Heather's view

Howdy all!
Today we are celebrating our first bit of 'good news' this is an euphemism for poo, or number two as it is also known. This is an odd but huge step forward in the bonding process. It means he's getting more comfortable around us. He even took me to the bathroom, walked to the toilet and clinked the seat. Me bring the observant person I am, quickly figured out that this must be the meaning of the phrase he'd been bellowing at the top of his lungs. The problem with what he says is that according to both Mary, our guide, and Mrs Li, the assistant director of the orphanage he is already multi lingual. Mary used the word several and Mrs Li said many. This is great, except that it makes translation by our guides Mary & Dennis that much harder as they have to listen & then attempt to switch him into a language they know. He already knew 'I Love You' and we have taught him the word for Cheerios. (this is important as he wasn't eating until we brought them out)
Gradually we are learning his personality and can't wait for him to really open up into the happy little guy we've seen glimpses of.
The most heart breaking thing for me is the phrase that Dennis translated for us yesterday, "the orphanage didn't want me". Evidently the SWI had taken him back from the family and kept him for some unknown number of days before they brought him to us. He must have thought he was going to stay there forever, this place where he had visited so frequently, then they put him in a car a drove him for hours to meet with us, betrayal!
As I've gone through this past few days I have to say that both Bill and I feel a sense of 'This is right' about it. It makes the bad times; the soundless crying in his sleep, the loud crying and yelling as we don't understand what he needs, the physical ache from holding him standing up or walking (we do use the Ergo for long trips) accidentally getting him so mad he pees on the bath rug; and the good times, seeing him curled up like a little frog with me in the tub, and watching him sleep nekkid, sprawled out on the bed with his head on Bill's shoulder while Bill slept, the first night when he said 'I love you' when he was talking while half asleep,all these things together add up to the 'This is right' feeling. Yes, we'll have days of hell to start (and I'm sure in the teen years too) but we'll get through. There is the phrase 'to whom much is given, much is asked' Bill and I are so blessed, that this doesn't seem like much to ask at all.
We haven't taken many pictures lately, I think we're going to do some sight seeing tomorrow so we'll taken more I'm sure. It's always interesting to travel here, Bill says the driving makes M-59 look safe and boring to drive on.
On the Heather personal front I have been blessed with good health this entire trip, no bad tummy or nausea or travel sickness, please keep those prayers coming our way.

It's Official!

Acer is now our child legally in China and the United States!

We returned to the adoption center, and this was very traumatic for him. It was a place that was familiar to him, and the deputy director was there and so was the director of child services. Both of whom he knew very well. And they gave him an ice cream bar. This nearly undid all the bonding that I thought we had done, but now I don't know. He has only had 1 bottle of formula today, but he did have nearly a half pound of cheerios. Now we have to see what happens tonight when we go to bed.

We have found that the only guaranteed method of getting him to sleep is to put Heather and him into the tub and they take a bath. He then will fall right to sleep curled up on Heather. I'd post a pic, but it's not appropriate :)

In there he sleeps like a frog. It's very cute.

Day 3 awaits.

PS: We ate breakfast, but that was the only meal so far today...

Notes from the first night

Well, the first night went relatively well, we got in and he was so upset he threw up the cheerios that we fed him on the bus. I think he finally realized that we were not going to take him back to the foster home. He speaks rather well in Chinese, but it is a dialect that our coordinator does not speak. He can understand a little, but not everything he says. We tried giving him a bath, Heather got in the tub with him, and he fell right to sleep. According to Heather, this proves that he is meant to be her son. The proof, however, that he is MY son is the sleeping method. He sprawls. Heather said she was hit with every one of his body parts... He is also rather mobile when sleeping, and he did say "I love you" to me when he was sleeping.

We were finally able to get him to eat this morning, nearly a full bottle of formula. We are going to try other things later, but we shall see.

Arriving back at the hotel!

We've Got Him!

