She tried to call us last night (left a message on our machine) and then called us early this morning. Let me say that our pediatrician NEVER calls us like this! Never! I knew something was up. Trust me when I say I was praying it wasn't something bad. Finally, after playing a little phone tag, we hooked up and she told us that Matthew has a "parasite" living in his intestines! OH WONDERFUL! *insert scream here* (I'm trying to find some sort of laugh here, but really NOT finding one.)
We were told to get up to our pharmacist immediately and retrieve the medicine for Matthew and start it ASAP! Needless to say, we dropped our working outside and raking and laying mulch down, got cleaned up a little and went to our neighborhood Giant! This medicine Matthew has is potent! Stinks like crazy, is flavored like GRAPE (which Matthew sees through and doesn't like to take), and has a metallic taste to it! For a little 2 1/2 year old, don't you think it's enough already?!? The shots, the probing in the mouth, the meds, the testing, etc. Poor guy. I totally feel for my little boy! And now there is a little "bug" living in him?!
Only Daddy and myself (Mommy) can clean or change Matthew and yes, there are steps to take in order that WE may not get infected with this parasite. NO sharing of cups, no sharing of bath water, etc. Wow............can we say mommy has to disinfect THE WHOLE BATHROOM and where we change Matthew?! Oh Lord, please let this TOO pass! Literally!!!!
In retro? Our family is still going strong. Matthew doesn't like pepperoni's too much, or now? Grape or the metallic taste, not sure. He has a bug, but life still goes on!!!!
PS, the welcome home party from our church was today. It was nice. The kids went nuts, lots of food, lots of friendly faces........ONE BIG WHEEL FOR MATTHEW! I don't know if anyone had a picture of his face, but let's just say it was HUGE EYES!!!!
Important dates:
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Children's Hospital - Good news??
Well, we went to Children's Hospital today. It wasn't too bad to actually get to, but the hospital itself was WONDERFUL! What a working organism the way they get you where you need to go and everyone was soooooo helpful! We went to the 4400 wing/floor which is the surgical/cranialfacial area and the room was FULL of little toddlers/a few tweens. We didn't wait long though. We signed in, filled out some paperwork and in 15 minutes, BOOM, we were in the exam room. Within 5 minutes Dr. Murthy showed up and started talking with us and with Matthew. Funny thing, Matthew didn't want anything to do with Dr. Murthy! LOL......the doctor tried to touch him to see his face and Matthew didn't want ANYTHING to do with him and put his hands up to me (Momma) to pick him up. ***For those of you who don't know, this is a VERY excellent thing!!!!! Bonding! Matthew has/is bonding with me to the point that he knows I'm mommy and others are strangers!!! YES!!! This is what SHOULD happen!! Thank you Lord!!***
Anywho.....Dr. Murthy was patient and we ended up putting Matthew face up on half of the doctor's knees and half on mommy. That worked just fine. Matthew opened up his mouth and allowed the doctor to see everything he needed to. MATTHEW'S CLEFT PALATE HAS BEEN FIXED BY CHINA!! Is this a good thing? Yes and no. Dr. Murthy said that yes it was fixed but Matthew has a fistula (the hole behind his teeth). From the looks of it it's been awhile since his cleft palate surgery. *** Our adoption agency nor us knew ANYTHING about this surgery! China never said a thing. NADA!*** The doc said that it wasn't a bad fix, but that "he" could have definitely done better! I tell ya, as a parent, I was happy to see that he had a cleft palate surgery, but in the next breath, to hear that it wasn't a "good" fix???? Let's just say, your heart sinks! Your mad, sad, happy, angry.......all of the above. I wanted to cry, knowing that he could have had a better fix of his cleft palate and his cleft lip.....but like the doc said, we work with what we have, nothing more, nothing less. He went over what would happen with Matthew from now til he turns about 10 years old. He will need quite a bit of extensive work done until about the age of 10. Dr. Murthy took pictures of Matthew's lips/face. (By the way, Matthew's lip is misaligned, which we already knew, but the doc said a quick "nip" would fix that with no problems. The fistula too. BUT.........we need to wait until we know what Matthew can speak!)
We have two things going against us at the moment. First, he is just learning english, so speech is SLOW.........and second? Because of his cleft palate, we don't know what he can truly say and what he can't. If he cannot speak properly, they can do surgery to semicorrect that, but if he can speak then they will NOT do surgery and concentrate more on the speech therapy. So......NO MORE SIGN LANGUAGE for Matthew. He needs to start SPEAKING! We have to make him speak. Make him ask for things. No more guessing.....or just knowing what he wants!! Hopefully we can do this with no problems. We'll see. ***keep your fingers crossed***
Anyway, to make it short and sweet, we have another appointment and instead of the surgeon, which Dr. Murthy is, we will meet with the WHOLE Cranialfacial team. It will be an ALL DAY AFFAIR! From 11:30am to 4:30pm, May 1st. We will know more then. We will know what they want to do and when and to what!
Thank you guys for your prayers. Seeing Children's Hospital for the first time and seeing how they do things was VERY nice! I can't say enough about them!!!
Anywho.....Dr. Murthy was patient and we ended up putting Matthew face up on half of the doctor's knees and half on mommy. That worked just fine. Matthew opened up his mouth and allowed the doctor to see everything he needed to. MATTHEW'S CLEFT PALATE HAS BEEN FIXED BY CHINA!! Is this a good thing? Yes and no. Dr. Murthy said that yes it was fixed but Matthew has a fistula (the hole behind his teeth). From the looks of it it's been awhile since his cleft palate surgery. *** Our adoption agency nor us knew ANYTHING about this surgery! China never said a thing. NADA!*** The doc said that it wasn't a bad fix, but that "he" could have definitely done better! I tell ya, as a parent, I was happy to see that he had a cleft palate surgery, but in the next breath, to hear that it wasn't a "good" fix???? Let's just say, your heart sinks! Your mad, sad, happy, angry.......all of the above. I wanted to cry, knowing that he could have had a better fix of his cleft palate and his cleft lip.....but like the doc said, we work with what we have, nothing more, nothing less. He went over what would happen with Matthew from now til he turns about 10 years old. He will need quite a bit of extensive work done until about the age of 10. Dr. Murthy took pictures of Matthew's lips/face. (By the way, Matthew's lip is misaligned, which we already knew, but the doc said a quick "nip" would fix that with no problems. The fistula too. BUT.........we need to wait until we know what Matthew can speak!)
We have two things going against us at the moment. First, he is just learning english, so speech is SLOW.........and second? Because of his cleft palate, we don't know what he can truly say and what he can't. If he cannot speak properly, they can do surgery to semicorrect that, but if he can speak then they will NOT do surgery and concentrate more on the speech therapy. So......NO MORE SIGN LANGUAGE for Matthew. He needs to start SPEAKING! We have to make him speak. Make him ask for things. No more guessing.....or just knowing what he wants!! Hopefully we can do this with no problems. We'll see. ***keep your fingers crossed***
Anyway, to make it short and sweet, we have another appointment and instead of the surgeon, which Dr. Murthy is, we will meet with the WHOLE Cranialfacial team. It will be an ALL DAY AFFAIR! From 11:30am to 4:30pm, May 1st. We will know more then. We will know what they want to do and when and to what!
Thank you guys for your prayers. Seeing Children's Hospital for the first time and seeing how they do things was VERY nice! I can't say enough about them!!!
Friday, March 23, 2007
More Pictures of the day we left China!
Maryland or BUST! (One way or another!)
The kids at San Francisco airport eating SUBWAY!
Anne our guide in Guangzhou!
Pediatrician follow-up.......oh boy!
Well, like we didn't know this one...........The vaccinations that Matthew has gotten, there is only ONE that he actually has immunity to! GO FIGURE! (Rebecca had at least 3!) Hepatitis B is the only thing Matthew has immunity to! Geez.... it never ceases to amaze me. Why? WHO KNOWS! Anyway.......Matthew's ear infection is just about gone. He is grabbing his ear still and the pediatrician thinks that before he couldn't hear too well out of that ear and now he can. She checked both ears and said he was good to go to Children's Hospital next week. (yeah) She also said that his bloodwork looks pretty good but that some of the bloodwork isn't back just yet. (Had to be sent out from Calvert Memorial Hospital.) Polio is one of them. She is almost positive he has NO immunity but just wants to make sure.
It's interesting, Matthew had 4, count them 4 DTaP shots/boosters and NOT ONE OF THEM TOOK! NOT ONE! Our pediatrician was just dumbfounded at that one. The only thing she could think of is that the vaccine must be out of date or not strong enough or something like that. I just shake my head. Matthew was a trooper today!!! He got 4 shots, 2 in each leg. THEN, to make insult to injury, she did a TB test on him. Hopefully it will be negative. We'll see come Monday morning. (Mom has to check the spot and call the office.) Another McDonald's day for Matthew. Chicken Nuggets are his favorite but will eat hamburgers. He's gained a little bit of weight, which the doc said she was very pleased to see. (Sometimes when adopted kids get back into the country, because of all the changes and new things/new foods, they won't eat.) NOT MATTHEW! I told her he eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he can!!! She just laughed.
One thing that needed to be mentioned was his "shaking". We first saw this in China but didn't think twice about it because he was so weak and just couldn't feed himself. But even back in the states, he is still shaking like an old man. It doesn't last long, but it's usually always when he first gets up to eat. This morning I held him to see if I could feel him shaking or if it was a seizure or something and I couldn't feel it. I stood him upright, standing up, and for the life of him he could NOT stay still or stand straight. I asked the pediatrician about this and she said as long as it goes away with me holding him or just goes away period, not to worry about it. (He's not anemic, he's not diabetic, nothing like that.....*already checked it*) Hopefully it will go away. It's not everyday. Just sometimes.
Poor guy, I felt for Matthew when he was half asleep on the exam table and here comes the pediatrician with her assistant to administer 4 shots! OUCH!!! I had to hold his arms. BOY DID I GET THE LOOKS AT THAT ONE!!!! *bad mommy*
Ear infection almost gone, CHECK. Heart loud but ok and good, CHECK. Next up? Children's Hospital! I hope we can get his cleft palate fixed ASAP! Just to help his speech alone!
Oh yeah.........potty training has commenced! Twice today! GO FIGURE! I'm not going to stop him! GO Matthew! GO Matthew! Going potty, GO Matthew! LOL
It's interesting, Matthew had 4, count them 4 DTaP shots/boosters and NOT ONE OF THEM TOOK! NOT ONE! Our pediatrician was just dumbfounded at that one. The only thing she could think of is that the vaccine must be out of date or not strong enough or something like that. I just shake my head. Matthew was a trooper today!!! He got 4 shots, 2 in each leg. THEN, to make insult to injury, she did a TB test on him. Hopefully it will be negative. We'll see come Monday morning. (Mom has to check the spot and call the office.) Another McDonald's day for Matthew. Chicken Nuggets are his favorite but will eat hamburgers. He's gained a little bit of weight, which the doc said she was very pleased to see. (Sometimes when adopted kids get back into the country, because of all the changes and new things/new foods, they won't eat.) NOT MATTHEW! I told her he eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he can!!! She just laughed.
One thing that needed to be mentioned was his "shaking". We first saw this in China but didn't think twice about it because he was so weak and just couldn't feed himself. But even back in the states, he is still shaking like an old man. It doesn't last long, but it's usually always when he first gets up to eat. This morning I held him to see if I could feel him shaking or if it was a seizure or something and I couldn't feel it. I stood him upright, standing up, and for the life of him he could NOT stay still or stand straight. I asked the pediatrician about this and she said as long as it goes away with me holding him or just goes away period, not to worry about it. (He's not anemic, he's not diabetic, nothing like that.....*already checked it*) Hopefully it will go away. It's not everyday. Just sometimes.
Poor guy, I felt for Matthew when he was half asleep on the exam table and here comes the pediatrician with her assistant to administer 4 shots! OUCH!!! I had to hold his arms. BOY DID I GET THE LOOKS AT THAT ONE!!!! *bad mommy*
Ear infection almost gone, CHECK. Heart loud but ok and good, CHECK. Next up? Children's Hospital! I hope we can get his cleft palate fixed ASAP! Just to help his speech alone!
