The New Jacques on the Block

Gung Hay Fat Choy

2011-02-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

.... oh, you don't speak Mandarin either? I'll help you out. According to the internet it means 'Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year' and is a typical greeting in China at this time of year. Last night marked our third Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration with Tyson and our first with Lucy. There is a (self-explanatory) group in our area called the Hampton Roads Families with Children from China, or HRFCC for short. Last night the HRFCC held their annual CNY celebration. My guess is that there were about 300 guests mostly clad in Chinese dress. Oh, what a site! They had dragon and lion dancers, musicians, caligraphers, merchants and a whole bunch of other stuff that would put even the most calm person on sensory overload. And our kids loved.every.minute.of.it. Tyson sat in rapt attention as the performers did their thing. To occupy his time when the performers weren't on stage he fought his new and old friends with a ~~'what was his mother thinking?~~' newly purchased wooden sword. We often talk about our favorite part of our day but last night Tyson started to tell me about his '100 favorite parts of the night' before I cold even start to ask him any questions. I think that we'll be back again next year:) Lucy liked all of the things that she usually enjoys- food, music and her family.
We had the privilege to celebrate with the Phelps family for the first time. Savanah is also a spicy Nanchang girl. This was our third year celebrating with the Sanzone family but heir littlest one, SarahJoy, is still in the hospital and we missed her so much. SJ- we can't wait until next year when we're ALL together.
In true Melissa-style I photographed and videoed almost every second (well as much as one can with a two year old in tow). So, I leave you with pics of Lucy and Ty.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

THE boots

2011-02-17T00:36:00.000-05:00

I just recently heard from a few of you that you are still reading along so I thought I'd throw up a few pics and a quick update.

We went to the beach for our annual New Year's Day visit to the ocean. I think that it's important to start the year off right by hitting the beach, even if I grossly overestimated how warm it actually was. We lasted all of about 10 minutes before the kids were ready to commit mutiny and hitch a ride home with an adult who was wise enough to keep the kids INdoors.

As you may notice there are definitely more pics of Lucy. This is because she is my main 'subject' as I practice with my new digital SLR while Ty is at school. She tries to cooperate with my seemingly endless attempts at getting the perfect shot but usually gives up after about 5 snaps of my camera. We're still working on the act of 'smiling'. Whenever I suggest that she 'smile' she basically holds her face in a real pained position.

Not too much is going on right now. Tyson's likes are still the same-- toys, video games and friends. He is learning to read and write in Kindergarten. It's definitely harder than I thought it would be! I'm pretty sure that he would agree.

Last week we had another snow day and the kids were less than impressed with the snow itself. After what seemed like 30 minutes getting the kids ready to go outside in it we headed out to play. About 9 minutes in they were ready to go back in. Uhhh... no way. I wasn't lettin' them go in until play time equaled the prep time. I really do like being home with the kids. I secretly love it when Ty's school is cancelled for the day so we can hide out and play games and just relax.

Lucy's Winter-loves are her boots and Tumbles class. Whenever I put on my boots she insists on wearing hers too. (See pic below). All week she longs to go to Tumbles (a kids gym) class. I'm not sure if she truly loves it or is just excited to go to something that is totally focused on her.

I hope that your year is truly blessed! I'll try to put up some Chinese New Year pics next week.

One tooth less than the day before

Lulu playing dress up in Ty's first Halloween costume

Every kid does this at least once, right?

THE boots

Happy Valentine's Day

Very Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-28T22:09:00.028-05:00

What a big month December was for Lucy. On the 19th she turned 2. We can hardly believe that she's no long our 1 year old baby, but is now our 2 year old little girl! She loves to sing Happy Birthday. Mostly she just says 'happy you you' over and over. Her favorite part of her birthday was definitely receiving presents. She patiently opened each card, commented on whatever was on the front of the card and then peeled off every piece of wrapping paper. It was too funny to see how calm she was while opening each present. Her brother, on the other hand, could barely contain himself. He wanted to play with her gifts the second she cracked them open.

Unfortunately Lucy was sick for the days surrounding Christmas. She perked up enough to go to GPa and NaiNai's for dinner on Christmas Eve but then felt poorly again on Christmas day. Tyson enjoyed every part of the Christmas season. This is his third one in the states and he seems to fall in love with the season more and more each year.

Almost as a surprise to everyone, we got walloped with a snow storm that started Christmas night. The final count was about 14 inches! Thanks to hand-me-downs from Lane & Angela, Lucy was outfitted in a snow suit and boots. (For our family far away- owning snow gear is not the norm for Virginia Beach residents).

It was the very merriest of Christmases for me personally. I finally have our two children home & safe for the holidays. This is the most beautiful of answer to many years of praying. I hope that the new year is a blessed one for you!

Icicles on our icicle lights.... in VB?!?!

Our candy canes on the 26th & it snowed a bit more after that!

