one of those trying but wonderful weeks...

I've lots of tough moments this past week. I've reached the end of my patience so many times, but there have been victories to celebrate too. Wednesday I took Alex in for his MRI. He was such a good boy, but of course there was lots of waiting and holding him down for the IV was no fun. Afterwards, he slept for six hours straight which was kind of unnerving. As soon as he woke up, I heard from the clinic that he had giardia (parasite from dirty water). the medicine needed to be compounded and we scrambled to get Dan over to the faraway pharmacy before closing. He didn't make it in time. While I'm on the phone Zach is whining and crying at a high decibel level after which I flipped out worse than he just had.

The next day I and the kids headed over to that faraway pharmacy and they fought all the way. All three of them. Then we go inside and it turns out to be pharmacy/breakable tchotcke extravaganza. The boys' behavior was not stellar. When we get outside, CC falls and cries. Zach trips and cries and his knee is bleeding. We go back inside and get a band-aid. Will this hellish errand never end? We drive home. Another half hour of fighting. We get home and they all are commanded to play separately for a long time- D in her room, Z in his, and C with me in the kitchen. it actually works well.

During this period, Zach was waking up at night. One night all three woke up one time each. But I am happy to report that everyone is sleeping well now. I can feel my sanity returning, partly because of this and partly because Sunday's sermon was a good reminder that I need to pray a lot more! I sensed that I really needed to get back in there this week and I'm so glad. I cried leaving Alex in the childcare for the first time but he did just fine :)

Oh yeah and Dan has to work late b/c it's year end and my mom had another heart cath (she's doing fine) .

Now for the happy things!

Top Ten Things Great Things I learned about Cheng-cheng this week!

10) When he runs, he spins his right arm around in circles!
9) He calms down and stares into my eyes when I sing "Jesus loves me" at bedtime (and tries to sing along now).
8) He doesn't really have a sweaty smell like we thought- All this time it was the giardia and now he smells great!
7) He will eat his icky medicine if you bribe him with grapes.
6) Everything remotely ball- like elicits squeals of Qiu!!!(chinese for ball) and is tested for throwing qualities (even the mini gourds on the dining room table that are fall decos)
5) Will say please and thank you in English-very cute!
4) Loves to brush his teeth. Very jealous of brother's spider-man toothbrush.
3) Will give out kisses if you ask for "some sugar"
2) Gives great toddler leg hugs
1) Loves his mommy. The other day I was snuggling him and I said in Chinese, "You are my baby." he replied "I am your baby" and smiled.

Love, Pam

A no nap day....

It was one of those days when the little ones catch a little catnap in the car and your usually calm older one is crazed by the end of the night from no nap at all...a day when my son who speaks very little English picked up the phrase "knock it off" by 12:00.

The morning went well- we did homeschool, played outside, coralled tantrums, etc, then we went to Keepers (homeschooler girl scouts) where one of our talented moms taught the girls how to can pear honey preserves and all the little boys played.

Then it was off to Daddy's work to show off Alex to his co-workers. They surprised us with cake and balloons and gifts. Alex charmed the whole crowd of course. His company is very supportive of adoption, giving huge grants and paternity leave to any employees who want to adopt. We appreciate Dan's workplace so much.

well, then we drove home, the kids trying to kill each other with the balloons all the while. By this time, Zach had half lost his mind. he kept asking, how did we get home, Mommy? i kept telling him: we drove, mommy drove. you know, in a car. Finally I said "I attached one of our balloons to the car and we floated home." This seemed to satisfy him.

I decided CC must have a bath because he's having an MRI tomorrow, early. Of course Zach wanted in, too. I made him promise not to pour water on CC's head (which CC, kind of enjoys, but it gets out of hand). So I let him in. Next Dora starts complaining that she always gets a bath alone, and when my back is turned she is in there too. I said "you will be killing each other in 5 minutes" Prophetic words...

I the midst of the chaos, I did pull off a yummy dinner (lamb, rice and broccoli), and I have to say a good dinner does make things better somehow...

The boys went down early and I played "my little ponies" with Dora. I can't remember the last time we played dolls together and it was a delight to peek into her imagination.