Oh yeah.........potty training has commenced! Twice today! GO FIGURE! I'm not going to stop him! GO Matthew! GO Matthew! Going potty, GO Matthew! LOL
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Cardiologist appointment today
Today we had our appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. It went quite well, actually. He had an EKG done (which he was quite still for and was SOOOO good) and he also had a doppler ultrasound w/3D imaging. (This was REALLY, REALLY cool to look at. So cool that Matthew wanted to see it too as the technician was doing it.) After that, we saw the doctor and he read the tests and said that they were perfect! He saw NO abnormalties. He listened to Matthew's heart and took his blood pressure and said, "Yep, he has a murmur alright and it's quite pronounced. *meaning loud*". Other than that, it's a "Innocent Stilles Murmur".......layman's terms? It's something that Matthew will either grow out of or not. It will NOT hold him back from doing anything. It's just something that we have to keep track of and that's it. Oh, Matthew could grow outta it or it could come back. It's just the way his heart works....and the way his chambers within his heart work. Plain and simple. So YEAH GOD! Thank you for all the prayers!!!! His heart is just fine and LOUD! :o)
On another good note, this morning before we left for the cardiologists office, Matthew came up to me (Mommy) and pointed to the bathroom. I asked if he had to go to the bathroom and he shook his head YES. DO YOU KNOW THAT HE USED THE POTTY?!?!?! He did both things that he needed to do and then fell in the potty! Why did he fall in the potty? Because Mommy was too busy calling daddy to tell him that his son was using the potty!!!! (All mommy could do was laugh as Matthew wasn't too happy about it!) ROFL Too funny! Matthew now uses the Dora the Explorer "little potty" made for little, um, bums! LOL
Ok, now tomorrow we head back to the pediatricians office for a follow up on his ear infection. I know Matthew still grabs his left ear. I'm not sure the infection is gone. I hope it's better. Maybe we'll get his results of his hospital tests.
Anyway, REJOICE with us that our son's heart is loud and OK!!!!!!!!!!
On another good note, this morning before we left for the cardiologists office, Matthew came up to me (Mommy) and pointed to the bathroom. I asked if he had to go to the bathroom and he shook his head YES. DO YOU KNOW THAT HE USED THE POTTY?!?!?! He did both things that he needed to do and then fell in the potty! Why did he fall in the potty? Because Mommy was too busy calling daddy to tell him that his son was using the potty!!!! (All mommy could do was laugh as Matthew wasn't too happy about it!) ROFL Too funny! Matthew now uses the Dora the Explorer "little potty" made for little, um, bums! LOL
Ok, now tomorrow we head back to the pediatricians office for a follow up on his ear infection. I know Matthew still grabs his left ear. I'm not sure the infection is gone. I hope it's better. Maybe we'll get his results of his hospital tests.
Anyway, REJOICE with us that our son's heart is loud and OK!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
OH MY GOSH! I'm OVER the moon!!!!
I was putting Matthew down for a nap and guess what he did?!?!?!? I've been kissing him goodnight and play kissing with him (I'm guessing he has NO clue what a kiss is or what being tickled is like, even though we now do that to him too!) and peak a boo, stuff like that..............well, he kissed me just barely on my lips and said, lala. (he says that alot for numerous things) I AM JUST SO HAPPY! HE GETS THAT! HE GETS KISSES!!!!!!!!!! OH man!!!!!
Ok, just had to tell ya! I'm so excited and happy, once he wakes up, I wanna make sure that that wasn't just a fluke! LOL......wait til daddy gets home!!!!
Ok, just had to tell ya! I'm so excited and happy, once he wakes up, I wanna make sure that that wasn't just a fluke! LOL......wait til daddy gets home!!!!
We are amazed, every single day by our Matthew!
Yesterday we got our Chinese documents translated from our adoption agency (Children's House International) with the help of Stefani and Charlene, so I ran them up to our pediatrician's office with Matthew in tow. He LOVES to go "bye-bye". He gets his own coat/hat and shoes! It's so cute! So went up to the office, the doctor looked over his vaccines and decided to order all his tithers/tests. OH MY GOSH! 22 tests all-in-all. The hospital had to actually call the pediatrician's office to make sure this is what she wanted. (and it was) Then came the drawing of blood! I was expecting the worst, because of Rebecca. She tossed, turned, threw her arms wailing every which way, wiggled out of the hands of 3 people......NOT Matthew. He whimpered the first stick. They ended up blowing his little vein. (Poor thing. No discoloration though.) Then the more experienced philbotamist tried. (he was holding Matthew's arm just in case he got aggressive. He ended up seeing better veins in Matthew's hands so they went through his hand, near his knuckles. GOT IT! It took about 15 minutes, with the help of a suction syringe, he filled 2 weird looking viles. That was it. They got what they needed and then started filling the numerous viles they needed. Let me say this: HE FILLED UP 10 VILES!!!!!!!!!!! NO LIE! They said there was only a limited amount they could get from "little folks" like Matthew, but OH MY GOSH! Do you know how many labels they had? 10! I couldn't believe it. Our little Matthew didn't scream, didn't cry, didn't say a word. NOTHING!
Wow.....I was so proud of him. Momma took him right to Donald's for a nice lunch! He loved it! The male philbotamist gave him SPIDERMAN stickers and Matthew was in heaven!! You couldn't part those with him! The band-aid took up just about his whole hand! He pointed to it and wanted to know what it was. (It sure wasn't a Diego or Backyardigans band-aid that MOM has at home!) Oh Lord, we were so proud of him!!!
One thing about the vaccines that our pediatrician noticed. Hepatitis tests were done on Matthew and it was conflicting? Not sure about that. Please Lord! NO MORE SURPRISES! Just to be on the safe side, Matthew is having a full Hepatitis profile done on him. I'm hoping it was just because he had the hep shots and maybe was developing an immunity to it? We'll see. Either way, we'll deal with it! God says He doesn't give you more than you can handle!!!
Today, Wednesday, we have collected 2 more "specimens" for the hospital to test. We will head up to the hospital a little later on today to drop those off. After that? It's just a MOMMY and Matthew day!!! I think a good day at the park would be good for Matthew. Maybe some lunch and then who knows? Maybe a trip to TArget to bring other's TA's?! :o)
Ok, tomorrow is the cardiologist and mommy/daddy are both going. We are hoping for the best! OH YEAH.........please pray that BCBS will put Matthew in their system by TODAY! Him not being in the system, as of yet, is really COSTING us bigtime! We have to pay for everything upfront (w/o insurance). His antibiotic he needed alone, for his ear infection was almost $100! *ouch* Thanks......pray that Matthew's heart is fine and dandy and that all testing done on him will turn out just fine!
*pray for mommy's sanity too.......it's hard to watch him go through all these tests! He lets them do it but I'm there with him and I feel like such the villian! Especially when he looks at me while they are doing it.*
Until then.....
Wow.....I was so proud of him. Momma took him right to Donald's for a nice lunch! He loved it! The male philbotamist gave him SPIDERMAN stickers and Matthew was in heaven!! You couldn't part those with him! The band-aid took up just about his whole hand! He pointed to it and wanted to know what it was. (It sure wasn't a Diego or Backyardigans band-aid that MOM has at home!) Oh Lord, we were so proud of him!!!
One thing about the vaccines that our pediatrician noticed. Hepatitis tests were done on Matthew and it was conflicting? Not sure about that. Please Lord! NO MORE SURPRISES! Just to be on the safe side, Matthew is having a full Hepatitis profile done on him. I'm hoping it was just because he had the hep shots and maybe was developing an immunity to it? We'll see. Either way, we'll deal with it! God says He doesn't give you more than you can handle!!!
Today, Wednesday, we have collected 2 more "specimens" for the hospital to test. We will head up to the hospital a little later on today to drop those off. After that? It's just a MOMMY and Matthew day!!! I think a good day at the park would be good for Matthew. Maybe some lunch and then who knows? Maybe a trip to TArget to bring other's TA's?! :o)
Ok, tomorrow is the cardiologist and mommy/daddy are both going. We are hoping for the best! OH YEAH.........please pray that BCBS will put Matthew in their system by TODAY! Him not being in the system, as of yet, is really COSTING us bigtime! We have to pay for everything upfront (w/o insurance). His antibiotic he needed alone, for his ear infection was almost $100! *ouch* Thanks......pray that Matthew's heart is fine and dandy and that all testing done on him will turn out just fine!
*pray for mommy's sanity too.......it's hard to watch him go through all these tests! He lets them do it but I'm there with him and I feel like such the villian! Especially when he looks at me while they are doing it.*
Until then.....
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
He's sleeping! HALLELUJAH Lord!!!!
Last night was the first night, since coming home from China, that Matthew has slept through the entire night! He had a WONDERFUL day yesterday. Found out that he loves peas! PEAS, PEAS, PEAS! He loves Walmart too. (Especially where the fishes are!) He had a grilled cheese sandwich, that mom really took off most of the breading because it was too hard for him to breakdown in his mouth by himself. LOVES french fries. Do you know a child who doesn't?????
We got some Chinese documents translated by our adoption agency! THANK YOU Stefani and Charlene for all that you do for us parents!!! So today I will run those to our pediatrician to get Matthew's testing started. He's NOT going to like it, I'm sure. (just the usual.......lead poisoning, parasitic, routine bloodwork, urine, stuff like that. OH, he will have something extra because of his brain development is so much smaller than "normal" kids. (What's normal?!?!?) At the moment, we are to give him LOTS of vitamins/minerals, every juice available to him w/extra vitamins, Calcium, you name it. Matthew loves everything you put in front of him. (I guess when you have had nothing but the same thing over and over again, and given nothing else, OF COURSE you would take new things with no problems or complaints!)
Some new foods he's had in the past 48 hours are: animal crackers, strawberry-banana juice, gummi bears vitamins (will NOT take poly-vi-sol), grilled cheese sandwich, turkey, gravy, ketchup (you'd better give it to him or he will point to it and KEEP pointing to it until you give it to him), maple syrup (sugar-free), french toast sticks, hashbrowns, pancakes, hot dogs (LOVES 'EM!), lemonade, chocolate milk (prefers regular though), lasagna, homemade bread........so yeah, HE LOVES FOOD!
Just found out that our friend and companion in China, Jim (and his son Eric) made it home to the US of A last Friday!!!! AMEN for answered prayers!!!! He's the one family that needed some extra paperwork. We are so thankful everything went through and that they are home where they belong!!!! I know the Mom is QUITE excited about her son! (she couldn't travel, so she is loving on him as you read this!) Congratulations Wendy!!!! ;o)
Keep us in your prayers! LOTS and LOTS of doctor appointments in the next 2 weeks and LOTS of testing to be done. Matthew gets a doppler ultrasound, EKG and something else on Thursday in order to see what's up with his heart murmur. Pray it's just nothing and that he'll grow outta it! PLEASE! Then it's back to the pediatrician on Friday for follow up on his ear infection/weight check. (he's underweight, only in the what was it? 5 to 10 percentile? Something like that. I'm losing track already. I have it written down in his growth book. Pray also that his head development would take off because of the extra vitamins/minerals he's getting!
We love our son! He's such a joy to be with. Gentle, quiet, always inquisitive, wants to know more and more every single day (he points to everything and wants to know names or things). It's already hard to imagine life without our Matthew! God knows we are so blessed!
(PS, no, we haven't found the camera yet, but we KNOW we have it! Have one more suitcase to unpack! GIVE US TIME! :o)
We got some Chinese documents translated by our adoption agency! THANK YOU Stefani and Charlene for all that you do for us parents!!! So today I will run those to our pediatrician to get Matthew's testing started. He's NOT going to like it, I'm sure. (just the usual.......lead poisoning, parasitic, routine bloodwork, urine, stuff like that. OH, he will have something extra because of his brain development is so much smaller than "normal" kids. (What's normal?!?!?) At the moment, we are to give him LOTS of vitamins/minerals, every juice available to him w/extra vitamins, Calcium, you name it. Matthew loves everything you put in front of him. (I guess when you have had nothing but the same thing over and over again, and given nothing else, OF COURSE you would take new things with no problems or complaints!)
Some new foods he's had in the past 48 hours are: animal crackers, strawberry-banana juice, gummi bears vitamins (will NOT take poly-vi-sol), grilled cheese sandwich, turkey, gravy, ketchup (you'd better give it to him or he will point to it and KEEP pointing to it until you give it to him), maple syrup (sugar-free), french toast sticks, hashbrowns, pancakes, hot dogs (LOVES 'EM!), lemonade, chocolate milk (prefers regular though), lasagna, homemade bread........so yeah, HE LOVES FOOD!