New use for the beach buckets

Our candy canes on the 25th

Wooden fruit anyone?

2010-12-11T23:17:00.000-05:00

2010-11-13T10:21:00.000-05:00

Here's a video we did for Adoption Sunday at our church.

Jacques Family Adoption from Brad Daniels on Vimeo.

Herding Halloween Cats

2010-11-01T00:19:00.001-04:00

This was our best attempt to get a shot of all of the kids. We were still missing two of them. The phrase 'herding cats' was being thrown around a lot by the peanut gallery.

Lucy and Savanah couldn't even wait to get home to get in to their candy, they just stopped right in a driveway to look at their loot.

NaiNai & G-Pa dutifully gave out candy so Trav & I could take the kids out.

Mickey & Minnie

Oooohhh, I just love being a mommy at Halloween! We are now the proud owners of enough candy to keep all of the dentists in VA Beach very happy for a few years. Tyson took off trick or treating with Travis as soon as we attempted the group shot. I didn't see him again until he had exhausted the neighborhood's supply of candy. Lucy really enjoyed going from house to house with her little candy pail. She put it up on her arm like a purse and wouldn't let go until the end of the night. I attempted to take some of the candy out to make room for more but she wouldn't have it! I feel like the luckiest women in the world for having such awesome friends and family who enjoy making great memories for our kids. I love you all!

Halloween Preview

2010-10-31T01:57:00.000-04:00

This is such a fun time of the year for us as we get to see Lucy participate in a lot of holiday firsts. This first, Halloween night, isn't eve upon us quite yet but she's having a blast with all of the celebrations. Today we went to the zoo for the 'Zoo Boo' (trick or treating at the zoo) and both kids loved it. Just like her older brother, it didn't take LuLu very long to figure out that running from table to table and muttering something close to 'trick or treat & thank you' would produce lots of candy in their bags.

Tyson liked helping G-Pa & NaiNai with the pumpkin carving. I'll post more pics after the big night!

Baby Bono??

Our Pumpkins

2010-10-02T23:18:00.000-04:00

Bulk Club Membership

2010-09-24T22:48:00.001-04:00

So, Trav & I are in agreement... Lucy is going to give us ulcers. She is definitely entering her 'terrible 2s' a few months early. You know that look in their eyes that says 'oh, go get your Zantac, this is going to be one of those days'? Well, she now possesses it and uses it at will. Don't get me wrong, she's a blast and we love having her in our family. Just the other night I was rocking her at 1:30 in the morning and was looking at her little feet. They are adorable. They reminded me how many hours we prayed for her to come home. How many hours we did paperwork, how many hours we longed for her & in the end how extremely blessed we are to have those little feet in our house. But none the less, when she looks at us defiantly as she dumps her plate of food all over herself & the floor I thank God for my Costco membership and the ability to buy my antacids in bulk.

Thank you for all of your concern about Tyson. He's doing fabulously. I am so impressed with his attitude about being down an arm. He never complains! This week marked the first week of Kindergarten homework. He tried his best and wrote his name and completed the assignments with his left hand and with the minimal assistance of his very heavily casted right arm.

He will get the pins taken out in 2 more weeks and then get casted for 2 more weeks. I think that he's just happy that it will be off before Halloween.

Just a few pics from the Air Show and Mid Autumn Moon Festival.

He Can’t Catch a Break….

2010-09-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

Or, maybe he did catch one. Right in the arm! I was going to blog about Tyson’s first day of Kindergarten but things have gone a little awry. Tyson started school on the Tuesday after Labor Day. He really didn’t have too much to say at the end of Tuesday and Wednesday except he told me all the rules of the playground both days. So, on Thursday afternoon, I looked at the caller ID (yes, I screen my calls) about 30 minutes before Tyson was supposed to get off of the bus. It was his school & I had the sinking feeling that it was the nurse. Apparently Tyson fell off of a low balance beam & injured his arm above his elbow. He was following the rules but still got hurt, just his luck. The ER nurse in me was thinking ‘supracondylar fracture… oooh, that’s not good’. Unfortunately, I was right. We stopped at the Miller’s house and Steve checked him out, confirmed my suspicions of the need for a trip to the ER. (On a side note I was planning on taking Lucy up to meet the gals in the ER this week but this is not what I had in mind.) I can’t say how thankful I am to the staff and docs at CHKD’s ER. They quickly checked him in, triaged him, put an IV in, x-rayed him & gave him some pain relief. All the while Tyson’s arm was swelling more and more. His nurses, Debbie and Denise, did notice that his pulse was no longer palpable on the affected side but were able to pick it up with the Doppler ultrasound. Tyson was a trooper. I think that he felt more comfortable since he knew his nurse, child life therapist and few of the other people in the room. Everyone was great. Jill took Lucy out of the room for a while Tyson got his IV and got they got him settled in. Three friends sincerely offered to take Lucy home with them! Maureen picked up Lucy and stayed with her until we got home. All right, I’m going on too long--- thank you all!!!!!!

