September 28

Just thought I'd share a few pictures of the boys having fun!

Home!

WeiLong is a wonderful boy. He has fit into our family much, much more quickly than we ever dreamed. His personality sparkles and has added so much fun and laughter to our home. What a precious little gift from God he is.

School started about 10 days after we got home. We have WeiLong in kindergarten for now, and he is the smallest boy in his class even though he says he is 7 yrs old. He loves school and is doing well. I will try to go to school soon and take a few pictures of him there.

WeiLong seems to feel right at home here. He is enjoying lots of new experiences and loves each one. He teases his sisters, but they tease him right back and there are no problems with them. I took him for a check up and he had to get shots before he could start school. That was the first time I have seen him cry and it nearly broke my heart. I had to hold him down for the shots.

He is so small. I had to buy size 4T clothes for him, and they're even kind of big. He weighed 37 lbs when we got home, and has gained at nearly 2 lbs. He eats my southern cooking, but prefers Chinese food. I try to cook it at least once a week. He tastes each new dish and pronounces it either "hao" or "bu hao". I love the "hao chi" which comes with a thumbs up and sometimes even a hug. If the dish is "bu hao chi", he doesn't complain, but doesn't eat much of it either. The food at school is usually "bu hao chi".

WeiLong greets me with a hug and kiss each afternoon when I pick the children up from school. And he chatters away, telling me about his day. Somehow he is able to make himself understood. At first his teacher was "bu hao", but now she is "hao" and he gives her a hug and kiss each afternoon when he leaves. She's wonderful, I love her too. What a blessing to have good teachers, what a difference they make in the lives of our children.

WeiLong told me he has had one year of school. He can add and subtract. And he can even sound out the pinyin of a Chinese word if I show it to him in my dictionary. He talks on the phone sometimes with WeiFu and with a couple of other Chinese friends. He told me no one else at school speaks Mandarin but him. He is learning English pretty quickly. He understands more than he speaks. But his skills at acting things out are unsurpassed. He keeps me laughing all the time. What a character he is.

He loves superheroes. We got him a red superhero outfit and he loves it. Last weekend I took them to the mall and had to ride the merry-go-round 6 times. I thought I was going to be sick! I had to close my eyes and just hold on.

Life is sweet at our house. And there is never a dull moment. But there are lots of messes to clean and clothes to wash and baths to give and dishes to wash. I'm busy, but very very happy.

Guangzhou

Sorry, we were so busy in Guangzhou that I didn't get time to post. So, I'll just put up some pictures here. It was the normal GZ experience. Visa photos, physical exam, and consulatge appointment.

The boys loved our guide, Elvin. He was wonderful with them.

He translated some of WeiLong's comments to me and they are hilarious. The boys were so excited about their first flight. When we were finally in the van on the way to our hotel in GZ, they kept pointing out the window at the airplanes coming in for a landing. WeiLong insisted that the planes were so tiny, no way people could get on them! Then he asked why they were standing still in the air, not moving. We tried to tell him that they were moving, but so far away it was hard to tell. He would never believe us. We had to laugh at his insistence.

During the whole time we were in GZ, he insisted on sitting in the seat right behind the driver. And he kept talking to him. Elvin told us he was urging the driver to overtake every car on the road. He would say "You're no good. Go faster. Overtake that car. Faster, Faster". The poor driver. When we stopped at a traffic light, WeiLong couldn't understand why everyone was stopped. When the driver explained that we must all stop when the light was red, WEiLong said he was telling a lie! He told the driver "Bump that car in front of us, he'll move. If he doesn't, just bump him again, harder!". We laughed and laughed, even the good natured driver had to laugh.

WeiLong was so excited when we were finally going to get on our plane to go home. He couldn't wait to see his new Baba. I have never seen such excited little boys in my life. They made the long flight much more fun than it would have been otherwise.

I sat next to WeiLong and the girls sat just in front of us. I will admit that the long flight completely wore me out. I was very tired when we got to LAX. We passed through customs without any problems, but it was difficult getting everyone out of the international terminal and into the domestic departure area. We were so glad to see Jeri's husband, John. What a relief to have another adult to help guide us through the crowds and to take the little boys to the potty! We had a rather long layover in LA, and by the time our flight to Dallas was called I was totally exhausted.