Just found out that our friend and companion in China, Jim (and his son Eric) made it home to the US of A last Friday!!!! AMEN for answered prayers!!!! He's the one family that needed some extra paperwork. We are so thankful everything went through and that they are home where they belong!!!! I know the Mom is QUITE excited about her son! (she couldn't travel, so she is loving on him as you read this!) Congratulations Wendy!!!! ;o)
Keep us in your prayers! LOTS and LOTS of doctor appointments in the next 2 weeks and LOTS of testing to be done. Matthew gets a doppler ultrasound, EKG and something else on Thursday in order to see what's up with his heart murmur. Pray it's just nothing and that he'll grow outta it! PLEASE! Then it's back to the pediatrician on Friday for follow up on his ear infection/weight check. (he's underweight, only in the what was it? 5 to 10 percentile? Something like that. I'm losing track already. I have it written down in his growth book. Pray also that his head development would take off because of the extra vitamins/minerals he's getting!
We love our son! He's such a joy to be with. Gentle, quiet, always inquisitive, wants to know more and more every single day (he points to everything and wants to know names or things). It's already hard to imagine life without our Matthew! God knows we are so blessed!
(PS, no, we haven't found the camera yet, but we KNOW we have it! Have one more suitcase to unpack! GIVE US TIME! :o)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Saturday, March 17th, 2007 - HOME, HOME, HOME!
Oh gosh it feels so good to be home. Even though most of us are sleep deprived and cranky as all (won't mention the main 2 who are!!!), we are home and settling in. After a VERY long, 30 hour of either flying, waiting or hanging on to the airplane seat for dear life, we are on the ground and staying put for awhile. The event on Thursday started at 4:30am (China time) for us. Bags were packed. We left the hotel late because our guide kinda overslept but came running into the hotel lobby just as we were truly about to leave (or else we'd have been late for our flights). She felt totally terrible about oversleeping! She didn't even want to accept our gifts we had for her for helping us in Guangzhou. As I explained it to her, everything didn't depend on this one morning. (She helped us like crazy!!!) Anyway, she took our gifts, helped us get to our China Southern checkpoints at the airport and went with us as far as she could, got pictures (which we will post as soon as we can find the camera) and left.
The flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. It was kinda like a commuter flight, your up? Then your down 30 minutes later. No biggie. Then, we had some time in Hong Kong. Ate a little bit and got on the BIG LEG of the flying. (Going from Hong Kong, China to San Francisco, California) OH MY GOSH! All I have to say is thank you Lord for the United pilots who flew our plane! It was a 747 - 400. Totally packed.....and from the time we hit air to just past the International Date Time territory, all we had was turbulence. The kind that makes your Pepsi leap up and end up on your shirt. The kind that allows your butter from your meal to be opened up and end up on your shirt. The kind that allows you to hear EVERYONE on the flight gasp because the plane is just moving and you are litterly coming up outta your seat!!! That kind of turbulence!!!!! It was horrible. The kids thought it was wonderful, laughing and saying OOOOOOHhhhhhhhh and mommy was hanging on for dear life to the seat, which is attached to the plane, which is just bouncing all over the place, (so why hold on to the seat?!?!??!) I've never prayed as hard and as furious as I did on that plane!! You know it's bad when the flight attendents serve dinner to you, give you something to drink and then the pilot comes on the intercom system and tells them to SIT DOWN for awhile. Trust me, I DO NOT plan to get on any more planes any time soon! (At least for 5 years!)
Anywho....we did end up getting to San Francisco, even if it was the harder way. We had a six hour layover there. We were starving! We were tired! Airplane food is NOT that great. We ended up going through security/Immigration with no problem. Even the officer greeted us and congratulated our Matthew on immediate citizenship! YEAH US! We got our bags, checked them through security/customs (yet again) and proceeded to get some lunch (who knows if it were lunch or breakfast or dinner by then). SF was on breakfast, so to us it felt like night. (China time) When we finally sat down to eat some Subway sandwiches, we only had about 2 hours left to board our next plane from San Francisco to BALTIMORE! Lucky us, we had to board our plane with about 50 kids who were going to take a tour of Baltimore! OH BOY! (not!) They were loud, they were mischievious, oh my! We didn't really want to fly next to them, but hey, we've made it this far. 5 hours later we were in Baltimore. That flight was turbulent just descending into Baltimore and landing because of crosswinds that were around 20 mphs. Our WOMAN pilot was awesome! Bumpy landing, but hey, we were down, we were safe, WE WERE HAPPY CAMPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As soon as we disembarked, we got our stuff, and the first fresh face we come to was TONI B. who was waiting for us! OH GOSH was it a face we DESPERATELY wanted to see! (She was taking us home!) Even through the rain, none of cared. We loved being HOME! NO MORE AIRPLANES! That's what Rebecca said......Mommy? No more airplanes? I said, NO MORE AIRPLANES FOR A LONG TIME! God did I mean that!!!!! Toni drove us home and we got in about midnight. THANK YOU TONI!!!!
The kids didn't know whether to eat, sleep, or what. It's the time thing/body clock being thrown into oblivion! (I hate this part of it too!) We are ok but it's taking awhile to adjust. Matthew is scared of the cats, all 3 of them. He likes his room, but scared to sleep in it alone. (We have Rebecca in there with him for awhile.) He just stares at everything in the house. We have been teaching him what things are, but how much he retains is totally unknown to us. He's trying. It's alot to ask for a 2 year old.
UPDATE FROM OUR PEDIATRICIAN:
Wow, what a whopper. I knew some things were different with Matthew when we got him but just how much different we weren't sure until we would take him to our own pediatrician. Matthew has been diagnosed with a heart murmor (whether just a childhood thing that will go away? or something else, we will have to see a pediatric cardiologist to make sure), a small "male" problem that will require him to see a urologist, and of course, his cleft palate........our pediatrician feels like after seeing the photos and seeing his palate for "real" and in person, she feels like China tried to fix it. It's not complete though. He will need more work to close up a whole in his mouth that is just behind his teeth line. The rest is totally closed, which is kinda what we thought (because you can see it) but to be rest assured, wow......of course, we were never informed that China tried to fix it. OH well.....his teeth are out of align, but this is common for cleft kids. No biggie there beings these are baby teeth. The Cranialfacial team can help with this also. Apparently, the round scar (about a quarter size) on Matthew's face, has possibly come from an infection or a bite of some sort. She said he will probably have this the rest of his life. (again, no biggie to us) But, we were never told about this either. I tell ya, you just roll with the punches! We are trying to get his vaccination records up to date, but it is HARD! Everything is in CHINESE! Our pediatrician is Asian, but does not read Chinese. (AHHHH!!!!) We've pretty much decided to get tithers done on Matthew to see what his immunity is and to go from there. (With Rebecca she had only immunities to 3 things and that was it!!!) Blood work, testing and cardiac stuff to come next week! *oh please pray for us* (Especially about the cardiac stuff! My father had a murmor because of Rheumatic fever as a child and it went away.......I'm praying it's NOT the worst case scenario our pediatrician gave to us! (a hole in his heart)
Thanks for traveling with us to China! We'll post here and there about our kids as we get something to say. Hopefully we'll be rested enough to attend church tomorrow.
Kristen
The flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. It was kinda like a commuter flight, your up? Then your down 30 minutes later. No biggie. Then, we had some time in Hong Kong. Ate a little bit and got on the BIG LEG of the flying. (Going from Hong Kong, China to San Francisco, California) OH MY GOSH! All I have to say is thank you Lord for the United pilots who flew our plane! It was a 747 - 400. Totally packed.....and from the time we hit air to just past the International Date Time territory, all we had was turbulence. The kind that makes your Pepsi leap up and end up on your shirt. The kind that allows your butter from your meal to be opened up and end up on your shirt. The kind that allows you to hear EVERYONE on the flight gasp because the plane is just moving and you are litterly coming up outta your seat!!! That kind of turbulence!!!!! It was horrible. The kids thought it was wonderful, laughing and saying OOOOOOHhhhhhhhh and mommy was hanging on for dear life to the seat, which is attached to the plane, which is just bouncing all over the place, (so why hold on to the seat?!?!??!) I've never prayed as hard and as furious as I did on that plane!! You know it's bad when the flight attendents serve dinner to you, give you something to drink and then the pilot comes on the intercom system and tells them to SIT DOWN for awhile. Trust me, I DO NOT plan to get on any more planes any time soon! (At least for 5 years!)
Anywho....we did end up getting to San Francisco, even if it was the harder way. We had a six hour layover there. We were starving! We were tired! Airplane food is NOT that great. We ended up going through security/Immigration with no problem. Even the officer greeted us and congratulated our Matthew on immediate citizenship! YEAH US! We got our bags, checked them through security/customs (yet again) and proceeded to get some lunch (who knows if it were lunch or breakfast or dinner by then). SF was on breakfast, so to us it felt like night. (China time) When we finally sat down to eat some Subway sandwiches, we only had about 2 hours left to board our next plane from San Francisco to BALTIMORE! Lucky us, we had to board our plane with about 50 kids who were going to take a tour of Baltimore! OH BOY! (not!) They were loud, they were mischievious, oh my! We didn't really want to fly next to them, but hey, we've made it this far. 5 hours later we were in Baltimore. That flight was turbulent just descending into Baltimore and landing because of crosswinds that were around 20 mphs. Our WOMAN pilot was awesome! Bumpy landing, but hey, we were down, we were safe, WE WERE HAPPY CAMPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As soon as we disembarked, we got our stuff, and the first fresh face we come to was TONI B. who was waiting for us! OH GOSH was it a face we DESPERATELY wanted to see! (She was taking us home!) Even through the rain, none of cared. We loved being HOME! NO MORE AIRPLANES! That's what Rebecca said......Mommy? No more airplanes? I said, NO MORE AIRPLANES FOR A LONG TIME! God did I mean that!!!!! Toni drove us home and we got in about midnight. THANK YOU TONI!!!!
The kids didn't know whether to eat, sleep, or what. It's the time thing/body clock being thrown into oblivion! (I hate this part of it too!) We are ok but it's taking awhile to adjust. Matthew is scared of the cats, all 3 of them. He likes his room, but scared to sleep in it alone. (We have Rebecca in there with him for awhile.) He just stares at everything in the house. We have been teaching him what things are, but how much he retains is totally unknown to us. He's trying. It's alot to ask for a 2 year old.
UPDATE FROM OUR PEDIATRICIAN:
Wow, what a whopper. I knew some things were different with Matthew when we got him but just how much different we weren't sure until we would take him to our own pediatrician. Matthew has been diagnosed with a heart murmor (whether just a childhood thing that will go away? or something else, we will have to see a pediatric cardiologist to make sure), a small "male" problem that will require him to see a urologist, and of course, his cleft palate........our pediatrician feels like after seeing the photos and seeing his palate for "real" and in person, she feels like China tried to fix it. It's not complete though. He will need more work to close up a whole in his mouth that is just behind his teeth line. The rest is totally closed, which is kinda what we thought (because you can see it) but to be rest assured, wow......of course, we were never informed that China tried to fix it. OH well.....his teeth are out of align, but this is common for cleft kids. No biggie there beings these are baby teeth. The Cranialfacial team can help with this also. Apparently, the round scar (about a quarter size) on Matthew's face, has possibly come from an infection or a bite of some sort. She said he will probably have this the rest of his life. (again, no biggie to us) But, we were never told about this either. I tell ya, you just roll with the punches! We are trying to get his vaccination records up to date, but it is HARD! Everything is in CHINESE! Our pediatrician is Asian, but does not read Chinese. (AHHHH!!!!) We've pretty much decided to get tithers done on Matthew to see what his immunity is and to go from there. (With Rebecca she had only immunities to 3 things and that was it!!!) Blood work, testing and cardiac stuff to come next week! *oh please pray for us* (Especially about the cardiac stuff! My father had a murmor because of Rheumatic fever as a child and it went away.......I'm praying it's NOT the worst case scenario our pediatrician gave to us! (a hole in his heart)
Thanks for traveling with us to China! We'll post here and there about our kids as we get something to say. Hopefully we'll be rested enough to attend church tomorrow.
Kristen
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Almost home / Nesten hjemme
So the time has come. This is the last post from China, THANK YOU LORD. It's not that we don't like it here, it's just that we like it much better home. :) We went to the consulate today and had the swearing in ceremony. This time we actually had to say the oath and not only answer yes to the question. There were like, between 50 and 100 other families there also! LOTS of babies and older kids with brand new mommies and daddies!!!!! AMEN LORD! *There are still lots more still in orphanages!*
Så har tiden kommet for å reise hjem så dette er siste innlegg fra Kina. TAKK GUD! Det er ikke det at vi ikke liker oss i Kina, det er bare at vi liker oss så mye bedre hjemme. :) I dag var vi på det Amerikanske konsulatet og hadde svergings sermoni. Denne gangen måtte vi si hele eden og ikke bare ja på spørsmålet. Det var mellom 50 og 100 andre familier der. Mange nye babier og eldre unger med nye mammaer og pappaer. Amen Herre. *Det er fremdeles mange som fremdeles bor på barnehjem!*
We promised that our answers on the application for immigrant status for Matthew were true to the best of our knowledge and that was it! All that pomp and circumstance just for that. The new consulate office is quite large! More room, more security, more escalators, more security, did I mention security? Even little Matthew had to walk through the security detector by himself!!! But, we made it through that. We are now packing like mad people, rushing around, trying to get things into suitcases. We are tired, we are hungry for some REAL food, and most of all, we are missing home. China is nice, don't get us wrong, but there IS no place like home.
