Tired But Doing Well

Jet lag is still hanging on here but other than that things are well. I can't wait to feel fully awake again. The boys are settling in and we are working on creating a routine of some sort. The weather has been nice and Jacob especially likes to play outside. His new Big Wheel and the Tonka trucks keep him busy and happy. He also really likes our Thomas trains and train table. This boy is all about things that go. He can be active at times but also very calm and focused in his play. He is much less active than Isaiah was at that age, thank you God!

Levi has enjoyed playing with legos and learning English. We have some picture flashcards and he has been working hard at learning the names of things in English. He is very bright. Yesterday we went through around 16 flashcards and he had them all learned in about 10-15 minutes. The easier ones he got on the second try. I wish I could learn Mandarin so quickly! Jacob likes to copy Levi so that will be a big help as he learns English.

Levi is an eager learner and was showing me how he can write his numbers and do addition and subtraction. He was also working on the alphabet and letter sounds with me. It is a shame he never had the chance to go to school in China but I have a feeling he is going to quickly make up for lost time here.

On Sunday, I took Isaiah and Levi to church and Levi loved the music there. He gave it a thumbs up. The music at our church is very good with a full band of instruments. After church we dropped by the grocery store to get some things. It was such a relief to be back in America and have public places be handicap accessible. It is not something I have ever paid much attention to until now but I can tell you it is a huge blessing. Knowing there are so many places that Levi can easily get around makes life so much easier. Levi does great walking with his walker and is actually very fast when he is using it. We didn't know this when we were in China because there were very few places we could actually use the walker.

We are also thanking God for providing our big open house. I felt like God led us to this house and now I know why. Having lots of room to maneuver the walker in our downstairs allows Levi to be mostly independent and we have made our large downstairs bathroom handicap accessible so he can be independent there as well. Adopting two boys with special needs at one time is certainly not easy but God is providing. It seems doable for me on Day 3 of being home and I am thankful that I am not completely overwhelmed. It really helps that our homeschooling is done for the year so we have time to get adjusted without a lot that has to get done right now.

Prayers Answered!!!!!!!

Thank you so much to all the friends, family, and blog friends who prayed for us during the adoption trip. I know so many of you were praying for our family, including my Great Aunt Therese, Sister Vince, and other nuns from MN. The trip was not easy but it was obvious that we were covered in prayer the entire time. All of my prayer requests that I posted on my blog were completely answered. I have copied our prayer requests below and I just have to comment on a few. We definitely had a safe trip and our transition to a family of four has been relatively smooth. Levi and Jacob were not afraid of us and we could see that the boys having each other really made things easier for both of them. No one got sick in China or on the plane ride home. Praise God!!!!! Susu did great on the trip and had only a few very normal Susu moments. She was happy to be back in China with our family and appeared secure for the most part. The biggest miracle to me was that my back, which had been hurting for weeks prior to the trip, stopped hurting on the plane ride over to China. Now really, how in the world did a 30 hour day of traveling and 18 hours of flying in a sitting position heal my back pain. Back pain that was aggravated by sitting. Only God knows that is for sure. Not having back pain in China or on the ride home made things much easier! We are thanking God for getting us through this crazy adventure and home safely. It was pretty nuts traveling with four kids (two mobility impaired) through almost the entire length of China. God gave us the vision to embark on this mission and He saw us through the entire time. We could not have done it without Him!!!!!!! We give much praise and glory to Him!!!!!

Here were our prayer requests from over two weeks ago.

Please pray for:

1. Safe travels our entire trip.
2. That God would mentally prepare all of us for the transition.
3. That Levi and Jacob would not be too afraid and would sense how loved they are by our family.
4. That we would all stay healthy the entire trip and after we get home as well. Last time we went to China, Aaron and I got terribly sick on the flight home. It was awful.
5. That Susu would feel safe and secure with us since this trip may bring up some memories for her.
6. That my back would feel better. It has been bothering me for the last two weeks.

We greatly appreciate all the people who have been praying for us during this adoption!

Finally Home, A Day Late and 50 Million Brain Cells Short

The trip home went well enough considering it lasted forever!!!! In Beijing our flight was delayed by two hours as we sat in the plane waiting for a problem with the engine to be fixed and then paperwork to be done. As is typical, the paperwork seemed to take longer to get done then the actual fixing of the engine. The pilot kept coming on the intercom to say that all was fine with the engine and not too worry, we would be on our way soon. I don't know about you, but when the pilot keeps reassuring the passengers that the engine is fine it is rather disconcerting.

So we arrived in Chicago two hours late with not enough time to pass through immigration and what ever the others lines were we needed to pass through. When we finally gathered up all our luggage, the four kids, the walker, and the wheelchair and made it to the United counter, our flight to Portland had left and that was the last flight of the evening. The airline put us up in a nice hotel but gave us the news that there was no available seats to Portland for seven people until 7 p.m. the next evening. We decided to try flying standby in groups this morning. At 8:45 a.m., I was able to fly to Portland with Isaiah and Jacob. Aaron, James, Susu, and Levi were unable to get another flight until 4 p.m. They just got home about an hour or so ago, had some leftover pizza, and went to bed. I could not keep my eyes open after 7:30 p.m. so I got a short nap in before they got home which is why I am updating the blog before I go back to bed. Poor Aaron was deliriously tired when he finally got home a little over an hour ago.

The kids all handled the long flight really well. We are soooooo happy to all be home or will be when we are awake enough to realize where we are. If no one hears from us tomorrow, it will only be because we are in some kind of jet lag coma.

Sweet Boys!

This morning when Jacob woke up the first thing he did was climb up in my lap for a hug and kiss.  Ching ching means kiss in Mandarin and I get lots of ching chings from both my boys.  There is nothing better than boys who show love to their Mama.

White Swan Red Couch Photos

It is an adoption tradition for every travel group to take a group photo of the children on the red couches at the White Swan hotel.  We may only be a travel group of one family but we sure do fill up a couch pretty well.  We fly out from Guangzhou tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. heading for Beijing and arriving around 12:00.  Then we have a four hour overlay before we have the really long flight to Chicago, almost 13 hours.  Then it is a 3 hour overlay as we get through immigration in Chicago and finally fly home to Maine.  We should arrive around 10:30 on Friday evening.  There are a bunch of adoptive families on the flight to Chicago that we have met here so that will be nice.

Levi is especially excited about flying to America and having Po Po and Gong Gong pick us up at the airport.  Po Po is the nickname for maternal grandmather and Gong Gong is for maternal grandfather.  We have been using our Mandarin a lot with the boys.  Aaron had more opportunity to learn Mandarin since he had a quiet half hour each way to and from work to listen to the Pimsleur Mandarin CD's.  Aaron told Levi that I speak Chinglish (Chinese and English mixed together) and Levi thought that was hilarious. 

Levi's Drawings

We bought Levi a drawing book at a book store here and he can draw really well with instructions or without.  Here are some drawings from his imagination.  You will notice the one drawing is of Aaron and all the kids.  We love the Chinese clothing!

More Statue Photos in Guangzhou

Fun at the Playground

Herb Market

Coming Home Friday

Today we had our consulate appointment and all went well.  We will be heading home on Friday and we are ready!  Guangzhou is lovely and the weather has been good but we are tired of living in two hotel rooms for two weeks straight.  The kids are all doing very well.  It is the adults who really want to go home.  I will post some pictures of our activities in Guangzhou.  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home!