Prayer Request

I want to ask you all to please pray for my friend Heather's brother, Lyn. He is in the US Air force. He was serving in Iraq and suffered a stroke. They have taken him to Germany. The email I received from her states that the doctors said that his speech is affected a little but everything else looks ok. I believe he is in his early 40's. He has a wife, Peggy, and two children. I know there are prayer warriors out there. Thank you.

Pictures of our two Rugrats

Here are some pictures of Hannah and Ethan together. Hannah is doing well with him. She tries to help him with different things. If he needs his mouth wiped she will run to help him. She is jealous of him though. If one of us is playing with him or tickling him she runs over wanting us to do the same to her. Things are going well. It is still hard to communicate with him but getting better. I'm trying to teach him some sign language to help with this. He is starting to understand us with certain things.

Our lab Zoe loves him. She has already given him two kisses on the mouth. Ethan does not like it too much. He has to get used to her. I think once he does he will love her.

We went to my Dads (Palpaw) for Thanksgiving. It was just us and them. It was kind of lonely without my sisters there. It will be good to see them at Christmas. Ethan loved the Thanksgiving meal. MaryAnn (Dads wife) is from the Philippines. She cooked one traditional dish for us. It was a sour pork. Ethan loved it. One good thing about Hannah wanting the same things as Ethan is we can get her to try different foods. They have their Christmas tree up. Ethan really liked it. I wonder if we should even put ours up this year. I do not have the energy to continue to tell him no do not touch while it is up. :) Hannah has started telling us what she wants for Christmas. She isn't really asking for too much. Christmas will be fun this year.

OK, I just heard this loud thump outside. Our lab has started laying in the swing that we have out on the patio. It hits the house when she gets out of it. She is such a baby.

Thank you all for your prayers while we were in China. Enjoy the pics.

We are Home at last.

Sorry that I have not posted in a few days. Our week of internet at the White Swan ran out on the 16th. That was the day that we had our oath ceremony at the US Consulate. It was very emotional. Gwen and I were standing beside Sandi during this time. I wish you all could meet this sweet lady and her little Hannah. I am so thankful to God that He moved the hands of the US government so that she was able to return home on her original schedule. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

We left China on the 18th at 8:30 in the morning. Can I just say that security at the Guangzhou airport has gotten crazy. You have to fill out two forms in order to leave their country. One is for departing and the other I believe was a quarantine form. Then we went through security. They put our bags through the x-ray machine and searched them. Then before we could get on the plane they checked them again at the gate. It was crazy. We also had to go through security check in Tokyo airport before catching our connecting flight. It all made me want to go hunting for Osama myself and take care of him. Anyway.

Ethan was ok on the flights home. He did cry on the long flight when we tired to get him to sleep. I had to hold him until he fell asleep. I was not having to do this back at the hotels. Most of the time he would let us know when he was ready for bed. He is a wiggle worm in his sleep so I was up making sure he did not fall out of the seat. By the time we got home and in bed I believe I had been awake for 30 hours straight. Needless to say I did not feel great on Monday. I am feeling much better today though.

Today we went to the Social Security office to apply for his card. It is nice to be in a small town now. We walked into the office and checked in. Before we could sit down and get comfortable they called our number. We were probably there a total of 15 minutes. It was so nice. The lady was surprised at how quick I was at going to get this taken care of. Greg had called the insurance and mailed them the papers they need to get him added.

Ethan's first doctor's appointment is November 30. We will see about getting the name of a specialist for his cleft palate. I am going to ask for one at our local children's hospital here in the area. We also have our first post placement appointment with our SW next Wednesday.

Our house has changed so much with a little boy in it. Hannah is doing great with him. She will help us with him. She was holding his hand when we were out today so he would not run off. I meant to get a harness for him while we were at Wal-mart but forgot. I will have to go back sometime soon. I don't really want to get one but the boy does not care about running off from us. I really think it is just because he is very curious about everything he sees.

I have not gotten pictures of the two of them together yet. I will post some pictures later after taking some. We have to have six pictures for our post visit anyway. Well, I am going to go for now.

Three Days Left

It is hard to believe that we only have three days left. Our paperwork has been sent to the Consulate. We go tomorrow for to take our oath. This trip has been so different from when we came to get Hannah. I think it is because of the little issues that we have had. We are ready to get home to see Hannah, our beds, and our small town and home. Ethan is doing well. It is amazing the bad smell is gone. Gwen's friend Christy is a Physician's Assistant. She told us that she thought he might have something lodged in his nose. Sure enough he did. She pulled it out for us and there is no more bad breath (except Greg's LOL). Thank you Christy!!!

We had the medical exams yesterday. Ethan weighs 28.7 pounds. He is putting some weight on. We still have the drooling issue. He has gotten good about wiping his own mouth. He is a sweet little man. I love to hear him laugh.

