub at our 5 star hotel.  Motherhood…

26
Feb

Yueyang County Photos (part 1)

As usual, click on each image to see an enlarged version. 

Hover cursor over thumbnails to see short description.

Valerie, “Superman Sleeps” is for you.  🙂

24
Feb

Yueyang County

The visit went so well! 

The countryside was amazing.  Red earth.  Water Buffalo.  Rice Paddies.  Hillside Family Tombs. 

We went straight to the orphanage which is now only used as offices.  The foster Grandmother met us in the parking lot.  She so badly just wanted to touch him.  Her eyes were aboslutely saoking in every inch of him. He curled into me and his little legs clung to my trunk under the carrier I had him in. 

The two staff ladies ushered us upstairs to the director’s office for tea and a short visit.  We began sharing information back and forth through our guide. 

She had given us 3 photos of him as an 8 and 12 month old.  Bathing, feeding, holding him.  Treasures!  He was so delighted to see them.  He kept kissing them and saying, “Beibei Xiao Ba!”. 

We gave her a sheet of photos (our family, his referral photo – which we hear he was betweenb 5 and 6 months old in, and an update we received).  We also gave the grandfather a gift.

Then we were invited to their home which was a short distance away.  We were served snacks, tea and allowed to take photos around their home.

The child they described was absolutely our Samuel.  LOVES peanuts, splashing in the bath tub, motor vehicles, very affectionate.  The grandfather rides a motorcycle and Samuel always knew when he was on his way home and Samuel could tell it was him!  They chuckled at how he splash es gets us soaked during bathtime.  They shed some discreet tears.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Then we were taken a short ways by foot to see some friends and they were delighted to see his growth and strength!  We enjoyed our time threre.  Samuel began warming up a bit, but Stephen held him out of the carrier. 

 ggngngnngggg  (Samuel’s blogging help)
We then took everyone out for lunch (15 people fr $50 and a tonne left over).  Samuel gets car sick and after 2.5 hr drive, snacks, stress, heat as we had him bundled Chinese style out of courtesy, and then a bit of spicy food that required lots of rice and water to douse, he promptly threw up what seemed to be 1/2 a litre.  Poor baby.  He was so ashamed.  You could see it.  We snuggled him and reassured him.  We took him to the wash basin and cleaned him up.  He began to feel better and really started to perk up.
 
We then said our thanks, again and he stayed in my arms, but gave hugs and kisses to his foster grandparents.  We were able to share some of the care and possible prosthetics we hope to get him in Canada. We were worried about making it seem as though we thought their care was not good enough, but they seemed happy to hear about it all. 
 
We then all got back on the bus and stopped at the finding spot.  Photos and then I set Samuel down on the ground.  I wanted him to show them how he could move, but I wasn’t sure what he would do.  He bolted for the bus.  Much shouts of joy and laughter.  I was so glad.  He was giggling a bit.  I was a good moment to end on. 
 
Many kisses were blown and they gathered around the bus door as we drove away. 
 
What an incredible day.  We all slept well last night!  And the best part?  Samuel clung to us, came to us, we could comfort him when he was sick, we took tonnes of photos and we saw and shared so much of what he was and still is. 
 
God is good. 
23
Feb

A bit of touring and a few tears

Samuel woke up a bit more subdued yesterday.  We had a few moments of tears.  More than the obvious situation called for and we looked at each other and were slightly relieved.  Grief. While it’s not fun to know our kids have to grieve, we are so glad he is coming to us for the comforting.  Each of our kids has experienced their grief in a unique way and not always in an initially healthy way.   Samuel is beginning to grieve, but in a much healthier way.  Tears and acceopting comfort.  Saying a few words.  Telling us if he likes or doesn’t like something.  Putting on the cheesy grin less and less.  He’s going to be alright. 

We had a really interesting morning at the embroidery exhibition and ancient university (amazing and beautiful!) and then a really delicious lunch out (green tea dumplings with a yolk centre – yum!).  Then Grandma and Grandpa spent the afternoon with me searching for a file or hacksaw to cut the ground off of Grandma’s netbook.  Grandpa bought one in a small plumbing shop, streetside, and Grandma and I found and adapter (that didn’t work out) with much motioning, Chinglish and a lot of staff help at the Friendship store.  

We also bought formula and diapers to take to the Yueyang County SWI today.  We will be visitingf and also meeting with his first foster family.  We are really excited to meet them! 

