Meltdown #2

A second meltdown occurred today in Guangzhou; this time the epicenter was at the White Swan Hotel. It occurred during the legendary ‘red couch’ photo session. That awesome gold, dragon-embroidered, kung-fu outfit that Ty picked out yesterday? Yeah, well today he decided he didn’t like it so much. In fact, he disliked it so much that he threw himself on the floor and went hysterical. So, for a second day in a row he went ballistic. There’s something about the larger group that just throws him off – he panics and there is nothing that will soothe him. Even after we extracted him from the situation and had him alone on a different floor he wouldn’t calm down. So, we are the only family to ever come through Guangzhou with an adopted child that didn’t get the legendary ‘red couch shot’. He was a perfect angel the rest of the day – well not really but he was a perfectly normal 4 year old kid for the rest of the day: dancing, flushing things down the toilet, talking snuffly Mandarin – normal kid stuff.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is Ty’s 4th birthday. Too cool. And for his birthday we’ve given him a billion toys and a forever family and are taking him to America for the rest of his life. At least that’s what I say. Melissa says we need to wrap something for him…like the adoption certificate! Wait, that’s me again. We’ll do something special I’m sure. I’ll let you know what we come up with tomorrow.

Where was I…oh the meltdown. So, while everyone else went to a church service at a beautiful 19th century church , Ty was status post tantrum and still fragile so we missed the service. We went to Starbucks instead. And let me tell you, we’ve been pretty adventurous on this China journey, but there is just something comfortable about a Starbucks. And it’s not just the air conditioning…The coffee tastes like Starbucks. And the soft jazz and sofas and smell of ground beans can make you forget for a moment that you are in the middle of a completely foreign country that is actually located several million miles closer to the sun than Virginia is. Your sweat drenched shorts and shirt can dry off a bit and your son can flirt with the Chinese girl across the room by giving her Skittles and running away. Ah Starbucks.

After a long time chilling out at Starbucks, we met up with the group at a Cantonese restaurant that had a live fish market out front. All the usual fish market stuff was there – lobster, grouper, clams, sandworms, snakes, water beetles, tadpoles, frogs, eels, silkworms, etc. It was awesome and disgusting. I’ve included a few photos.

Grandma Lili had a breakthrough this morning: Ty ran to her room and gave her hug AND a kiss. This was a never before moment. He’s been a turkey to her a lot this trip so, it was a big deal that he voluntarily ran into her arms. I feel like we are breaking down boundaries every day, even if he has had a few meltdowns. He is talking more and more and getting more adventurous. But also more resistant to going to sleep. Last week he was on his best behavior, now that he knows we can’t take him back he is pushing it. Nevertheless we LOVE him.

Today Ty learned the words ‘bus’, ‘car’ and ‘van’ and learned how to tell them apart with at least 70% accuracy. He’s also learned to count to four about half the time I prompt him. He had his first ice cream cone ever today as well. McD'd soft serve. We know b/c he had no idea what to do with it. We had to show him how to lick it and when he got down to the cone he kept shoving his nose and lips down into the cone to get at the diminishing ice cream. When we showed him that he could EAT the cone his eyes lit up in wonder! A bowl you can eat - what will they think of next? But best of all, today Ty learned how to pee standing up - thanks to a full ladies room and a low standing urinal in the men’s room at McDonald’s. I've never seen a kid so excited. He immediatly ran out side and had to tell his mom what a big boy he was - in Mandarin so I had to translate. Now he does it every chance he gets and struts like a proud peacock afterwards. It is really funny. That’s my boy!

Well, I just left Melis and a finally sleeping Ty to post this. In Chongqing we were on the Executive Floor and had free internet. Here we have to pay for it (not); so every night I have to schlep down to the Starbucks in the lobby to boost their free wi-fi. If our posting or e-mails slow down, it’s b/c of intermittent connectivity…or the folks at Starbucks have gotten wise to me.

I do want to thank all of you who have been encouraging us through your emails and posts on the blogs. They mean a lot to us and have kept us in high spirits. Every night Melissa and I make a point to run down our list of things we want make sure get into the blog. This thing has taken on a life of it’s own and we appreciate the support. Tyson will be able to read these posts some day and laugh at what a booger he was and see how loved he was from afar before he ever met any of you. So, thanks a ton for all the prayers and warm wishes. It is so nice that this little orphan from a country across the globe (and a few million miles closer to the sun) has such a great ‘fan club’. He is a lucky boy indeed.

Blog you later...

PS I've been sitting in Starbucks for the last hour trying to upload pictures but the server is acting reall S-L-O-W. So no more pics tonight. Too bad b/c I really wanted to post the bucket of worms picture we got - and Ty's first cone. Maybe tomorrow.

Nuclear Meltdown in Guangzhou

This just in…we have confirmed that there was a nuclear meltdown today on the Shamain Island section of Guangzhou, China. The permanent damage is still to be determined. The source of the problem seems to be a little boy who did not want to get his medical examination. More to follow as the details become clear…

Yup, you guessed it; today Tyson lost it and lost it big time. First full blown tantrum. And it happened all of a sudden: one minute we were on the bus from our hotel with the rest of the families from our travel group, the next we are trying to get his visa picture and he goes radioactive. He continued to go berserk through a second attempt to photograph him (his visa pic is a classic slobber-faced, mid-meltdown shot) and then intensified his protests when we went for the medical exam. There was no soothing the poor little guy. We have no idea what set him off, whether it was all the new families around us with new kids, the new setting or something about the medical facility that made him think of the orphanage but he was irrationally inconsolable. At one point I had him hugged to my body with both thrashing arms in my hands and Melissa and the doc were trying to keep his thrashing legs from kicking the doctor in the junk. The exam took FOREVER – he must have been screaming, drooling, kicking, biting and scratching for over an hour. I’m being told by my wife that it was really only 40 minutes or so, but it seemed like HOURS. I’m sure this is what it’s like to have an inconsolable infant who can’t tell you why he’s so upset. Thankfully the tantrum was short lived. He was back to top form within an hour. And we proceeded to shop, shop, shop. Melissa is a tiger at the bargain table. She is relentless and is willing to walk away. Nobody’s hiding from her or anything like that but she does drive a hard bargain.

Melissa would like to make a public thank you to everyone who gave her a sticker book at the shower as well as the creators of play-doh. Without these two miracle toys we never would have made it through Tyson’s first plane ride yesterday afternoon. He is still getting used to sitting with a seat-belt, so keeping him seated through take-off and landing was a real chore. We didn’t incur the wrath of the flight attendant but we were ‘this close’ on about four occasions. The 4 hour trip to Tokyo will be challenging and I have no idea how we will manage the trans-pacific flight. Seriously dreading that. He is so mobile and sitting still is against his nature. Um, how much benadryl can you give a kid in a 24 hour period?

Tomorrow is the traditional adoption picture at the White Swan Hotel – all the families dress their kids up in traditional Chinese garb and take a picture on the “red couch” at the hotel. We got Ty a gold, dragon-embroidered kung-fu outfit that he picked out himself. He’ll probably refuse to wear it tomorrow morning but he’ll look awful funny standing there in his Diego (or Kung-Fu Panda) briefs while all the other kids (mostly girls) are showing off their new keepow’s.