Tyson’s break was pretty severe as it was all the way across the bone and the two pieces of bone were displaced. At about 6:45 that night Tyson went to surgery to have the bones put together with a few pins. He came out with a bi-valved cast and sling. Travis and I really held it together until we left him with the anesthesiologist and surgical nurse. Then we broke down. This was Tyson’s 5^th surgery in just 2 years. It really is too much for one little boy!

When we were discharged we were so happy to take him home. But…. The door to the van wouldn’t open! We mashed buttons on the fob, pulled it… nothing. Some how in our haste to get him treated we got the buckle of the seatbelt jammed in the door. The dealership had to take the whole door off to get it out. Now we need a new seatbelt (not cheap BTW) on that side. Ughhh.

Tyson was pretty quiet for a few days but really seems to be feeling good today. So, football and golf are off the books for the next few months. Bummer. He broke his right arm but isn’t complaining about having to use his non-dominant hand. I’m hoping he is able to learn to write with his left hand so he doesn’t get too far behind.

On a more fun note, we’ve had lots of out-of-town guests recently. We loved every moment with our friends and family. A few of the pics from the last two weeks are here.

Simply Saturday

2010-08-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

Shameless Plug for Living Near the Beach

2010-08-27T23:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's Friday evening and you're trying to figure out what to do after dinner for some fun. Well go to the beach silly! We're always trying to convince some of our favorite people to move here so hopefully these pics will inspire you.
(If you do move on down, make sure you check to see if there is a surfing championship going on near where you are planning on taking your kids to play. Failing to do so may result in having to drive 20 blocks through tourist traffic.)

At some point Lucy will realize what Tyson already has- if I just smile the photo shoot will be over & the fun can continue.

A Blog that Writes Itself

2010-08-25T00:09:00.000-04:00

So can someone invent a blog that writes itself for us? We’d really appreciate it.

Luckily things are going well & there really isn’t too much to say. Wait, did I just say that one of the Jacques doesn’t have much to say? I must be tired.

Lucy had a follow-up appointment with her pediatrician today. All of her test results are in and it looks like just about everything is normal. Of course there are little things that need to be followed up on, but on the whole they looked good. While she tolerates her doctor’s existence she isn’t nearly as big a fan of his nurse. She scowls at the poor woman every second she can. While walking back from the bathroom Lucy peered around the corner of the desk to make sure that the nurse couldn’t see her. Much to her dismay, the nurse found her cute little thighs and gave her five shots. That’s right, count 'em five ‘Ahh boo boos’ as Lucy calls them. I should probably mention that Lulu has a way of adding an ‘A’ to the beginning or end of words. Milk-a, A-dee dee (pacifier), drink-a, a-shoos.

I don’t want to leave out a quick update on GeGe ‘big brother’ Tyson. In just two weeks our first will be going to kindergarten! His school still doesn’t know if it will be the morning or afternoon session yet, but he is going! Tyson has always been interested in golf so we started him in golf lessons through the First Tee program. It’s so much fun to hear him talking about putting and chipping; his Poppop is so proud. Tomorrow is the second anniversary of our Forever Family Day with him. In many ways it seems like it was yesterday that we met him in that hot & humid office but in other ways it seems like he’s been in our lives forever. We love you little buddy!

We've heard that most of you come here for the pics so here they are.

Many blessings,
Melis

Grandparents rock!

What, they don't go this way?

The summer wouldn't be complete without a few pics of Tyson playing in the ocean

Kryptonite

2010-08-07T00:30:00.000-04:00

We’ve been able to see some of you all in person and were able to see where some of the informational holes are. So, I will give you some answers.

How is Lucy doing with Melissa? I think we now have a mama’s girl on our hands. We came home on a Saturday and that’s been the turning point day in our relationship. Since then she seems to like me as much as Trav. She actually seems a little mad at Trav for going back to work. Lucy babbles on about him all day long, wanting to talk to him on the phone, but then is a little cold to him when he returns home for the evening.