We got Acer!!!!!!! We picked him up this afternoon a little after 3:30, and the first thing that he said in english was "I Love You". Everyone melted at that, as we were the first that got their child. Acer was the only one that was at the building when we got there, and all the other families said "Bring him in!" After he said that, he is able to speak quite a bit of Chinese, more than we expected, so it is hard, because he is telling us what he wants, but we cannot understand him. As I write this, Heather has just gotten him to sleep. I know it's early, but I hope that he will be able to eat dinner, and then we will try some more to bond.
Mom and Acer their first experience!

Leaving in the morning

We leave in the morning for Jiangxi province, @ 8:30am. We have to have our luggage ready for the bellhops @ 7:30 so we are madly packing and prepping now.

We get Acer tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting Development

Well, I cannot access the blogger website, so I am glad that I set up mail to blog before that happened. 

Yesterday we went to see the Temple of Heaven and the Drum Tower, took a Three-legged Chicken (rickshaw) tour of a Hutong, which is a narrow road neighborhood, where families share courtyards.  We also got to go to a kindergarten for deaf students, and learned that sign language is almost the same in Chinese as it is in English. 

So many things happened, I seem to have the order wrong.  I will put them in order:

1) added 12 more families, but 11 of the new ones, and all the already here ones went on the tours today
2) Went to the Temple of Heaven, not sure how to add the pics yet through e-mail, but will figure it out.  This was also the first exposure to squatty pottys for the group.
3) Went to a Dai(ethnic minority that live close to the border of China and Burma) restaurant to eat lunch and watch some ethnic dancing
4) Took a Three-legged Chicken tour of a Hutong, which let us visit the deaf school, and a native home.
5) Visited the Drum Tower, climbed 69 steep steps, where the people were awakened at 5am and sent home at 7pm.  They had this to keep track of the time of day, because clocks were not in use for people, the only timepiece was a water clock in the tower.
6) Went to see the Peking Acrobats, a group of young adults that did awesome feats of skill, nearly fell asleep, it was so warm, and we had been walking and seeing sights all day. 
7) Went and ate at the KFC across the street.  It was interesting, the menu has many items that are not available at home.  The place is VERY popular with the locals, but I don't think we will go back.  We were just too tired to do anything else.  That's also why I didn't post yesterday, we got back, and went straight to bed....

Today we will be having a CHI orientation and get to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. 

More later.

B

Beijing - Day 1

Today definately was a long/fun day. It started by getting to eat breakfast @ 8am in the hotel, while getting ready for the day trip to the Summer Palace where we went all around the palace that was created by the last dynasty to rule China. All sorts of interesting things went on at the palace, and the slideshow below will show you some of the sights that we saw.

But as to think that we could not find one: - This sign
This sign was a most welcome sight, so we knew where they were. VERY important


We went to lunch afterward with 2 other couples, both of who are adopting from a different province than we are. We found, right between the KFC and the Pizza Hut this.
We were very impressed with the menus, as they were bound by wood covers, and had 18 pages of teas, yes 18 pages of tea.

There are going to be more posts, but it's now almost midnight again, so I should go to bed, and maybe I will have Heather post more tomorrow.

We Made it to Beijing

We left our house @ 11 am eastern(GMT-5), and we ended up in Beijing @ 10:30 PM Beijing Time(GMT+8)

This was with a stopover in Tokoyo, Japan(GMT+9) and I can tell you, I have not seen more sunlight continuously than today. I know that it is 12 hours ahead of home time, so I can tell you it was a long ride.

Did have pics, but weirdness ensued, will have to take new ones tomorrow. We will be going on a trip tomorrow, if we wake up, to the Summer Palace. We shall see. Sleep is calling.

Leaving In 6 hours!