Vi lovet at det vi hadde svart i søknaden om immigrasjons visa for Matthew var sant så langt vi visste og det var det. All den pomp og prakt bare for det. Det nye konsulatet er mye større enn det gamle. Mer plass, mer sikkerhetstiltak, flere rulletrapper, mer sikkerhetstiltak, nevnte jeg sikkerhetstiltak? Selv Matthew måtte gå igjennom metaldetektoren for seg selv. Vi kom igjennom det og nå pakker vi som gale, prøver å få alt med oss uten å utvide bagasjen. Vi er lei, sulten på mat som vik kan identifisere og mest av alt har vi hjemlengsel. Kina er et greit land men det er ingen plass som hjemme.
Toni? We should be right on schedule for the moment. Track our flights if you can. Remember Itinerary should be posted somewhere on here already. We won't have internet access until we get home, so say a prayer for us that we have NO turbulence, Matthew's/Mommy's ears will be good to fly (mommy, daddy and Rebecca have colds.......Mommy's ears did the same thing as last trip to China. Not open up after descent from second airplane trip. *oy*), and we have safe flights! Like I said, we are tired! DIRT tired! Pray for us tomorrow! We'll need it lugging 4 large suitcases, 5 carry on's, 2 kids, a double stroller and a partridge in a pear tree! LOL
Vi vil ikke ha internet før vi er hjemme så be for oss at vi ikke har turbulens, at Matthews og mammas ører er gode nok for en lang flytur (mamma, pappa og Rebecca er forkjølet.... Mammas ører plugget igjen, som de gjorde første tur til Kina. De åpnet ikke opp etter landingen på turen fra provinsen. Oi), og at vi har en god reise. Som jeg sa, vi er lei. Drit lei. Be for oss i morgen. Vi vil drasse rundt 4 store kofferter, 5 ting for ombord, to unger, en dobbel barnevogn og en papegøye i et pæretre! :)
Look out Maryland, WE'RE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ya hoo!!!!!!!!!!
Se opp Maryland, VI KOMMER HJEM!!!!!! Endelig.
PS Sorry no pictures from consulate. They don't allow it.
Så har tiden kommet for å reise hjem så dette er siste innlegg fra Kina. TAKK GUD! Det er ikke det at vi ikke liker oss i Kina, det er bare at vi liker oss så mye bedre hjemme. :) I dag var vi på det Amerikanske konsulatet og hadde svergings sermoni. Denne gangen måtte vi si hele eden og ikke bare ja på spørsmålet. Det var mellom 50 og 100 andre familier der. Mange nye babier og eldre unger med nye mammaer og pappaer. Amen Herre. *Det er fremdeles mange som fremdeles bor på barnehjem!*
We promised that our answers on the application for immigrant status for Matthew were true to the best of our knowledge and that was it! All that pomp and circumstance just for that. The new consulate office is quite large! More room, more security, more escalators, more security, did I mention security? Even little Matthew had to walk through the security detector by himself!!! But, we made it through that. We are now packing like mad people, rushing around, trying to get things into suitcases. We are tired, we are hungry for some REAL food, and most of all, we are missing home. China is nice, don't get us wrong, but there IS no place like home.
Vi lovet at det vi hadde svart i søknaden om immigrasjons visa for Matthew var sant så langt vi visste og det var det. All den pomp og prakt bare for det. Det nye konsulatet er mye større enn det gamle. Mer plass, mer sikkerhetstiltak, flere rulletrapper, mer sikkerhetstiltak, nevnte jeg sikkerhetstiltak? Selv Matthew måtte gå igjennom metaldetektoren for seg selv. Vi kom igjennom det og nå pakker vi som gale, prøver å få alt med oss uten å utvide bagasjen. Vi er lei, sulten på mat som vik kan identifisere og mest av alt har vi hjemlengsel. Kina er et greit land men det er ingen plass som hjemme.
Toni? We should be right on schedule for the moment. Track our flights if you can. Remember Itinerary should be posted somewhere on here already. We won't have internet access until we get home, so say a prayer for us that we have NO turbulence, Matthew's/Mommy's ears will be good to fly (mommy, daddy and Rebecca have colds.......Mommy's ears did the same thing as last trip to China. Not open up after descent from second airplane trip. *oy*), and we have safe flights! Like I said, we are tired! DIRT tired! Pray for us tomorrow! We'll need it lugging 4 large suitcases, 5 carry on's, 2 kids, a double stroller and a partridge in a pear tree! LOL
Vi vil ikke ha internet før vi er hjemme så be for oss at vi ikke har turbulens, at Matthews og mammas ører er gode nok for en lang flytur (mamma, pappa og Rebecca er forkjølet.... Mammas ører plugget igjen, som de gjorde første tur til Kina. De åpnet ikke opp etter landingen på turen fra provinsen. Oi), og at vi har en god reise. Som jeg sa, vi er lei. Drit lei. Be for oss i morgen. Vi vil drasse rundt 4 store kofferter, 5 ting for ombord, to unger, en dobbel barnevogn og en papegøye i et pæretre! :)
Look out Maryland, WE'RE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ya hoo!!!!!!!!!!
Se opp Maryland, VI KOMMER HJEM!!!!!! Endelig.
PS Sorry no pictures from consulate. They don't allow it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Tuesday Afternoon March 13th.
We are now less than 48 hours from leaving China and I must admit I am actually looking forward to the long journey home. We did have a small little snag in that Matthews name on the plane ticket home was not matching his passport but our superb travel agent, Sue, and our guide here, Ann, has helped us with that. I guess what I am trying to say is...... There is no stopping us now. Especially since it is almost 3PM here and we did not get any call from the consulate with questions. Hallelujah! Matthews visa is going through. Now we only will have to go to the consulate tomorrow afternoon and swear to it that we did not lie on Matthews application. We are actually swearing that on Matthews behalf. It is weird but that is the way it is.
Last night we went on the Pearl River Cruise. That is a resteurant boat that goes up and down the Pearl River a few times while the passengers are having a jolly good time with food and for the ones that want it.... drinks. The food was really awesome and the view from the river even better. The buildings along the river was displaying different kinds of light shows. One of the buildings, China Construction Bank, even showed parts of the movie "Happy Feet". Most of it is hard to describe and pictures doesn't give it the justice it deserve.
So in conclusion, we will be walking off the plane in Baltimore in less than 72 hours and we hope to see friendly faces welcoming us. Well that is if I don't manage to get United to squeeze us in on an earlier flight from San Francisco. If that happens I don't know where we will come in or when but hopefully we manage to get a hold of Toni so that she can be at the right airport at the right time.
Our guide just popped in with the redbook, aka adoption decree, and told us that everything was good as gold. Hurray!!! There is just one fly in our soup now. One of the other families needs extra documentation before their visa can be issued. Please pray they manage to get it over here ASAP so it doesn't delay them for their return. We want all the children home.
Till we post again.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Monday morning, 3/12/07 - Pictures from our Cantonese dinner!
Thank God we knew what we were eating!!! Here's proof! Enjoy!
Sunday afternoon March 11th.
Today we took a trip to Six Banyan Temple. This is a budist temple in the middle of Guangzhou. It is one of those places that shows the contrasts of this country very clearly. In the middle of the temple there is a 57m (about 175 ft) pagoda built sometime around 500 AD. 
In other words it is about 1500 years old. The Chinese really know a thing or two about wood preservation cause most of the pagoda is in the original wood. Rebecca and I took the time to climb the stairs all the way to the top. I asked the guide if she knew of other three year olds that have done that and the answer was no. When Rebecca sets her mind on doing something she is very determined. The rules of the pagoda is that if a child wants to go up, it has to do it on their own. Under adult supervision of course but she had to climb it by her self. She did really well.
After the pagoda was built way back when, six banyan trees grew up around the pagoda and the monks there believe that the trees was buddas that had come to protect the pagoda. That is how the temple got its name.
At the temple we were given the option of having our child blessed by the monks.
We decided to opt out of that but a couple of the other familes had their children blessed. We believe that our children are already blessed through what our Lord and Savior said about them. "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The protection from the God of Heaven and Earth is all they need. And of course your prayer coverage.
After the temple we went to the electronics market. I was kind of dissapointed with what I saw. There were 250 million cellphones plus any kind of cellphone accessories, 100 thousand mp3 players, 6 computer and some software (all in Chinese). But then again we did focus our attention on the McDonalds that was in the back of the market and looked at electronics for about 15-20 minutes.
Tonite we are going to be daring again and go for some Chinese food for dinner. All four families are gathering together at a local restaurant that specializes in Cantonese style food. This is the style of Chinese food that is most widespread throughout the world. Owen, Donnas teenage helper and "nephew", did comment on that there really aren't any stray animals around but lets not hope for the reason implied......
Roy
In other words it is about 1500 years old. The Chinese really know a thing or two about wood preservation cause most of the pagoda is in the original wood. Rebecca and I took the time to climb the stairs all the way to the top. I asked the guide if she knew of other three year olds that have done that and the answer was no. When Rebecca sets her mind on doing something she is very determined. The rules of the pagoda is that if a child wants to go up, it has to do it on their own. Under adult supervision of course but she had to climb it by her self. She did really well.
After the pagoda was built way back when, six banyan trees grew up around the pagoda and the monks there believe that the trees was buddas that had come to protect the pagoda. That is how the temple got its name.
At the temple we were given the option of having our child blessed by the monks.
We decided to opt out of that but a couple of the other familes had their children blessed. We believe that our children are already blessed through what our Lord and Savior said about them. "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The protection from the God of Heaven and Earth is all they need. And of course your prayer coverage.
After the temple we went to the electronics market. I was kind of dissapointed with what I saw. There were 250 million cellphones plus any kind of cellphone accessories, 100 thousand mp3 players, 6 computer and some software (all in Chinese). But then again we did focus our attention on the McDonalds that was in the back of the market and looked at electronics for about 15-20 minutes.
Tonite we are going to be daring again and go for some Chinese food for dinner. All four families are gathering together at a local restaurant that specializes in Cantonese style food. This is the style of Chinese food that is most widespread throughout the world. Owen, Donnas teenage helper and "nephew", did comment on that there really aren't any stray animals around but lets not hope for the reason implied......
Roy
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Saturday evening, 3/10/07 - Medical stuff/ visa pictures
Well, today was the day Matthew and LOTS, and LOTS, and LOTS of other babies & children have been waiting for. The medical check. First, we met in the lobby and met Donna, Owen, Elizabeth (the new babe), Lynda ("seven"), Jim and Eric (new cool boy). Donna and Jim and us went to the place where you get your baby's pictures done right outside the physical exam office. Matthew just smiled away. His photo was FANTASTIC! Then Eric had his, and Elizabeth had hers. From there, we were met by groups and groups of more adoptive parents. Some from the US, some from Spain and more Americans. We "strolled" over to the medical check office and waited in line as about 50 children were in front of us. (The office just opened too!!!)
We proceeded to fill out Matthew's information and waited in line. Surprisingly enough, the lines moved!!! Better than when we were there with Rebecca. (I tell ya, the guides have alot to do with it.
Translating for everyone and moving people here and there.) I went ahead and got in one of the longer lines because I knew station number one, MEDICAL & SURGICAL would take a little longer. Matthew flew by with flying colors. Off to station number two, WEIGHT and HEIGHT. This is where it got REALLY FUNNY!!!! Matthew, by then, knew where he was and what they "could" do. He ended up throwing a hissy fit when they tried to measure him. (got through it though) Then we came to weight........this is where you might laugh! They weigh him and he (at first) weighed MORE than Rebecca......I said, "not hardly". Then Roy came over and they weighed him AGAIN, this time he supposidly lost 4 mysterious pounds to come to 26 pounds! Roy and I looked at each other and said, NOT HARDLY! Hey, that's what they said! We hope that our pediatrician will solve this "mystery". ***Side note, when we had Rebecca weighed at the medical check, she weighed 2 pounds less than what they said. WHO KNOWS!*** Anyhoo.......
