And the winner is...

After Monday's post, I took a quick look around. I reminded myself that the make-shift project would suffice, and that Hubs will get that call/letter soon enough. Result: After veiwing other people's projects, mine didn't look so bad. ; ) (So wrong! I know!.... but true). Hubs received his letter two days later! So... everything in our life is not neat and tidy, (how I would like it), but maybe it's not supposed to be.


Poor Wei J! Little man had his first American pediatric appointment on Wednesday. Shots... bloodwork.... what did they do to my nephew? When we ate dinner with them, he seemed so uncomfortable. He was running a fever, but shushu brought children's Tylenol to help bring it down. Just as Shushu sat down to eat his juicy burger, Wei J motioned to sit with him. Hubs reached back, and Wei-J laid his not-feeling-so-good head on Shushu's chest. It made me smile... and tear up a bit. Very few things come between Hubs and eating his french fries while they're hot - (He won't eat them cold). Wei J is a special little guy... he brings out the soft-side in all of us. Needless to say, the paparazi took a rest during our weekly visitation. No need to make a traumatic day worse with flashing lights and such.

Instead...Let me present the award winning picture taken by Hubs - starring our little pup, Marty.

Each year we enter pictures or baked goods into the fair. This entry gives us a free pass to visit the fair. Free entertainment is our kind of entertainment! : )

This year, Hubs entered our favorite picture of Marty. He won a blue ribbon - 1st place!

He keeps me company while I'm doing my homework, and wakes up barking when I have the chance to sleep in. Oh Marty! : )

I'm looking forward to the weekend full of literature and assesment. The student teacher meeting is today! Ahhhhh!!! It becomes more real every day! It's so close! TTFN

Only the Bravest Remain

*Warning* May be a boring blog... ; ) just feeling the need to write...

Getting back into the routine wouldn't be so bad if there was a routine to get back into. Everything is so different this fall. I'm certainly feeling the pressure from every angle.
(In fact, I should be analysing TEKS, and NOT blogging... oh well.)

I guess this isn't my typical chipper blog mood. This Monday was pretty rough. My weekend was spent working on an in-depth literary analysis resource file project. All I had to do was put the finishing touches on the last paragraph of the last book. (This = catching up on that stack of reading!) Nope. When I hit the save button, my zip drive spazed out, froze, showed a weird prompt on my computer, and then erased all 12 pages of my work. Everything is gone. All I could do was cry. My "Type-A" self tends to stress out about school projects, but I was so excited about this one. Each section was carefully depicted in only the most academic language. I could reference this file any time I needed a quick book idea...

Hubs helped as much as he could, but each word I retyped seemed frustratingly empty. It looks ok now, but not as good as the original. It's just frustrating when you do your best, and it's not enough. (You may be getting the hint that this blog is not actually about the project... so am I) He's been applying for jobs for the past 2 years. I see his heart, and I've seen the quality of his
work- it's so good. Just don't understand why...I know - it's not meant for me to comprehend. Despite this less than marvelous Monday, I feel God rearranging my priorities and strengthening my faith.

The winter flower blooms when everything else dies. Driven by an internal force greater than they can withstand, the tender shoots push upwards past the icy grave. When all else is burried deep beneath the snow, the rich red blossoms slowly unfurl. They open up towards a darkened sky, where only the bravest remain. They are glorious.

Jason Gray wrote an amazing song called, "The Cut" - it seems so appropriate for the season

"You peel back the bark and tear me apart, to get the heart of what matters most. I'm cold and i'm scared as your love lays me bare, but in the shaping of my soul the cut makes me whole."

Happy Dance!

Everyone needs a happy dance! Although they will never make the blog, I'm pretty sure there is evidence of each family member doing the "happy dance" with Wei-J. The people in China must have thought that we were out of our minds. We walked around making strange noises and motions to entertain the boy... turns out we didn't have to - Wei-J knew baby signs. He wasn't dancing around, he was probably telling us, "I want to go to sleep. Honestly, what is wrong with you people?"