What are the doctors saying about her heart? We met with our pediatric cardiologist this morning. We went in to it with the expectation that it would be a quick consult and any tests that we needed would be scheduled at a later date. To my surprise right after being put in a room they did an EKG on her. Then Dr. Ellis (whom I can’t say enough good things about) came in and explained that we would attempt a cardiac echo in the office and if she didn’t tolerate it we would do one under anesthesia (not just sedation) at the hospital. At this point Lucy was not really digging him or his exam so I would say that Trav and I were hopeful, but wouldn’t have bet the house on it getting it done, as we would need her cooperation. All I have to say is Praise Jesus! Lucy cried a bit but they were successful in completing the echo! Woohoo! She does have an ASD but it is very small, only about ½ the size that her Chinese files indicated. The news gets better- it is the kind and size that doesn’t need any further care at this time. Because she cried a little bit through the echo we DO need to come back….. when she is 3 years old. Yup, not for at least 16 months. Now of course we know that things can change but this is the news that we were reallllyyy praying for. After the cardiologist we went to see our International Adoption Specialist (IAP). We are just starting the process of getting her tested for all kinds of things and immunized to US standards. Our IAP once explained it as doing newborn screenings but on an older child. He will be following her weight, immunizations & all that kind of stuff. At the end of the visit she had a PPD placed and then had blood drawn. It took 4 sticks to get it all. I thought that this would maybe set back our bonding but she seemed more upset with the staff and the procedures than with me. This is just the beginning of this process so we’ll keep you updated. Again, Praise the Lord! Thanks for the prayers.

How are she and Tyson getting along? Tyson really couldn’t be a better big brother. I wasn’t sure if he was really listening when we were prepping him for Lucy’s arrival. Apparently he was. For example, if she is crying he tries to calm her down. Tonight in the car she was crying to get out of her car seat and he grabbed her hand and started singing his ABCs. (She really likes any song that has the same rhythm as Twinkle Twinkle.) He is starting to realize that she imitates everything that he does. This does come in handy when we want her to try a new food or do something else that she doesn’t want to do. It's not so handy when he is trying to do normal 5 year old things. Now, as any brother would, he does antagonize her at times but in general he's always looking out for her.

It brings so much joy to us to see them interact. We praying and working and saving for years for this, and it is finally happening.

How is she doing in regards to her eating? This is still a bit of a struggle but I don’t think that it’s out of proportion to most other toddlers. Sometimes she eats a lot and sometimes just pushes it around her tray and then onto the floor. Her favorite foods are sweets and meat products, ughh. Poppop West introduced her to what has become kryptonite- Swedish Fish. Lucy will do pretty much anything for a little red fish. She has very little will-power against it.

Okay, so no one asked but I’m going to tell you a little bit about Lulu & the cute things she does. She apparently knows already that she can pray wherever she is. Which she DOES… and it’s FUNNY. She says something like ‘Ahmen’, grabs our hands, closes her eyes and tilts her head back. Now it may appear to be a little televangalist in style but it is soooo cute. I’m wondering if anyone at Costco caught on to this today. As you may have caught a few glimpses of in the video Lucy dances and screams like she is going to a Cindy Lauper audition. She is living it up for sure. In no way is she seeking anyone’s approval. We have to work our way into her heart and life every day. The looks that she throws around with her eyes seem to belong to a 30-year-old woman.

Of course I don’t speak any Chinese so I don’t know what else that she is saying but here are some of the things that she says spontaneously in English. She can be prompted for a bunch more. Most of these start with the ‘Ahh sound’.

Go- mostly used at doctor’s offices and when she wants to get out of the bedroom at bedtime

Pee pee in the potty & poo poo in the potty- she is still doing pretty well in this area but I’m not sure if we’ll be off diapers anytime soon

Meow- in response to ‘what does a cat say?’

Tickle Tickle- when she wants to tickle someone or when watching Kai Lan

Candy

The names of her family

Milk

Boom boom pow

There are a lot more but I’m too tired to think of them right now.

She does sign language for more, all done and milk.

She seems to understand a lot of the things that we say to her. Mostly along the ‘are you hungry?’ or ‘do you want to go outside?’ line of communication.

Trav will upload some pictures tomorrow.

P.S.- Thank you for all of the warm welcomes and for letting us know that you are reading along. It makes us feel so happy to know that you are all out there supporting us.

Dance Party in the USA!

2010-08-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

Our first attempt at posting video - crossing my fingers.
Not much to explain here - they're dancing.
OK, so one thing to explain - those are screams of joy not pain. She loves dancing.

And this is dedicated to Minamin...

Out and About

2010-07-31T15:06:00.000-04:00

Blowin' Bubbles

2010-07-31T14:56:00.000-04:00

Our emails have been blowing up with requests for more pics. So, without further ado I present pics from Lucy's first week in America.

Pee Pee in the Potty

2010-07-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

I can take almost no credit for this but our little girl, just 19 months old, has peed in the potty 5 times and gone poo poo there once today. We were told that she was potty trained while we were in China and weren't really sure if we could rely on this info. Considering her grief reaction we really didn't expect her to be able to control her tiny little bladder. Over the last few days we've been able to read her non-verbal cues (you know that grunty, kind of getting red in the face with a funny stare that they get) & have been asking her if she needs to go about every hour. One thing that we've learned is that if we ask her if she has to go and she replies in the affirmative that we need to take her immediately to the potty and put her on it. This seems really obvious but in our excitement Trav & I both have taken her to the bathroom and while taking off her diaper said again 'pee pee in the potty!'. This promptly results in a case of 'pee pee all over your hand that is between her legs'. She's a tiny little thing but she let's loose enough liquid to soak her pants, the floor and your hands. If she does do the deed in the potty she gets candy. Like her brother, this is the period in which she will do almost anything for a Skittle.