We’re trying to settle him down now for the night so I should go. Lots of love to all our fans out there. We’ve still got almost a week to go, so keep the prayers up. More developments to come….

This place is just like Seattle…

…but hotter. And grayer. And without the good coffee. Well, there are a few Starbucks nearby but you get the idea. Today is our seventh day in Chongqing and today is the seventh consecutive day of rain, fog and oppressive

humidity. It’s cooled down quite a bit since we got here but the 125% humidity ups the gray factor significantly. Everything is moist, nothing is ever completely dry, just more dry than it was before. But today is our last day here, so hopefully our seasonal effectiveness disorders will clear up in Guangzhou.

It occurs to me that I have talked a lot about what we are doing with Ty and not a lot about him as a kid. So, here’s what we know so far about the new addition to our family. First of all, we don’t call him Tyson yet b/c he doesn’t know Tyson from a hole in the wall. He only responds to his full name, Hui Qiang (pronounced quickly as one word “we-chong” but with the slightest hint of an ‘h’ in front – hweechong. Everyone at the orphanage, including his classmates called him that. It is the first time we have heard of an orphanage doing that – maybe because he is a boy they do things differently. We’re not sure yet how to may the transition to Tyson – we are thinking of starting with Ty Qiang (Tychong) in Guangzhou and transitioning to Tyson after he her gets home. One thing at a time.

The Diego briefs and the Kung Fu Panda briefs all fit fabulously. The boxer briefs we are trying out today. We’ll get back to you on that. He is about 40-42 pounds but it’s hard to weigh a moving target so that’s our best guess – so no 5 point restraint needed. We’ve been training him to wear a seatbelt – something our driver and guide (and the whole country) find curious. Here they pile 2-3 kids and the wife on motorcycle without helmets and don’t think twice about cutting off a speeding bus.

Tyson is a very happy kid – he has a joyous heart and wears it on his sleeve. He is full of fun and laughs, always goofing around, running around, making silly faces. He’s got a whole catalogue of facial expressions and even though we don’t understand him vocally, his intentions and needs have been crystal clear. He says some phrases repeatedly and we’d love to know what he is saying. If only someone here spoke Chinese, we could find out what he is saying, but our translator hasn’t been very forthcoming with that info. An constantly asking him to translate for us gets annoying. So there are somethings he says that we just don’t understand.

His first English words “no!” – not on the survey. I wonder where he picked that up from? Aside from his name, it’s the number one thing we end up saying to him. That should give you an idea of the time we are having with him.

He loves to see himself in pictures and on video – what kids doesn’t? – and he shouts out his name every time he sees himself. In fact, he is sooooo smart. Going through his learning books he can match up color and look at pictures of things and go find them in the room. He knows how to change the channels on the TV and correctly get the TV back to the DVD player setting. He can figure out how the computer and DVD player plug in and recharge. He remembers where everything is in the hotel, knows how to operate the elevator and whether we are going up to eat or down to the lobby, and when he sees pictures in the hotel literature of the pool room, executive lounge, front desk or our bedroom he squeals with delight and points. He recognizes the places he has been and hose he hasn’t. He is very independent in the happy room and bathtub, getting dressed, cleaning up after himself., etc. We were very worried about his physical and mental development as institutional life tends to diminish this in kids. But, praise the Lord, he seems to be doing great. Time will tell we know, but he seems like he is very smart to us. When he feels like listening, he follows directions very well. He is doing so well, in fact, that we are wondering if he got a little extra attention at the orphanage because he is a boy and they just don’t have many of them there.

In fact, the only place the little guy seems to be behind is with his speech – which he can’t help b/c the cleft is a physical impairment he has had to learn to work around. Considering that obstacle, his vocabulary and pronunciation is pretty impressive. For those of you who don’t know, Ty has a cleft palate that is unrepaired – something we will remedy in few months at CHKD back home. He has a hard palate but his soft palate is wide open all the way back making his nasal cavity and the back of his mouth one, big, open space. He has no soft palate to close of his nose when he swallows and when he tries to speak air rushes out both his nose and mouth – creating a nasally sound kind of like a little trumpet. Certain sounds tent to honk more than others based on how the human mouth makes those sounds. So, even the Chinese have a bit of trouble understanding him as the subtleties of the language seem to get lost in his nose. One other thing, he can’t use a straw – that requires creating a vacuum in your mouth by closing off your nasal passageway and inhaling. So, the Diego sippy cup (flip top straw cup really) that he loves so much is useless. It took two tries for us (and him) to realize that wouldn’t work – air just rushes in his nose when he suck on the straw. So, we’ve found he is very good with a plain old cup, since he’s had to use one his whole life. So, considering that formidable obstacle , he is doing really well. He is able to eat anything we’ve given him – his teeth work just fine and his eyes are bigger than his stomach. He like to cram food in his mouth – but we imagine this will dissipate once he learns that there is no limit to the food. He’s already figured this out with drinks; the first day we got him he must have drank a gallon of water with the obvious and previously documented consequences. Now that he knows there is water aplenty, he has slowed down a trifle.

So, we went to the Chongqing Zoo, which was actually a really great zoo. We had heard that the zoos here tend towards the anemic and disturbing, but Chongqing is reputed to have a pretty good zoo. The whole city is in the mountains so the zoo is pretty hilly; this adds to sense of size as every exhibit is kind of set apart on top of a hill or around a rocky outcrop. We saw elephants and hippos and tigers and giraffes and kangaroos and of course the Giant Panda. There were a ton of the Pandas. The one pic above shows that my arm is all that separates Tyson from a ten foot drop into Panda pit. Not so much on the safety here. Thankfully there was glass separating us from the Tigers, or Ty might have jumped in to play with them. The place was bigger than we were able to get to (missed the aviary and who knows what else) but our guide is always in a hurry. Guess that happen when you visit the same place over and over again for a living - but seriously a little more time would have been appreciated. Today we fly to Guangzhou - the last leg of our trip. His first flight - this ought to be interesting.

I'll update later if i have time.

A Visit to The Orphanage

Tonights post will have to be short and sweet. Ty got us up at 6am today and we haven't stopped since. Today we did two important things - one, visited the orphanage where Ty grew up the first four years of his life and two, went shopping at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart won.

We actually went to Wal-Mart first and our guide made the mistake of telling Melis and Mom that they had plenty of time - he may be married but he isn't very savvy when it comes to the fairer gender. Telling those two that they had plenty of time in a place like Wal-Mart is like handing them a blank check. After just a few minutes of watching them dart from books to electronics to toys to DVD's to luggage and his eyes started to glaze over. And then he began to hurry them along! Big Mistake. Don't hurry the West women when there is bargan shopping to be done - especially after you've already made the mistake of telling them not to hurry. We got a suitcase for Ty's new stuff and filled it with all kinds of books and toys. There was one toy aisle - that's all, but it had all the stuff we needed to keep Ty busy for at least one more afternoon. The biggest hit by far were the stacking cups (thanks again Ash) that we couldn't find anywhere stateside. Little dude LOVES them. They went everywhere with us today including the hotel pool and the bathtub. We also picked up some candy and toys for the orphanage. We also got a copy of Mulan in Mandarin for $1.50. Can't top that!

