A Full Quiver

2011-09-19T19:21:00.000-06:00

I feel like everytime I sit down to blog, I start with "things are going well around here". Hmm, how about things are splendid? Baby finally has an appointment with an orthopeadic surgeon. I hope we can get moving along with her repairs. She continues to pick up more words, and even did a two word sentence this week. The big kids are learning to be older siblings, which is not always a fun thing for older siblings.

Sans Pictures

2011-09-07T12:50:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe we've been home a month. My old laptop finally died. Unfortunately, all the photos are on it, so until the data is retrieved or I take new ones, we are posting photoless. Things are going well with the new baby. She is settling in, the big kids are adjusting to having a new one at home and we are starting our new routines. We are still trying to get set up at the limb difference clinic to start her surgeries. Hopefully soon. She wants to walk all the time, but still needs to hold someone's fingers. I hope her strong motivation to walk carries over when she gets her prosthetics.

The big two have started school. Both are doing well, but neither wanted summer vacation to end.

Hopefully, I will be a better poster and will get some photos taken!

In LA

2011-07-29T23:35:00.001-06:00

We've made it to LA, as in Los Angeles, not lower Alabama. I have the following observations:

1. We're not the freakiest thing here.

2. No one stares at us.

3. The papparazi photograph stars, not tourists. I'm not quite hip enough to recognize the girl, but the crowd of photographers did.

4. There are no baby changing stations in the restrooms. Seriously, who would have thought any public place in America didn't have them.

Waiting for the red-eye to the real LA...

-- Post From My iPhone

Chen Family Temple, Goodbye China and Some Answers

2011-07-28T21:46:00.000-06:00

We went to the Chen Family Temple today. It is now a museum chronicling art forms of the Guangzhou region--jade carving, ivory carving, embroidery and so forth. It is really very nice. The last time we were in China, they were doing repairs to the facade. It is now all freshly painted and lovely. It's hard to pick photos, since this is our third visit to the temple. Hard to remember what we've posted before.

Today is our last day in China. We leave about 9 pm tonight, which is roughly 8 am central time. We have about 25 hours of travel time and will be in Mobile at 9:05 am, Saturday, assuming all the flights go smoothly and the tropical storms turn south. Hope to see y'all at the airport!!

As this part of our adoption journey comes to a close, I thought I would answer some unasked questions, in case anyone wanted to know.

Why adopt? We need kids. An empty house would be lonely.

Why China? China is a very straightforward process for international adoption. They have been stable for many years, without major shutdowns. It is a one trip country, with roughly two weeks in country. It is also a somewhat guaranteed place (at least right now). If you do the paperwork and get in line, you will eventually get a child.

Why Special Needs and Why this Child? This is a much harder question. Not because the answers are complicated, but because it is easy to get on my special needs soapbox and it is also easy to come across as self righteous or overly obnoxious. When we started our first adoption process almost 5.5 years ago, the wait time for China was around 8-9 months, meaning, once your paperwork went to China, you would get a referral and travel in less than a year. In the 11 months it took us to complete our dossier, the wait went to about 18 months. It has only gotten slower and the most recent families receiving regular program children waited 5 years. It is estimated that if we had stayed in that program, we would receive a referral in 2 more years, so 7 years from log in and almost 8 years from starting, for our first child. This led us to look at the special needs program way back when we adopted J.

Special needs adoption from China is a broad category. There are children with very minor needs, like birth marks or minor heart murmurs that are on the list. Things that make them less than 'perfect', but at the same time, things that will resolve spontaneously or with minor surgery. There are also children with more profound needs that can be life-threatening and life-altering. And everything in between. J, whom we adopted in 2007, is what is considered minor correctable. She had one surgery in China and has had absolutely no additional follow-up, testing, anything related to her surgery. And never will. K is considered a moderate need. He will have lifelong issues related to it, but will grow up to function normally in society and, for the most part, people are unaware of the severity of his sight issues. We personally look at E's needs as moderate, although some would consider her severe. She will require surgery and prosthetics, but will still have a normal life. For both K and E, the medical and supportive care they need is simply not available in China.

So, why this child? The last two adoptions for us have been intentionally waiting child. Part of that process is filling out a checklist of needs you are willing to accept. The placing agency uses this to find the best match for your family. It is extensive. As we were going through the process this time, praying, thinking, looking at files, it occurred to me that every need listed on the checklist was not a medical condition, but a child, made in the image of God, by God (Ps 139:13-15, Gen 1:27). Two other things profoundly affected me as we worked our way through the process. One was the passage in Acts where Peter is dreaming about the unclean foods and God tells him "don't call what I have cleaned unholy" (Acts 10: 9-16). I began to feel like I was passing judgement on what God had created, deciding what was good and what was not, forgetting the Maker, who saw them all as good. The other thing was Isaiah 61:1-3 "beauty for ashes". I look at E and I see beauty, while others look at her and see ashes. There is no mourning for her, only a bright future and hope.

So, yes, E has profound leg deformities. But please don't look at her with pity. There are two thousand waiting children in china who need pity, but E has hope.

Five Goats Garden

2011-07-28T01:41:00.000-06:00

Daddy bottle bonding time

You just think I'm wearing clothes today

We went to the five goats garden again today, but this time we took a camera. There is actually a lot of stuff there besides the five goats statue. There is a Korean style garden, a swimming pool, a small lake, and a museum. We got a stroller this week. Not the best for bonding, but it's hot here and it's really hot to walk around with a baby on you. She thinks it's some form of torture. We've slowly worked her up to the not screaming her head off stage, but she does not feel the stroller love.

Smiley Miss Baby

2011-07-26T05:07:00.002-06:00

2011-07-25T01:06:00.000-06:00

Look whose holding baby today!

Yuntai Garden

2011-07-24T02:07:00.001-06:00

Today we went to Yuntai Garden, which is my favorite place in China. It's beautiful, peaceful, uncrowded, tranquil. Someday I want to go really early in the morning, without a newly adopted baby, and photograph for hours. Here is a brief selection of photos, bad lighting and all.

Baby overall continues to do quite well. She is happy most of the time. She is having some night terrors, which are just miserable. Miserable for us, that is. She still has a mommy preference, but will let daddy play with her a little more. Still not able to hold her, but he can at least entertain her for brief periods while mommy is busy. She is eating better. She eats a lot of fried rice and watermelon. And french fries. She is trying to self feed with a fork and spoon. Messy. And since she refuses to sit in a high chair, it's a little messy for mommy, too. It's really been a good trip, but I'm ready to come home.

2011-07-22T21:39:00.000-06:00

We did the physical exam today. Baby weighed in at ....drum roll... 15 pounds. Oh yeah, she's a heavyweight. She is 24 inches to her knees. J was 18 pounds and 29 inches when we adopted her, so I think some of the smallness is the lack of full legs. The doctors lacked bedside manner. Twenty minutes of chatting, yelling, consultation amongst the doctors was translated by our guide as "they say she has a severe leg deformity and nothing can be done." So I have some breaking news for you who don't know, baby has leg deformities. Prosthetics now are amazing. Her future is full of possibility.

We did a little shopping on the island before heading back to the hotel. We're both missing the familiar comfort of the island right now, but I'm sure the pure luxury of the China Hotel will soon win us over.

Guangzhou

2011-07-22T18:05:00.000-06:00

We've made it to Guangzhou. Today we will get E's physical examination and TB test done, and drop off some laundry (thank goodness).

We are staying in the China Hotel and it is schwanky.