Tyson continues to be a great big brother. Lulu likes to sit right on his lap and he lets her, even if he can no longer see what he was trying to do or play with. She loves to kiss him. If he responds to her pursed lips with a peck on the forehead she leaves her lips there until she gets the smooch that she wanted.

I thought that I would have more time before Lucy began to have an opinion about her clothes. To this day Tyson will wear just about anything that I pick out. Baby Bird on the other hand has her own opinions. She didn't like what I had picked out so she went into her drawer and picked out what she wanted to wear. She also grabbed a few handfuls of other clothes that she carried around the house today. I would love to know what goes through her mind.
We'll try to get more pictures posted this weekend. Travis is back to work & I'm keeping busy. BTW Lucy is doing pretty well without him, Thank the Lord, but in the afternoons checks the driveway repeatedly until he gets home. She loves her daddy.
Thank you for all of your well wishes & prayers. This is such a joyful time in our lives and we're glad that you all are in it with us.
MJ

All is Well

2010-07-25T21:20:00.000-04:00

It's now Sunday night and all is well. We all slept last night, at least off and on. Tyson got up at about 2 am and stayed up until he fell asleep while sitting up in a chair at dinner. Poor guy. Lucy seems to like her new home. It's so much fun to hear her little feet slapping around on the tile.
Baby Bird is still as cute as can be. She giggles a lot and says 'candy', 'tickle tickle' and 'banana'. I am so happy to report that she is letting me care for her and love on her! She still prefers Baba but lets me love her for hours at a time. It's so exciting for me to finally get to hold this little girl that I've been working towards for such a long time. Her skin is smooth and her hair is silky. It's funny that it's been two weeks and it's only now that I can say these things about her.
I wanted to say thanks and hi to everyone who sent us welcome home messages. We can't wait to see you all and to introduce you to the littlest Jacques.

Home at Last (is it 5am or 5 pm?)

2010-07-24T17:24:00.001-04:00

We are finally home! It's been a rough two days of travel but we finally made it back to the house at 430 this morning, just five hours after our planned arrival (I must admit it felt like more - that delay in Detroit really took it out of us). We finally got off the ground at about 230 and that pilot pushed it because we made it to Norfolk in record time. By the time we left Detroit we had spent as much time there as we had on the plane from China. Got the kids to sleep by about 6am - took forever to get Lucy to sleep this morning. And then we slept and slept and slept and I couldn't pry my butt out of bed until after 4pm. It took the better part of an hour to get the rest of the fam up. We are all up now, feels like we should be eating breakfast. Anyhow, we are are home, we are awake, we've yet to unpack and we've got to get these kids back on an EST schedule. Thanks to all who read the blog and made comments - now that we can see them we have gone back and read through all your thoughtful commentary. We'll keep posting pics of the family and our new, wonderful addition.
TJ

More Delays

2010-07-23T22:03:00.002-04:00

Bad news; our flight from Detroit to Norfolk has been delayed from 940pm to 200am. Ugh! This trip is never ending. We will be in Detroit longer than we were on the plane from China to America. The SkyClub closes at ten so we have lost the relative comfort of that. Irony is that we flew through two typhoons on China with only a little delay but some thunderstorms in the US are going to cost us 5-6 hours minimum. The kids are beyond exhausted and the adults are dizzy with fatigue. I've never been this tired. Hopefully home by 5am.
TJ

Safe and Sound in Detroit

2010-07-23T14:43:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to say that we have landed in Detroit and negotiated our way through customs and immigration. Lucy became a US citizen at 1150am when our plane touched down in the good old US of A. We are doing our long layover thing in Detroit and will arrive in Norfolk tonight at about 1130pm. The 14 hour plane trip was pretty rough with the little one only allowing me to hold her the whole time. So basically I've been awake now since 11pm Wednesday night (EST). That will make over 48 hours without sleep. Pray for this last leg as I am really dragging and hoping Lucy will let Melissa hold her.
TJ

More Lucy Pics

2010-07-21T11:07:00.001-04:00

GZ Zoo Pics

2010-07-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

2010-07-21T10:59:00.001-04:00

See the below for the blog entry that goes with this pic.

Farewell Guangzhou

2010-07-21T10:58:00.001-04:00

This will probably be the last post we make from China. Tomorrow is our last day in mainland China; we check out of our hotel at 6pm and fly to Hong Kong; after a quick overnight in HK we're back at the airport for the big hop across the Pacific to America. Sixteen hours from Hong Kong to Detroit, then a 9-hour layover in Motown and a 2-hour hop to Norfolk. We are supposed to be landing at home at 1130PM on Friday night. I hope after all that time in Detroit the flight would be on time – the best thing about the Detroit layover is going to be that sweet SkyClub. Here's hoping it works out as well for us on the way back as on the way over because we are going to need it.