Off to station number three......This is where I'd like to ask you guys for prayer! Matthew did pass this station. However, this was the EAR, NOSE, and THROAT part of it. His nose had dried blood in it. (Which we knew from Friday morning, when we woke up from sleeping, I got him up from his crib and saw blood on the sheets. Almost called the guide for that one, but we were going to see her a tad later, so we waited.) Apparently, Matthew's left ear is fully infected. This, we were told, is part of him having a cleft palate. The doctor looked in his mouth and said to me, "Hole in mouth" and I said yes, cleft palate. Poor guy, we were given Matthew with him sneezing yellow "stuff" outta his nose. How long he's been sick, WHO KNOWS?! The doctor talked with us through Anne, our guide and because of the severity of his ear infection and what has happened in the last 24 hours with him, she wrote him two prescriptions RIGHT ON THE SPOT! (Usually they don't do that......) So Matthew is on Amoxicillin and some other decongestant type of stuff. So far, he's taken his medicine with no problems. It's kinda like the American stuff but they don't mix it. It stays in powder form and we mix it with hot water.
I tell ya, a mother's heart tells you, GET TO A DOCTOR because you want your child fixed and helped. I wasn't sure what to do until Anne intervened for us! For that we are TRULY grateful!!!! (thank you CHI for her) Matthew had a good nap. A little cranky, but hey, I'd be cranky too with an ear infection raging inside me! For all you adoptive parents out there waiting to travel, DANNY'S BAGELS!!!! We had some AWESOME steak & cheese subs from there for lunch! Cheap and good! Can't beat that!!!
Ok, back to today......Anne got Matthew's prescriptions and we headed back to the Victory hotel (which is WONDERFUL) to handle US Consulate paperwork. Almost 2 hours later, Donna, Jim and myself (Kristen) got everything done! Whew.....what an ordeal!!! Adoptive parents have to do a dossier, and when we get here, we have JUST as much paperwork to do. Whew whee........
Next? Kids had naps, we ate lunch and went SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE GUANGZHOU! We got some EXCELLENT deals on Xi'an warriors (yeah Toni, I found REAL ones), dresses for Rebecca, a "suit" for Matthew, a shirt for Roy and went to the grocery store, Beatrice! (Take notice parents? BEATRICE has food/water for ya! Good prices too!) We went to about 3 or 4 stores and then it began to rain, so we sprinted back to the hotel where we get the kids ready for bedtime. (Mommy & daddy time! Peace and quiet! AHHHHHH.......oh yeah, watching American Idol from last Thursday night.)
Please, please, please......pray for our Matthew. We have one HECK of a plane ride home in 5 days. I can't imagine Matthew's ears if they still aren't decent by then. Oh Lord.....hopefully this medicine will do the trick until we can get to our pediatrician. Louise? We need some prayerwarriors and just know we are praying for Julia too!!!
Friday, March 09, 2007
Saturday morning, 3/10/07 - IN Guangzhou!!!
We made it to Guangzhou. After a VERY long day yesterday, we made it. Yesterday, Friday, we shopped around Chengdu in the morning, let the kids have naps in the mid-morning to afternoon and got ready to leave by having a "farewell Chengdu" lunch via McDonalds! Matthew is warming up to us everyday. His "blank" look on his face comes every once in while (same look that he had when we first got him, but I tell ya, he's a LADIES man! Already smitten the ladies no matter where we go. He sings almost daily now and Marina (our guide in Chengdu) said that is a good thing. It means he is happy. I hope so.
Matthew and Rebecca get along real well now. Bickering as sister and brother. (That didn't take long to do.) Matthew did well on his first 2 hour flight to Guangzhou. He sat with momma and was ok for most of the time until he realized he could NOT get up and move around as we were descending!! Papaya snacks got him to relax a little. Met some really cool Aussie men on the plane ride from Chengdu to Guangzhou. Don't know their names but they were just talking with the kids, with us and having a good time.
Well, it's breakfast time and all we had for dinner last night was some muffins at the airport. So, we'll "talk" later!
Matthew and Rebecca get along real well now. Bickering as sister and brother. (That didn't take long to do.) Matthew did well on his first 2 hour flight to Guangzhou. He sat with momma and was ok for most of the time until he realized he could NOT get up and move around as we were descending!! Papaya snacks got him to relax a little. Met some really cool Aussie men on the plane ride from Chengdu to Guangzhou. Don't know their names but they were just talking with the kids, with us and having a good time.
Well, it's breakfast time and all we had for dinner last night was some muffins at the airport. So, we'll "talk" later!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Thursday afternoon, 3/8/07 - PANDAS!
Well, we were up early. Matthew had a so-so night. Apparently he had a bad dream or something because he was sleeping but at the same time, crying. He did that about 3 times throughout the night. After that, he slept. We then got up, went to breakfast, and hit downtown Chengdu! (waiting for Marina/Mr. Wong) We actually drew more attention to ourselves today for just walking in the square! Imagine that!! A lady came up to us saying a bunch of stuff in Chinese and I honestly thought she was going to get me for not dressing the kids warm enough. Come to find out, her and Roy started a conversation in CHINESE! Lucky Roy studied those CD's! It's paid off more than once! She was nice. Said lucky babies. (little did she know WE are the lucky ones) Then went off in the square. Meanwhile, more folks came along to see what she was looking at and well? You know the rest!
Ok, I have to tell you about this! As we were heading back to the hotel to meet our guide and the driver, we stopped in front of Ito Yokado (a department store/Walmart/ grocery store). Well, apparently they were having ONE MASSIVE SALE ON SOMETHING because there were about 150 people standing in line waiting for the store to open at 9am. Well, the store opened and even with police around and security guards posted throughout the line, the people MOWED one another over to get into that store! It was like BLACK FRIDAY in the US! Or David's Bridal $99 sale, the first day! OH MY GOSH.....young, old, didn't matter, they were literally walking on one another to get into that store. Roy and I couldn't believe what we were seeing and Roy asked one of the policemen what was it (he couldn't speak english). We figured a sale. But MAN......stay outta their way!
PANDAS....... PANDAS......... and more PANDAS! We saw little baby pandas that were 6 months old (who were the most downright beautiful little creatures God's ever made). At birth, the pandas are about 1/5 a pound.
At 6 months, they are about 50 pounds, so I guess you could say we saw the toddlers! LOL....It was mating season so some of the male pandas were inside their "bedrooms".....for obvious reasons!
The red pandas were just so darn cute, we just had to hold them! They are truly babies! Rebecca weighs more than them!!! Holding them was such an honor! They were enticed by apples! We had to wear gloves as to protect not only ourselves, but mainly for them! Not to get them sick or pass germs to them. It was an awesome experience.
Rebecca had to do what mommy did!
The Chengdu Panda Reserve was an awesome experience and it took about appx. 4 hours to go through the whole thing. Even "Swan Lake". They have BLACK SWANS there. They are the most gorgegous swans! The baby chicks are just as cute! I LOVED seeing them. You don't see too many black swans in the US (or Norway for that matter). The kids got plum tuckered out as the photo shows.
After the Panda reserve, we went back to the hotel to clean up, get a fresh diaper on our mister Matthew, let Rebecca go and off we took our guide out to a nice Sichuan meal at one of the local restaurants. I think she liked that, VERY MUCH! We let her pick some stuff for us and it was WONDERFUL! (didn't like the vegetable plate, but ok.....looked like some kelp or seaweed) We actually closed the place down! Apparently here in China, workers get a "rest period" of one hour after the lunch rush. (to then prepare for the dinner crowds) Now we are back here writing to you.
Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou! HALLELUJAH LORD! We won't be stared at for HOURS on end! More Americans, more American food, more shops that are SOOOOOO cool. I can't wait. Our flight is at 7:30pm and we won't arrive there until about 9:30pm. So no updates until at least Saturday and then we'll have to see if we can get a good connection in the hotel! We are staying at the Victory, don't forget.
OH YEAH, HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY! (Here in China, it's Happy Women's Day today!)
Until we meet again......
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Wednesday morning, 3/7/07 - Our little man is SO cute!
Oh my gosh did we have an interesting day yesterday afternoon. We went back to the Carrefour (like a Walmart) to get some things for Matthew (and ourselves). We got looks galore like you wouldn't believe. Number one it could be the stroller. It's a double stroller (which you don't see very often here in China), number two, we have a SON! He looks healthy enough on the outside, which I'm sure people are wondering about but yesterday, at lunchtime, Matthew and I were playing a game while he was eating. He never opens up his mouth very wide so we were pretending to yawn so I could get food into him. Well, I got to see his palate (or lack there of). Straight through to the nasal cavity. Poor little guy. No wonder he is constantly cleaning his palate way. (sounds like he's snorting or breathing really heavy, but it's not, he's just cleaning the airway/palate way of food or if he drank too quickly.)
The Carrefour was a quickie! It's ok to be the center of attention sometimes, but man, people come up to you and just start rambling in Chinese and I'm standing there with the kids going huh? Marina, our guide just casually walks over and begins to talk to the people and then tells them about Matthew's special need (sn). We bought some clothes for Matthew. I do NOT know metrics very well, so I just held up clothing to him and tried new shoes on him to see what fit and what didn't. He was so happy to get shoes that fit him. Daddy put the first shoe on him and he just smiled like crazy and was so happy he started singing!!! (I just thought to myself, wow, singing over new shoes that actually fit your feet. His little red shoes that he came in were so very worn, toes to the very end and slippery to walk in because of the sole's being almost gone. They are the papery kind of shoes that NO person let alone a child walk in, or play in. But, that's all the orphanage had, that's what they put on him.) We then got some more bottled water, orange juice from DOLE, cartons of warm milk and checked out.
This morning, we all slept in BIGTIME! I got up when I heard Rebecca running to and from the bathroom. (nothing wrong mind you, just running to and from) So I got up, then little Matthew got up and now Daddy is up. This is the most we've slept since leaving the USA. I'm so grateful and told the Director so, for the care that Matthew has received. He is developmentally delayed in alot of things. Yesterday for dinner, we tried to see if he could feed himself and he could, but with MAJOR problems. He acts like more of a 1 1/2 year old in some things and 5 year old in others. We'll catch him up. Just his language skills alone are just surpassing every notion within me! I never thought that within 24 hours, he'd be speaking english. That to me is just mind blowing!
The director of Yibin Children's Welfare Institute is such a very humble and gentle man. He said from the moment we met, that Roy and I were the best parents possible for Matthew. He was glad that we were keeping some of his Chinese name in the English spelling of his name. The Notary policeman pretty much said the same thing. That made us feel very good.
Today we have a free day. We plan to go eat breakfast, get showers, wash some clothes and then walk around Chengdu some more. I tell ya, being by yourself in a province is MUCH better than having 20 some families all trying to figure out where you want to go or something like that. Chengdu is pretty friendly. Our guide Marina has said that anywhere near the Prime Hotel is safe to go. (But there are unsafe areas around here also, but she said we wouldn't have to worry about that.) I like the Prime Hotel. It's in the middle of EVERYTHING! You have a McDonald's across the street (take the skywalk over the traffic filled streets), KFC about 3 blocks away, and Pizza Hut WITHIN the hotel!!!! Had pizza last night and it was AWESOME!
Well, I better end here. Lots to do and the kids are hungry! (kids....hmmm, I have two!) ;o)
Until next time..........
Tuesday evening, 3/6/07
Whew whee.....lots of documents and paperwork that transpired today. Between going to the Civil Affairs office again, doing paperwork there, and THEN....a HUGE, did I say HUGE Spanish group came in right after us and every one of them had Chinese babies with them!!! Don't know if they all came from Yibin, but boy, those babies were VOCAL! Most of them still dressed in the attire they came in yesterday or the day before. Anyway, we ended up taking the director back to the hotel with us to finish more paperwork and to wait for the police Notary. We actually finished ALL the paperwork TODAY! All we need is the receipts from today, the adoption decree in the redbook and the passport. That's it! Tomorrow is a free day so Marina can go to the different offices to get paperwork done (and give them back to us) and Thursday is the PANDA RESERVE! We get to walk up to REAL LIVE PANDAS and who knows, maybe they will let us feed them?! I'm REALLY looking forward to that.
Masse dokumenter og papirarbeid i dag. Tilbake til Civil Affairs kontoret for papirarbeid. Mens vi var der kom det en stor Spansk gruppe kom inn rett etter oss og hvert eneste par hadde en kinesisk baby med seg. Vet ikke om de kom fra Yibin eller ikke. I alle tilfelle så sørget ungene for at vi ga dem oppmerksomhet. Mesteparten av dem var fremdeles i klærne de kom i igår. Vi tok med oss barnehjems direktøren tilbake til hotellet for å gjøre unna mer papirarbeid og vente på notarius publicus. Vi gjorde unna alt papirarbeidet i dag så nå trenger vi bare å vente på adopsjons dekretet, dokumentasjon om at han er foreldreløs og pass. Det er det hele. I morgen har vi fridag slik at Marina kan gå til forskjellige kontor og gjøre mer papirarbeid for oss. På torsdag skal vi besøke Panda reservatet hvor vi vil få mulighet til å se dem på nært hold.