That flight seemed to last forever! But we were so thankful it was our last one. The poor Riddicks had to rush off once we landed to catch their Austin flight.

I was so glad to see Gary! It is so good to come home after a long journey. To see you home and loved ones. To rest and talk with them. Just like Heaven, I think. Honestly, I think it will be like that when we finally enter the Pearly Gates. We will meet our loved ones who have gone on before us and have a wonderful time with them.

Guess you can tell we were all glad to be home! And it was made even sweeter by having our little WeiLong with us. What a precious little boy.

7/30/06 (Sunday)

Today we had a day to do whatever we wanted. So, we slept in til nearly 8. Poor Jeri still wasn't feeling very well, so I took all the kids swimming. Oh, my goodness, what a stir I made. One woman with 4 little Chinese kids and a little white boy. I could see everyone talking behind their hands. The new boys splashed in the hot tub and the older ones swam in the real pool. I just sat back and let the boys squabble all they wanted, ddidn't even try to shout across the room at them. They didn't do much more than splash each other in the face, so no harm done anyway. It's Sunday here and the pool was crowded, lots of families but none with more than one child (except me of course).

After all that swimming the kids were hungry so I took them to lunch, then back to our rooms for a rest.

The rest of the day was spent in just lounging around and packing stuff up. Wei Long seems to be at home with us, insisting on controlling the tvaa(like all men), and he always has to be the one to use the room key to open the door.

There's so much junk in the room, I'm afraid I'll forget something. We're supposed to have our bags picked up in the morning at 8am. So, I'm getting to bed early and will need to be up and showered with everyone dressed and the final packing done.

Wei Long is counting on his fingers now the days until he meets Baba. Gary, hope you're ready for this little fellow, he sure thinks a lot of you. He is known by name by all the hotel staff and has showed them on his fingers the number of days in Guanghou and then the day he will meet Baba. He's anxious to get home now, and so are the girls and I.

I'm thankful that no one else has gotten sick. I think Jeri must have gotten food poinening somehow.

Well, my next update will be from the White Swan! Can't believe we spent all this time planning and looking forward to this trip, and now we're just as anxiously looking forward to getting home.

7/29/06 (Saturday)- a hard day

I think today is the hardest day I've had so far. Poor Jeri has been sick in bed. I won't go into the gorey details but she cannot keep anything on her stomach.

The kids slept well last night and we were up bright and earlly to meet our guide. We went to the museum, but mostly to shop! We got the famous Pine Tree artwork made of iron. I also got a couple of rather large paintings on scrolls. Hope I can get them home in one piece.

We came back to the hotel to check on Jeri and I decided to take the kids swimming. Let me just say it was a less than enjoyable experience. Wei Fu and Wei Long whined the whole time. They whined if anyone came within 5 feet of them and pointed like they had been hit with an axe or something. They would splash each other fiercely in the face with water, then cry when they got splashed back. I finally resorted to making the splasher sit out for 5 minutes. That worked! No more splashing, but plenty of very very loud whining. I ignored it to the best of my ability.

The other three had a great time playing in the water like they usually do. Towards the end our new boys kind of got the hang of it and had a good time too. I think we (especially dear Jeri) have a lot of hard work ahead of us. But I'm praying that I'm wrong and that social skills are quickly learned.

After a couple of hours in the pool the children were very hungry, and very vocal about it. Cathy, our guide, and I took the 5 of them to a nearby restaurant and they had a good lunch. I had Cathy tell them that I wanted them to rest for a while after lunch, and they were really good about it. I had two portable dvd players, ours and Jeri's and one was playing Automan in Chinese and the other was playing the Lion King in English. I propped up my poor achey brakey legs and rested for a relatively quiet hour.

Then followed lots of playing with loud toys, gameboys, cars, barbies, and cards. The two new boys are having a hard time sharing today. Much whining again and pointing and tattling and pouting. Again I ignored as much as possible, and put away toys that they couldn't come to agreement about.