Lucy Update

Today we had our consulate appointment and went through the oath ceremony for Lucy's US visa. This was not a naturalization ceremony but it's the closest thing she will ever have to it. As with Tyson, Lucy will become a US citizen (and by default forfeit her China citizenship) the moment our airplane touches down on US soil. We can even take her through the US Citizen side of the Immigration booths in the Detroit Airport. She is fully ours in the sight of both the US and the Chinese governments. Although the oath was a shade anti-climactic, us and the other 50 families who took part in it all cheered when it was concluded. It represented the last major legal hurdle for all of us in bringing our kids home from China – a journey that has taken each of us years to realize. In that regard it was really neat.

Lucy is cleaving more and more to her Mama everyday; it is a slow, painful process but all the sweeter for how hard it has been. She actually allowed Melissa to hold her on two occasions today for about 20 minutes each. This is a huge milestone for both of them. For her part, Melissa just keeps chipping away at Lucy's resistance. She has been such a trooper through this rejection period. I know in just a little while we will look back and have a tough time remembering how hard this was. But right now it's a struggle every day. Lucy has been in my arms every waking moment for 10 days – and everything I have is covered in Lucy slobber and food castoffs. I, for one, welcome any time she is willing to jump into her Mama's arms; Lucy and I are good and bonded together.

Tyson is learning everyday day how to be a better big brother and his love for Lucy is showing more and more in a hundred little ways every day. From holding her on the bus to greeting her each morning with a kiss, he is fabulous big bro.

And Mom and Dad have been a Godsend – helping out in a ton of ways every day. They've taken care of Tyson when Melissa and I needed to be doing paperwork or attending to Lucy; they've held the breakfast table for us every morning and taken Tyson up to get his morning ration of freshly cooked noodles. They've adventured out on the town with us as we sought to escape the cloying confines of our hotel room – even into the most God-awful heat imaginable. They've been perpetual good sports through all the legalities of the adoption process and sat with us through all the boring proceedings. Melissa and I simply can't thank them enough for all that they have done.

Well, Melissa has been packing up our stuff the whole night and it's getting late. The kids are finally asleep and all is quiet. Tomorrow we start our adventure home. Pray for travel mercies and on-time flights. I will try posting from the Detroit airport when we finally get there.

No Spitting or Nose Clearing

2010-07-21T10:56:00.001-04:00

The fact that the Chinese need a reminder of this when they are in "international" company says volumes about the gulf between Chinese and Western cultures. Hawking up a loogey at the swimming pool is perfectly normal behavior to the Chinese, but the rest of us think it's gross so they put up signs for the Chinese nationals to be on their best behavior when around us foreigners. So, no spitting or nose clearing when Westerners around. Ironically, our "polite" custom of blowing our nose into a tissue is a real no-no to the Chinese. We've compiled quite a few of these foibles in our travels in the Far East (ie, things that Westerners would consider rude but is accepted here) For instance, the Chinese don't think twice about staring, pointing or talking about big, white Anericans in public. Add two Chinese kids to the mix and you can watch it melts their brains – it's physically impossible for them to stop staring and they do not flinch when you catch them at it. Walk through a public park and every eye is on you. Walk into a room and all conversation stops, tea cups freeze halfway to their mouths, chewing stops and starting commences. We might as well be made of fire for all the attention we garner in any public place. It's unsettling at first but then you get used to it - then it gets old again like "yeah, I know, I'm a big white guy with a Chinese kid, stare away." And on this trip I have found that looking them in eyes, saying 'hello' and smiling tends to break through the ice and may even get a smile back. But even that looses it's luster when you have to do it every 10-15 seconds the entire time you are out in public.

Apparently, napkins are a real luxury item here because the only place we can get them without creating a stir is at McDonald's (and the buffet at our Western hotel). Everywhere else and we get a cocktail napkin – if you ask for more you get a stack of cocktail napkins. And about half the time we can't get a fork for Tyson, who has good intentions but no skills with chopsticks. C'mon people we've got two children here, one less than 2 years old. They are going to be messy. A cocktail napkin just ain't gonna cut it! Sometimes I think they are just jerking us around, watching the stupid American's try to eat rice and noodles with chopsticks and no napkins!

Also on the gross out meter – but perfectly fine to them – is to dish out food from serving plates to you own with the same chopsticks that have already been in your mouth! I barely know the other families from the travel group and they seem to be great people but swapping chopstick spit in the eggplant dish is just too much. Thankfully they have largely condescended to providing serving spoons for the 'picky Americans'.

In reality these things show me how much of the stuff we take as "givens", such as no spitting in the pool, really are just cultural norms that we take for granted. Here in China it is perfectly acceptable for your kid to drop pants at the zoo and pee into the moat at the hippo paddock. Kids gotta pee somewhere right?