I have to admit, I'm tired today. I'm eating enough. Trust me on that one, but I'm not exactly sleeping very well. Apparently it's showing too. I saw some of the photos Roy took of me and saw only one thing! DARK EYES! Looks like Roy has been going 9 rounds with me! (which he hasn't, mind you) I need to do something about that. Just watching glucose levels. I've only had rice twice so far. (white rice spikes my sugar, so does regular pasta)
Jeg må innrømme at jeg er trøtt i dag. Jeg spiser nok men jeg sover ikke veldig godt og det synes. Jeg så noen av bildene Roy tok av meg og jeg ser bare en ting. Mørke øyne. Det ser ut som om Roy har gått ni runder med meg (noe han ikke har). Jeg må gjøre noe med det. Må også holde øye med sukkernivået. Jeg har hatt hvit ris kun to ganger så langt. (Hvit ris og pasta sender sukker nivået opp i skyene)
Anyhoo......Matthew continues to thrive! Gosh what a difference from Rebecca. Night and day! Matthew is easy going and saying everything that we say back to us. It won't take him long to speak english at this rate. I will say one thing, I'm almost 99% sure he has some sort of hearing deficiency. He speaks like my cousin Kevin, somewhat. He's deaf. I know through some great BTDT parents, like Wanda G., cleft kids get tubes in their ears to allow excess drainage off the eardrum, of fluid. I'm hoping this is all Matthew needs. He speaks pretty well to be honest. He already says, Momma, Dada, no-no, jei-jei (means big sister), didi (little brother). I think in 24 hours of english, that's pretty darn good!!!! Our boy is such a thinker and inquistive little man! Building things and keeping them in formation, methodically manuevering cups/blocks to do as he wants. It's neat just to see him and watch him. Trust me, between last night and this morning, that's all I've been doing. (Kristen) You can get to know a person really well if you just listen to them and watch them.
I alle tilfelle så virker det som om Matthew trives med oss. Så annerledes enn med Rebecca. Det er som natt og dag. Matthew er avslappet, repeterer det vi sier. Det vil ikke ta ham lang tid før han snakker engelsk. Det virker som om han har nedsatt hørsel. Han snakker som min fetter, Kevin, som er døv. Jeg vet fra andre "vært der, gjort det" foreldre som Wanda G. at når unger med ganespalte får innsatt sneller vil hørselen deres forbedres kraftig. Jeg håper at det er alt han trenger. For å være ærlig så snakker han veldig bra. Han sier allerede Mommy, Dada, no-no, jie jie (storesøster) og di di (lillebror). Etter å ha hørt engelsk i kun 24 timer så er ikke det verst. Gutten vår er en tenker og nyskjerrig liten mann. Han bygger ting og holder dem i formasjon. Flytter stable koppene metodisk rundt for å lage mønstre. Det er kjekt å følge med på det han holder på med og siden i går kveld og til i dag så er det stort sett det jeg har holdt på med. Du kan lære noen å kjenne ved å lytte til og observere dem.
Masse dokumenter og papirarbeid i dag. Tilbake til Civil Affairs kontoret for papirarbeid. Mens vi var der kom det en stor Spansk gruppe kom inn rett etter oss og hvert eneste par hadde en kinesisk baby med seg. Vet ikke om de kom fra Yibin eller ikke. I alle tilfelle så sørget ungene for at vi ga dem oppmerksomhet. Mesteparten av dem var fremdeles i klærne de kom i igår. Vi tok med oss barnehjems direktøren tilbake til hotellet for å gjøre unna mer papirarbeid og vente på notarius publicus. Vi gjorde unna alt papirarbeidet i dag så nå trenger vi bare å vente på adopsjons dekretet, dokumentasjon om at han er foreldreløs og pass. Det er det hele. I morgen har vi fridag slik at Marina kan gå til forskjellige kontor og gjøre mer papirarbeid for oss. På torsdag skal vi besøke Panda reservatet hvor vi vil få mulighet til å se dem på nært hold.
I have to admit, I'm tired today. I'm eating enough. Trust me on that one, but I'm not exactly sleeping very well. Apparently it's showing too. I saw some of the photos Roy took of me and saw only one thing! DARK EYES! Looks like Roy has been going 9 rounds with me! (which he hasn't, mind you) I need to do something about that. Just watching glucose levels. I've only had rice twice so far. (white rice spikes my sugar, so does regular pasta)
Jeg må innrømme at jeg er trøtt i dag. Jeg spiser nok men jeg sover ikke veldig godt og det synes. Jeg så noen av bildene Roy tok av meg og jeg ser bare en ting. Mørke øyne. Det ser ut som om Roy har gått ni runder med meg (noe han ikke har). Jeg må gjøre noe med det. Må også holde øye med sukkernivået. Jeg har hatt hvit ris kun to ganger så langt. (Hvit ris og pasta sender sukker nivået opp i skyene)
Anyhoo......Matthew continues to thrive! Gosh what a difference from Rebecca. Night and day! Matthew is easy going and saying everything that we say back to us. It won't take him long to speak english at this rate. I will say one thing, I'm almost 99% sure he has some sort of hearing deficiency. He speaks like my cousin Kevin, somewhat. He's deaf. I know through some great BTDT parents, like Wanda G., cleft kids get tubes in their ears to allow excess drainage off the eardrum, of fluid. I'm hoping this is all Matthew needs. He speaks pretty well to be honest. He already says, Momma, Dada, no-no, jei-jei (means big sister), didi (little brother). I think in 24 hours of english, that's pretty darn good!!!! Our boy is such a thinker and inquistive little man! Building things and keeping them in formation, methodically manuevering cups/blocks to do as he wants. It's neat just to see him and watch him. Trust me, between last night and this morning, that's all I've been doing. (Kristen) You can get to know a person really well if you just listen to them and watch them.
I alle tilfelle så virker det som om Matthew trives med oss. Så annerledes enn med Rebecca. Det er som natt og dag. Matthew er avslappet, repeterer det vi sier. Det vil ikke ta ham lang tid før han snakker engelsk. Det virker som om han har nedsatt hørsel. Han snakker som min fetter, Kevin, som er døv. Jeg vet fra andre "vært der, gjort det" foreldre som Wanda G. at når unger med ganespalte får innsatt sneller vil hørselen deres forbedres kraftig. Jeg håper at det er alt han trenger. For å være ærlig så snakker han veldig bra. Han sier allerede Mommy, Dada, no-no, jie jie (storesøster) og di di (lillebror). Etter å ha hørt engelsk i kun 24 timer så er ikke det verst. Gutten vår er en tenker og nyskjerrig liten mann. Han bygger ting og holder dem i formasjon. Flytter stable koppene metodisk rundt for å lage mønstre. Det er kjekt å følge med på det han holder på med og siden i går kveld og til i dag så er det stort sett det jeg har holdt på med. Du kan lære noen å kjenne ved å lytte til og observere dem.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Tuesday morning, 3/6/07 - OH WOW!
I never thought in my wildest dreams that having children, this way (by adoption), would be such a unique and heartwrenching journey! Matthew from about the time we got him until about 5pm last night was so in his own little world. Wouldn't budge, wouldn't talk, wouldn't smile, nothing...OH WOW is God great!!! All it took was some food and his baba (daddy) to feed him and mommy sat back and watched this beautiful boy just open up uncontrollably! What a metamorphisis. He not only smiled at us, but called me momma. He's making small, high pitched noises on his own. Once I got some of the layers off of him, OH MY GOSH is he small!! His jacket says 24 months old, but I have news for you! The smallest I brought with us was 18 months and I think those will be huge on him.
He's taken to his daddy since being fed. I purposely let Roy feed him because he was afraid of Roy. (just like Becca was) Men just aren't in the orphanage much. Just the women. He gave Roy many smiles while eating rice. Oh, he loves ORANGE JUICE! He just learned how to drink through one of our bigger bottles we brought with us. (no stopper in the cup though. He has no clue how to work a straw yet.
He hasn't allowed us to see his cleft palate but I know it's there. I can hear it. He breathes with alot of noise. He sleeps with alot of noise also. It's ok though, we have his first consultation with Children's Hospital in Washington, DC March 28th. PRAISE GOD!!
**** For those of you considering a cleft child please let me tell you now, this is a VERY managable special need for a child (and a parent) to deal with. Please don't let the pictures or other people scare you about this. Yes there are a few things to deal with like the constant druel (that's why God made tissues), the cleaning on his own of his cleft palate (which he has learned to deal with outside of us), the softer foods for a menu, at the moment (won't stay like this once it's fixed). Please, please.....talk to some BEEN THERE, DONE IT parents! (including ourselves) I can't imagine being without my son, Matthew!!! I thank God for him!! *****
Ok, stepping off the soapbox now. Back to Matthew. He loves rice! Sticky, glued together, no nothing in it rice. AND BOY DOES THIS LITTLE BOY EAT! (BJ's here we come!!!) Once he figured out the cup we had brought, he tasted Orange Juice for the first time and gave the BIGGEST smile you've ever seen!!! PTL! It's little things like that, that make you just want to love on him even more. His cleft lip has been fixed but I can see that the cranialfacial team may want to realign it with the rest of his lip (with a closed mouth, his mouth is still kinda open) and he has built up some scar tissue (it looks like). I LOVE HIM! He just melts yer heart! I'm telling ya! I wish I could just take my family and live in a remote place and just take care of everyone and play with the kids all day long.
Um, let's see, REBECCA. Oh goodness. No longer the center of attention anymore, she is really pouring it on for attention. I know what this is, and we are handling it as best we can, but GOOD GRIEF! She reminds me of a ping-pong table. Bouncing back and forth, here and there, up and down for attention. It's different, that's for sure. But I will say this, she is MISS MOTHER HEN over Matthew. Don't you dare touch him without consenting her! Matthew is ok with this most of the time, but once he's reached his "enough" stage, he let's her know it. (kinda funny to see)
He's slept through the whole night. He's still sleeping as I write to you all. He clears his palate every once in a while, but other than that, he just sleeps away. In the eyes of some, this child would be a "throw away" child because of his imperfections, but in our eyes? He is a precious gift from God in which we love dearly and will NEVER let him go! Thank you Lord! We feel so honored for being able to adopt this beautiful boy. Deeply honored! Thank you Lord!
Well, I would write more, but we need to get ready for breakfast and get ourselves ready for another round of PAPERWORK in Chengdu (by 9am).
He's taken to his daddy since being fed. I purposely let Roy feed him because he was afraid of Roy. (just like Becca was) Men just aren't in the orphanage much. Just the women. He gave Roy many smiles while eating rice. Oh, he loves ORANGE JUICE! He just learned how to drink through one of our bigger bottles we brought with us. (no stopper in the cup though. He has no clue how to work a straw yet.
He hasn't allowed us to see his cleft palate but I know it's there. I can hear it. He breathes with alot of noise. He sleeps with alot of noise also. It's ok though, we have his first consultation with Children's Hospital in Washington, DC March 28th. PRAISE GOD!!
**** For those of you considering a cleft child please let me tell you now, this is a VERY managable special need for a child (and a parent) to deal with. Please don't let the pictures or other people scare you about this. Yes there are a few things to deal with like the constant druel (that's why God made tissues), the cleaning on his own of his cleft palate (which he has learned to deal with outside of us), the softer foods for a menu, at the moment (won't stay like this once it's fixed). Please, please.....talk to some BEEN THERE, DONE IT parents! (including ourselves) I can't imagine being without my son, Matthew!!! I thank God for him!! *****
Ok, stepping off the soapbox now. Back to Matthew. He loves rice! Sticky, glued together, no nothing in it rice. AND BOY DOES THIS LITTLE BOY EAT! (BJ's here we come!!!) Once he figured out the cup we had brought, he tasted Orange Juice for the first time and gave the BIGGEST smile you've ever seen!!! PTL! It's little things like that, that make you just want to love on him even more. His cleft lip has been fixed but I can see that the cranialfacial team may want to realign it with the rest of his lip (with a closed mouth, his mouth is still kinda open) and he has built up some scar tissue (it looks like). I LOVE HIM! He just melts yer heart! I'm telling ya! I wish I could just take my family and live in a remote place and just take care of everyone and play with the kids all day long.
