Seasons Greetings!

Well, here we are at the close of 2008 and what a crazy-awesome year it has been. For starters: This has been the year of Tyson! This year we went from being DINKs (Double Income No Kids) to full-fledged, sleepless parents of a 4-year-old boy!  Tada!  In other words, we are the proud parents of Tyson Qiang Jacques, an amazing little boy we adopted from China in August.  That is easily the highlight of our year and all events since that wonderful day have sort of orbited around him.  It’s actually hard for me to remember what else we did this year since our lives so drastically changed for the better just a few short months ago. 

 First of all, we still reside in Virginia Beach in the beautiful home we bought years ago before the economy imploded.  I’m sure the value of our house had spiraled down to half what we bought it for but we aren’t planning on going anywhere soon so we should be fine. We attend a great church and have some great friends we love to hang out with.  Up until we got Tyson, Melissa and I helped run a twenty-something bible study for our church.  Post-Tyson we have not been able to get him to bed and be at the bible study at the same time.  We’re still trying to figure out how to make this work as some of our best friends on the planet are Tuesday night regulars at the study group.

On the business side of things, I was promoted this summer and (in addition to spending two joyous hours a day commuting back and forth to the peninsula) I now manage 3 PT clinics for Mary Immaculate Hospital.  So, instead of the headache of running one clinic with all its fun schedules, personalities and dysfunctions, I now have three headaches!  Or at least one headache that is three times worse…Awesome!  Actually, I am very happy in my job and I have the privilege of working with some fine people. The sense of accomplishment far outweighs the headaches.

Melissa is no longer an education coordinator for the emergency department at CHKD.  After we picked up Tyson she took a few months leave and she is now back “on the floor” as a nurse.  Her new position (which is really her old, old position) is flexible enough to allow her to spend most of her days at home with the little dude and only have to work one or two 8 hour shifts a week.  She is very happy with her new schedule.

So, back to the Tyson Adventure.  From start to finish, the whole process took 20 months.  I won’t get into the specifics of that arduous journey other than to say it was a rough road and the only reason we have a son now is because Melissa is an organizational savant who steered us through a complex paperwork jungle.  The short version is that after months of waiting, we received news in July that we would be traveling to China to get our son. We had applied for him way back in January and had been waiting for clearance to go get him from his hometown of Chongqing (pronounced chong-ching).  So, with about six weeks notice, we (Melissa, her mom and I) packed up and flew to Beijing, via Detroit and Tokyo.  It was a 27 hour journey each way – not anything I want to do again anytime soon.  We were in China a total of 15 days: three different hotels, three different cities.  We got Tyson on day 4, and spent the remainder of our trip getting to know this little wonder who spoke no English and had never had real parents – or a real bed, or his own toys, or his own clothes before.  He was one of over 600 kids in a massive six-floor orphanage in a city of 17 million.  And in one day, one moment, his destiny was changed forever.  He became our son. And we became a family.  And my heart clenches up just trying to write the words.  Our lives - all three of us - have been irrevocably changed for the better, for the best. 

Since our return to the U.S., Tyson has gotten a new name (it wasn’t Tyson in China in case you were wondering), a new citizenship and a new extended family.  He has met all of Melissa’s family in Philly – grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.  He has flown to Atlanta to visit his Yi Mu – Melissa’s sister – and her family. He has been to NYC to visit my hip, Manhattanite sister.  And he is a regular fixture at Grampow and Nai-Nai’s – that would be my parents – who live just 3 miles away.

It has been a season of firsts for all of us.  Tyson is the first grandson to both sets of parents.  He had his first true birthday party (he turned 4 in September). He also experienced his first Halloween (he went as a turtle), his first Thanksgiving (he liked the mashed potatoes), and in a week he will experience his first Christmas.  He has no idea why we have a tree in our living room or why we strung up lights in the bushes outside; he just thinks everything we do is SO cool.

Tyson, little buddy, you have no idea!  We are just getting started!

So join Melissa and me as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and the birth of our family.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

The Jacques