We then took Ty back to see the orphanage and it went well. Let me clarifiy that - it was a mortifying experience for Ty but that's a good thing in the long run. He got real quiet the moment we rolled up the long driveway to his old home. He made sounds of recognizing where we were. He got sullen and pouty as we got out of the car and by the time we made it upstairs to the hall where his bedroom was he was pretty terrified. When he actually saw his old empty bed (crib actually) in a room full of other kids in their own cribs, he went balistic. He was truly upset to be back there and was terrified that we would leave him. We were able to comfort him but he never truly perked up until we got back to the hotel and he knew were keeping him. I knew it is tradition for us to visit his old home and give gifts to his caregivers but I was uneasy going into the meeting b/c he had done so well bonding to us that I didn't want anything messing with that. Well, it worked to the contrary - we are 100% sure Tyson would rather be with us. Melissa was crying, Tyson was crying (having crawled into her arms which is really something since he never lets us pick him up b/c he is Mr Independent) and I was sweating a lot so it kind of looked like I was crying (from every pore on my skin). It was actually very powerful to see how upset he got - it was a huge confirmation for all of us.

We finished the day with a quiet afternoon at the hotel and intoduced him to the hotel pool. It took a while but he eventually let us take him into the water and he had a blast. I think we will be revisting that pool everyday we have left here - he didn't want to get out for dinner. It was a great, low key afternoon and a nice conclusion to a somwhat chaotic day. Tomorrow is a trip to the zoo!

Oath Day

First of all, I’m just going to warn you that I’m not too sure how exciting any of this will be to anyone but our closest relatives who are hanging on every word I post. But, I’m doing this blog as a kind of diary/travelog so one day we can share this with Tyson. You can always skip to the next post if this stuff bores you!

Highlights for today include:

The Weather - Another smoggy, foggy, rainy, humid day here in Chongqing. Visibility was even less than yesterday. Could hardly see our neighboring skyscrapers this am – no kidding.

1st Breakfast Together at the Executive Lounge on the 36th floor. Omelets made to order, bacon, yogurt, and plenty of congee avail for the Chinese kid in all of us. Can’t even tell you what congee is but it looks and tastes like it sounds, congealed paste. Asian kids love it –except ours. He likes eggs and yogurt –at least today he did.

Visited Local Stores - After breakfast, we did some adoption paperwork in our room and then we separated – me to the bank with a wad of $100 bills on my person to convert them over to Chinese currency. Let me tell you it doesn’t feel any safer to walk around with tens of thousands of Yuen then it does to just walk around with those same thousands of dollars in US. Either way you are walking the streets of a foreign city with your life savings in your hip pocket – even when that life savings is now all in bills with Chairman Mao on them. Melis, mom and Ty all went to the local convenience store and stepped in NYC mush (as Melissa called it). Ty tried to grab two of everything on the shelves and then had an emergency pee pee (he is excellent at communicating this particular need and does so at least twice an hour) . Let me tell you, the worst 7-11 bathroom back home doesn’t hold a candle to the old hole in the floor routine at this convenience store. BTW, it’s convenient because you don’t even have to aim, just drop your drawers and let gravity do the rest. And all that TP and hand soap is overrated. Who really uses that stuff anyway?

Walked to McDonalds and ate lunch. Unadventurous I know but we’re all full-up on adventure right now. McD’s here tastes mostly like McD’s back home but not quite – can’t say what the difference is but it just isn’t quite right. However, it was fast, convenient and the least expensive meal we’ve had in a week – fed the whole family on 59 Yuen. I mean when was the last time you’ve heard of that?

Stalked in the plaza – by curious onlookers and crazy men with bamboo rods in their hands. I mean we were getting crazy looks in the plaza two days ago when we were the only Caucasians in all of Chongqing – they didn’t hesitate to stop what they were doing and stare at us like we were running down the streets naked (we were fully clothed BTW). But now we are the only Caucasians in Chongqing and we are carrying around a small Chinese boy who snuffles out his nose when he talks – forgetaboudit! People were downright rude to us, followed us for blocks, shot us dirty and disgusted looks, yelled at us in Chinese – in her defense the woman who did this might have been simply trying to sell us something, but a woman shouting at you in Chinese while shaking her fist just doesn’t come off as the salesperson type. The trip was such an ordeal that we may forgo doing it again – except that’s where all the restaurants are. Maybe we can buy body armor or better yet wear leper cowbells to clear a path.

Happy Rooms – those are the English words that the Chinese use to describe – you guessed it - the bathroom. And it makes sense really. Why do we call it a bathroom or even a rest room? Most of them don’t even have baths in them. But happy room makes sense. I mean you’re never quite as happy as when you pull off one of those just-in-the-nick-of-time, emergency, almost didn’t make it poops, right? Well, Ty’s had about 8 of those today. No kidding, we’ve seen the inside of every Happy Room in every building we visited today. Twice. He is a very happy kid.

Oath Ceremony – This was the Main Event today. We were officially sworn in as adoptive parents by the government of China today. We swore the oath, signed the papers, gave our thumbprints, paid our bills and badabing, badaboom – we’re parents! Officially! It was pretty cool and the highlight of our day. Ty got to see his friend from the orphanage that he got separated from yesterday when we left the Children’s Welfare Office. She screamed his name and waved her sippy cup and did a little dance when she saw him. They screamed and ran around for 20 minutes and screamed some more while we filled out paperwork. And then we all visited the happy room. Again.

Silk Museum and Store – we got to see how silk is made, Dianne bought herself some silk stuff, Ty discovered a new happy room and daddy continued to sweat and sweat and sweat. I never thought it was possible to have over 100% humidity – but Chongqing defies the natural laws with it’s supersaturated air. All I can think of is when Eric Sanzone said that weather like this just had to be the result of “the fall”. Amen.

Dinner at Manhattan Steakhouse – mom treated us to an amazing celebratory meal on the 39th floor of the hotel, the nicest place we’ve ever eaten and quite a view (when the fog parted). It was a very nice ending to a great day. Tyson visited the happy room three times – man that kid loves his water!

Bath Time Bonding – But the best time for me all day was bath time. All day long Ty had been getting more and more distant from me. To the point where he refused to come near me and would grab his toys and scoot away every time I got close to him. It was heartbreaking but was something I expected would happen from the start. He is totally taken with Melissa but I am going to have to earn this kid’s affection. So, Melis and I orchestrated it so I was the only one in there when he took his bath and we had a real breakthrough. We played with his bath toys and sprayed water everywhere for at least 30 minutes. Melissa said she could hear him laughing and squealing from her mom’s room next door. I’ve never seen him laugh so hard. And then we watched Bob the Builder. It was the perfect conclusion to an awesome but exhausting day.