Yes that is a full window from the potty all the way to the bedroom.

Schwanky.

2011-07-21T02:21:00.000-06:00

Add caption

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is considered the father of Modern China.

Today was another sight seeing day. We went to the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum. It is a lot of stairs, which sounds like it wasn;t enjoyable, but it was very nice. I learned, however, that a black baby carrier in the hot sun is very hot. Baby was hot and unhappy. We had to take her out and carry her in our arms.

Two things happened overnight. Baby found her voice. She was absolutely silent on Monday and Tuesday, yesterday we got some crying, but today she has more vocalizations. No true words, but no more silence. She will sometimes say bye bye. The other change was a sudden mommy preference. No more holding by daddy or playing with him. It is another good bonding step, but makes the days more challenging. I keep telling myself someday everyone will go to college and I can go to the bathroom alone.

2011-07-20T03:07:00.000-06:00

Here's a few extra pics of our hotel and the Confucious temple...

Our Hotel, the Mandarin Garden

The quay along the river across from the Temple

...and the City Gate of Nanjing.

and a gratuitous baby shot:

2011-07-20T02:41:00.000-06:00

Today was a free day and we went sight seeing. We went to the Confucius Temple grounds this morning, but not the temple itself, early, since E thought a good wake up time would be 5 am. It is close to the hotel we are at. We have actually walked over there several times, but finally took the camera today. It is usually very crowded with tourists and hawkers. People pay to put these red ribbons onto a gold tree. I'm not sure why, but it is really pretty.

The grounds are near a river and the dragons are on the wall across from the temple. It is suppose to be very pretty at night, with lights and lanterns.

We also went to the city gate, which is pretty much what it sounds like, an ancient city gate. The bricks have sayings or poetry written on them.

Happy Baby! We are having a pretty good day. E has turned into a velcro baby, and is not very happy away from mom. But, she does still let dad hold her and play with her, giving mom some breaks. She is grumpy at sleep times and will pitch a royal fit about laying down. She is also eating a little better today. She had pretty much only done bottles since we received her Monday, but today she ate quite a bit at breakfast and lunch. We still are not sure what to feed her and even bought some baby food. Shopping in the chinese markets is always a challenge. We thought we bought some mushed up pears. There were lovely pears on the jar. And lots of chinese text. What we really got was pear juice (which has been summarily rejected by the princess). We did better on our second run and came home with actual baby food, which was thought yummy at dinner but blech at breakfast.

We've been working on this adoption for almost 19 months. I bought this bib for Uncle Don probably half way through the process. It used to say he was hot and single, but we had to alter that to hot and taken. You still owe her a quarter.

The Adoption is Final.

2011-07-18T23:55:00.001-06:00

Signing papers in triplicate with thumbprints

We went to the adoption office again today to sign the final paperwork and get Eleanor's official adoption certificate. She woke this morning unsure of her surroundings but being very brave about her situation.

She's still unsure about what is happening around her, but there is good evidence that she was very loved and we expect that the bonding will be strong when it happens. The experience of us and others is that well cared-for children have an easier time transferring the bonding to their parents.

Tickle tickle.

We look like we're testifying before congress

More tickle tickle

At left, the orphanage director, to the right, the man who handles adoption paperwork. We traded email addresses, so we can send photos of her college graduation in 2031

Here she is folks.

2011-07-18T04:11:00.000-06:00

Walking into the building

Family

Learning about the iPhone

We have finally met the precious baby E. We headed to the civil affairs office around three pm. We got there about eight minutes early and while we were waiting, baby E came in with the director. We spent probably a half hour there. She fell asleep in my arms. Poor thing was so tired. We had to wake her up for an official photo. Then we headed back to the hotel, then to the market for formula. She is still on bottles and takes about four a day. She eats congee and rice, too. Right now, she is playing with daddy while I type. It's been a smooth transition so far. She is laughing and smiling and makes excellent eye contact. She lets daddy hold her. I think it was the iPhone that won her over.

Here

2011-07-17T00:09:00.000-06:00

We have made it to Nanjing. Settling in at the hotel. It feels weird not getting the baby today, having time to recover from the jet before becoming new parents. We"ll venture out in a little while for provisions--coke, water, all the important things in life! We get baby E tomorrow at 3 pm, which is like 2 am central time.

Almost there…

2011-07-16T17:03:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post here to say that we made it to China. Sitting in the Guangzhou airport waiting for our last flight. Once we're settled in at our hotel and we've met Sara our guide, we'll send a proper post.
Hope you all had a great July 16th! We didn't get one.

2011-07-15T07:51:00.000-06:00

And we are off!! Please pray we have safe travels, make all our connections, it doesn't rain in Houston and for the big kids as they stay here. Hopefully our next post will be from Nanjing!

2011-07-10T20:28:00.000-06:00

We are finally leaving for China this week. It has really sunk in today and I'm going in to freak out mode. The kids may have a long week with their crazy mom. I have about three lists going right now--packing list, to do list, second packing list for the kids. I like lists and crossing things off.

A lot has happened in the last six weeks or so. It has in many ways been a very difficult time. We have gone from excitedly planning to adopt two more little ones to only adopting one. We have felt devastated and lost, but in it all, we know that God is sovereign, and although this is not what we wanted or planned, there is peace knowing we are where God wants us to be.

We will plan to blog from China, so please join us as we add one more little one to our family!

And now some completely unrelated photos:

2011-04-24T19:24:00.003-06:00

Psalms 139:14-17

"I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eye saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of the came to be." (emphasis mine)

The babies have limb differences. E will need an amputation on the left and, at a minimum, reconstruction on the right, if not full amputation. P may need some surgery on his hand to improve function. K is legally blind. J had a surgery around one year of age. All considered waiting children in the world of adoption. Waiting on someone to become their family. A few among literally thousands. Children born less than perfect in a world that values perfection. Yet God was not shocked upon their entering the world. He didn't scratch His head and wonder why E does not have a full complement of leg bones. He didn't count P's fingers and toes and with surprise, find a number less than 20. He created them, in His image, as beautiful and wonderful. He ordained their days.

The pastor told a story this morning about being nauseated upon seeing a malformed, aborted fetus. Grotesque, unnatural. Followed by the thought of "who could love something like that?". Yet someone did. That child may well have been the hoped for offspring of excited parents, who loved them from the moment they learned of the pregnancy and who grieved their loss. And God does. As terrible and awful as we think it is, God, the creator, loved that child as much as any other. Who are we judge the value of what God has made?

We have been blessed beyond measure with the wonderful creations in our home.

2011-02-07T10:19:00.000-06:00

2011-01-28T09:37:00.005-06:00

Hmm, it would seem my new resolve for consistent blogging did not last very long. I have turned on the full comment moderation mode. I've gotten some spam comments, which on one hand seems quite odd. Wouldn't you want to spam a blog that is at least somewhat consistently posted to? The audience around here is well, probably quite small.

I suppose I should post a recent update on the adoption front. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of two LOA (letter of acceptance, China's final approval of our dossier). That's right, two! We have a referral for a 16 month old boy in addition to our 19 month old girl. We are pretty excited about having two little ones running around the house this summer. J is all ready to be the big sister and feed bottles and rock them. If only I can convince her that diaper duty is loads of fun...

2010-12-30T13:37:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm thinking I may relaunch the blog and maybe have the consistency to keep it up. Well, at least when we travel again I will keep it up. So, here's a short update of our lives.