However there are a few things I've seen here that no amount of cultural relativism can explain away. Here are a few signs that should have been posted but weren't.

Please Don't Litter On Your Greatest National Treasure

I'm speaking of the Great Wall here. After seeing Chinese nationals toss their empty bottles off the Wall not once but twice in the span of an hour I was ready to make my own sign. But seriously, you shouldn't need a sign for that. It's the Great Wall of China for crying out loud! What could your empty Sprite bottle possibly contribute to the grandeur of the Great Wall? What kind of callous disregard do you have to have to toss your trash on one of the Seven Wonders of the World?

Here's another sign I want to get made.

Please Do Not Throw Trash at the Monkeys

This must be a great national pastime based on the shocking volume of trash we saw in the monkey pit at the GZ Zoo yesterday – there were two liter soda bottles, hamburger wrappers, plastic water bottles, toilet paper, napkins (how'd they get those?), plates, banana peels, apple cores, basically everything you'd find in your trash can at home. In the three minutes we were standing there I saw a guy toss a half empty water bottle at a monkey (much to the amusement of the crowd) and someone else spit a mouthful of water on another (again with the spitting). And I've already mentioned the peeing on the hippo exhibit. So, I'm guessing that PETA doesn't have a chapter here in Guangzhou. It was disgusting and appalling. Like I said, some things even cultural relativism can't explain away.

So the next time you swing through China, leave the Kleenex at home and work on your spitting instead. You'll fit right in here.

Guest Blogger: Nai Nai

2010-07-20T01:56:00.001-04:00

Tuesday July 20^th Trav's 37^th Birthday. Guest writer Nai Nai here.

Well all, for better or worse, you're stuck with a post from me today. It's sort of a birthday present for Trav, not having to come down to post at 11pm when we're all asleep.

For those of you that know me you know I operate with a stream of conscious thought…always thinking and processing and now typing. So I'm going to give you a perspective on the trip from Gpa and me. China is so much more than I imagined. Let's start with Beijing.

That first night Dave and I ventured out onto the streets of Beijing. We went into a restaurant and ordered by pointing at pictures…no English and we still don't know what we ate. We talked and laughed along with the wait staff and had a very good time. It was there that we discovered that our size and my white hair were going to be subject of much discussion and photographs along the journey. The next day the whole group did the fastest tour of Beijing imaginable. It was pouring while we were in Tianenmen Square and The Forbidden City. Picture 40,000 people walking from a 10 lane highway onto to a two "lane" cart path all holding umbrellas right at eye level. Fortunately, we made it through the day without being blinded. Onto The Great Wall and a truly amazing site. One just can't imagine a million men literally carrying the bricks on their backs up slopes so steep your hands and feet are on the ground at the same time. Once at theior destination…they lay the bricks in place…turn around and do it again…and again…. For lunch we ate more amazing Chinese food and then toured , a tour fantastic cloisonné factory.

Well on Sunday we were in Nanchang and awaiting the arrival of our precious Lucy. I wish I could describe the unbelievable emotions I felt as we walked into the room and there she was…so cute...but crying her eyes out. Evidently, she had just been taken from her foster mom by a woman who fit my stereotype of someone from the Red Army. She thrust Lucy into Melissa arms saying here's your baby, here's your mama, walk!!! I was in charge of the videoing so I'm sure it will be the worst ever done as I tried to follow Melissa around the room while tears streamed down my face. So for a few agonizing numbing minutes Melissa walked with her and then the "Red Army ladies" said goodbye and we were to go back to our hotel room. Done, final, she was ours then. You've read lots from the kids relating the ensuing couple of days, but I can tell you when I think of that exchange I'm still numb from the whole transaction. That evening Dave and I were put on a quest to find some milk. Walking the torn up streets of Nangchang was quite an experience. No sidewalks, so you just walk out in the street hoping that no buses, motorcycles, bicycles, cars or people run you over. After several unsuccessful quests in "bodegas" we spotted good old Mickey D's down a couple of blocks. Once there, even they didn't understand milk, so I resorted to "mooing". They understood that, laughed and brought us 6 cartons of milk….mission successful. We truly loved the people of Nangchang. Every afternoon Dave and I would go down for coffee while Dave worked. They knew what we drank, how often to give us refills and they could come practice their English on us. We always spoke to everyone, smiled and thanked them. The beautiful day-consierge, who we spoke to many times a day, upon our leaving came up to us with tears in her eyes telling us how special we were and thanked us for acknowledging her presence. I, of course, cried too, hugged her and Dave said every Chinese woman in the place went ohhh in a good way. Remember I'm old, my size and gray hair gave me much credibility with them and that I would hug this unnoticed female was something. Dave too had lots of folks wanting to have their picture taken with him. As our guide/friend Allison says we're like "Rock Stars"….pity the future of rock music in the US.