Tomorrow we get to visit the orphanage that Tyson grew up in (and go to Wal Mart)! We will also get to see that friend of his we keep running into at the Children’s Welfare Office. It should be quite a day.

Gotcha Day at Last

Wow, what a day! Where to start? Well, we got Tyson and he is awesome! We took a 20 minute drive to the Chongqing Marriage and Adoption Center, rode up to the 14th floor, turned a corner and there he was sitting on a couch with his caregivers. We were so shocked to see him sitting right there, no preamble, no warning, just boom, there he was.

It took a while for him to warm up to us but Melissa won him over with her snacks (teddy grahams - which he shared with everyone there) and he really went for the magna-doodle. He did much better with Melissa than with me. He would let her touch and eventually even hold him but he shied away from me for the first few hours. He gradually warmed up to me once we got back to the hotel and started playing with toys. He stayed pretty quiet all the way out of the Adoption office but really freaked out when we got him in the van to drive back to the hotel. One of his friends from the orphanage was getting picked up at the same time; once they were separated he got very upset. So the 20 minute drive back ended up feeling a LOT longer because he pretty much wailed at the top of his lungs for the whole trip back. Even teddy grahams and fruit chews couldn’t calm him down for long. We quickly hustled through the mammoth lobby with dozens of Chinese looking at us with our wailing child and settled down for an afternoon of playing with toys.

Bubbles were the real barrier breaker (thanks again Ashleigh). We blew bubbles on the floor of our room for hours. It was the first time he really let me near him and we had some great moments. Even now he doesn’t like to be held by me as much as he does Melissa but it’s getting better all the time. So, I think we pulled out every toy we brought with us and he loved them all. Our little dude has been well trained. He loves to clean up after himself, likes everything organized into nice rows – sound familiar? He is very smart and independent. Learns things by watching us do them once and then can and wants to do them on his own.

He is potty trained and lets us know when he needs to go. The only thing he needs help with is getting his little pants down and back up again. Actually the first time he let me hold him was when I had to lift him up to the bathroom sink to wash his hands. We took him to dinner downstairs in the hotel restaurant and he behaved himself very well. We drew a bath and he jumped right in and began to wash himself with the soap. He even knew how to brush his teeth when we got out his new Panda toothbrush. Got some great pics of that.

So, now we are settling in for the night and wondering how to get him to go to sleep. He has stockpiled his toys in our bed and has figured out how to use the TV remote. We are fading and he looks like he’s settling in for a late night of crayons and TV. It’s going surprisingly well and we have to assume there will be some rough moments ahead but I have to say my heart melts every time he calls me “baba”, which is Chinese for daddy.

Melissa also says to make sure I tell you all that he is awesome with a cup, steadily holds a glass of water with one hand, can pick it up off the floor or table, take a sip and put it down without spilling. Also, we got a huge gift from the nannies today in the form of his records from Half the Sky – an amazing educational program he has been in at the orphanage. We had heard of this non-profit program before and had hoped he was enrolled with them. We received at least 50 photos of Tyson from infancy onward as part of this program. We were flabbergasted! We have enough pics of his childhood to make him 2 scrapbooks! It is simply unbelievable – we never thought we’d have any pictures of his infancy and early childhood and now we have dozens and dozens. It’s simply amazing. We’ve been so blessed.

BTW, in the time it took me to write the last paragraph we got the little fella settled down and I think he is asleep now. He gets up at 730 so we better hit the hay as well. More to come…

Keep your prayers rolling as this show just got started and we’ve got a lot to learn!

Tyson Today

Well today is the day we’ve been waiting for! It is rainy and humid outside but it’s sunny in our hearts. We are 3 hours away from going to get our son. We are excited and anxious and tense and fired up and exhausted with emotion all at once.

Our guide was very good with us in explaining how the process would go today. He said that the nannies are very good at explaining to the kids about their upcoming adoption and will use the photos we sent last month to try and prepare him for what we look like. He said that at age 4 he will have a pretty good understanding af who we are and why we are there. He told us not to be nervous, that today is a blessed day in our child’s life. He gets to go to live in America with two people who love him very much. He also told us that Tyson’s given name is pronounced Chang with a long a that sounds more like Chong. Between his given name of Qiang (which will become his middle name) and his new last name the poor kid will get called all kinds of things in school I’m sure. But at least Tyson is straight forward by American standards.

I gotta go. Big day today. Keep us in prayer!

I will post more today after we go get him…and pictures too!

Rice on the road and other things we saw today

Today we took a trip to the Chongqing countryside; and what a trip it was. The Dazu Rock Carvings are about 70 miles west of the city and took about 2.5 hours to get to. Half of that time was on the expressway and the rest was working our way into increasingly more remote parts of the countryside albeit on a four lane road. The road was once very good but now is in serious need of repair; not like 3rd world country bad but still rough going. About every 200 feet there would be a large pothole that spanned at least 2 lanes and the driver would have to jam on the brakes and drive around it – even if that meant driving into oncoming traffic!

Which brings me to my next point: there are lines on the roads and the cars have turn signals and speedometers but using them is merely a suggestion. Even the cops drive on the wrong side of the road. Apparently there is some kind of licensing process that includes a driving course and road test but you could have fooled me! And on top of that, pedestrians just cross the road wherever they want to. Even on the highways they just start crossing like Frogger and stand in middle of the road with cars blowing by them at 40 miles an hour. It puts NYC pedestrian traffic to shame. On more than one occasion we had to slam on our brakes because an enthusiastic pedestrian thought that they could win a battle with our speeding minivan. It was absolute chaos.

Melissa and Diane mentioned that all the cars looked new – Audis, BMWs, Hondas, Toyotas, Fords, Buicks (pronounced book with a long o), Hyundai - you name it, we saw it. Our guide told us that you can own a car for 10 years then you have to get rid of it and buy a new one. That plus the rash of new wealth this country’s middle class is experiencing equals a whole lot of new cars on the road.

Which brings me to the rice on the road. It is rice harvest time here in Chongqing. So the farmers cut the rice stalks, dry them out in bundles and then lay them out on the road (wherelse?) to sift the grain from the chaff with brooms and rakes. The entire trip up to Dazu we kept having to swerve out of the right lane b/c some farmers had spread their rice out over a 50 foot patch of the road to dry out. This was on a busy 4 lane road! Try to imagine Witchduck Rd with all the traffic suddenly jumping into the left lane every 100 feet because people were standing in the right lane (on both side of the road) raking rice. Traffic too slow in that left lane? Don’t like the way that pickup truck full of chickens is driving? Just swerve into oncoming traffic and blare your horn to let them know you are there. Nothing to it! Except the Americans in the backseat freaking out! Silly Americans, you worry too much.

Here’s what else we saw standing in the road on the way to Dazu: dogs, chickens, geese, children, old ladies with walking sticks, people playing mahjong behind broken down vehicles, pigs, a horse, an ox, big heaps of rocks and dirt, and piles of burning chaff. No joke, there were piles of burning rice in the middle of the road! Cars schmars!