Okay, I'm geeked, I admit it. totally loving it scared about the future joyously geeked. If I were a little boy I'd be doing the happy feet dance right about now.
Send up prayers to the big buy for us - all the way thru until the 24th when we return, We'll need it.(and don't stop then please)
Heather

Wonderful day

Yesterday was a perfect day weatherwise, the sky was blue, temperatures were moderate, the Kwanzan cherry outside the shower was in full bloom. We were truly blessed by all the friends and family who came.
Personally I think that having a toddler shower is MUCH more fun than a regular baby shower because the toys are a lot cooler. We had assistance in trying out the toys and gioving their stamp of approval from Kayleigh, Oliver and Lucy. Kayleigh and Oliver were also #1 assistants in bringing the gifts to me to unwrap. Oliver made sure I did everything in the proper order & read the card first! I think that everybody shared little bits of themselves because they brought what was important to them. We had art, safety tips, toys, many books (yeah!) and the carseat that should outlast the house! I think our favorite fun item was that 3 people bought us the Ikea stuffed dragons - lovely! Others might return the 'extra's' but not us because they're so us. We either have one per person or one per floor of our tri-level. It has also been suggested that we take our Christmas pictures in them!
We also received more orphanage donations! More items to be packed and a gift of money to be spent for the orphans while we're over there. I'll be packing and weighing bags tonight to make sure we're set.
The Shower was thrown my life long wonderful friend Vicki at her condo complex clubhouse and we fit everybody perfectly. The three incredible women from Bill's side of the family, Bill's Mom, our sister-in-law Kerry, and youngest brother Joe's girlfriend Tammy did a ton of work. Also a Thank You! to Kerry's Mom, Sandra, who assembled many little takeout containers as she was visiting Kerry this week and Mum who helped with clean up. Between everyone there was an imaginative and tasty menu, good conversation and communication, and a wonderful job done! Yeah Guys!
As we had invited menfolk too, we didn't indulge in standard shower games. Instead we gave everybody a pair of chopsticks (Ikea scores again) and had people pick pepperidge farm goldfish out of a bowl and put them into cupcake papers. Some did better than others and the bonus was that if you didn't win you still got to eat the goldfish!
Bill was working until half an hour before the shower and arrived just in time. By eight o'clock last night he was barely able to keep his eyes open and he was in bed by about nine thirty. He had to get up extremely early today for church set up, but was still so tired that he came back to bed to sleep for an hour. I guess he wasn't trusting himself to drive as tired as he was. We finished the thank you notes last night so they're prepped to go out in Monday's mail. When you only have a few days between shower and take off, you have to get them out right away or they just may never happen.
Well time to get ready for one of my last work days, should be lovely busy as it looks to be as beautiful today as it was yesterday.
Heaher

Testing Maps

Toddler Shower - Mark 1

We had a toddler shower from Heather's work, and it was GREAT fun!

Pictures, Pictures

Beds, Rituals and Friends

We leave a week from Tomorrow!

We are one step closer to being ready for Acer, Bill and my bro. James accomplished 'The Great Bed Switch part II'. In part I, we sent a bed to Mum's, brought a bed from Mum's sent a couch to Mum's and got a futon from Bill's brother John. This time we only moved a mattress from upstairs, built a bed frame and moved a mattress upstairs. So we are now sleeping on a queen sized bed instead of a full, and theoretically we'll have room for all 3 of us as we co-sleep for at least 6 months to help with bonding.

Who knew that the 3-4 inches of extra mattress space would screw up our night time sleep rituals so much. For the past 5 1/2 years, we've had a process of getting to sleep that has worked well, I snuggle on Bill then turn over & Bill snuggles on me & then he turns over and we butte snuggle. We happily sleep back to back because we both snore, so we came up with the butte snuggle term. But now there's extra space and it disrupts the process. I guess it's a good thing we're only sleeping like this for a week and a half, and the coming back from China with Acer, because we don't really have a routine it'll be easier to start a new one with Acer.

Last night was my work Toddler shower, we met after work at a local pizzeria. (Boy, were we wiped out after a busy day) I also had included a few ex-employees and frequent customers who had become friends on my guest list. I love it when people who don't know each other can get together and have decent and far-ranging conversations; to hear all the different subjects under discussion was pretty cool. My good friends Beq and Cheryl from work did a wonderful job. While I appreciate the wonderful gifts, the gift of everybody's support and friendship during this whole process is the biggest and best gift I could ever wish for.