We are once again Dossier to China (DTC)!! Woohoo!! We have been matched with a beautiful girl who is currently 18 months old. We are hoping to travel around May. We are also hoping to get a second match since china is now allowing simultaneous adoptions of unrelated children.

J has started school this year. Everyone (including me) survived her first day of school. She mostly loves it, but loves skipping more! You can see how excited she was on the first day of school!

K is partially mainstreamed this year. He is doing remarkable well in his class. He still requires a lot of assistance, but we are making progress.

We had a really wonderful Christmas. We made our traditional gingerbread houses and cookies. We got to have Christmas dinner with both sets of grandparents and got spoiled rotten with all our new toys.

Okay, maybe my next attempt at posting will be more verbose.

2010-07-03T19:49:00.002-06:00

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2010-04-04T17:13:00.001-06:00

2010-04-02T19:32:00.004-06:00

Today we celebrated three years with J. It still feels like yesterday we were missing our flight to China and arriving a few hours before meeting our baby.

April 2, 2007
We still have that packet of kleenex she has the death grip on.

April 2, 2008
Notice she's wearing the same blanket sleeper for the photograph.

April 2, 2009
Arriving home from our trip to China to adopt brother

April 2, 2010

The happy princess

2010-03-31T19:44:00.002-06:00

2010-03-30T12:39:00.003-06:00

2010-03-21T19:24:00.001-06:00

2010-03-19T12:55:00.002-06:00

2010-03-17T11:46:00.002-06:00

2010-03-15T19:27:00.003-06:00

March 15, 2010

Today is the one year anniversary of K joining our family. It has in many ways been a very short year and a very long one. It does feel like we have always been a family of four. In a most fitting way, K began his day at the eye doctor. This was followed by therapy, a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, and then dinner with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Don.

The blog may take a prolonged hiatus. It is harder to comment on our daily lives without revealing so much the kids are embarrassed. They are growing up so much and I want them to feel safe emotionally around us. They still tickle me and test me and sometimes I want to relay the latest drama, but I don't want to betray them. If/when we ever travel again, we will reboot, but for now, a break is in order.

March 15, 2009

2010-03-09T13:19:00.003-06:00

I am so ready for the grass to be this green again!

My blogging enthusiasm has once again taken an hiatus. We have falling into a busy routine. We have some form of therapy every day of the week. There has been lots of progress. We were watching video from last Easter a couple of weeks ago and K doesn't even run the same. He has much better use of his left arm and is so much more steady on his feet. I think it has been so gradual that I didn't realize how far he had come. His physical therapist told me they are ready to increase his difficulty, which is fantastic. It's amazing to see how far he has come.

We plod along with our third adoption. Nothing really to report on that front. It has been suggested we select an "L" name, then the kids would be, in order of adoption, J,K,L. I think we should be selecting an "I" name, because they would be K,J,I in descending order of age.

2010-02-03T22:46:00.001-06:00

We have scheduled our 12 month post-placement visit, which seems unbelievable. A whole year (well, technically 11 months)!

We are still big fans of dress up around here. Below the duo sport their latest aquisitions. We're pretending that's not a Dora dress. Surely there is some branded character who has not made an appearance in our house!

-- Post From My iPhone

2010-01-21T20:48:00.003-06:00

I fully intended to be a better blogger this year. Well, at least update once a week, but here we are, three weeks into the new year and I have yet to do a new post. Today is a good day to start, I suppose. It's hard, though, to always have something exciting to say. Things around here continue to improve. K is doing a lot of therapy each week and we are seeing improvement in many areas. It's hard to believe that we are fast approaching our one year anniversary with him. The year has really flown. It's even harder to believe we are approaching our three year anniversary with J. Wow! I can't even remember life without kids anymore. I think that I had a cleaner, quieter house, but, clean, quiet houses are boring!

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T18:56:00.004-06:00

The year is coming to an end. It's been quite an amazing year around here. I've been meditating on a new verse, Psalms 30:10-12 "Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my help. You have turned my wailing into dancing, you have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy that my heart may rejoice before you and be not silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." The Lord has done this in our lives. We have had some very dark moments this year, but our pain has turned to joy, our sadness to rejoicing. I am eternally grateful to Him and owe Him all the praise, and more.

2009-12-28T22:02:00.002-06:00

While we were in China in March, we had the opportunity to visit the Philip Hayden Foundation and meet some of the children living there. I learned today that the young lady pictured in the pink hoodie passed away this month. It breaks my heart that there are so many children in such desperate need of families. I want to bring them all home!

2009-12-26T19:57:00.003-06:00

Christmas has come to an end. It's hard to believe last Christmas we were anxiously waiting to receive our final approval to adopt K. And now we are celebrating Christ's birth with him. We are truly blessed to have two wonderful children who bring us such joy and laughter each day. They have made our world so much fuller and I cannot imagine life without them.

2009-12-22T16:19:00.005-06:00

We are having a fun, busy Christmas around here. I never did get them to sit still for a Christmas photo. Maybe on Christmas Day they will sit still for a picture. Okay, maybe not.

K had a school Christmas program that was a lot of fun. His class sang "Christmas don't be late". Each class did a song and the older kids did two songs. It was very fun to see all the children sing.

We loaded up for our annual trip to Bellingrath Gardens on Sunday. Phil proposed to me there and we really love it. It is so beautiful with all the different lights. I can't imagine their light bill!

2009-12-07T20:36:00.003-06:00

The Christmas season has begun. Thus far we've decorated our tree, made cookies and had the Children's Choir Christmas program. J was an angel and I don't think there has ever been a more excited angel. She was thrilled about wearing a white dress and wings. K wasn't quite ready for a program. The kids did a really great job.

Bonus points if you can name the character on J's dress.

2009-11-29T20:33:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We went to Dreamy and Granddaddy's house with the whole crew and really enjoyed it. We put up the Christmas tree, an activity both kids loved. They keep asking when Christmas is. I need to get some advent calendars for them to count down with.

I have yet to download (or is it upload?) the photos from the weekend, but they will come.

I've been ruminating on Jer 29:11-14 for about 2 weeks. Not just the "God has plans" for you part, but that this is from a letter written to exiles telling them to settle down, build houses, make roots. They are not where they want to be, but God tells them, "this is my plan". The section ends with a promise to bring them back, but in between, He tells them to seek His face, seek it with all their hearts. It reminds me that there is always hope and that there is always comfort in seeking the Lord earnestly and honestly.

2009-11-12T20:10:00.004-06:00

We went downtown Wednesday for the Veteran's Day Parade. We saw all our favorite things--Azalea Trail Maids, Firetrucks and Grandma and Paw Paw. It was a lot of fun. We also got to see the governor, which was really cool.

Our life seems to get busier and busier with more and more things to do. I suppose this only gets worse as they get older?

2009-10-31T20:26:00.004-06:00

We had a great time at the church's fall festival. J got to jump and jump and jump. She played some of the games this year and came home with her Easter bucket full of candy. Last year she jumped all night and came home with about five pieces of candy. I guess those days are over.

K had a blast. He played every game, some of them multiple times. He caught on fast to all the candy to be given out. He jumped and got a close look at the horses. He didn't ride one, though.

The pictures below are from the church picnic a couple of weeks ago. K got to ride in the pastor's jeep. In girl talk, it is an army green one. In boy talk, it is a restored one. I don't remember the model year. K talked about the ride for a long time and is totally ready to go again. Totally ready to drive...

I am doing a ladies Bible study at church this fall. It always intrigues me how each person will get something completely different out of a set of homework. We each have such different histories and perspectives. It has been insightful and enlightened to hear so many different voices.