Update on Sandy, we have been told that she will have to stay another two weeks in China to re-do her paperwork. I am not sure about her family being able to come over or not. Please continue to pray for her. I have been able to talk with her a little. She says that she is doing better each day and that little Hannah is helping her through it. Please pray that she will be able to get everything done sooner than two weeks.

There is not much that I have to post about. The sad news that we received this afternoon is hard for me to process at this time. This was to be a joyful time for the family but has been scared by this tragedy. What do you say? How do you act? These are all things that are running through my mind. Greg and I did not get to spend much time with Dennis. We had just meet him on the 9th. He was rather quite but seemed like a nice man. Sandra has a very sweet presence about her. I know that there has to be so much running through her head at this time. I just pray that God will show me if and what I might need to say to her. I cannot imagine what I would do if this had happened to me and Greg. Please keep them in your prayers.

I am posting this picture of Ethan.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greg and I just learned that earlier this morning one of the gentleman in our group pasted away from what we believe to be a heart attack. Please pray for his wife Sandra right now. She has many decisions she has to make. I will not post more than this due to her privacy.

Made it to Guangzhou

We made it to Guangzhou last night. Ethan did ok on the flight. He did not cry, well except when Greg tried to take the food away from him. Just like all of his clothes that we brought him even the pull ups and diapers were too big. We had a very running BM on the plane ride. It smelt so bad. Greg went and changed him on the plane. We were not able to change his pants until we got to the airport.

There was someone from the hotel that met us at the exit. She directed toward a waiting area for the shuttle. While we were waiting a group of musicians came up and started talking to us about Ethan. They all started playing their music and singing for us. They "sang" Old Aung Said (sp) and Jingle Bells (or Chigle Bells) and then a Chinese song. It was some kind of special song. After they finished a lady that had just walked up to hear them came to tell us that Ethan was very lucky and that we were good hearted people and this is why they sang for us. It was actually very emotional for me. I almost started to cry while sitting there. The head lady and one of the men made me think Peking Opera singers. The lady was very funny and sweet. They all liked Ethan.

Our driver to the hotel was a young guy. He was driving about 100 mph. It always amazes me how fast they drive here in China. The bicyclist and walkers are very brave. If you ever visit China be sure to watch when the locals cross the road. If you do not you could be hit like Frogger.

We met up with some of the other BCS families today for site seeing. Ethan isn't the only boy either. We went to see the museum that is about the Chen families temple. It was nice architecture. We arrived there just in time to see the Olympic torch come in to be passed off. It was neat. Greg got it on video. I will post picture of today later. For now here are pictures of our welcoming party at the Guangzhou airport.

We went looking at the shops. There is actually one young lady, Emily, that remembered us from last time we were here to get Hannah. It is probably because Greg really stands out over here and is crazy. Oh, I am not able to view my blog so you will have to let me know if the pictures are not working.

Orphanage Visit

We leave for Guangzhou today. Right now the boys are asleep. It is amazing how Ethan has started bonding with us. Last night after we got back to the hotel he would run up to each of us and wrap his arms around our legs and hold on tight. It was so sweet. I know he is probably saying words to us but we are not able to understand because of his palate. He is a sweet little boy.

We went to visit the orphanage yesterday. It was a very emotional visit. Ethan was very quite on the way there. Miranda told him that we were going back so he could tell everyone goodbye. Once we got there we were greated by the director and assistant director. The assistant was one of the people that brought him to Zhengzhou. They were very nice. I just hated that they was a language barrier. It is always hard to really talk to someone through an interpretor. The director gave Ethan an apple. He would not let go of that apple for anything. Once we left the office to go walk through the orphanage some Ethan just took off walking around. He did not seem to mind being back there at all. This makes me think that they must take good care of them there. The firs that we saw were the three little toddlers in the crib out in the corridor. They saw Ethan and started yelling at him. They were so cute. They had the split pants and all. When they had to use the toilet they would just go and sit down on it. Maybe the split pants are a bad idea. LOL

Ethan's nanny (Ayi) came up to get him. It was so nice to see how much she really cares about him. Of course they said that he did not have enough clothes on the bottom. I only had one pair of pants because it was going to be 72 that day. Oh well. Next we went to visit his classmates. The three little boys standing with him in the picture are his best friends. We were told that they were being sent to the CCAA to be placed in the adoption pool. I pray they get families quickly. There was one little girl in the crib in the classrooom. She was such a beautiful little girl. There is something wrong with her legs but from what I could gather from hand motions she uses her arms very well. Let me tell you when she smiled at me and said hello I wanted to grab her right then and bring her with us. Please pray that they will send her paperwork to the CCAA for adoption also. She just really touched my heart.