Bill will be posting pictures later (okay, as soon as I let him know that I need him to, wonderful guy that he is)
Heather

More new pictures and Blankets of love

This winter while I was off, I did a lot of knitting. I knitted blankets for Acer and his Foster Mother, among others. I shipped off the blankets a couple weeks ago and they just arrived. The Ass't Director of the Orphange was kind enough to take pictures of Acer getting the blankets and to forward them to me. Acer's blanket is the bright mulit colored one in yellows and red and the Foster Mother's blanket is in the lovely blue, black, combos. I did a random pattern of knitting rows and purling rows for his, so it should have a unique texture for him to feel.
Also, a wonderful supporter of my efforts to get orphanage donations sent over 6 crib blankets. They were made with two different pieces of fleece, fringed & then the fringes were knotted together. These should be wonderfully warm and very washable for the orphanage. Best of all, she said a prayer with every knot.
Heather

We'll Have Acer On Mother's Day!

Our final itinerary came today! We'll actually get our little guy on May 13th Mother's Day! I'm so excited!
Here's the run down
Group Schedule (detailed events are always subject to change):
Date Itinerary Hotel
Fri, May 11 Arrive in Beijing Radisson SAS Hotel
Sat, May 12 Sightseeing in BJ: TianAnMen Square & Forbidden City, the Great Wall (Juyongguan), Lunch is included; Orientation
Sun, May 13 Flight to Nanchang: MU5174(10:50a-13:05p)
Meet child in the afternoon Gloria Plaza Hotel
Mon, May 14 Do the registration and notary
Tue, May 15 Free day
Wed, May 16 Sightseeing: TengWeng Pavilion in the morning
Thur, May 17 Sightseeing: Countryside
Fri, May 18 Get the passport and all paperwork back, do paperwork for the ACS
Sat, May 19 Flight to Guangzhou: CZ3540(10:10a-11:35p) White Swan Hotel
Sun, May 20 Free day
Mon, May 21 Medical examination for children
Tues, May 22 Appt at ACS, Farewell Dinner
Wed, May 23 Go to ACS to take oath and get the visa in the afternoon around 6:00pm Departure to US in evening after 8:00pm OR next morning May 24th

An Acer update! Finally!

Here's the news we received today! Yeah! I'll be able to figure out what size he is, and maybe even buy shoes to fit! Such excitment! Yes, some things are phrased oddly, but the meaning comes through.
Heather

Report on Jing Shenchao’s latest growth conditions

Name: Jing Shenchao （景申超）
Sex: Male
Birthday: 21st Dec. 2004

Medial history:
He was born with congenital retina abnormity of both eyes: left eye with congenital leukoma; right eye with congenital retina development abnormity; corneas of both eyes are congenital small. This boy is smart, agile and has good feeling and hearing. His intelligence and physical development is normal. His nickname at home is “GuangGuang”.

Present growth conditions:
Height: 87cm, weight: 13kg, head circumference: 48cm, chest circumference: 52.5cm, feet length: 16cm, Teeth number: 14.

Physical movement:
He can try to grasp toys by feeling with his hands. He may laugh loudly while playing. He can recognize acquaintances and strangers through senses and voices. He knows the meaning of “no”. He can hold tea cup or milk bottle with both of his hands, and walk by himself. Also, he can throw balls or other things. When he is happy, he can applause to show welcome. He can eat candy and fruits by himself. He can stand up by holding other things. If you put him on a bed or a chair, he can manage to slide down immediately. He will move his body while listening to music to show he is very happy. If you ask him whether he wants to go to the park, he will nod or shake his head to say yes or no to show that he understands people’s language.

Language development:
Now, he starts to learn new things, and he is already able to name his families and acquaintances accurately. When you ask him how old is he, he will say three if he is happy. He will be very happy if you put him into a laver to have a bath, and at this time if you ask him to wash head he will do it by putting his hands on his head and kneading his hair. If you ask him how to eat, he will show you by opening his mouth and saying “a”.

Hearing ability:
His ability to hear is good and he can react to sound quickly.

Ability to adapt to environment:
He had a very strong ability to adapt to environment. He cares about people and things around him and can search for sound source after hear a certain sound.

Living:
He can cooperate with his folks to get dressed and untie buttons, put off shoes. He has a very good appetite, and his meals are mainly on milk (3 times each day, 260mL each time, every 4~5 hours each time). He is not fastidious about his food and defferent soft supporting good have been added.