I love the way his cute little mouth is open in anticipation for the cheerio. This was our "walking" fountain. Every evening in Tianjin we walked around until Wei-J fell asleep. Before going into the hotel, we typically took a final lap around the fountain. During the day, he loved saying "bye-bye" to the fish.

Finally

Today was the first day that 11 am didn't feel like bedtime. Around here that's cause for celebration. Too bad 9 pm now feels like bedtime. School and homework make me drowsy. Luckily I have amazing friends and professors, and am not too behind on work. The only thing I'm struggling with is the ammount of reading required by my 6 classes. I love to read, but am feeling readers overload at the moment.

We visit Wei-J tomorrow evening!!! To be honest, we have already seen him twice since our return. He was amazing Sunday night at dinner, and made my evening so much better, (You have no idea!). On Monday my wonderful Hubs took me out on a lunch date; our first in half a year. After our date, we spent a few minutes visiting with Wei-J. He still remembers our faces! I felt a bit worried that he might forget... but how could he forget my nose after he's spent so much time touching and squeezing it? ; )

Lastly, the cooler weather is working its way into south Texas! Breezy weather reminds me that fall is sneaking in, and bringing the heartwarming scents of cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Speaking of pumpkins, Shu Shu and I can't wait to take Wei J to the local pumpkin patch in early October. Those pictures alone are enough reason for you to keep checking my blog. ; )

More pictures of China and Wei-J to come. Time for bed at the moment...zzzzzzZzzzzZzzzzzZ

Nephew Withdrawal

It's only the first day we haven't seen him, and we miss his cute little smile already. Even Shu Shu said, "It was so difficult to let that little guy walk away." : ( Luckily he only lives 15 minutes away, so we are being a bit dramatic. I'm sure his mommy will let us visit. We are just so spoiled and used to having him around all day.

Actually... I miss S-I-L and M-I-L too! Besides getting Wei-J, my favorite part of the trip was laughing together. Some nights we laughed so heartily that we nearly lost our breath. Not only did Wei-J bond with his mommy, but we bonded as a family. I loved being able to hang out with my M-I-L. We haven't been able to spend much time together over the past few years. She moved right after Hubs and I were married. It was difficult to say goodbye... : (

Between leaving our hotel and arriving home we were awake over 27 hours. It was extremely intense! I was very proud of the little guy! He did so well on all 3 flights. There were moments where he was so exhausted and cranky, but considering the length of the 3 flights, he did amazing. I kept laughing at him because he was doing everything in his power to keep from falling asleep. From making blub blub noises, to falling all over his Ay-i, Wei-J was determined to stay awake... that didn't last very long. As soon as the bottle hit his lips, he began to relax.

I had a more difficult time relaxing on the flights. I listened to white noise - "distant waves." It's just surprising what being in the air so long can do to your body. After arriving home, I was so sick! Apparently the 24 hr motion sickness pills are not really meant to work for 24 hrs. Sitting on the couch, my entire body felt like it was still on the plane. I took a motion sickness pill to keep the room from spinning. While drifting off to sleep, I kept hearing a baby cry, (like the ones on the plane). After sleeping until 5 am, Hubs and I are fighting off sleep with everything we have. We need to stay awake so we can sleep tonight. We are playing the game " Stay awake until it's night time." (Right now Hubs is losing). I have motivation though, Michael Phelps is hosting SNL! : ) He's my swimming hero!

My family is just such a huge blessing!!! When we came home, the house was clean. Every detail had been taken care of, and dinner was in the oven. How awesome is that? I love them so much! My favorite part about being home is having my family again. I missed them so much!

Now that the trip to China is over, I plan to update this blog about school, student teaching, and of course, the nephew. Feel free to keep up with my crazy writings... or not!