Next we went to see the little babies. A few of them were awake in their cribs. They were all so sweet. I made sure that I went by and touched everyone of them and said a prayer for them. One of them was a very happy baby. He/she would laugh and smile at us while we were talking to him.

Then it came time to say goodbye. This was the really emotional part for me. This is where Ethan had spent all but a few months of his life so far. His ayi had taken care of him from the start. She was really the only mother figure he has know. I know that it had to be hard for her to see him leaving but happy to know that he would have a family now. I gave her a hug and told her thank you for taking such good care of him. We both just held each other tight for a about a minute. It was very hard for me to just up and leave this woman that had cared for him. I'm even crying now as I type this. I know that there are some orphanages out there that do not take good care of the children and then there are those that do all that they can for them. I truly believe the latter is Ethan's case.

We did get the directors email address. I am going to try and send them updates as often as possible so they can see him grow. I hope that we might be able to send his Ayi a gift from time to time also. Enjoy the slideshow.

Chasing Daddy

Here is a video of Ethan. He loves to hit things. I'm working on this. We have learned the Chinese for no "Bu Yao!". We are using it quite a bit. We have started seeing more of his personality today. He is a sweet boy. We went to the orphanage today. I will post pictures later. It was very emotional for Greg and myself. Ethan did great. Enjoy the video.

Shao Lin Temple Visit

Today we went to visit the temple. It was about a 1 1/2 hour drive from our hotel. It was interesting. There was a lot of smog so we did not get a great view of the mountains but they were pretty all the same. Here are some pictures from our trip. While we were waiting for our van driver some other drivers came up to talk. One of them gave Ethan some of his pancake that he had. I have a picture of him in the slide show. Greg and I both looked at each other at the same time and said, "he looks like a Chinese George Clooney." I think he liked that. The whole time that we were walking around people would come up to Miranda and tell her that Ethan is going to have great fortune. They say here in China that if you have big ears you will have great fortune. I guess he is going to have a lot come his way.

We are both wondering if the orphanage was extremely off on guessing his age. By what they said he would be 31 months old. He is acting more like a child just under two or having just turned two. They told us that he could drink out of a cup at 19 months but he really does not know how to do this. We do realize that he is having the usual attachment issues but there is more to it. We asked our guide, Miranda, how old she thought he was and she said the same thing as us. We go to the orphanage tomorrow. I am going to ask if he had a note with him stating his birthday.The paperwork does not say. I also discovered that some of his smell issue is his ears. I thought I had cleaned them when I gave him his first bath but I did not scrub hard enough behind those ears and inside. They were so bad they smelt. He has lots of wax inside of his ears. We are going to ask if there is a doctor that might be able to get it out for us or get some wax remover. He is very unsteady on his feet and sometimes acts like he does not hear us. I think it might be because of the wax build-up. Hopefully we can get this taken care of before we get on the plane Thursday. Keep Ethan in your prayer as we go visit the orphanage. 9:00 am Zhengzhou time 7:00 pm Central time. He was a little afraid at first this morning when we got into the van for our trip. After we got out and walked around he was ok. He loves to explore. When we got back Greg went down stairs to exchange money for our rental van tomorrow. Ethan started crying for him. It was so sweet. He really likes Greg. I made him mad. He was right in front of the t.v. and was putting stuff on the screen. We would say no but he just laugh. So, I went and picked him up and put him on the bed. He cried big tears. Then he got his bath where I scrubbed his ears. He does not like the bath anymore. Bye for now. Hopefully I will not be back up at 2:00 am.

GOTCHA & ADOPTION DAY

At 9:00 am we met Miranda in our hotel lobby. We drove about 10 minutes from our hotel. It was literally just down a block and turn right. We go into the small office (temporary) of the Civil Affairs building. There was an American family there that was working on the final papers of their new son that is four years old. They had their six year old son also with them and the father's mother. The bio son did not understand why he could not be in the photo for the adoption decree. It was so sad to see him cry because he "was not special." This is not what his family was telling him but it how he perceived it. Miranda asked us why we did not bring Hannah while he was sitting with his grandmother crying. I looked over at him and said "because of that." If a six year old does not understand how much would a three year old?

We waited for about an hour for them to show up to the office. There was a traffic jam on their way. Then there he was. He is so cute. He was very shy. I did not want to push myself on him right away so I just beside him and held his hand for awhile. The nanny kept looking at me and talking to Miranda. I think she thought I did not want him since I was not holding him right away. Miranda came over and told me I could hold him. We had to go to a photo shop to get the family photo made. While we walked out the nanny picked Ethan up and carried him. I do not think she wanted to let him go. After awhile he started to warm up to us.