Also, motorcycles are the preferred method of travel in the country – no helmets (silly Americans) – with anywhere from 1 to 5 occupants on one bike. We saw more than a few families of 5 scooting up the mountain on a single motorcycle, mom in a dress and high heels.

Oh and we saw some awesome ancient rock carvings that were like 1000 years old! But that’s a story for another time. Just getting there was adventure enough. I gotta go; the Olympic Closing Ceremonies start at 8pm.

Blog you later…

Impressions of China…so far

It’s a little more Gucci and a little less rickshaw than we thought, at least so far. Granted we have only been in the airports and westernized hotels. Today we venture to the Sichuan countryside and I expect to find a few more rickshaws and other more rural trappings (cows, villages, dirt roads, etc.)

It’s 6am and neither Melissa or I can sleep so we are just hanging out in bed and steeling ourselves for the 2+ hour ride out to the Dazu Rock Carvings later on this morning.

Chongqing is huge. The most populous city/municipality in all of China – 30 million strong. They are building skyscrapers everywhere. And the skyline is massive. The downtown area situated on a peninsula at the confluence of the Jailing with the Yangtze River, so there is a Manhattan-esque look to it from one side. But just like NYC the city spills across the rivers and pushes outwards from the downtown area in all directions

I have to post these blogs from the executive lounge on the 36th floor, where the wi-fi is free (it costs $12 a day from our room). So last night I ran up there to send out my blog and quick-check emails and found the view of downtown Chongqing to be both dizzying and breathtaking. The square I mentioned last night truly takes on a Times Square look at night with neon signs and giant big screen TV’s on the side of buildings. The river (one of them- don’t know which) can be glimpsed between the high rises crowding our hotel.

From our own room, the giant picture window reveals a rather bland but expansive view of skyscrapers and high-rise apartments as far as the eye can see. Which, I might add, is not very far. Chongqing is known as one of China’s “three ovens” that turn absolutely sweltering in the summer. The smog makes LA look as pristine as the Rocky Mountains on a crisp spring day. From the moment we set foot outside, the one thing that permeated all the other smells was auto exhaust. It hangs in the nostrils and clings to your clothes. Even the lobby and ground floor restaurants of our luxurious 5-star hotel are marred by tail pipe exhaust that floods in every time the sliding glass doors yawn open. It’s certainly something we will have to get used to.

We have yet to eat in a non-Western setting, something we will surely remedy on the road today with our guide. Charlie pointed out a few places last night that have English menus but he isn’t paid to baby-sit us every hour of the day so he left us in the city square a few blocks from our hotel and we were left to fend for ourselves. We braved the underground grocery store on our own; we bought water and some juice but will have to go back when we get a better grasp on what we really need.

Sooner or later we will have to get brave and venture out on our own to eat, especially when Tyson gets here, but it’s tough not to feel like Diane, Melis and myself are in this all alone. Everybody else is in Nanching with the agency guide with them every step of the way. We will be mostly on our own; so we better get tough and learn the local customs. Thank God we brought along Melissa’s mom – this would be really tough with just the two of us.

This is, of course, all a precursor to the main event. We go to get Tyson tomorrow! And our lives will be completely transformed into something else entirely. This could be the longest blog I post b/c after tomorrow, who knows what our days will look like or how much time I’ll have to collect my thoughts (you parents out there can stop laughing any time now).

Please pray our biological clocks get caught up to local time and that we all feel better today than we did yesterday – all of us were dizzy with exhaustion and I dozed off in the restaurant last night while waiting for our food to arrive. We have one more day to adjust before out Ty arrives, then we are on full mommy and daddy mode and God only knows what that will be like.

Love you guys. Blog you soon…

Have Luggage, Will Travel...and Travel...and Travel

The following is a post I started yesterday in Japan but was unable to post last night in Beijing. After that is today’s post.

Friday, August 22
435pm, Tokyo Airport

I am drafting this post from Tokyo Airport. It is 435pm local time, 335am by my biological clock. We have survived the longest leg of our journey and await a final 4 hour hop to Beijing on another mammoth 747. The flight here was pretty grueling and we are bone tired. I wouldn’t say exhausted yet but when I figure we will be arriving in Beijing in about 6 hours, I can see we are going to be at our limit. Sleep on the plane was impossible. It was plenty dark and quiet but very cramped. Our flight from Norfolk to Detroit had more leg and hip room than the trans-pacific flight. Seriously considering paying the $50 a seat on the way back to get an exit row seat.

The craziest thing about the trip was that it stayed daylight for the whole trip. All the shades were down for most of the flight but if you peeked out the window – daylight. I had suspected it would be like this but seeing it in actuality was a bit creepy. Like time was standing still and we were stuck in the cramped plane forever. So your body is telling you it’s 2 in the morning but the plane won’t let you get comfortable enough to sleep – peek out the window and it’s clear sunny skies. Outside air temp BTW was 59 degrees below zero – Fahrenheit. Brrrr!

For those that want to know, Tokyo airport is just like I thought it would be – tidy and user friendly. Nicest airport bathrooms I’ve ever been in.

I’m praying for engineering mercy this flight. Some leg room so we can get a measure of shut eye. I’ll finish this up once we get settled into our room in Beijing – but since we are only staying one night there and will be up by the crack of dawn it’s possible I may not be able to post this until we get to Chongqing. Blog you soon…

The view from our room in Beijing

Saturday, August 23
752pm, Chongqing

Sure enough we got to our room last night at about 11pm completely exhausted. I was barely coherent enough to type the short blog below. We got a decent night’s sleep and were drifting awake at 5am, pushed it to about 6 and were eyes-wide-open by the time of our wake up call. We were dropped off at Terminal 3 of the Beijing Airport (the largest single terminal in the world – I mean this thing is HUGE) and made our way to Chongqing on China Air. The only Caucasians on the flight, we created quite a stir. The rest of the group went off together to Nanching with the guide from the agency Alison.

Charlie, our guide in Chongqing met us at baggage, piled us into a minivan and took us to tour an ancient manor smack in the middle of Chonqing on our way to the hotel. We finally made it to the hotel, settled in for a few minutes then went out with Charlie to scout the territory surrounding our hotel. We are situated about a block from Chongqing’s version of Times Square; food., department stores, skyscrapers, underground grocery stores, jewelers, multinational banking, this place has it all. Quite a lot for our tired brains to take in.

And then there is the hotel! We are staying at the Marriott on the 34th floor – the executive level. Our adjoining rooms are HUGE with plenty of space for Tyson to play without us tripping over him! I’ll try to post a picture sometime. Right now we are absolutely beat. After an overly expensive dinner in the main restaurant we have retired to the room to unpack and try to get some shuteye. I’ll try to post this then it’s lights out for me. Tomorrow we go to see the Dazu Rock Carvings.

Please pray for good nights sleep and recovery from the tedium of the four flights we endured to get here. We want to be rested and refreshed when we meet Tyson for the first time and right now we can barely function.

Blog you later…

china at last

We have arrived. Very long day.Getting to bed now at 1130pm in beijing. Very tired. No internet so using blackberry for this. Will send something of substance when we get chongqing. Love us.