Um, let's see, REBECCA. Oh goodness. No longer the center of attention anymore, she is really pouring it on for attention. I know what this is, and we are handling it as best we can, but GOOD GRIEF! She reminds me of a ping-pong table. Bouncing back and forth, here and there, up and down for attention. It's different, that's for sure. But I will say this, she is MISS MOTHER HEN over Matthew. Don't you dare touch him without consenting her! Matthew is ok with this most of the time, but once he's reached his "enough" stage, he let's her know it. (kinda funny to see)
He's slept through the whole night. He's still sleeping as I write to you all. He clears his palate every once in a while, but other than that, he just sleeps away. In the eyes of some, this child would be a "throw away" child because of his imperfections, but in our eyes? He is a precious gift from God in which we love dearly and will NEVER let him go! Thank you Lord! We feel so honored for being able to adopt this beautiful boy. Deeply honored! Thank you Lord!
Well, I would write more, but we need to get ready for breakfast and get ourselves ready for another round of PAPERWORK in Chengdu (by 9am).
We have our son! / Vi har vår sønn
Wow, just in a split two minutes, after arriving a tad early at the Civil Affairs office, the actual director of Yibin was there with the "mother" nanny, with our son, Matthew (Zheng Xiong). He knows chinese. He hasn't said one word to anyone yet, but follows instruction in chinese and by following. He is small. He is in about 24 month clothing, it looks like, but then again, he is in about 3 layers of clothes, not sure yet. He's in diapers, which is ok. He's been trying to potty train. Will come with time. He's so much different from the photos we have of him. Much too grown up of a face already. He stands where he is and just stares at us. What a contrast to Rebecca. She came to us kicking and screaming and never stopped. Matthew is quiet. Very quiet. A thinker. Loves the stacking cups. Has already made many structures out of them too.
Vi ankom Civil Affairs kontoret litt tidlig og etter en liten stund kom Zheng Xiong og barnehjems direktøren og en av passerne hans. Han forstår kinesisk men har ikke sagt et ord til noen enda. Han følger instruksjoner gitt på kinesisk og følger ledelse. Han ankom i klær som er omtrent 2 års størrelse. Han er fremdeles i bleier men det er ok. Han har begynt potte trening. Han er litt annerledes enn bildene vi hadde fra før. Han har tydelig vokst en god del. Han stort sett står på samme stedet og bare stirrer på oss. Hvilken kontrast til Rebecca. Hun kom til oss og startet hylekoret og stoppet ikke på mange dager. Matthew er stille, veldig stille. Han er en tenker. Det virker som om han liker stable koppene som vi tok med til ham.
The actual signing of papers was kind of chaotic! Definitely different than last time. We have "homework" to do to turn in by tomorrow 9am. The kids are playing. Of course, I knew we'd have to tone Rebecca down, but at the moment? She is all over him and trying to keep her "calm" is proving to be a tad harder than said. But, I will say this, Matthew holds his own! His poor face looks like a battle scar. Apparently he had been scraping with others in his orphanage. Or vice versa. The only reason given was he was "fighting" with others. I tell ya, looking at him at the moment, he is so shy and so quiet, it honestly doesn't look like he'd touch a soul!
Underskrivingen av papirer var noe hektisk. Definitivt annerledes enn forrige gang. Vi har hjemmelekse som må leveres inn i morgen klokka 9. Ungene leker for øyeblikket. Vi visste at vi må tone ned Rebecca. Hun er litt voldsom og forsøk på å roe henne ned er letter sagt enn gjort. Jeg vil si at han kan forsvare seg om nødvendig. Ansiktet hans har krigs arr. Han har sansynligvis vært i tumult i barnehjemmet. Den eneste forklaringen gitt var at han hadde sloss med noen i barnehjemmet. Så sky og stille som han virker er det hardt å kjøpe den unnskyldningen.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we have our son! So far, so good. He's tried to cry a couple of times, but I start to talk to him and comfort him and he's good with that. With Roy? He's timid, very timid with him. I have a feeling it's the same thing as with Rebecca. Matthew just doesn't know or have seen too many men in his life at the moment. It'll get better. We need to get him shoes! He's got paper shoes on. We need a few things. I need a bottle for him, or a sippy cup for his nightly warm milk. I hope he can be comfortable with us to sleep and do his daily routine. Will write later. Right now we want to enjoy our new son and get to know him.
I alle tilfelle så ville vi bare la dere vite at vi har vår sønn. Så langt er alt godt. Han har prøvd å gråte et par ganger men når Kristen snakker med ham så roer han seg igjen. Med meg på den andre siden er han skeptisk. Vi har en anelse at han ikke er for vant til menn. Det var slik med Rebecca og men hun varmet opp til meg ikke lenge etter. Han vil også varme opp til meg med tiden. Vi må ut og kjøpe sko til ham. De skoene han kom i ser ut som papir sko. Vi trenger noen andre ting også. Flaske eller tutkopp for varm melk hver kveld. Vi håper at han vil bli komfortabel nok med oss til å fortsette sin daglige rutine. Vil skrive seinere. Akkurat nå vil vi bare kose oss og lære vår nye sønn og kjenne.
Here's a few photos for ya.......
Bilder for dere......
Vi ankom Civil Affairs kontoret litt tidlig og etter en liten stund kom Zheng Xiong og barnehjems direktøren og en av passerne hans. Han forstår kinesisk men har ikke sagt et ord til noen enda. Han følger instruksjoner gitt på kinesisk og følger ledelse. Han ankom i klær som er omtrent 2 års størrelse. Han er fremdeles i bleier men det er ok. Han har begynt potte trening. Han er litt annerledes enn bildene vi hadde fra før. Han har tydelig vokst en god del. Han stort sett står på samme stedet og bare stirrer på oss. Hvilken kontrast til Rebecca. Hun kom til oss og startet hylekoret og stoppet ikke på mange dager. Matthew er stille, veldig stille. Han er en tenker. Det virker som om han liker stable koppene som vi tok med til ham.
The actual signing of papers was kind of chaotic! Definitely different than last time. We have "homework" to do to turn in by tomorrow 9am. The kids are playing. Of course, I knew we'd have to tone Rebecca down, but at the moment? She is all over him and trying to keep her "calm" is proving to be a tad harder than said. But, I will say this, Matthew holds his own! His poor face looks like a battle scar. Apparently he had been scraping with others in his orphanage. Or vice versa. The only reason given was he was "fighting" with others. I tell ya, looking at him at the moment, he is so shy and so quiet, it honestly doesn't look like he'd touch a soul!
Underskrivingen av papirer var noe hektisk. Definitivt annerledes enn forrige gang. Vi har hjemmelekse som må leveres inn i morgen klokka 9. Ungene leker for øyeblikket. Vi visste at vi må tone ned Rebecca. Hun er litt voldsom og forsøk på å roe henne ned er letter sagt enn gjort. Jeg vil si at han kan forsvare seg om nødvendig. Ansiktet hans har krigs arr. Han har sansynligvis vært i tumult i barnehjemmet. Den eneste forklaringen gitt var at han hadde sloss med noen i barnehjemmet. Så sky og stille som han virker er det hardt å kjøpe den unnskyldningen.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we have our son! So far, so good. He's tried to cry a couple of times, but I start to talk to him and comfort him and he's good with that. With Roy? He's timid, very timid with him. I have a feeling it's the same thing as with Rebecca. Matthew just doesn't know or have seen too many men in his life at the moment. It'll get better. We need to get him shoes! He's got paper shoes on. We need a few things. I need a bottle for him, or a sippy cup for his nightly warm milk. I hope he can be comfortable with us to sleep and do his daily routine. Will write later. Right now we want to enjoy our new son and get to know him.
I alle tilfelle så ville vi bare la dere vite at vi har vår sønn. Så langt er alt godt. Han har prøvd å gråte et par ganger men når Kristen snakker med ham så roer han seg igjen. Med meg på den andre siden er han skeptisk. Vi har en anelse at han ikke er for vant til menn. Det var slik med Rebecca og men hun varmet opp til meg ikke lenge etter. Han vil også varme opp til meg med tiden. Vi må ut og kjøpe sko til ham. De skoene han kom i ser ut som papir sko. Vi trenger noen andre ting også. Flaske eller tutkopp for varm melk hver kveld. Vi håper at han vil bli komfortabel nok med oss til å fortsette sin daglige rutine. Vil skrive seinere. Akkurat nå vil vi bare kose oss og lære vår nye sønn og kjenne.
Here's a few photos for ya.......
Bilder for dere......
Sunday, March 04, 2007
We are getting closer / Vi nærmer oss
It is now only a couple of hours till our family goes from three to four. In other words we are getting real close to seeing our son "live" for the first time. We are surprisingly calm though. Has the BTDT gene kicked in? We're as ready as we can be. Thank you for your prayers.
Det er nå bare et par timer til familien øker fra tre til fire. Vi er veldig nært det øyeblikket da vi møter vår sønn ansikt til ansikt for første gang med andre ord. Overraskende nok er vi veldig rolig. Er "Vært der, Gjort det" genet slått på? Vi er så klar som vi kan bli. Takk for all forbønn.
Det er nå bare et par timer til familien øker fra tre til fire. Vi er veldig nært det øyeblikket da vi møter vår sønn ansikt til ansikt for første gang med andre ord. Overraskende nok er vi veldig rolig. Er "Vært der, Gjort det" genet slått på? Vi er så klar som vi kan bli. Takk for all forbønn.
Monday morning, 3/5/07
Geez, I'm forgetting the time and date! It's 3:45am at the moment and I'm up again. (big surprise) I have to tell you about yesterday afternoon into the evening! Oh how the pictures will tell you even more!
Roy, Rebecca and I ventured out on our own yesterday morning! YEAH! It was nice. We went to so many shops and stores. I loved a store called Ito Yokado!! Oh wow, it is a store that is 5 stories high and each floor has certain items. Like the fifth stores had all childrens stuff.
Rebecca made out there! Plenty of barettes for only 1.50 yuan! (18 cents) She also got herself a Chinese barbie! (I'm so glad) Then we went from floor to floor....4th had all electronics/linens/towels, 3rd had men's stuff, 2nd had all women's stuff (got a hairbrush there since we can't find the one we packed) and the bottom level had everything else. (No food there though, thank God for small favors!) Yes we were stared at something fierce, yes we ended up being a crowd attraction which lead a British lady to us for help. (The airlines lost all her luggage and she needed help finding things within the stores, so we helped her.) It was a fast 3 hours!!! Again, children LOVE to see Becca with us. They ask so many questions!!!! (We also hear, lucky baby alot too.)
Yesterday afternoon, we went to a Buddist temple in the middle of Chengdu! That's right, the middle of the city! Surprised me. I was thinking it was in the quiet countryside but nope! These monks within the temple are different from say, the Tibetan monks. Here in China, they have two types of monks. The Tibetan monks will NOT talk. The ones here will talk and do things. They keep the temple up. Incense was burning EVERYWHERE yesterday. Becca and myself had a hard time with all the smoke. It was horrible! That and the smells in there. Well, they sell food in there and leading up to the temple is an actual open market. You can buy things, food, toys, trinkets, you name it. I tell ya, some of the foods they cook, the smell alone just knocks you over! Horrible!
We spent about an hour and a half there. It was nice. The grounds are VERY well maintained and clean. Fire extinguishers and hoses are EVERYWHERE. WONDER WHY!?!? To be honest with you? Every person who was worshipping those golden idols, of Buddha (7 Buddhas to be exact), at one point a very small little girl was doing what her mother was doing and I just had to start crying. (Marina thought it was the smoke, which some of it was, but more like.....worshipping false idols.) The hearts of all those people are in the right place, just misqued a tad. It was sad if you honestly thought about it too long. Our guide Marina is Buddist as well.
BUT.......who starts singing songs to the people, in English, and CHRISTIAN at that? Our darling Rebecca (GO BECCA! GO BECCA!). "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, WHERE?" and then follows with "Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, PRAISE YE THE LORD!" *surprised Roy and I like crazy!* She sang her little heart away and people just stared at us even more. Gotta hand it to my little missionary, singing in her homeland for everyone to hear!!!! (She can get away with much more than Roy or myself could!) For being 3, she loves being here in China! I'm so glad.
Ok, from the Buddist temple, we went to McDonald's for dinner. *Comment from the peanut gallery: Good thing Ronald and Colonel Sanders are speaking Chinese.* (Had Chinese for lunch) Our guide, Marina joined us. That was nice. We ate, used another squatty potty, then proceeded to go to the Lantern Festival!