We went to eat lunch. There is an Italian restaurant in our hotel. We both got pizza. Ethan loved it. I would take his plate away because he would put so much food in his mouth at one time. I was afraid he might choke. He would stick out his bottom lip and look like he was about to cry. I stopped taking the plate away after that. He is laughing. Greg really makes him laugh but then again who doesn't laugh at Greg. :)

I did give him a bath. I know that they suggest that you do not do this on the first day but he really did not smell well. After the bath though we realized it is his breath. I believe he has a cold. He is coughing some. Right now he is asleep as is Greg. Also, he is much smaller than the measurements they sent us. Even the 2Ts I brought are too big for him. He is small. There is some development delay as well. I am not worried. Once we get him home he should catch up just like Hannah did.

They did bring some of the toys and clothes that we sent him in the care package. He has been carrying the ball around with him the whole time. He took his bath with it and is sleeping with it. He really likes it. Another thing he likes is looking at himself in the mirror and cameras. He likes that he can see himself in the picture. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

THE BIG DAY

It is 6:45 am here is Zhengzhou. We are up and have already eaten breakfast. It is a little strange not seeing anymore adopting families at the buffet. Especially our Pingjiang families. Oh, Stef, I forgot to post last night that we thought of David yesterday. As were were walking to our hotel two people walked by with carts full of animal skins. I was assuming they were for sell. I told Greg we should get one for David. It would go great with the hat. :) Greg is out taking pictures of the hotel. I told him that I was going up to the room to relax because after today I will not be able to for 18 years. I'm a veteran now. I know what is coming.

It is hard to believe that in 2 hours and 10 minutes we will be leaving to go get our son. We are very excited. Greg always tells me that he cannot tell if I'm excited or not. He says I don't really show it. Trust me I am. I am just wondering what he is going to be like. Will he be silly like Hannah or more reserved. I am so looking forward to discovering his personality.

Well, that is all for now. thank you all for your continued prayers. Please pray for me. I have a sinus infection. thankfully I have some meds for this and am taking them. Love to you all.

THE AMAZING RACE OR ETHAN'S ADOPTION

WE HAVE MADE IT TO ZHENGZHOU CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After traveling over about 19 hours by air we made it into Guangzhou last night about midnight. We flew on a DC9 to Detroit. We were on the very back row. I had to put ear plugs in to keep the ROAR of the engine from busting my ear drums. I really do not like this plane. Our flight from Detroit to Tokyo was good. We were not able to watch any of the movies because our speakers in our seats did not work. they gave us vouchers for $10.00. We land in Tokyo around 5:45 have to make it through security and to our connecting flight that was scheduled to leave at 7:00. We literally went from one plane to the next with no stops in between. I had to use the restroom so bad. I had the hardest time getting to use the one on the plane. We had lots of turbulence on all flights. Some were a little scary.

Greg and I are the only family that is adopting from this province so we were on our own. we have felt like this is more of the Amazing Race than our adoption. As we are leaving the airport we are looking for the taxis so we can make a 45 minute trip for 4 hours of sleep. One guy tells us that he is a taxi driver so we follow him. As we are doing this we pass a taxi stand. Something did not seem right with this. then he turns to us and says "Yeah I'm a taxi." While looking over his shoulder. All of the sudden he takes off to the parking lot and tells us to stand and wait for him. Two security guards (airport police) come up and tell us that he was not a taxi and that we could get one at the taxi stand. Crazy. Don't worry, we would not have gotten in if his car was not actually a taxi.

So, we get to the Holiday Inn about 12:45. I shower and go to bed to try and get some rest. I had to put ear plugs in to drown out Greg's snoring. We wake up at 5:00 am. I have a huge headache from lack of sleep and fluids. I was not feeling the best. We get to the airport and go to check in. The lady behind the counter starts making this face like she doesn't understand our reservation. She takes our passports and goes now to another counter. she was there for about ten minutes. Finally her supervisor brings us our broading passes. I think that when the reservation was made it put us in row 32 but the plane only had 22 rows.

Now we have landed at the airport in Zhengzhou. We were told that after we got off the plane our guide would be there to meet us. I'm sure you can guess what I'm about to say. She was not there. We called the main contact in China. She informed us that she had gotten a text that Miranda would be able to be at the airport but that someone from the hotel was suppose to meet us. Well they were not there. We had a gentleman come up and asked if we needed help. We thought he was trying to get us to let him take us to the hotel. We were wrong. He told us that if we took this bus into town then a taxi it would safe us about 50 yuan. After he told us this he said goodbye and went into the airport. Thank you God for the make up of the man earlier. We took the bus into town and then walked about a block to our hotel. No big deal on that.

We meet Miranda at 9:00 am (7:00pm home time) to go get Ethan. The office is about ten minutes from our hotel. Hopefully we will get some rest before then. We will upload pictures when we get them. Please keep praying. Pray that the rest of the trip will run more smoothly. Oh, we might get to go see his orphanage on Wednesday (Tuesday night).