Beijing Bound

Well this is it. Tomorrow morning we head off to China. We are fully packed. We are bulging out of our bags. We are trying to have a restful night at home before the big trip but, as you can imagine, it's pretty hard to calm down and get to sleep. It would be nice to get a full night's sleep, though.

A few people have asked about our return to the US, so here's a synopsis. Our flight out of Norfolk is at 9am tomorrow morning and three flights later we will arrive in Beijing at 9am EST (9pm China time). Our flight back from Detroit (NW1452) arrives in Norfolk at 7pm on Sept 5th. Anyone is welcome to come say hi to Tyson when we arrive but I must warn you that we will be zombies. 24 hours of travel will have that effect on the living. My next post will be from Beijing. Even if we are begining to turn into the living dead I will try to post our safe arrival. Until then...

Michael Phelps misses Gold...takes Silver

That's right folks. Phelps may have taken 8 Gold medals in Beijing but on Ty's blog he took second place to Melissa. The poll results are in. Twenty six of you voted and a massive 42% of you thought that Tyson's first words will be "mama". Phelps, who started the week out strong, fell behind mid-week and finished a distant second with 23% of the vote. Yours truly took the Bronze with 19% of the vote.

I'd like to appeal the vote since I recently found out that the name for daddy in Chinese is 'baba'. Now, if I entered my name as 'baba' in the polls instead of 'dada' I'm convinced I could have taken the lead. I mean how could you resist baba?

BTW, I've found out a few other Chinese words for family members. Kai-lan (of Ni Hao fame) isn't fibbing when she calls her grandfather 'Yeye' as that is the Chinese term of endearment for your father's father. "Nai Nai' is an informal address for your paternal grandmother. Tara, Melissa's sister, is Li Mu and Erin, my sister, is Gu Mu. And all this is pretty certain but could be completely wrong. Three of the English-Chinese dictionaries that I googled all said the same thing. So, we got to be in good shape, right? I mean the internet doesn't lie does it?

That is about the extent of the Chinese that we know. It's going to be real interesting when we add a Chinese-only speaking four-year-old in the mix.

Oh, and I know one other Chinese phrase. 'Te gway le' which means 'that's too expensive'. I plan on using that one a lot on Melissa while we are in China.

Until next time...

The Final Countdown…

You know you’re a child of the 80’s if those three words send you into a wicked air keyboard solo. You know what I’m talking about! For those of you who don’t, go look up Europe on iTunes. You can’t miss it; it was their one-hit wonder.

Anyhow, we are counting down the days here a Chez Jacques, just a few days more and we are Asia bound. Things have been a flurry of activity lately, so much so I’ve barely had time to think let along blog. Between pre-packing all our stuff, measuring and weighing our luggage repeatedly and finalizing the last details at work, we are dizzy with trying to get everything done. It is absolutely exhausting trying to think of every possible contingency. Prescription meds, over-the-counter meds, toiletries, shorts, shirts, paper back novels, magazines, toys, bath toys, coloring books, sticker books, size 3 clothes for Tyson, size 4 clothes for Tyson, 3 different flip flops of various sizes for Tyson, portable DVD player, DVD’s for us, DVD’s for him, laptop (gotta blog while I’m over there), on and on it goes. We’ve been bouncing the details around for weeks, but now that the day is fast approaching we are thinking and rethinking everything.

The whole process is made significantly more difficult due to the 2 in-country flights we will be taking once we get there. Chinese domestic flights allow 1 piece of check-in luggage that can weigh no more than 44 lbs and can measure no more than 60 inches when you add height, width and length together. So, even though international flights allow for 2 check-in bags, the domestic flights limit us to one. Ugh! Think about that: we have to fit 2 weeks worth of clothes, toiletries, toys and other travel accoutrements for all three of us into 2 bags weighing less than or equal to 88 lbs and 120 linear inches.

And then there was the Toddler Shower….
My sister Erin flew into town from New York on Thursday; Melissa’s sister flew in last Friday with her 6 week old daughter - all to attend the shower on Saturday. Melissa is supposed to blog about that whole event- I refuse to - but I haven’t had much luck convincing her to sit down and do it. So, just in case she cops out, here’s the gist – lots of women came, there was food and presents and games and, most important, I didn’t have to be there! You want details, you are going to have ask her (a good badgering by email might work too). All I have to say is that my niece, Makenzie, is the cutest little thing going.

Well, back to the suitcases. Where’s that tape measure?



....Hello, Melissa here. I just need to clear a few things up. The shower was fabulous. I'm too tired to post pictures and more details but... the shower was awesome!!! I think that Travis thinks there are some weird cultish games that we play at them. I'd like to thank everyone at our showers and those that couldn't make it. Our suitcases are packed with toys and clothes that you all so generously gave us. (The thank you cards may be a few weeks). Make sure you look at Ty's clothes in the pictures we attach ... some of those outfits may look awful familiar to you.

We Got Itinerary!

Things are certainly moving along here in Va Beach. Today we received our in-country travel itinerary. It’s basically a schedule of everything we are going to do from wheels down in Beijing to wheels up in Guangzhou. Quite exciting. Also typical of our adoption journey, we had a mini-crisis when the agency did a recheck of our documentation only to discover we were missing a key piece of paperwork. My heart stopped for a few (like 10) beats when Melissa told me. Apparently, she had to run home during her lunch break to get the documents and fax them back to the agency. Crisis averted. Actually, we have gotten quite used to these moments over the past few years. Adoption is paperwork hell. There are so many simultaneously moving pieces, tons of documents being faxed, emailed and snail-mailed all at once that it’s a miracle anything gets done – and somehow at the end of all this chaos we get a son! Tada! Truly a miracle.

So, I thought it would be great entertainment for you to get a sneak peek at what we will be doing each day we are in China. Now, for many of these items, I have no idea what or where they are. I have found Google and Tripadvisers.com to be indispensable in my research however. Feel free to use them liberally if you feel the need to expand you knowledge about the fabulous locales we will be visiting. Soon you will have pictures to help you visualize the Chinese countryside…

Fri Aug 22 – Arrive in Beijing at 9:35pm (9:35am EST)
Sat Aug 23 – Fly to Chongqing (7am wakeup call – yeah!)
Sun Aug 24 – Visit countryside and Dazu Stone Carvings
Mon Aug 25 – Bus to civil affairs office to meet Tyson
Tues Aug 26- Bus to civil affairs office to do registration
Wed Aug 27 – Visit Chongqing Children’s Welfare Institute
Thurs Aug 28 – Visit Chongqing Zoo and Chaotian Gate
Fri Aug 29 – Visit People’s Hall & Eling Park; Fly to Guangzhou
Sat Aug 30 – Medical Checkup; Shopping; Paperwork
Sun Aug 31 – Church; More Shopping
Mon Sept 1 – Visit Pearl & Jade Market; Adoptees Group Photo
Tues Sept 2 – Yuntai Botanical Garden; Family Chen’s Academic Center
Wed Sept 3 – Um, I assume more shopping
Thurs Sept 4 – Bus to US consulate for naturalization ceremony
Fri Sept 5 – Depart China for US (430am wakeup call – double yeah!)