2009-10-28T12:33:00.005-06:00

We tried something new around our house this week--pumpkin carving. It was a first for the kids and daddy, too. J did not like the feel of the pumpkin insides. K thought it was great. I think they turned out pretty well.

I heard a song today that I've probably heard many times before, but never really listened to the words. It is called 'What it Feels Like", by FFH. The song is about having your perfect life fall apart and relying solely on God for everything, turning to Him and following His leading. What it feels like to find the peace and comfort of a loving Father. I think I noticed it today because the Bible study I'm doing was reflecting upon John 6:66-69, where Jesus asks the disciples if they want to leave Him, too. Peter responds, 'To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of life.' I love these verses. They remind me that even when life is falling apart, God is still sovereign and He remains the source of life.

2009-10-16T19:05:00.005-06:00

Baby J, 2006

Today I was thinking about the preparations for our first trip to China. I saw a blog with a list of 10 important things to take to China that included Ziplock baggies. I dutifully packed two boxes worth of baggies for our trip, but I never did figure out what I was suppose to do with them. The boxes came back from China, crushed from being packed in a suitcase, but still carrying a full complement of bags. In retrospect, it is kind of funny. My entire parenting experience feels like those Ziplock baggies sometimes. I do "the right thing", not always sure why I do it, often failing miserably in the process. I try to fit the children into the mold of other people's children, dragging them to swim class, ballet, gymnastics, etc, forgetting they are unique individuals with unique needs. I also forget they were created by God, forged in His image, with His plan for them. I forget He blessed us with these wonderful creations, and that He has a plan for us in this process as well. I often feel crushed from the process, but I know God has not abandoned us; He is not silent and He will bring us through.

2009-10-06T20:53:00.003-06:00

We have made our first trip to the Pumpkin Patch. J loves the pumpkins. She talks about the pumpkin patch all year long. More than she talks about Christmas. She can tell you event-wise where it falls in the year. She can tell you she got bitten by ants last year and to watch out for the ants. She is sad when they go away. She is already planning her next outing to the pumpkins, as well as what size stroller we will need to carry her new acquisition. I love seeing the world through her eyes for awhile!

2009-10-02T07:25:00.001-06:00

K went back to the eye doctor this week. He has new eye drops and we go back again in three weeks.

We play a lot of dress up at our house. Some of our recent acquisitions are supergirl and batman. I have yet to convince either one to be a hobbit, but daddy has them well on their way with superheros.

-- Post From My iPhone

2009-09-25T19:47:00.006-06:00

Today was Happy Head Shot Day, the day my brother survived a gunshot to the head in Iraq three years ago. He was in his helicopter and came under fire. His helmet was ruined, but not him, Thank God.

K has a cane now. He has no depth perception and has a hard time ambulating in new places. He is learning to use it, but it is hard having spent so long without it.

J would not smile for any reason. None of the usual smile tricks worked, so here is a pensive Snow White wearing a cape my mother made for me.

The Princess Leia doo.

2009-09-15T12:14:00.003-06:00

Today is the six month anniversary of meeting K. It seems like it has been so much longer. I barely remember life before him. He continues to adjust to all the changes in his life, as do we all. They really are doing better as siblings and are having more 'usual' sibling rivalry.

I keep telling myself I am going to be more consistent with the blog and with taking pictures. I promise to try, really.

We have stuck our toes into the adoption waters again. Just testing the water right now...

2009-09-09T06:05:00.001-06:00

I seem to have once again fallen off the blog wagon. K has started school and seems to enjoy it. He is doing very well with English and is settling down more. We go back to UAB next month for more testing.

J stays home still. She is doing ballet and gymnastics this year.

They are getting along better and playing more together. It's been a rocky road this summer, but we hold to the belief that this is God's plan and trust in His sovereignty.

-- Post From My iPhone

2009-07-23T20:26:00.002-06:00

Have you ever read something that you probably have seen many times before, but for some reason, this time it really strikes you? I read one this morning: Hab 3:17-18 "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

2009-07-14T17:13:00.001-06:00

J is making a patient list for rounding.

-- Post From My iPhone

2009-07-13T19:42:00.001-06:00

We had a whirlwind trip to UAB today for K's follow-up. No answers right now, more testing ahead.

The drive back is always very long, but it does give me time to process. There are times when I think that I am not up to another adoption. In my heart, though, I still feel God is leading us back to China someday. Not any time soon, but I know the road is not done yet.

-- Post From My iPhone

2009-07-10T13:16:00.006-06:00

Here are the two darlings with the things they love--Miss Kitty and Batman.

Beyond that, I'm at a loss for what to say.

On second thought, I do have something to say. This blog update made me cry. This young man was severely burned in an accident that killed his father. To be loved by a new family is fantastic. More amazing is that he was able to spend the last few years among people who accepted him despite his special needs, who opened their arms, sought to meet his physical and spiritual needs and showed him the love of God through their actions and not mere words. If only every child in the world had such an opportunity...

2009-07-06T12:13:00.002-06:00

A lot has happened since I last updated the blog. Keith had his follow-up appointment with the ophthalmologist. His corrected vision (with glasses) is somewhere between 20/100 and 20/200. For perspective, the big E at the top of a vision chart is 20/200. With glasses, he can see that line. The next line is 20/100. He cannot see that line. Without glasses, he walks into walls. Legally blind is best corrected vision of 20/200, so he is close but not quite legally blind. He is going to have an exam under anesthesia of his eyes on August 7. I have spent a good deal of time over the last month on the phone with the public school system trying to get him evaluated and into the regional blind school. It has thus far been a very frustrating and irksome process.

He is doing quite well with learning English. He has trouble with concepts and words that sound similar, like Sunday and Someday. Overall, though, he communicates with us very well.

He is better bonded to daddy than mommy still, but at least doesn't cry when daddy leaves anymore.

J is now four, which is hard to believe. She continues to have sleep issues. She remains our little princess.

These are from the beach this weekend. K looks like he is surfing on his own in the top, but in the bottom, you can see Paw Paw holding the back. They both had a great time. J liked being in the water more than K.
A lot of other stuff has happened that I'm still processing, some of which still makes me very mad. I think some things are beyond repair, but time will tell.

I'm listening to a sermon where the speaker says we should use all that happens to us as a witness. I've spent a lot of time mulling this sermon. I've been uncertain about the direction of the blog for months and maybe it's time to turn the focus a little.

Overall, I believe that our adoptions have been the road God wants us on and overall I believe all that has happened has been His sovereign plan. The struggle, though, is seeing that sovereignty in the daily battles and seeing His plan in the hurtful times. It's the point where faith becomes reality.

This morning the kids were driving me a little crazy and I passed through the kitchen and saw the above. It was quite endearing, somehow, and reminded me how much fun they add to my life, even during the battles.

iphone pic dump: spring '09

2009-05-08T21:02:00.006-06:00

Here's the best from my iPhone. Enjoy!

These last ones, with Keith in his Bama shorts, Superman pajama shirt and Batman cape, are a pretty good indication of the constantly moving target that Keith is. He was acting "super" and was just cracking me up.

2009-05-08T19:22:00.003-06:00

We had our orthopedic appointment this week. It was really uneventful. He got some X-Rays and a stuffed bunny. The doctor was not impressed by his foot. He thinks his gait problems and foot turn are related to the arm in the sense that you normally use your arms to balance as you walk and run and he cannot do that, so the gait and foot are off. He said the arm is what it is. There are surgeries available, but he does not recommend them because he does not think kids gain enough function to warrant the extent of surgery required. We go back in six months for a check up.