Close to the big "Bye Bye"

We always entertain Wei-J while his mommy updates her blogs. Last time, Shu Shu decided it was time for him to take a shower, so Ay-i had to think fast to keep the little guy entertained. What better than Shu Shu's shirt? Probably a litttle sweaty, but look how cute! He giggled until his arms were covered. He hates that. So I showed him his hands, and all was well.

This is what we see when we hear that familiar knock on our door. I sat thinking about the hotel in Beijing, it seems so long ago. Our trip is quickly coming to an end. This has been an amazing and truly life changing journey. I admit - I am sad that we won't be seing this friendly face at our door everyday.

If you don't know by now, he is one healthy and not-so little guy. When S-I-I received his first info packet, he was only in the 3% in weight on the Chinese growth chart, (not even close to the American chart.) We prepared for him to be a super tiny little guy who would need lots of hearty foods to beef him up. Not so -In this short amount of time, he has really sprouted up! He now stands in the 90% bracket for height and 75% for weight. So healthy and happy... and maybe even intelligent enough to manipulate his Ay-i and Shu Shu. (Never, we would never cave in to the sweet and tender smiles and cry of our ONLY nephew... never). ; )

What the???

In the middle of all the gushy mushy family stuff, we have had a few just plain weird and uncomfortable moments.

Morgan brought home "Beef" flavored cheetos. Which smell awful. I said, "Did you like them?" he said, "No." So that's that - we won't be bringing home carts of beef cheetos. (beeftos). The flavors of chips here are awful. Blueberry pringles, (no lie!). Thinking they would be like the yummy "limon" chips at home, we bought lime pringles. Wrong!!! They are sweet... like key lime pie... on a regular pringle chip. Yuck!

There was the day in the Forbidden City where I was asked to pose in a picture. This guy, who Morgan nicknamed, Frederico, (No telling where Morgan pulled that from!), looks so exceited to be standing next to me... NOT! His wife saw a white person, freaked out, and asked me to pose in this picture. Note the look on his face... and mine?!
We have nicknamed Baby J, Sensei, because he always walks around with his arms behind his back. It really threw us for a loop when he tried putting on his head gear for a fight. (*Wink Wink*) Today we visited an "herbal medicine market." Wow... that was wild. They sold dried seahorses, weird mushrooms, and all kinds of plants and animals. Even live scorpians

A White Swan Celebration

I can't express how exciting it is to be here - in The White Swan Hotel. All of the American families who adopted from various provinces must come to Guangzhou for the final paper work. Most of them have had almost a week with their little one, so we get to see the joyful side of the adoption. The kids are super cute and smiling all over the place.... I'm so excited to see these miracles. My heart is overflowing each time I see all the very different families loving on their new little one. We have made several friends... the common factor, Cheerios!!! Oh, and each adopting hotel room comes with a "going home Barbie." It's a white Barbie carrying an Asian baby... a little stereotypical, but fun for the babies.

Wei-J loves his new family! Especially his Shu Shu who has to watch every little trick that Baby does! It really allows me to see Hubs as a father... he is going to make a great one!

I finally have a moment to share a few more pictures. In this series of pictures, Wei J is opening up to me for the first time. Shu Shu and I entertained Baby J, while his mommy updated her blog. (http://www.tianjintreasure.blogspot.com/). I look confused is the first picture because not only is this the first time he approached me on his own, but he jumped right ahead to pulling the buttons on my rear pockets. As the afternoon progressed, we created a game I call, "footsies." It's when two people rub their feet against the bed as fast as they can, and then laugh laugh laugh. This is how the game looks from my perspective.

Tomorrow Wei-J gets his physical and Visa photo. It should be a quick experience... hopefully!

Morgan and I bough "Shu Shu" and "Ay-i" T-shirts today! Now we can proudly announce that we have a nephew. I've been blogging for a while, but haven't been able to talk to you all individually. If anyone has a specific question, maybe I can blog about it and share with the whole group. Just let me know in email or comments.

