One Month Ago

It has been one month since forever family day. I cannot believe it. It feels like it has been longer. We love him so much,but it has been a hard adjustment. We have been through chicken pox and a stomach virus. We went through a period of time when he would cry when Mama held him. We are now at the point where he reaches for Mama. He is comforable with his family now. He still wants to be held most of the time. He will get on the floor and play with toys for a few minutes at a time. He is 20 months old but not walking. He has taken a few steps but then he realizes it and sits down. He is still afraid to be walking but at least he is working on it. When we first met him, he refused the bottle and did not know how to drink from a cup. We gave him juice through a medicine dropper. We had to teach him how to use a straw and a cup. We have come along way in a month, but still have a long way to go. He spent 19 months in an orphanage. We expected delays and fear. We are taking it one day at a time. We have seen the doctor and his weight is 50th % of the American charts. The doctor says she is impressed by him overall. We see a surgeon next week to assess his hand. It sounds like surgery will help his hand. We are excited to know his hand will be repaired. We are excited he is our son. We hope families considering adoption realize the delays and fear are real.


Here he is with his sisters now.

We had a wonderful Christmas

Of course I am late posting. We are now a family of 6. We had a great time introducing Austin to Christmas. Austin loved opening gifts and trying new treats. Grace, Zoe, and KK had a great day also.We visited family and ate wonderful meals.











The kids have all enjoyed playing with their new toys. The girls have all enjoyed getting to know their brother. Their brother seems to enjoy getting to know them. It has been a great time for Austin to come home. All the girls out of school for winter break has allowed family bonding.

Update soon about how we are doing outside of Christmas.

A few leftover photos from China

We did take some traditional photos in silk clothes. Austin did not like wearing the silk and did not like posing. We have several photos of tears. We also have a group photo of our travel group. We enjoyed getting to know the rest of our travel group. We also hope Austin was the only one to catch the chicken pox. Please enjoy and forgive me for being so late to post.

Long overdue ... We are Home !!!

We did make it home Friday Dec 16. We were so jetlagged and tired. On Sunday, Austin broke out in a rash. By Monday, Austin was covered in the rash. Mama knew it was chicken pox, but hoped it was not. We went to the doctor to confirm. So our first week home was covered in pox. Austin has been very fussy and you can tell he is miserable. We are glad his sisters had the vaccine so hopefully they do not get sick.

So back to the journey home. We left Guangzhou on the train to Hong Kong. The train ride was with 11 other families we met on the trip. We had a 45 minute bus ride to our hotel after we got off the train. We spent one night at the hotel in the airport. We are glad it was for one night. The Regal hotel was overpriced and very basic. No luxury at all. We were so excited to be on the way home. We boarded the flight from Hong Kong to Chicago. We were dreading the 15 hour flight. Austin had already not done well on a flight. Austin fussed half the flight home. He would fall asleep then Daddy would move him and wake him up. We had bad turbulence so the plane shaking woke him also. Austin was so sleepy and could not stay asleep. There were several other families on the plane with small kids. When one kid started to cry, the others would join them. We were so ready to be in Chicago. At least the passenger seated next to us was from Malaysa and very friendly. He was nice about all the crying and moving around. Once we landed in Chicago, we had to go through customs and immigration. We had to turn in the famous brown envelope containing Austin's USA citizenship papers. We have heard horror stories about this process. We were lucky in Chicago. It did not take us very long and the people were very helpful and nice to us. We went through so fast we had a 2 hour layover remaining to board our Nashville flight. We sat in the terminal feeding Austin snacks to pass the time. He made several friends sitting there at the gate. Lots of people were interested in our story. We finally boarded our homebound flight. Austin slept the whole hour long flight. We got off the plane hoping to see our family waiting. We did not see anyone. Christy called to find out the traffic at the airport was bad and they were late. As we walked into baggage claim. our girls came running in to meet us. We were so glad to be home and see them. We rode home from the airport and got home to see the house decorated with Welcome Home signs. Christy's mom had cooked a nice hot meal and had it ready to eat. We were so blessed to be home. We were so blessed to have such wonderful family to help us through this journey. We appreciate all the prayers we have received.

Wednesday in China

Today we had our US Consulate appointment. We have no photos as cameras are forbidden inside. We all took an oath that our paperwork is true. We turned in all of the Chinese adoption paperwork. Tomorrow we will get back his Chinese passport with a USA visa in it. Once we land in Chicago he will be a US citizen. We leave for Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon once we get his passport and visa. Please pray the visa is processed on schedule and we get on that train. We are ready to get home. Today we packed up our bags and prepared for the long trip home. We need prayers for smooth and safe travels. We will be on a 16 hour flight with a 19 month old. We did not do much else today since we had to be up by 6 AM to be able to make it to our Consulate appointment on time. Austin and Daddy took a nap together and Mama worked on more paperwork and packing. Hooray Hooray it is packing time. We cannot wait to hug and kiss on our girls at home. 2 weeks is so long to be apart.

Safari Park Tuesday

Austin loved seeing all of the animals. We have another animal lover on our hands. This is a great thing since we are a zoo visiting family. He pointed and smiled at all he could see. He would get mad if the walk was too far between exhibits.
The safari park has 12 pandas. They are the largest zoo in Asia and maybe the world. We spent all day at the park. They have a walking side and a riding side. There is a tram that drives you around on a 40 minute ride. We had a wonderful day at the safari park.




Austin was not sure about the dressed up characters. He cried when they got too close.

This sign made us laugh. Guess things do get lost in translation.




Austin usualy takes a 2 hour nap, but not today. He had so much fun looking at animals he would not sleep. Finally he fell asleep late in the afternoon for 5 minutes. He woke right back up and was mad he was missing the rest of the animals. He was a good boy and rode around in the Ergo carrier. He did fuss a little after missing nap but overall he was excellent.


Austin is working on walking more each day. We are so proud of his progress in such a short time.
Austin loves ice cream. We stopped for a treat as we waited for the bus to pick us up. This ice cream was Pleasant Goat. This is a popular cartoon for Chinese children. In the bottom of the ice cream was a little Pleasant Goat toy.




After we got back to the hotel it was 5:30 PM. We walked next door to McDonalds for a quick dinner. We ate with our new friends from Missouri. We had an early morning next day appointment for the Consulate so we planned to turn in early for the night. This was a great decision since Austin was so tired.

Austin is getting closer to walking on his own.

Our own red couch photos at White Swan Hotel.

Smiles for Mama now. We are so happy.

Red Dragon Boat was our river cruise boat.