We are getting the semblance of routine around here. Some days are better than others, but overall, things are headed in a positive direction. His behaviors are muted compared to a couple of months ago and he is having fewer totally ramped up wild moments. They still happen, but we are getting better at recognizing the start and heading them off. Both kids are testing the limits constantly, but who's kids don't?

2009-04-23T18:44:00.002-06:00

No new pictures. No excuses, just no pictures.

Things around here are in some ways settling in. Brother has really started to push the boundaries and test the limits. It is almost as though he figured out we were not going anywhere and decided he needed to establish the control. He is very different from sister in his power struggles. He will do more half-obedience and delay tactics than she would. Unfortunately, mommy wants full obedience and delay tactics result in being carried to bed. Sister is pushing the limits, too, I assume to figure out the new norm and establish some control for her. The days can be very long, but I know someday it will all pay off.

I have finally given up the battle of a toy free living room and have begun to turn it into a play room. I bought a kid table and two chairs today. I had one put together when brother woke up and he claimed it as his chair. It is identical to the other, but he drug that chair all over the house to make sure only he sat in it. I would walk to the kitchen and here he came with that chair. It was almost comical. He also went through his sister's room decided which toys in there were "his". She did not take well to that expedition.

We have our appointment with orthopedics May 7.

2009-04-21T10:25:00.002-06:00

It remains difficult to get two children smiling, looking at the camera and not physically harming one another. We are sporting new glasses around here. They arrived yesterday. It is hard to tell if there is a big difference or not, but he does wear them pretty consistently.

2009-04-17T11:33:00.002-06:00

We had our eye appointment yesterday. It went reasonably well. They put the drops in to dilate his eyes then made us wait TWO HOURS before they did the exam. That was sheer misery. He does have vision in both eyes and hopefully glasses will help. They are being made. The eye doctor used a set of lenses to test his vision. I'm not sure how it works, but somehow it does. We go to the regular pediatrician next week.

They are a couple of busy beavers. I tend to run out of activities by about 0930. Right now they are "napping", because I needed a break. I go back to work in the morning and I think I am more excited about it than I should be. Hopefully I will remember all my log-in information this time.

2009-04-15T19:25:00.004-06:00

We are back from the international pediatrician in Birmingham. He had to give some blood and both of them had renal ultrasounds for melamine. They gave us a lot of information and right now we are processing it all. We go to the ophthalmologist in the morning. He still has a visit to orthopedics and urology in his future. And his regular pediatrician. Mei Mei continues to be delayed.

2009-04-14T13:40:00.002-06:00

My camera battery died right before Easter. It is recharging, but no Easter photos. We go to UAB tonight for an evaluation in the morning. We are ready to start the medical exams and hopefully, some treatments. Or at least some answers to what all is wrong.

He is starting to pick up more English, but it continues to be very slow. We have a lot of sibling conflict. He went to Sunday School and extended session on Sunday with no problems. The first week he lasted about 15 minutes. This week he stayed the whole time, no issues. Whether that is good or bad, I suppose, is open to debate. He charms everyone. He can now ride a tricycle. He sleeps alone in his bed. He is terrified of our cat. Silverware is still a challenge. I don't know where we are with attachment and bonding. He does give us some eye contact, but with the vision issues, we don't know what to expect. He is very loud sometimes and is very sweet sometimes.

2009-04-08T14:13:00.004-06:00

We have now been on US soil for one week. Things are going quite well, I think. The jet lag haze is beginning to lift and sleep patterns are approaching normal. Mei Mei still thinks 4 or 5 am is a good time to get up, but we are making her stay in her bed until 6, even is all she does is play and sing. Hopefully she will gradually return to her normal 0630-0700 wake up time. There is a lot of sibling rivalry, mainly on mei mei's part, but I am trying to not intervene unless blood is shed. We have an Opthalmology appointment for next week and are waiting for our UAB appointment.

The photos are from an Easter Egg Hunt (in case you have never seen such an activity before). The eggs stayed in the car until mommy could remove the sugary contents. They fought over them until they realized all the jelly beans had been removed. Now they will shake each egg repeatly, just to see if I missed one.

2009-04-04T19:48:00.003-06:00

Sleep is getting a little better around here. Everyone is in their own bed right now. We will see how long that lasts. We got some proper shoes for the boy today. No more ill fitting shoes. We were buying two pairs and he had a fit when we tried to take of the first pair to try on the second. I guess he thought we were not going to get them if they came off his feet. We are planning to go to church in the morning. Hopefully that will go smoothly.

2009-04-03T20:25:00.002-06:00

We are starting to settle in around here. I have not unpacked the camera and most of the clothes are in the hall waiting to go through the washing machine. Everything had a funk to it, even the stuff we laundered in China.

Last night was a rough night. Mei Mei has always had sleep issues. She slept soundly the night we got her, all alone in her crib, but that was the last time. I fondly refer to 2 am as the witching hour because she wakes up like clock work. It used to be screaming and trips to the rocking chair, now it is just calling out for mommy, sometimes to potty, then right back to sleep. Well, last night was like the old days. She woke up every forty minutes and screamed. I had to get out of bed and walk her around. I made several trips to the kitchen. She woke up for good at 3 am and I finally went to sleep at around 5. Ge Ge slept like a rock until about 5 am. I'm hoping tonight will be a better night for her. Ge Ge is refusing to go to bed.

2009-04-02T20:12:00.002-06:00

We are home and all in bed. I am hoping no one wakes up before about 630 am. I have one story from our otherwise uneventful travels home. We had one large suitcase that on the way over exceeded the US domestic weight limit and had to be repacked in the airport before I could check it. So, coming home I was meticulous with this one and weighed it constantly in the hotel room to keep the weight down. When we checked in for the flight to LAX it turned out to be 22.7 kg (49.94 lbs), which just squeaks under the limit. Before we left LAX, I took a few more things out just to be on the safe side. We get to the airport and they don't even weigh it!! The attendant slaps tracking labels on all of them and sends us off to the TSA x-ray machine without a second thought. AUGGHH!! All that obsessing for naught.

Happy sleeping to everyone.

2009-04-02T13:00:00.001-06:00

-- Posted From My iPhone

2009-04-02T07:15:00.001-06:00

-- Posted From My iPhone

2009-04-02T06:44:00.000-06:00

We are on the blessed united states of America and waiting for our flight to Memphis, then mobile. Hoping the weather is not too bad.

-- Posted From My iPhone

2009-03-31T01:37:00.004-06:00

Today is our last full day in Guangzhou. We went to the Chen Family Temple as well as to a park with a statue of five goats. I don't remember the name. Here is a photo from the Temple of the two Beijing daddies walking the kids. We constantly joke that these two are going to have an arranged marriage. No doubt the dads are discussing the dowry right now. The kids are happily sharing a bag of pumpkin crackers.
Jodi apparently tells him he is covered in crumbs because he looks at his shirt and starts wiping them all off while she supervises. They looked like an old married couple at that point.

At the five goats statue. The kids were running around happily until Julianna fell into a ditch.

If you see this one on a Christmas Card, act surprised.
We bought the shirts just for the photo and will probably not wear them again until our next trip to China.