Pray for more patience for me and them! I would like to become the mom these kids deserve.

Love, Pam

it's good to be home

Here's some pics of the kids in their Olympic shirts. We were shocked to hear Cheng-cheng say "Beijing huanying ni" (Beijing welcomes you) which the mascots name spell out!

the kids are crazy about each other and of course my head is spinning from going from 2 to 3 ! But of course we can't imagine our family without Cheng-Cheng. Btw- that nickname is way too long to type so I think I'll abbreviate to CC or Alex from now on. (We've been introducing his English name gradually)

We had a good appointment at the int'l clinic in Birmingham. They said he is doing great with his emotional adjustment, speech and fine motor skills. His gross motor skills need a little practice. His knee that is little turned in is is actually probably because of a little hip displacement or atrophy from when he had his cyst. They said he will likely need another surgery when he is 6 or 7 to make room for his spinal cord to grow. :( But we won't know until we talk to our neurosurgeon here.

He was a trooper through it all and only flipped out when he had to put down his bag of cookies to give blood. He didn't care about being stuck so much as the cookies! Dan was amazing, explaining everything to Cheng-cheng in Chinese. CC likes to call Dan "gege"- (big brother) which Dan hopes will change soon to Daddy. I told him be glad- you must look young.

Today Cheng-cheng said Thank-you in English. It's funny-Zach and Dora are picking up more Chinese as Alex picks up more English.

Thanks for all your prayers while we were in China-they helped!

We took all the kids to our monthly Chinese school-there were 3 kids recently home from China. It was so sweet to see. Zach got to go to class for the first time now that he's 3- he did well.

Pam

Forget to say...

...the picture with Alex and the Barbie (Going Home Barbie is given by the hotel to the adoptive families)- Alex saw it and kept saying Cheng-cheng ! mama! Cheng-cheng! mama!) i wanted to cry!

Love, pam

We're in Guangzhou now!

Whew! we've made it to the comfy adoptive family enclave- the White Swan. Cheng-cheng has been doing very well. He throws an occasional tantrum if you take something away that he wants, but they last only a minute. We had a few times that he cried and asked for his former caregivers, but these bouts were mercifully short also. He seems to really like us and is usually laughing and smiling. He likes to say "yeah, yeah, yeah!" when he's excited. He is still a great sleeper too, so mommy hasn't lost her mind. Y'all know what I'm like without sleep.

There are 12 other great wall families here. I think they are all SN adoptions. Beautiful kids. Today we went to the Chen family temple here in the city and a little shopping. We visited the Henan province museum the other day-some of the pics are from there.

I miss Dora and Zach so much but they seem like they are doing fine at home and enjoying the daily presents i left for them.

Pooky, i miss you too!

Love, Pam

visit to the zoo

Hi all, everything is going great here. Turns out Cheng is potty trained, so that's a great blessing. Yesterday we visited the orphanage. it was a 4 hour trip into the countryside and very emotional. The poverty was overwhelming but so was the love the staff had for my son. Everyone from the guard to the nanny to an older boy (who stood out for being completely healthy) wanted to hug him one more time. They all agreed he is very smart. We also went to his finding place to take a photo. The staff was very hospitable and took us to lunch and even offered to take us to a historic spot, but we thought it would wear out little guy too much. They gave me a copy of his finding ad. One thing that struck me is that he'd be happily playing but if I stepped away he missed me. On the way home he said "Ni shi Mama", "You are mommy".

Today we went to the zoo. Cheng screeched with joy whenever he saw an animal (or a car or boat ride). He threw a tiny tantrum when I wouldn't let him push the buggy because he's too little. Two yr old behavior is universal! He wanted to really get to the little boats on the lake. He kept saying "Wo yao kan!!!!" "I want to see!!!"

Love, Pam

Gotcha Day photos

Yesterday we received Cheng-cheng and it could not have gone more beautifully. He didn't cry, he just slowly warmed up to me and within minutes was playing. By the time we got back to the hotel, he was smiling and laughing. we are so grateful that God answered our prayers. It has been a delight getting to know him.