Well, I’ve got some research to do. I only know what half those places are. And I’m sure you noticed how much shopping is involved; I am uber-psyched about that! All this, of course, is a phenomenal distraction from the agonizing wait we are enduring.

Four working days left. Wahoo!

Chongqing is famous...for it's toilets.

I want to thank all of you who have called and written to me to tell me that my son's hometown, Chongqing, is famous! Many of you saw a segment last night at the beginning of the Olympic coverage where the host was traveling to all sorts of "big" places in China like the Three Gorges Dam- the worlds largest dam. It just so happens that the dam is just down river from Chongqing - which is famous for it's toilets. Over 1000 of them, all under one roof. That's right, Chongqing is the site of the world's largest public bathroom! My chest is just puffing up with pride. It's too crazy to believe so you just got to see it for yourself.

I found a link that wasn't sullied by too much bathroom humor. So if you want to check it out, follow your nose...er mouse: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1861828/posts. Or just Google: World's Largest Bathroom. It'll be there.

Now, I know that this will seem like a day late and a dollar short - but I have been researching Chongqing and already knew about the world's largest public bathroom. In fact, I was 'this close' to putting it in last night's blog but felt bad that I had railed against the city and let it go. Now I realize how prophetic it would have been if I just followed my instincts.

So, we've got at least one 'must see' for our list. Now if we can only find some Pandas. I mean there's got to be Panda's near there somewhere, right?

What a World We Live In!

I am sitting at the Honda dealership getting an oil change, wirelessly connected to the internet in the lobby, writing this blog about going to China to get my son in a week while my Blackberry is simultaneously accessing the latest news releases from the Olympics, which just happens to be the same place I am traveling to next week. Connectivity is a crazy thing. It allows me to do all the above but it also allows my employees to call me any time day or night with any problem – big or small. And believe me there’s plenty of both. I’ve gotten three calls in the last three days before 8am – no emergencies, just needed information. I don’t even speak to my wife before 8am, ever.

Anyhoo, we got some disappointing (but not devastating) news today from Mike, the adoption agency’s travel guy. Because of the murder of the American in Beijing this weekend, and the subsequent tension it has raised, they have cancelled the tour of Beijing we were supposed to have the first few days we get to China. This means no Great Wall, no Forbidden City, no Tiananmen Square and no Olympic Village or Birds Nest. I know the agency is just trying to protect us, but I am MAJORLY BUMMED at missing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not only to tour Beijing (how many times does the average American get to China in their lifetime?) but to be in Beijing during the Olympics! Hopefully someday we will be back in China, either to allow Tyson to revisit his country of origin or (fingers crossed) for our second adoption. But we’ll never be there during the Olympics again. Very bummed. Maybe we can convince our guides to “swing by” the Birds Nest on our way to or from the airport so we can see the stadium with the cauldron still ablaze.

Don’t get me wrong. I know the real reason we are going to China is for Tyson, but ever since I found out we were going to be in Beijing during the Olympics I have been getting more excited about the short time we were going to be there. I had big plans for dancing on the Great Wall. So now, the game plan is for us to fly into Beijing on Friday night, stay in the hotel one night and fly off to Chongqing (Tyson’s home town) the following morning. Since we will be spending a few extra days in Chongqing, they are going to try to organize a fun tour of that city instead. The only problem is that Chongqing is sort of like the Cleveland of China (but without the Rock & Roll Hall of fame - and the Yangtze hasn't caught fire yet). Big, industrial, smoggy, lots of container ships going in and out of port, lots of cars, and more smog. The travel books and websites don’t have much to say about the city – which is amazing because they have something to say about every little place in China – except Chongqing. Very sad. I hope there is a zoo or historical landmark nearby to keep us snapping pictures.

But you know what picks me up? Aside from that AMAZING American win in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay? (And by the way, if you haven’t watched that race yet, go there now http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194 . Quite possibly the most amazing finish I have ever seen. Woohooo!) Ok, but what really picks me up is that we’ll be getting my boy soon, and an early trip to Chongqing may translate into seeing him even sooner. Keep that it your prayers, please.

Diego Briefs Were Just the Beginning

Today we added Kung Fu Panda briefs and boxer briefs to the list.

Today we went to Target to rethink some of the stuff our new four year old may really want/need. Something about seeing what he looks like at age four (and the measurements they sent us) made us anxious to go back and do more shopping. So, with oodles of gift cards in hand, we marathoned through Target once more. The mission: to find enough suitcase friendly toys to keep a 4 year old busy for 10 days in a hotel room. Cringe!

Aside from the aforementioned briefs, we also picked up: a memory card game with hysterical cows on it, an inflatable beach ball and a large koosh-like ball for throwing around the room, play-doh to hypnotize him on the airplane (we're keeping fingers crossed on that one Ashleigh), some Thomas and Elmo DVD's and a 2GB flash drive that he is just going to love (oh yeah, that's for me). And of course a little stuffed panda that we plan on taking to China with us. Mr. Panda is super-psyched about his trip to his homeland so be sure to look for cameos of Mr Panda in random places around China once we get there. Not an original idea, I know (cough...sanzones...), but it's something we're looking forward to regardless. I mean, how many times do you get to take goofy pictures in China? Unless you're Chinese, not many.

(BTW, watching the Olympics now as I type reminds me...did anyone catch the comment last night during the opening ceremonies about China being all one timezone? Eh?! Just remember, you heard it here first!)

I don't know if anybody else finds this minutia very interesting, but hey, there's not much exciting about getting up and going to work every day. Especially, when the most exciting thing about the day is the traffic at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

So, stay tuned and thanks for going on the journey with us...

Can't wait to meet you, little dude!

We Got New Pictures!!!

...and measurements

Today we got updated pictures and measurements of Tyson! This is HUGE since the last data and images we have of him are over a year old . We got two pics; the 'panda pic' I'm posting here and his 'spot-on Richard Nixon imitation' is over in the sidebar.

He has grown up sooooo much over the last year; he is looking much less like a toddler and more like a little boy. Melissa and I are crazy with excitement as we actually know how tall he is and how much he weighs. Want foot length? We got it. Want chest circumference? We got that too. So now we have a good idea of what will fit him and what won't. There's still quite a bit of guess work but it's a lot more than what we had to go on yesterday. The panicky word from Melissa upstairs is that almost everything we got for him is too small. I think we've got a pair of flip-flops that will fit him. Oh well. One more trip to Kohl's, I guess.

So, without further ado, I give you the latest measurements on our son!

Height: 97.5 cm (38.4 inches)

Weight: 16.5kg (36.3 lbs)

Head Circumference: 49.5cm (20.5 inches)

Chest Circumference: 53cm (20.9 inches)

Foot Length: 15.5cm (6.1 inches)

There is both Joy and just a little bit of Sadness in today's news. As exciting as the new pictures are, they also remind us that we have lost another formative year in our son's life. Yesterday, we couldn't imagine what he would look like a year older, so he remained in our minds a three year old hugging a pink pony. Now, we see what we've been missing and it makes our hearts ache to go get him. He is getting so big and handsome. On the positive side, Lord willing, he will be with us on his 4th birthday. How cool is that?