Emotion and character
The relation between the boy and his foster mother is especially close, and the boy can get along with his foster father, older sister, grandma very well. He will be very pleased if someone hugs him. This boy is smart, active and lovely. He is outgoing and likes laughing. Though he has a little temper, after tease he will smile. He enjoys playing outdoors. He is bold and not afraid of strangers. He likes new toys, especially telephone toys with music, such as: music cell phone.

Jingdezhen City Social Welfare Institution
April,11,2007

Busy time back at work and at home

I finally started back at work on March 31st, just in time for the great temperature cool down. I did fine outside for about a week until Easter Sunday when the temperatures seemed to settle into my lungs. Poor Bill, we had a few weeks of normal household temperatures, but now I'm back to baking him.

The nursery trucks are starting to roll in and I feel much like the Michelin woman with 2 shirts, 2 jackets, a coat, scarf, headband and sometimes a raincoat to top it all off. Then they'll call me inside to diagnose some plant problem and I'll have to de-cloak just to be inside for a few minutes.

This year's never before run into problem was a spider plant with its own ant colony. I gave the little old lady some easy and safe solutions for her favorite old plant and told her not to vacation it outside ever again.

It is good to be back to work, many of the people are my main support group and are very excited for us to be going to get Acer. Not just my co-workers but also many of my regular customers are interested too. I think some of them will be making special trips out to meet Acer at six o'clock as Bill and I do a handoff in the parking lot.

We made our trips to get our vaccinations, perfect timing, we'll be able to get our second round the day before we leave for China. The third round will be about 5 months later, we obviously will be back by then but it's the last of the Hep series which won't hurt to have.

Easter Sunday we were at Bill's parents, Bill drove Mum in her car and they picked up his brother David. I made it after work. While it is a bummer to work Easter or Christmas Eve, you do get one perk of being able to take home a lily or a poinsettia. I found one with no open flowers and an incredible 20 buds to give my mother in law. I was over there Thursday and there were only 3 flowers open so it should be blooming for a long time yet.

Thursday we got together at the in-laws' again to address shower invites and hash out details. SIL Kerry has come up with an incredible tri-fold invite that I'll copy & post once I get a final version - incredible, Bill's reaction was 'Wow'

I also had to stop at the bank and pick up moolah in lovely crisp bills for various adoption purposes. I took the dogs with me (not into the bank) just figuring that someone would be far less likely to mug someone with two larger quadrapeds. Granted we live in one of the safest cities of the nation, and who would mug someone who drives the beater, but still, just in case.

Today we went to an incredible event at one of Bill's pastor's house where we were blessed (financially and prayerfully) by Bill's co-volunteers on the tech team. I was overwhelmed, I'd heard of the people but never met them and really couldn't believe their love and care. Many thank you have gone out to them and the Lord for putting them in our lives.

I've also figured out how to post pictures on Walgreens.com and get them printed out. I've made Bill, Mum and myself little albums of Acer. Today I called our stepdaughter Alex and found out Which Walgreens was closest to her house (on the other side of the state), sent a set of pictures to print out there and paid for them on line. She now has the full set and has taken down a poster in her bedroom to display them all. She called to tell us this and to tell us she was going defend Acer against anyone who would make fun of him. That's our fiercely protective caring girl. She's also buying him clothing including a basketball outfit (that's her sport) next on her list, a tiny pair of croc's for him. Can't wait for her to get to meet him.

Well, it's been a week full of blessings. Three weeks until we leave!
Heather

Even More Pics

Just added a 17th pic, that we just got via e-mail yesterday!

210 Pounds of orphanage donations needed

I've just booked our tickets and found out we're allowed to take 5 pieces of luggaage at 70 pounds each. We'll use two for ourselves and would like to take over three more filled with baby formula, medicines and diapers, diaper wipes, baby bottles, you know all the good stuff babies need and use so much of. I'm looking for 210 punds of baby goods by May 8th- let me know if you can help! These orphanages only get about 25$ a month per child so every little thing we can do, could make a huge difference in the life of a little one.
Heather