2009-03-30T19:12:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the physical exam. Keith did not do well on the vision exam (big shock there). As best we can tell, he was unable to see the image at the top of the chart. There was some difficulty with following directions, so it was not terribly accurate. He can see fingers held in front of him. They did not test each eye individually. He also had to get two shots, part of the new Hague requirements. He told the nurse he would not cry. They did not seem to phase him at all. I gave him some motrin before hand.

We purchased his traditional outfit yesterday. Unfortunately, I did not take him with me, so it is two size too big. Julianna got three new ones. She wanted white. Every time I would ask a shop keeper for white, they would say, no, red for Chinese new year. Sorry, she wants white. In the end, we got white, red and blue.

We are winding down here in Guangzhou. We still plan to be home on Thursday at 4 pm, northwest from Nashville.

The yogurt is for the kids. We also need eggs.

2009-03-29T03:48:00.002-06:00

To answer the question about the flight, Keith did well. He got very fussy on landing because he did not want to wear the seat belt, but other than that, no issues. The long flight leaves at night, so I'm hoping he will sleep a good portion of it.

Being here in Guangzhou is strange. There are so many memories from the first adoption. Our first trip was miserable. Very miserable. I was sleep deprived and lacking confidence in my parenting skills. As we visit all the same places, it dredges up those feelings. It has been a very painful trip for me. I am very ready to leave here and get home to my comfortable surroundings, although not doing my own laundry has been very nice.

BTW, if the people responsible for buying home coming supplies could invest in some drinkable yogurt, any flavor, we would be grateful.

2009-03-28T05:58:00.002-06:00

We have made it to the famed White Swan hotel and have ventured out in the pouring rain for dinner at Lucy's. The hamburger is everything I remember it to be. I almost ordered Julianna scrambled eggs just so our meal would be what we had two years ago. Tomorrow is a shopping day and we do the physical exams on Monday.

2009-03-27T01:02:00.002-06:00

It is finally our last day in Beijing. We had a free day, so we have gone back to the Pearl Market, ostensibly to buy Julianna the Wonder Woman Barbie she has been talking about since our first trip, but in reality to buy mommy a Legolas Barbie (or would that be a Ken). We also did some shopping for souvenirs, all of which means repacking. I am a bit ashamed of my packing for this trip. Not at all efficient. If I had a week or three, I could probably get it all down to less space. It would also help if people would quit asking for packed items. Around here, out of sight means 'I need that more than air right now'.

2009-03-26T02:01:00.005-06:00

Today was the last of the scheduled activities in Beijing. We went to a public park that has a kiddie amusement park in it. The kids had a blast and the parents doled out cash. This afternoon Grandma and PawPaw entertained the kids and I engaged in my favorite past-time--packing. Tomorrow we get the new passports and on Saturday we fly to Guangzhou.
We are so ready to be in a new hotel room and to be back on Shaimen Island. I never thought I would say that, but at least it is familiar territory, having spent a long two weeks there. It is, by the way, almost two years since we boarded a plane to adopt Julianna. We will arrive home from this adoption on her Gotcha Day.

This is Keith's little buddy from his orphanage. She is nearly five. We have decided that we will pursue an arranged marriage between the two. Her parents will head to North Carolina when they leave here, which is also where Julianna's orphanage buddy lives. I foresee a road trip to the Carolinas in our future.

Julianna ran straight to the engineers seat when it was time to board the train. She loves the driver's seat.

Addendum:

We went to dinner tonight and on the way home I stopped into a bread store for cookies. The price was 10.60, so I gave them a twenty. To be quite honest, the change stuff here just confuses me. Some of it is little paper money and some of it is coins and I can never figure out how much any of it is worth. Well, they didn't have enough in the kitty to give me .40 change and wanted me to give them .10 so they could give me .5. Well, I couldn't figure out the change, so a nice Westerner tried to help, but my German isn't better than my Chinese.

More pics from the Summer Palace

2009-03-25T16:48:00.004-06:00

Hey y'all. Daddy here. Yes, there is a riverboat at the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Seems the female emperor (Referred to as the Dragon Lady by our guide) was interested in American technology back during the Industrial Revolution. And the item that caught her imagination most was the side-wheeler riverboat that plied cotton and gamblers up and down the rivers of the Antebellum south. So what does she do to satisfy her longing to own one on her man-made lake? Buy one and have it shipped? Why of course not! she has one built. From marble.

This next pic is our guide, Michelle, with the two adoptees. This charming picture would not have been possible had our son not protested vehemently when I tried to put him back in his stroller after a potty break. He insisted on pushing. Which is fine and all except he can't see to push it straight and has to stop and check every change in the feel or color of the pavement. It was taking forever. So Michelle told them both of the "big boat" and took their hands. On the one hand I was relieved—on the other I hate that he instantly obeys nearly everyone who speaks Chinese, even construction workers we meet on the street.

2009-03-25T04:34:00.005-06:00

Today we went to the Summer Palace, a structure also build by the Chin dynasty, and to be honest, after you've seen one Chin Dynasty structure, you've seen them all. The beauty of the Summer Palace is in the landscaping, which is amazing. The lake is man-made and the longevity mountain is the dirt they took out to make the lake. Not the mountain below, the mountain the longevity structure is on. Every point you stop at has a beautiful view of the lake. It is simple indescribable.

No visitors except on party business. Dear old friends are excepted.

2009-03-24T04:39:00.004-06:00

This morning we visited the Lama Temple, which is a Buddhist temple that boasts the largest Buddha at 18 meters high. It was built by the same family who built the Forbidden City and the architecture is very similar, so I won't bore you with more pictures of roofs and doors. As we were walking around, the supplicants were offering incense and I was reminded of a verse in Psalms "He will not let your foot slip--He who watches over you does not sleep; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps 121:3-4). It just struck me how all these people were offering prayers and petitions to wood and gold, when the Ruler of the earth is always ready to hear them.

On the way out I spotted the birds and then the cat and the rocks and I thought about Luke 19:40 "if they keep quiet even the stones will cry out". I thought, here, even in a place that gives no thought to God, that deliberately seeks to worship wood and not the One who made the wood, even here are creatures singing songs to the Creator and stones ready to break into praise.

After our trip to the temple, Grandma, Julianna and I made a trip to the Philip Hayden Foundation to take soy formula and size six diapers. We got a short tour of the facilities and met some of the children, who are super cute. It is very modern and nice looking and the children all look well loved and cared for.

2009-03-23T01:30:00.005-06:00

Today we went to the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. It is really huge. I was most fascinated by the concept of giving eight adults cameras and seeing what they photograph. These are some of my favorites. Phillip will have to post his favorites later and we'll check out the blogs of the other families for what they found most photo-worthy.

Keith seems much different today. He has been sweet and nice and seeking to interact with us. He has not hit his sister. He was a loud creature when his buddy showed up and he still eats in a super messy fashion, but things are better today.

My Field Trip

2009-03-22T16:24:00.007-06:00

Hey all, Daddy here. Pawpaw and I took a couple hours the afternoon of the pearl market trip (which, as Sherry said, was a joke) and took a cab down to the CCTV tower.

The CCTV tower is not a joke. It's a single building composed of two tower "legs" roughly the same size and vposition as the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Except that these two towers lean toward each other, on both the x and y axis, and at the top (at about half the height of the WTC I'm guessing) each one makes a right turn and cantelevers out over the open courtyard below, until they meet at the corner. And, I'm assuming, the president's office.

In this image you can just see several window-washer platforms. There is so much glass downtown in Beijing that I bet there is a small army of these guys. And it must take forever for them to finish a building like the CCTV tower.

I have not idea what the circular holes are under the "president's office" But they're each about twenty feet across. maybe some kind of ventilation fans?