We know it will be a difficult day for Samuel, so if you happen to be awake, please pray for him.  We’ll do everything in our power to make it easier for him, but having adopted older, we know how significant having all these ties can be for the kids as they grow.  We need to balance things.   

His heart is for his heart and we are entrusting our son to Him and doing the best to be sensitive to what He is doing.

Thank you for each of your comments.  I won’tbe able to post photos right now, but will add more in the future.  K.  sorry no video in the near future.  I promise you’ll have it once we are home. 

I hear him singing the Clean Up song (you know: Clean Up!  Clean Up!  Everybody everywhere!)  I better get organized for the long drive (2.5 – 3 hours each way).

Love,

22
Feb

Such a happy boy!

{Click on individual photos to see them larger.  A few will not be able to be resized this time due to operator error.} 

We are amazed at how outgoing and joyful this little guy is!  It has been such a fun day as we watched him charm construction workers, drivers, school children and bowling alley staff at the hotel to name a few.  Oh, and if anyone needs a bus flagged down, he’s your man (“Bus-sy!”).  

He loves to sing and chatter.  He’s sleeping, but I can still hear his voice saying, “Ai You!” (more).  His counting goes like this consistently: Yi, Er, Wu… (1, 2, 5, 3, 9).  He sings Frere Jacques, Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle, Twinkle, Old MacDonald, Mary Had a Little Lamb and Row, Row, Row Your Boat – all in English, but with varying degrees of accuracy, although always adorable.    

He snuggles in so well and comes to us for affection and comfort and his needs and wants.  It is amazing.  He’ll mischeviously push out a bit, but always returns to what we ask of him.  I’m sure that we will see more of that as he settles into real life with our family, but for now it is hard not to just smile and be drawn into his sunshine. 

He does show his anxiety though.  He chews his nails.  Sometimes he’ll chew on other things or bite his bottom lip a titch.  Just subtle signs, but just enough to let us help him.  

He slept 9 hours last night after only a few minutes of tears.  Today he napped for an hour and a half.  This evening he layed down and we sat near him while he settled.  We are building routines and trying hard to follow the one he had until yesterday.  So far so good. 

He is eating really well too!  We even gave him a bit of ice cream (he shuddered with every bite adn then clutched my arm for more!) after his dim sum tonight, and he sampled some McD’s fries for lunch (no worries, he ate healthfully otherwise :). 

When we completed our paperwork at the Civil Affairs office today, we helped him explore the wooden benches and he climbed and crawled and raced and simply wowed everyone he met.  Us too! 

I say this each and every time that we receive a child into our family, but it is so true.  I feel as though my heart has grown and not just grown but exploded. It is so full right now. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

In other news, Miss Grace has lost one of her top front teeth!  The second is sure to follow.  She was so concerned about how she looked and realy wanted it to fall out before we made it to Zhongshan.  Finally it came out with a bit of help from Dad tonight.  

Garnet’s comment: Is there a Chinese tooth fairy?  {smile} 

21
Feb

Super Seven!

21
Feb

Protected: The Last Week…

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19
Feb

Absolutely spoiled

That’s us, I mean.  We keep wanting to pinch ourselves.  Obviously more later. 

Thanks for praying – today is such a big day for each of the members of our family. 

Today our little man leaves all he remembers and my heart is a mixture of sadness and nervous excitement.  Praying for his heart today.  And thanking God for the internet and all it means for his ability to connect again one day. 

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to my oldest and dearest friend, Kristie and her husband Patrick.  We are beyond thrilled for you and wish only for a glimpse of that sweet face.  Can’t wait to meet the newest family member!

Off to stuff a suitcase and head to the airport and Changsha…

P.S. Spike is ready for photos.  Once we get to Hunan he’s going to jump out of James’ pack adn you’ll have to pay attention to find him!

18
Feb

Speechless

I know.  Not what you all want to hear.  But it’s necessary for now. 

Priceless.  That is what today was. 

We have another priceless day tomorrow and then we head south.  Forever a family of seven.

If it’s any consolation, today was filled with some of the most precious moments of my life.  And I think the feeling was mutual.

{And Kristi?  I’ve got video.}

17
Feb

We’re Here!

Safe travels.
Seriously amazing connections.
Last night of CNY = Lantern Festival
Tons of fireworks!
BIG day tomorrow. T minus 12 hours.
Thank you for praying!
Love,