Now I REALLY can't wait to meet you, little dude!

Nesting Melissa

Today I would like to talk about the alien body snatcher that has taken up residence in my home. I know the aliens think that they are sneaky trying to replace my wife without my knowledge, but as the adoption draws closer the body snatcher (or clone, or puppet master, whatever it is) is getting sloppy. I have gradually begun to notice some un-Melissa-like tendencies in my 'wife' that have made me wonder. I have come to call the body snatcher "Nesting Melissa"

Taken one at a time any of the the following symptoms could be dismissed as circumstance, but it is the constellation of un-Melissa-like actions that have convinced me. First, 'Melissa' has taken to buying things that are not on sale!!! This alone should have tipped me off. I mean my real wife never bought anything that wasn't 45% off with a double coupon. Next, there is stuff everywhere! She has taken up residence in our spare bedroom and begun to build a 'nest' of toddlers clothes, suitcases, toiletries, Diego briefs, dinosaurs and duffle bags. The pictures I am about to post are not suitable for young children or for people who know my wife as a clean, practical, label-making, tupperware-organizing, floor-scrubbing woman. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The Nest

More clothes for the nest

Nesting Melissa has also started to horde toys in Tyson's room. This began in an organized fashion but soon spilled out from under the trundle and across the floor - very un-Melissa!

I am posting all this in case I go missing or start exhibiting very un-Travis-like behaviors such as: planning ahead, going shopping, shaving regularly, exercising, getting up early for work, returning phone calls, and cleaning the house without being prompted. If any of things happen, you will know that they got me too. Don't come looking for me; just run for your lives!

Visa...we sure wish we had one today

Welcome to the chaos of our daily lives as adoptive parents. Today a bunch of stuff happened all at once, while Melissa and I were trying to work.

12:39pm - Mike, our travel coordinator from the adoption agency, writes to tell us our US Consulate date has been set for Wed, Sept 3. He will get back to us about travel arrangements today - be ready!

4:05pm - New word from Mike with our travel itinerary. Look them over, make sure everything looks kosher and make your decision now! Send payment in full to the travel agent by 5pm PST.

4:35pm Melissa calls to tell me that the travel agent doesn't take American Express!!! What kind of travel agency doesn't take AmEx??? We have a Visa Checkcard but not enough money has been moved from our adoption savings account to our checking account to cover the several thousand dollars we need by 8pm tonight. Yikes! Melissa's mom saves the day and foots the whole bill on her Visa! Thanks mom; the check's in the mail. We should have seen that one coming.

Reading back over it now doesn't look so dramatic, but let me tell you it was quite a head spinner today to manage all this info while trying to look like I was doing my job. Really I was just staring at our travel itinerary and counting the layover hours, flight hours, trying to calculate time zone differences, etc.

And this is what I learned....China is all one time zone! Seriously, it's thousands of miles across, at least as wide as the US and it's all one time zone!!! Don't believe me? Go Google it...I'll be here when you get back. It's like they looked at the map that divides up all countries of the world into one hour blocks and said, "Nah". The funny thing is that this doesn't really suprise me all that much. I mean if I had to pick any country in the world that would "opt out" of the whole international timezone thing....it would be China. But seriously, just imagine how late the sun sets in Xinjiang, the westernmost province in China.

And while you're Googling time zones take look at India and Nepal. China (all of China mind you) is exactly 12 hours ahead of us. OK, India is 7.5 hours ahead of us; it is 10pm right now in Norfolk, Virginia and it is 730am in India! Not 7am or 8am, 730. And Nepal is 15 minutes ahead of that. Who has a 15 minute time zone? Nepal does, that's who. So, in Nepal, which is just a tad north of India, it's now 745am! And just to the north of those two countries, it's 10am in China. One step across the Tibet-Nepalese border and you instantly loose 2 hours and 15 minutes of your life. If that doesn't pickle you brain just a bit..well then you must have had better luck concentrating at work than I did today.

But I digress....

So, we have our official travel dates now: leaving Aug 21, returning Sept 5. We are flying Northwest the whole way - Norfolk to Detroit to Tokyo to Beijing. Over 24 hours of continuous travel, 4 flights, 17 hours of flight time (if all goes well). And that's just to get there! Never mind the 2 domestic flights we will have in country, one with a brand new son who speaks only Mandarin. Then we do it all over again on the way back: Guangzhou, Tokyo, Detroit, Norfolk. We loose a day flying over the international date line on the way there and get it back coming home. So we will leave China 8am on Sept 5th, fly for 24 straight hours and arrive home at 7pm the same day! Mind boggling. And I'm sure our bodies will be boggled too.

So now I'm doing some freaking out of my own. This is so close I can hardly focus on anything else. I keep staring at the pink rocking horse picture, trying to fathom what a year's worth of aging will have done to him. Will we even recognize our precious Tyson when we see him? Will the orphanage ever send us an update so we will know his size and weight and shoe size? Or will we be left to guess and have to bring the baggy Diego briefs in hopes we can shrink them in a Chinese laundry?

All these questions and more will be answered in due time I suppose. Until then I'll be contemplating time zones in Asia...

Can't wait to meet you little dude!

Visa...it's everywhere we want to be

So here we are. Sixteen days until blastoff - if everything goes well. And if we've learned anything through the adoption process it's that nothing is certain and everything takes longer than you'd ever expect. Nevertheless, we are pretty sure we leave for China on Aug 21. Crazy!

Today we received our travel visas from China! This is huge and brings us one step closer to actualizing the trip. Last Friday we received what is called a "travel approval" from China - basically, along with the visas we got today, it's China's way of authorizing our visit. With these two crucial steps out of the way the only thing left is to get a date from the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Once the US govt (i.e., the Consulate) sets our hearing day in Guangzhou, our adoption agency sort of works backwards from that date (it's the last thing we do in China) to arrive at our departure date - thus, the 21st of August. More than you wanted to know, huh?

OK, so the next few days will pretty much solidify all the travel plans. We expect to hear any day now from the US Consulate and then the travel agent will set up our flights in and out of China!

Melissa has been driving herself crazy waiting for these visas. She has gotten into a Yahoo Group with the other wives who are going to China in our travel group - pardon the adoption lingo, this is the group of all the families who will be traveling with us to China to pick up their kids - and every day someone else writes about how they got their visas and what a relief that was. So, Melis has been FREAKING OUT because we don't have ours yet. Stupid Yahoo Group! If she wasn't on it then she never would have known the others already had their visas and there would be no reason to freak. But as the ladies at work like to remind me, "she's got to freak out about something." So I guess that's that.

So all this is why the visas are so important. It's about containing the freaking.

So, about 3 weeks from now I will be an instant father. One day I will wake up in China and I'll be the dad of a 4 year old. How cool is that? We don't even know what size underwear to buy him but he'll be ours - baggy Diego briefs and all.

Can't wait to meet you little dude.