OH WOW! Marina said not alot of parents get to see this because you have to time it just right at the end of Chinese New Year. SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL and unforgettable! Lanterns everywhere, for as far as you can see, in all colors, shapes, sizes. They were in the air, floating on water, suspended above the ground......truly something unique and fascinating.
With Rebecca on Daddy's shoulders, BOY did we stick out! *kinda funny* Met some more Brits along the way and one Canadian. As I said, we'll let the photos show you what we saw. Around 8pm, it was so crowded, Roy was following Marina and I was trying to keep up. Kinda got lost in the shuffle because I'm just as short as most Chinese folks. Kinda scary. After that, I told Roy, time to go. Just wall-to-wall people. Then it was Mr. Wong to the rescue! LOVE this man!!!! He comes outta no where. Whisks us away and Rebecca falls asleep in the van as we drive back to the hotel. Nice huh?!
TODAY WILL BE THE DAY! GOTCHA DAY! Matthew and the director of Yibin (so we think it will be, not sure) will arrive at the Civil Affairs Office at 2pm and we will meet our boy for the first time! Oh wow are we excited! Rebecca wants to bring the Tigger we have for Matthew. Apparently he HAS been told we are adopting him. That he is going to America. Let's hope he is ok with this and alot calmer than Rebecca!!!! Please Lord! I beg of you!!!!! After that, we will fill out paperwork, then see if we need to go to the stores to get him clothes. We have no idea how big he is. He's 2 1/2 now and we've had NO update. I've been praying for Matthew for so long, and now is the time to make his entrance into the family. Just knowing that God planned this before the world began is just so mind boggling to me, but I thank him thoroughly!!!! OUR BOY IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
One happy mommy!!!! Pray for us! This part of the transition can be tough. Prayer coverage would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks......
Roy, Rebecca and I ventured out on our own yesterday morning! YEAH! It was nice. We went to so many shops and stores. I loved a store called Ito Yokado!! Oh wow, it is a store that is 5 stories high and each floor has certain items. Like the fifth stores had all childrens stuff.
Rebecca made out there! Plenty of barettes for only 1.50 yuan! (18 cents) She also got herself a Chinese barbie! (I'm so glad) Then we went from floor to floor....4th had all electronics/linens/towels, 3rd had men's stuff, 2nd had all women's stuff (got a hairbrush there since we can't find the one we packed) and the bottom level had everything else. (No food there though, thank God for small favors!) Yes we were stared at something fierce, yes we ended up being a crowd attraction which lead a British lady to us for help. (The airlines lost all her luggage and she needed help finding things within the stores, so we helped her.) It was a fast 3 hours!!! Again, children LOVE to see Becca with us. They ask so many questions!!!! (We also hear, lucky baby alot too.)
Yesterday afternoon, we went to a Buddist temple in the middle of Chengdu! That's right, the middle of the city! Surprised me. I was thinking it was in the quiet countryside but nope! These monks within the temple are different from say, the Tibetan monks. Here in China, they have two types of monks. The Tibetan monks will NOT talk. The ones here will talk and do things. They keep the temple up. Incense was burning EVERYWHERE yesterday. Becca and myself had a hard time with all the smoke. It was horrible! That and the smells in there. Well, they sell food in there and leading up to the temple is an actual open market. You can buy things, food, toys, trinkets, you name it. I tell ya, some of the foods they cook, the smell alone just knocks you over! Horrible!
We spent about an hour and a half there. It was nice. The grounds are VERY well maintained and clean. Fire extinguishers and hoses are EVERYWHERE. WONDER WHY!?!? To be honest with you? Every person who was worshipping those golden idols, of Buddha (7 Buddhas to be exact), at one point a very small little girl was doing what her mother was doing and I just had to start crying. (Marina thought it was the smoke, which some of it was, but more like.....worshipping false idols.) The hearts of all those people are in the right place, just misqued a tad. It was sad if you honestly thought about it too long. Our guide Marina is Buddist as well.
BUT.......who starts singing songs to the people, in English, and CHRISTIAN at that? Our darling Rebecca (GO BECCA! GO BECCA!). "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, WHERE?" and then follows with "Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, PRAISE YE THE LORD!" *surprised Roy and I like crazy!* She sang her little heart away and people just stared at us even more. Gotta hand it to my little missionary, singing in her homeland for everyone to hear!!!! (She can get away with much more than Roy or myself could!) For being 3, she loves being here in China! I'm so glad.
Ok, from the Buddist temple, we went to McDonald's for dinner. *Comment from the peanut gallery: Good thing Ronald and Colonel Sanders are speaking Chinese.* (Had Chinese for lunch) Our guide, Marina joined us. That was nice. We ate, used another squatty potty, then proceeded to go to the Lantern Festival!
OH WOW! Marina said not alot of parents get to see this because you have to time it just right at the end of Chinese New Year. SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL and unforgettable! Lanterns everywhere, for as far as you can see, in all colors, shapes, sizes. They were in the air, floating on water, suspended above the ground......truly something unique and fascinating.
With Rebecca on Daddy's shoulders, BOY did we stick out! *kinda funny* Met some more Brits along the way and one Canadian. As I said, we'll let the photos show you what we saw. Around 8pm, it was so crowded, Roy was following Marina and I was trying to keep up. Kinda got lost in the shuffle because I'm just as short as most Chinese folks. Kinda scary. After that, I told Roy, time to go. Just wall-to-wall people. Then it was Mr. Wong to the rescue! LOVE this man!!!! He comes outta no where. Whisks us away and Rebecca falls asleep in the van as we drive back to the hotel. Nice huh?!
TODAY WILL BE THE DAY! GOTCHA DAY! Matthew and the director of Yibin (so we think it will be, not sure) will arrive at the Civil Affairs Office at 2pm and we will meet our boy for the first time! Oh wow are we excited! Rebecca wants to bring the Tigger we have for Matthew. Apparently he HAS been told we are adopting him. That he is going to America. Let's hope he is ok with this and alot calmer than Rebecca!!!! Please Lord! I beg of you!!!!! After that, we will fill out paperwork, then see if we need to go to the stores to get him clothes. We have no idea how big he is. He's 2 1/2 now and we've had NO update. I've been praying for Matthew for so long, and now is the time to make his entrance into the family. Just knowing that God planned this before the world began is just so mind boggling to me, but I thank him thoroughly!!!! OUR BOY IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
One happy mommy!!!! Pray for us! This part of the transition can be tough. Prayer coverage would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks......
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Sunday morning, 3/4/07
Ok, it's 4:15am in the morning again and I'm the only one up. I've slept about 12 hours now. Roy brought to the hotel last night, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and I forced myself to eat. Literally. I ate chicken, but other than that, don't ask me what else I ate, because I was just plain out of it.
Last night we visited the DuFu cottage. DuFu was a very famous poet here in Sichuan. Everyone in China knows about him. He is more famous in death than in life. The cottage reminded me of how some of the older homes in Norway are built. With hay/straw in the walls and thatch on the roof.
I thought that was interesting. The memorial they have built to this man is remarkable. Flowers and trees and bamboo everywhere. It was just lovely!
***One extra note from Kristen and Rebecca? WE DID IT! We actually used a Chinese potty!! All I have to say is OH MY!
That was quite an experience but I will say this, Rebecca, when she saw the bathroom, was scared of it, I told her not to be, and I held her over the potty and she knew exactly what to do with her legs and how to "go". VERY interesting beings we got her at 15 months old and she remembered this?!?!?! INTERESTING!! (Hey, when you have to go, YOU HAVE TO GO!***
After spending an hour and half there then Mr. Wong and Marina took us to the "People's Park" in Sichuan. OH WOW! Some park!! AWESOME PARK!!!!
Flowers everywhere and in pattern formation for the Beijing Olympics and music, all different types that the locals just get up and do......DANCING........oh boy do we have pictures of dancing. Rebecca saw people dancing and just starting begging to dance!! So we did for a while.
It was fun. Thing was, the music was coming from a CAR BATTERY and some tape looking machine. Imagine that. People of all ages, young and old, just dancing for exercise. Over to our left and our right people, mainly women, were doing something similiar to Tai Chi except it was a faster movement, all doing it together. It looked like Jazzercise to me, but it was just captivating to watch! Not one woman was outta sync! Not one!!
The park also had things for the children to do. We drew attention no matter where we went!
Young and older mothers/grandmothers took to us. Some just stared at us and left us, others just wanted to try and talk to us. Or their babies were wrapped up in about 4 layers of clothes but yet their little bottoms were just a stickin' out because of the split pants! I find that so funny!! That park I could have stayed in all day and all night and still found things to see and do. Vendors were everywhere wanting to sell you things. (Balloons, chinese art, statues, jade, toys, ice cream, food (oh no!), bottled water, etc.) I loved it there. I truly did. People flying kites as big as me! Taller than Roy! Rebecca was fascinated with those. And as much as we loved it there, we had to leave.
Thank you God for Mr. Wong! Thank you for his driving and safety and protection on us. Driving in China, in rush hour......well, I consider myself an assertive driver, but here? NO WAY! Absolutely not! People driving on the wrong side of the road because the stopped cars in front of them won't move! Even though there is a light!! Drivers weaving in and out to get ahead of others, busses doing whatever because no one lets them in or cares about them. WOW.....seatbelts are a MUST! Trust me! We feel blessed and relieved to get to the hotel again.
OH YEAH.........we asked what was the reason for us not getting Matthew on Friday? Well, it has everything to do with the Lunar year. (New Year) Timing has to be everything here. They take their New Year, very serious here. That's why. Something to do with someone (a dignitary) coming and well, you know the rest. It's ok though. We'll get him tomorrow, 2pm, China time!!!!! 1am your time!!! WA HOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Last night we visited the DuFu cottage. DuFu was a very famous poet here in Sichuan. Everyone in China knows about him. He is more famous in death than in life. The cottage reminded me of how some of the older homes in Norway are built. With hay/straw in the walls and thatch on the roof.
I thought that was interesting. The memorial they have built to this man is remarkable. Flowers and trees and bamboo everywhere. It was just lovely!
***One extra note from Kristen and Rebecca? WE DID IT! We actually used a Chinese potty!! All I have to say is OH MY!
That was quite an experience but I will say this, Rebecca, when she saw the bathroom, was scared of it, I told her not to be, and I held her over the potty and she knew exactly what to do with her legs and how to "go". VERY interesting beings we got her at 15 months old and she remembered this?!?!?! INTERESTING!! (Hey, when you have to go, YOU HAVE TO GO!***
After spending an hour and half there then Mr. Wong and Marina took us to the "People's Park" in Sichuan. OH WOW! Some park!! AWESOME PARK!!!!
Flowers everywhere and in pattern formation for the Beijing Olympics and music, all different types that the locals just get up and do......DANCING........oh boy do we have pictures of dancing. Rebecca saw people dancing and just starting begging to dance!! So we did for a while.
It was fun. Thing was, the music was coming from a CAR BATTERY and some tape looking machine. Imagine that. People of all ages, young and old, just dancing for exercise. Over to our left and our right people, mainly women, were doing something similiar to Tai Chi except it was a faster movement, all doing it together. It looked like Jazzercise to me, but it was just captivating to watch! Not one woman was outta sync! Not one!!
The park also had things for the children to do. We drew attention no matter where we went!
Young and older mothers/grandmothers took to us. Some just stared at us and left us, others just wanted to try and talk to us. Or their babies were wrapped up in about 4 layers of clothes but yet their little bottoms were just a stickin' out because of the split pants! I find that so funny!! That park I could have stayed in all day and all night and still found things to see and do. Vendors were everywhere wanting to sell you things. (Balloons, chinese art, statues, jade, toys, ice cream, food (oh no!), bottled water, etc.) I loved it there. I truly did. People flying kites as big as me! Taller than Roy! Rebecca was fascinated with those. And as much as we loved it there, we had to leave.
Thank you God for Mr. Wong! Thank you for his driving and safety and protection on us. Driving in China, in rush hour......well, I consider myself an assertive driver, but here? NO WAY! Absolutely not! People driving on the wrong side of the road because the stopped cars in front of them won't move! Even though there is a light!! Drivers weaving in and out to get ahead of others, busses doing whatever because no one lets them in or cares about them. WOW.....seatbelts are a MUST! Trust me! We feel blessed and relieved to get to the hotel again.
OH YEAH.........we asked what was the reason for us not getting Matthew on Friday? Well, it has everything to do with the Lunar year. (New Year) Timing has to be everything here. They take their New Year, very serious here. That's why. Something to do with someone (a dignitary) coming and well, you know the rest. It's ok though. We'll get him tomorrow, 2pm, China time!!!!! 1am your time!!! WA HOO!!!!!!!!!!!
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