Miss my family! Sweet K - hope your days are going ok.

St. A - I miss you guys so much... I keep dreaming about all the kids and co-workers.

Georgie, miss you, and your comment went through ; )

Break my Heart for What Breaks Yours

"For Whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me" - Matt 18:5

My mind has been filtering through all that I've seen. I have been contemplating this
post for days. Let me back-up before I begin.

During the last year, I have been immensely blessed by a song titled, "Hosanna." It has amazing lyrics throughout, but the bridge always moved my heart. It goes: "Heal my heart and make it clean. Open up my eyes to the things unseen. Show me how to love like you have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks yours - everything I am for your kingdom's cause. As I walk from Earth into eternity."

Each time I heard these lyrics, my eyes welled up with tears. I could never pin-point why God wanted me to hear these lyrics. Now I know.

Two days ago we visited the orphanage where Wei-J lived before he was matched with foster parents. It is center specifically for special needs little ones. Some of them have cleft palette, downs syndrome, some are blind, while others have minor differences such as a birthmark. Regardless of why they're there, their little bodies are in the orphanage because someone didn't want them. My nephew was left on the street by his birth mother. Someone didn't want that smiling brilliant young guy because of a minor physical difference.

S-I-L knew that we could bring candy for the kids, so Shu Shu and I handed out starbursts to all these little ones. (From Pre-k to around 7 or 8). I almost couldn't keep my eyes from spilling over. I sucked it in, because I wanted to share the candy with a loving face - not crying. As I dropped the square candy into each little hand, I said a prayer that God would find them a loving home.

I wasn't sad because the orphanage was so crummy... in fact, it was great. A charity called, "Half the Sky" supports developmentally appropriate conditions. All the little ones were engaged in really great activities, and the older ones were making Christmas ornaments for a craft day to support the orphanage. Still - my heart was breaking. "Break my heart for what breaks yours - everything I am for your kingdom's cause" That's it.

Looking at these hands I feel a new responsibility. My heart breaks for the little ones who are cast aside. There are no fancy pictures, no cute snapshots, just a precious image forever burned in my mind.

I'm so not sure where this is leading me... probably back to China is a few years.

Cheerios and "bye-bye"

Look at that adorable smile! You wouldn't know that less than one week ago he was sobbing, just knowing that his world was coming to an end. He was wrong.

The last few days have been spent keeping Baby J happy, and helping him adjust to his new family, (and of course, trying to find edible food.)

Most days we travel around taking care of the paper work side of the adoption. Not fun for Wei-J, but necessary. During these visits, Lau Lau, Shu Shu and I do our best to keep him entertained while mom finishes the paper work. Cheerios work wonders, but now we're all out. : ( Sad times - they don't sell any kind of cereal in Tianjin - even in Walmart!! We have some small Chinese cookies to substitute.

When we walk around, Wei-J looks over his momma's shoulder to ensure that all three additional family members are accounted for. He says "aaaa" if any of us are temporarily MIA. Actually... he says "Ahhh" quite often. It means " Pay attention to me," "I want that," "I'm hungry," and a variety of other things.

Although he is not even 15mos, he seems to be experiencing a two year old phase. Developmentally ahead of his time - that's my genius nephew! Too bad it's the twos! ; ) We know he is just testing the limits. Even though I don't want to, I have said "no" to him on occasion. Especially when he uses his hands for anything other than loving.

We have our "special" things we do for entertaining him. For example: Where's your nose?

There's also the "blub-blub-blub" game. EVERYONE must participate!

Today we took a flight from Tianjin to Guangzhou, (in southern China). It was his first flight, and it went wonderfully! He slept almost the entire trip, (Along with momma, Ay-i, and Lau Lau.)