Also of note, and right next to the tower, is the old CCTV building, which burned to the ground (so to speak) in February when someone decided to use it for a fireworks platform during the Spring Festival. Without a permit of course. The building was a comlete loss. it's also the reason there are no photos of the base of the CCTV tower, as they've erected their own little Great Wall around the site, about ten stories tall.

2009-03-22T05:22:00.002-06:00

Today we went to the Pearl Market, which is poorly named. I think there was one pearl store and the rest was just a bunch of little booths selling all kinds of stuff. We got a Barbie and a helicopter on the toy level, as well as a stroller. Phillip took a field trip with PawPaw that I will let him tell you about.

I woke up this morning really wishing I could go to church at my own church with my own church family. I really wanted to be in our sanctuary for the prayer time. There is something powerful about all those people seeking the Lord together. It is my favorite part and I am so glad our pastor incorporates it into every service.

It continues to be very difficult with Keith. We keep hoping each day will get a little easier, but so far they remain hard. He can be a little clown sometimes and he can be a little terror sometimes, too.

2009-03-21T00:05:00.006-06:00

Today we went to Olympic Park to see the Birds Nest and the Water Cube. I'm not real sure what this building is, but it was pretty cool. It was one of those occasions when we were the attraction. A whole passel of people stopped and took our photograph. It was a little strange at first, but after awhile, we just smiled for them. What else can you do?
The bird's nest looks just like it does on TV. I did have to wonder how they got all that beautiful blue sky background during the games. Even the light posts are made to look like Bird's Nests. I almost hate to say it, but it was very inventive architecture, especially as you look at the whole park and how all the shapes they chose for the surrounding buildings imply flight and movement. This is a real bird's nest. We asked our guide what kind of bird makes this and she said a Magpie, but we think maybe something was lost in the translation. Anyway, they are all over the place and you can see how they were the inspiration for the stadium.
The water cube really looks out of place with everything around it. It is such an architectural departure from the flight and movement theme of the rest of the park. It is apparently very pretty at night, but during the day it basically looks like a giant big box.

As far as the adoption goes, we are waiting for the passport and will be in Beijing for another week. We are so ready to not be here and move on, but again, what can you do?

2009-03-20T17:54:00.003-06:00

Today is another free day in our schedule and we are planning to go to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. I realized that I have not said anything about his arm issues. He does have full function at his hand and appears to have full movement of his elbow. His shoulder is limited, but it is hard to judge how much. It does hang limp when he walks and he does use the other hand to help lift it some. He also clearly has more muscle mass on the right vs. left. It will be easier to assess when he learns English and we can ask him to move it.

2009-03-20T05:07:00.003-06:00

Today was a 'free day' in our schedule so we went to a place called FunDazzle with another family in our group. It is basically a huge indoor playground. Julianna had a blast. She climbed and slid and jumped so much she actually fell asleep in my arms on the walk home. I'm not real sure about Keith. He has a very hard time with the climbing and did not really seem to like the slides. He did crawl out into the ball pit, but his primary goal was to bean Julianna with balls. Poor vision interfered with his plans and he usually overshot. I tried playing with him, but he really did not like that very much. He would laugh and giggle for a brief while, then do his complaining grunt and start hitting. It is such a frustratingly slow process getting him to acknowledge and interact with us.

2009-03-19T17:02:00.002-06:00

I thought I would post about the vision issues. We really do not know how bad it is and it may not be as bad as we think right now. It is an ever present issue, though, so we tend to think the worst, I suppose. Imagine, for instance, walking down the street, and think about all the thousands of minor corrections you make without conscious thought. When you come to a curb, you step down without pause and up the other side, again, without pause. Now imagine you cannot gauge the step or how close you are to it. You have to slow down, use one foot to test the pavement, find the step, readjust your distance to the step, find it again with your foot, then step down. Now, since you don't know if it is one or two steps, you repeat the process to establish that the pavement is in fact level. When you get to the curb up, it starts all over again. Also imagine that you can perceive different colors of flooring, say a black border on white tile, but you cannot perceive that there is no difference in height, so you stop and use your foot to test the floor. Now imagine inclines, and the hardest of all escalators. We actually have to pick him up for these. Crosswalks are killers, too, black, white, black, white, etc. with traffic coming.

We brought him matchbox cars, which he does not like, but does like the bigger cars we bought here. I don't think he can see the small ones well enough to play with them. I don't know if he saw anything at the zoo.

2009-03-18T23:56:00.004-06:00

Today we went to the Beijing Zoo. I am actually torn between which zoo was worse, Beijing or Guangzhou. We did see the pandas, but I can't say they were really that exciting. I only took about five photographs today. I did find the exotic animal called "raccoon" very fascinating, unfortunately, that picture did not turn out well because it was behind glass.
I did find this advertisement interesting. There were a series of them, one about color, one about the elderly, one I cannot remember and this one. There is a big push in China to change the attitude of people regarding the desirability of male vs. female children. I don't know how much it is changing their attitudes, but I found it interesting. I guess it is like a lot of cultural attitudes, they can take decades to change, but at least the government recognizes the problem and is trying to change.

2009-03-18T03:59:00.005-06:00

Today was our trip to the Great Wall of China. Julianna was determined to climb the wall herself. Absolutely determined. She fussed if anyone picked her up and said, 'Nana Do it'. She was quite the attraction, climbing the stairs on her own, but she made it to the second tower and got her 'Hero' certificate. When we got to the tower, a lady cheered for her.

Keith, however, could not climb at all. He really struggles with stairs and the Great Wall stairs are uneven and super steep. He and Daddy made it to the first tower, but part of that is graded incline rather than stairs.

Today was PawPaw's birthday. I had a nice picture of them climbing the stairs together, but Julianna deleted it.

I guess the soldiers needed caffeine while on duty.
This is a photograph of the stairs. You can see the places that are worn down from years of steps. I thought that was pretty cool, all the centuries of feet walking over the wall.

On the adoption front, Keith is legally ours in the eyes of China. Our adoption certificate was issued by the Civil Affairs Office today. We apply for his passport tomorrow. I find myself spending a lot of time trying to judge his vision. His left globe looks smaller than the right, but for the most part, his gaze looks conjugate. His left eyelid does not open as much. He does have nystagmus when he does not have anything to focus on.

Random Thoughts

2009-03-17T17:52:00.002-06:00

Here are a few random thoughts while we are waiting to go to the Great Wall.

Keith did not know we were coming to adopt him. He received his care package and photo book when he met us. They had opened them, taken out the cameras and taken photos of him around the orphanage, but he did not receive anything until we showed up. They brought him and his stuff down together.

I did quite well guessing on clothes sizes (size 5, for the curious), all except the socks, which are too small. We have not been able to find socks, even at the Carre Four. He is in serious need of medium white socks (hint, hint).

The Ladies Bible Study at church was doing Esther when we left. I was thinking about it this morning, how the ladies were taken in for 'one night with the king' and then a decision was made about their acceptability as queen. Well, we received Keith on Sunday and on Monday we went to Civil Affairs and had to decide if he was acceptable for our family. In less than 24 hours, we had to figure out if he would fit in our family and if we could deal with his medical issues, which are clearly more severe than we were told. (Which leads to a side note of, how could they not notice his vision impairment? It took us less than five minutes to realize he holds things one inch from his face to see it, yet his medical report states normal vision.) Anyway, the bible study was really focused on the sovereignty of God and His timing in everything, His unseen hand orchestrating events. I also listened to a sermon podcast this morning and one phrase really stuck out 'trust the process', trust that what God is doing is His perfect plan, even when the way seems wrong. I guess both of these kind of gelled in my brain this morning and reminded me that even though things are worse than expected and the road is quite hard right now, it is God's sovereign plan and I need to trust Him that the process is right.