Poor Jeri couldn't make it to supper so I took all 5 up for a quick bite. I wouldn't let them eat much because I'm determined no one else is going to get sick if I can help it. Again we had bickering in Chinese, and some sly kicks under the table. It's hard to call them down when they don't understand what I'm saying. I would like to explain to them why such behavior is unacceptable, but can only say "bu" and "bu hao" for now. Finally the short meal was over, and we're back in our room. Adam will stay with his mom again tonight and I will have the others.

Poor little Wei Fu got out his picture album of the orphanage and his friends and cried a little. I comforted him the best I can and asked Jesus to bring comfort to his little heart. He's watching TV right now, so I hope he is settling down and will be calm for the rest of the night.

To be perfectly honest, I wanta go home! I know you aren't surprised by this statement after I just described my day. I want to make the best our of the one day we have left in this province, but we don't have any plans for tomorrow. I hope Jeri is feeling better and that no one else is sick. I have a terrible head ache, but I think it's just stress. A good night's sleep should cure it!

Did I mention that Wei Fu loves to play dolls with the girls? He had an older girl who he really cared for at the orphanage and he really misses her. Wei Long makes his Automan beat up on the girls dolls and tries to take their heads off. They squeal and quickly take them away from him.

I'm going to upload a few pictures of the kids, don't be shocked at the sad state of this room. I challenge any one of you to keep a cleaner room when you have all these children and suitcases in tow.

PS: Even with the whining I still squeeze my sweet little boy every chance I get. He's a doll, and this is so unsettling for him. He is going to fit perfectly into our family.

And my sweet little girls are singing softly together right now. The most beautiful sound on earth. How blessed I am to have them. They are so sweet through all the tough times. We miss you so much, dear husband. I wish you could hear the girls singing right now.

7/28/06 (Friday)

The children slept til nearly 7am this morning. Poor little Wei Long says his tummy hurts. I think the food has been way too rich for him. So he ate very little breakfast, and even less lunch. But he did have a long visit in the bathroom so hopefully that helped him.

Julia’s hives are much better today. We have avoided having here even go near the seafood. I will try to get her benedryl later if the hives return, but I hesitate to give her any meds that I buy here.

We got Wei Long's passport and Chinese adoption paperwork today. I'm so glad that part of it is behind us. The assistand director came to our hotel room. Jeri and I both think he's very handsome. Maybe Wei Long will look something like him when he grows up? We spent the day in our room waiting on all the paperwork. It was late, about 5 when we got the paperwork from the notary.

All day long Wei Long felt a little sick. So I decided not to take him to the big restaurant on the 29th floor. Instead, I took the kids to the noodle shop on the second floor. I let Wei Long order for himself and it was a huge mistake. The little stinker ordered 4 plates of appetizer. And we also had a big bowl of fried rice and two huge bowls of soup. I thought the soup came in individual bowls, but boy was I wrong. The tab for this huge spread of food was only 127 yuan or about $16 dollars. It would have easily fed 3 or 4 more people. I was embarrassed over the waste, but I had no idea a bowl of noodle soup would be that huge. The appetizers Wei Long ordered were good choices, he just ordered way too much. We had a good laugh as the food was brought to our table though. Wish I had brought my camera.

I stopped by Jeri's room on the way back, and she was very sick. I don't know what to do for her. She had taken pepto and immodium, but her stomach is still very upset. I have brought Wei Fu to my room for the night. I told Jeri to call if I could help her in any way, but I think she just needs to sleep it off.

The boys are being boys right now. I'll try to say this delicately. A horrible smell is coming from their bed and they are both holding their noses and pointing to the other boy!! No language needed, huh?

I am fixing to turn out the lights and see if I can get them all to go to sleep. It's like a giant slumber party in here. That's right, me and 4 kids. I'm just going with the flow right now, letting them have fun and make memories. This day will never happen again so I'm just making the best of it that I can. I just feel so sorry for poor Jeri.

7/27/06 (Thursday)

Wei Long woke up with a bit of a stomach ache today. He refused breakfast. I’m afraid the food is a little too rich for him. And I have been letting him eat anything he wants. He ate some eel last night. I have decided to choose his food for him if possible. I don’t think he’s used to eating so much seafood, or just so much food period.