We are now entering the last phase of our trip. Luckily, we think that cheerios will be available this week. Our new hotel is so nice, and much better than the last one we were in. Hubs is very happy because he had American food today for the first time in five days. We found a small place called "Lucy's" that serves all kinds of food. None of us feel brave enough to chance the Chinese take on Enchiladas... we'll leave that to SA town!

In our new hotel, there are SO many adopting families! I think 3 other families have boys! That's unheard of, most people get girls. S-I-L's social worker said that out of 300 adoptions she's helped with, S-I-L was adopting boy number 7.

Little feet running down the halls

shy "hellos" filled with wonder and awe that we are all sharing in this miracle

Yes, I like this hotel.

Transitions

Ayi = Aunt and Shu Shu = Uncle

What can I say? He is cute - cute - cute. Things seemed a bit better today. He is typically easy-going until we visit a building to take care of the official side of the adoption. We think it reminds him of the orphanage and leaving his foster family. Also, it seems that he is teething. : ( Not a fun time for anyone.

We visited a walmart - too weird. I still couldn't read anything, but it was packed and busy, (That is universal I guess).

I have picked up the phrases, how are you, good morning, excuse me, and thank you.

A few snapshots:

After going for a walk to lull him to sleep, we saw a group of older ladies doing tai chi and then line dancing. lol! It gets better! Baby J, who we have nicknamed Wei J, wanted out of his carrier when he heard the music. When his mommy put his tootsies on the ground, he started to bop around and dance. This little guy seems more and more like his Shu Shu everyday.

After ordering what I thought looked like chicken, and what M-I-L thought looked like beef, we were totally grossed out by the texture of a food that felt like pork skin. (Good thing it cost less than 2 US dollars! - Food is cheap around these parts... surprised? I think not). S-I-L and Hubs seemed to love their noodles, but I was so tired of eating noodles. I had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday! Wild huh? After dinner we found a haagen-Dazs! My dessert cost more than my dinner, and I ate more of it too. We didn't have the camera, but Baby J made the best faces! With S-I-L's permission, I gave Baby J a small bite of ice cream. He laughed and grinned, so happy with the new taste. This continued each time I gave him a bite. So fun!

I spend most moments watching S-I-L love on Wei J. She is being so loving and patient with his hurting heart. I think this is so amazing to watch. She's been waiting for him for so long, and yet she is doing so well despite his tears. He was with his foster family for one year. We knew there was the chance he would live with a family, but we were pretty sure that he was still in the orphanage. All of the families here are experiencing similar situations. Most people have a romanticised concept of adoption - I know I did. The children have major difficulties leaving their orphanage or foster family. It's the only life they've known. Within these challenges lies the true beauty of adoption. People who open their hearts to orphans are not doing so for personal gain. They are choosing to lay down their lives to meet the needs of one of God's little ones - no matter the cost. I watch with wonder as I see S-I-L's patience and love with a baby who is not yet ready to fully reflect that love. Can't wait to see the day he does.

Every moment of bonding is a celebration. We clap our hands, make "bbbbbb" noises with his lips, look at the baby in the mirror, and echo his cooing. Shu Shu and I are trying to maintain a respectful distance - he needs to bond with mommy first. At the same time, we want to offer support and entertainment for Wei J when needed.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging letters. We still have a little more than one week to go. I hope that by this time next week our nephew will be inseparable from his mommy.

First Smiles

He is safe and in his mommy's arms. Shu Shu M is using his comedic skills to bond with Baby J!

We found out that Baby J came from a foster family. This means that he will probably be sad for the first few days. He has cried many tears already. The first day was really rough for him. We think that they dropped him off at the orphanage right before S-I-L received him. Poor guy! First you leave your family, and then a new set of weird looking strangers takes you. We have met up with several other families who are experiencing similar situations. I think we were all relieved to see his smile. Oh... and he can walk! - and dance - and say "bye" - and smile at the pretty ladies! : ) Such a cutie

He is so sweet, and LOVES to look at himself in the mirror.