How's this for embarrassing?

2009-03-17T05:26:00.002-06:00

Today we went to Carré Four, a french Wal-Mart type store, to shop for the kiddo. We were done before the other family, and were waiting in line to check out behind a few other customers. Now, checkout is very busy at every store we've been to so far in Beijing.

Well, Pawpaw and Grandma had picked out a toy for him, a little remote-controlled car. When Paw paw separated the things they were buying, the car went with him. Well, not knowing about the whole "pay before you play" rule, Keith thought he was being robbed and started wailing. Loudly. We have no idea what he was saying but he got a lot of attention from the crowd. Eventually he got over it... when I gave him the Transformers toy that we bought for him.

Then, out on the sidewalk/shopping cart area where we were waiting, he decided it was a good idea to drop his pants and pee on the ground. I mean, he DROPPED HIS PANTS and PEED ON THE GROUND. Suddenly everyone in our party except me (daddy) was a few steps farther away, and the little old ladies that are always standing around in these places, apparently guarding China from indecency (or maybe just gossipping), started laughing at us. "Well," I thought, "go ahead and laugh at your chinese custom of letting kids pee anywhere, we Americans have all our teeth."

No pictures of any of this, of course.

Now, it's almost bath time for him. It went okay last night, but we've been scolding him for lovingly hitting and pinching his sister. He's not real happy with me at the moment.

2009-03-17T02:49:00.003-06:00

It is very hard to get two kids in the same picture, both looking at he camera and smiling at the same time.

I mentioned yesterday that it is hot here. Today's high was suppose to be 77. Those of you who know Julianna well, know she hates socks, pants and being hot. I felt proud to have her in a sweater for part of the day. Unfortunately, it is cultural to have babies bundled up in many layers. I got scolded by a older lady today for bare legs. And she was adamant that I was risking a cold by letting her run around half-naked. Keith agrees with them and has spent a good deal of time trying to get her to put on socks and sweaters. Usually when she is sound asleep. I think his first English phrase will be "She's fine, leave her alone."

You'll notice in these photos he is wearing a coat. He has on a long sleeve shirt and tried to find a sweater as well. We had to put all of his clothes out of reach, mainly to keep him from dressing Julianna.

They also have on matching backpack harnesses to try to keep them from running away.

the view from our hotel room

2009-03-16T19:09:00.003-06:00

Hey kids, Daddy here.
I thought I'd provide some pics from our hotel room, like I did last time.

These are crappy iphone pictures, taken from the small crack that opening our window makes. The curious thing about our view is, you can even see the smog at night.

check the map on the right of the page to see the location of our hotel, the Poly Plaza. it's a performing arts theatre, mall, nightclub and other stuff as well as a hotel. there are bars and restaurants in the building as well.

Tomorrow we've been promised a trip to the Great Wall. hopefully we'll get lots of good photos then. It's Pawpaw's birthday!

2009-03-16T08:25:00.001-06:00

After his first bath (by us). Watching Chinese kids tv in his jammies (and shoes). It's a possession thing. All he has ever owned, he was wearing when we got him. Shoes are especially imporant to him. He slept in them last night. Slept in his clothes in fact.

-- Posted From My iPhone

About Keith

2009-03-16T08:23:00.002-06:00

Here's some observations about our son.

He is normal size and weight. I pick him up from time to time, when walking in the streets for instance, or just to hear him laugh. I don't think he got picked up much in the orphanage, not since he could walk for himself. It seems like a new experience for him.

His general eyesight is much worse than I (daddy) thought it would be. He slows down when we come to a different sized patch of pavement or flooring because he can't tell if it's a step down or not. He really hesitates to get on an escalator. We've started saying "step" when there is a change in his path. He also likes to get really close to the TV. anything that interests him must be examined at the tip of his nose. We may be talking legal blindness. But we won't know if it can be corrected until we get to the states.

His brachial plexus injury does not affect him in the least. He can't raise his arm at the shoulder, but the elbow works fine and he has strength and dexterity in his hand, as well as blood flow—if you walk holding that hand it gets just as sweaty as the "good" arm.

He is super sweet, especially to girls and younger kids. Julianna has to bear the brunt of this side of his personality. If she is upset, the normal family routine is for mama to hold her. Now you can add big brother coming over and offering her comfort in chinese. Loud chinese. And offering her a toy, by tapping the object on her body somewhere, preferrably the head. Nana does not respond well. The funny thing is, he isn't getting the picture. He simply does his duty to her whether it makes her cry louder or not. Hey, its worked his whole life up till now.

He is an easy kid to love, he has a heart of gold. Completely unselfish. He hoards food, but that will pass when he figures out that he won't starve with this new family of imbeciles who can't even talk right. He calls me Baba, talks to me constantly in Chinese. The want to attatch is clearly there. He hasn't mourned or grieved his loss yet, I don't know if it will even happen. I retract that, I know it will happen—when is the question. He may not "get it" yet. But, as with Nana, love will be the key. This time around it's Daddy doing the heavy lifting. Boy, is he heavy.

2009-03-16T04:21:00.002-06:00

Today was paperwork day for the adoption. Keith is constantly trying to take care of Julianna. He thinks she needs to wear more clothes and shoes. He is forever bringing her socks and sweaters to put on. We are absolutely roasting here. We checked out the weather channel before we left and expected a cool spring, but it is hideously hot. I don't think we will need a single sweater and I so carefully packed and repacked them all.

Julianna tolerates Keith. I don't think it will really set in until we are home that he is here to stay.

Sorry, no pictures today.

There's been a change of plans

2009-03-15T04:37:00.003-06:00

We had a completely uneventful trip to China. No rain, no missed planes, no lost luggage. Quite pleasant, other than the 15 hour plane flight over the Pacific. We were looking forward to nice hot showers before going to the orphanage to meet the children, but our guide met us with the phrase, There has been a change of plans. We went straight from the airport to the orphanage, smelly clothes and nappy hair, to meet the children. There are three families in our group. One family is also adopting a five year old and they are friends. I'm really too tired to think right now. But all is well here right now, especially since we have stocked up on Coca Cola.

2009-03-13T07:47:00.001-06:00

We are loaded in the car with a list of last minute to do's. It is going to be a long crazy day. Julianna had an absolute meltdown this morning over the one fancy dress I packed. She got French fries and sprite for breakfast, just to keep some calm.

-- Posted From My iPhone

2009-03-12T16:41:00.001-06:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I'm torn between disbelief and fear. The next 22 hours will go way too slow and way too fast.

2009-03-10T14:29:00.002-06:00

Today my two favorite past-times--laundry and packing, collided. I packed almost everything today as it came out of the dryer. We are down to the electronics and the toiletries. I have also decided to make another one of those crazy mommy dictums--no one is allowed to get any clothes dirty between now and our return from China.

2009-03-09T13:47:00.003-06:00

We are getting down to the little things. The thousand little things it feels like. We picked up the money at the bank today. We also got a second car seat. It is now in the car and the car suddenly looks so very small. As I was installing it, I was thinking about one of my many parenting delusions--no food particles on the floorboard. I do seriously hope that the addition of a second child does not exponentially increase the rate of particle acquisition.