After breakfast we took the kids swimming. They had a great time. I have been taking them a little bit every day. I’m afraid they disturb the other swimmers. Swimming is like a job here. People come in and quietly swim their laps, then get out. They seem to choose a “lane to swim in. Of course the children don’t stay in a “lane” but swim and splash all over the pool. The pool area is tiled and very slick. Lisa fell a couple of times, and she broke her beautiful jade bracelet. I’m afraid I won’t be able to replace it.

After swimming Cathy took us to a restaurant around the corner for lunch. It was the first time we’ve eaten anywhere but the 29th floor restaurant. I’m afraid my girls made pigs of themselves again. They had pork ribs in a spicy sauce and they ate a LOT. What a spectacle we must make when we are out and about.

Then we had a rest because Wei Long’s tummy was still hurting. I tried to get him to nap, but I think I’m the only one who fell asleep. At least I made him rest a while.

Then we were out and about on the streets to do a little shopping. I got Wei Long some games for his gameboy (which we left at home). And we all got fans with beautiful pictures on them for about 20 yuan each.

I was glad to get back to the hotel and take a cold shower. It’s not real hot here, at least by Texas standards, but I seem to be sweating a lot anyway. Poor Julia was covered with hives and very very itchy. I gave her a cool bath and it seemed to help. There is entirely too much seafood in the restaurant. Even the fried rice has shrimp in it. We are trying our best to avoid it, but it seems to be in every dish. But, by 10:30 all 3 children were sound asleep. I slept with Julia, just in case she has breathing problems during the night. But everything was fine, all slept well.

7/26/06 (Wednesday)

We went shopping today. Wei Long picked an Automan. It’s an action figure, red, and makes a loud noise when you push a little button. I think he’s a superhero, but I’m hopelessly behind on things like this. We also got an Automan mask for Wei Long, and some toy cars and a ball. The girls got a Barbie-like doll with lots of clothes for about $10 each. They love having something to play with.

I wish you all could have seen Wei Long in the clothing stores. He is so picky about his clothes. He couldn’t find anything he liked in the first store, so we left empty handed. We were in a little shopping area that has both sides of the street lined with tiny little shops. At the second shop, Wei Long chose two little outfits and a pair of shoes. He tried on several but could only find the two that met his standards.

At a third shop, I chose two more outfits for him. I tried to explain to him that he needed enough clothes so that I wouldn’t have to get laundry done every day.

He’s so cute in the new clothes.

The kids went swimming before supper and Wei Long loves the water. He’s not afraid to put his face under. He’s so cute. And he loves to show off for us. What a sweet little man we have. I’m so glad he’s ours.

7/25/06 (Tuesday)

Tuesday
Wei Long ate a huge breakfast this morning and then we went swimming for the first time. He did great! He likes to stay in the hot tub a lot because the water is warmer. The pool water is too cool for him. I put swimmies on his little arms and a ring around his waist and he was set.

After lunch we went to the Civil Affairs office again to register the adoption. Wei Long agreed that he wanted to be adopted by us, and signed his name to the paper like a grown up. He was very excited to see the assistant director again and I could tell that he was telling him everything we had done for the last 24 hours. He made swimming motions and talked and talked.

I’m a bit sad that he is leaving this very kind man. I can tell that they care about each other. But Wei Long really wants a family, and we love him and will take care of him from now on.

I feel so sorry for the family who is traveling with us. They are adopting an 8 yr old boy. And he cried and cried at the Civil Affairs office. I cried too as I watched him. It was so hard for him to leave his own assistant director, but he does want to come to America and have a family of his own. I’m going to ask Jeri if I can post a link to her website here later.

Now the Chinese part of the adoption is finished. We will get the boys’ passports and the notarized documents on Friday.

Wei Long has such a great personality. He is known by name by the hotel staff by now. He is such a little sweetheard. And he never meets a stranger. But I swatted him on the bottom with my hand this evening. He was turning summersaults down the hall of the hotel, and pretended he didn’t hear me when I told him to stop. So I gave him a little swat and he quickly straightened up! My, but he has captured my heart. He is so lovable.