So now we're posting from Guangzhou, another totally different city. Beijing of course is millions of people, lots redone for the Olympics. Nangchang is 6 million people, home of the Revolution, but with a much more working class feel to it. Guangzhou is 12-13 million people…very big cityish…definitely not as easy to feel at home in as Nangchang. It's been unbelievably hot here. I'm saying 95 with a heat index of 123 or so. I never knew I could produce so much perspiration…ok it's sweat. That hasn't dampened (no pun intended) our spirit too much. On an outing to Shaiman Island, we took Tyson and walked the Island. Came upon sort of their rendition of Central Park, where everyone exercises, dances and sing. Believe it or not there was a group doing swing, two step/ salsa dancing to English songs. Dave and I just couldn't resist and had to get in the swing dancing to "I Like Bread and Butter, I Like Toast and Jam" All the locals laughed and cheered and even old Tyson thought it was pretty cool that his Nai Nai and Gpa danced with the Chinese.

Yesterday was Zoo day and only the human animals were out and about. Most of the "wild" animals tried to stay in as much shade as possible. Tyson and Gpa tried to see every bird, beast and fish in the place.

We as grandparents have tried to be as helpful as possible with not only our family but others on our trip, even Dave has helped a few Chinese folks along the way. I think our biggest question is when to help, when to take Tyson and how to get some "facetime" with Lucy. Tyson's been really very good and has Lucy looking at him and mimicking him all the time. Lucy still lights up our world when she turns those big brown eyes on us and says "Gpa" Nai Nai" and throws her head back and laughs. Both Dave and I feel blessed in so many ways. We are so proud of our family. Travis and Melissa are remarkable parents. They too are learning as they go along, but doing a beautiful job of weaving the old with the new. Giving much love to each child and all in our group as well. Melissa, with her remarkable planning skills has shared many of her supplies with those less prepared than she. And that formerly shy Tyson of two years ago is the non-stop talking ambassador of our group and at times even surprises himself by going up and talking to Chinese children. We know there's lots going on in his little head.

Believe it or not I have left out volumes of feelings, sights, smells, sounds and all the other things that make up China. But I've rambled far too long now. So we send much love to you all.

Maureen/Nai Nai and Dave/Gpa

GZ Pics 4

2010-07-19T11:39:00.000-04:00

GZ Pics 3

2010-07-19T11:38:00.000-04:00

GZ Pics 2

2010-07-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

Chinglish Shirts

2010-07-19T11:07:00.001-04:00

Shirts with English print are all the rage here in China. It doesn't matter what it says as long as it's English. We've been to a lot of public places here in the last few days and seen thousands of Chinese nationals in their natural habitats – parks, restaurants, lobbies, streets, the zoo, etc. – and I can safely say that one in every three people is wearing a t-shirt with some sort of English writing on it. Not French or German but English – or what is clearly meant to be English. Now, to be fair many of these shirts are "designer" shirts with logos on them like Levis or Reebok or Nike. But about every tenth one is just something ridiculous or puzzling. Take for instance the shirt of a punkish, defiant teen in the metro yesterday. It said, "I Alive! You no sweat. I a Rocker!" with a big NY on both sleeves. Hmmmmm. That one stumped me a bit. Not sure what she thought it said but she wore it like she was shaking a fist at the world. Rock on, sister! Less puzzling was the one that simply said, "I Take New York".

Others are just silly, like the person yesterday with the words, "Flower Shirt" over – you guessed it – a graphic of a flower. Or the one that simply said Apple with an apple in the second P – not the iPod Apple mind you, just a regular apple. So, I guess it doesn't matter what English you have on your shirt – English letters are cool. Even if it's jibberish. Maybe the cool kids have shirts that actually spell something real while the regular kids just get random letters thrown on with a graphic for good measure. Like the guy today who's shirt had actual words on it. "Designer Shirt," it said in plaid lettering, with a picture of the Na'vi from Avatar ironed-on underneath. Clearly top of the line.

The only thing I can relate it to is when Americans get a Chinese or Japanese pictogram tattooed on their body and think it says "harmony" until an Asian tells them it really says "broccoli" – except the Chinese can take their shirts off at the end of the day but that American is stuck with Broccoli. Perhaps they've got it right after all.

Nevertheless, I'm begging someone to help me figure this one out. Big letters across the front of the shirt from top to bottom that looked exactly like this:

THE

RTL

GRP

FER

See, what I mean? English letters just for the sake of English letters. I swear I'm tempted to whip out the camera every time I see a good one – but I don't want to be rude:). I'll keep a sharp eye out for other good ones and post more later.

But, I digress. Most of you want to hear about Lucy and our exploits in China but I've been jonesing to blog about those shirts for days.

Lucy is doing Awesome. We are making breakthroughs every day. Little bits of progress that show she is more comfortable with us then ever and getting better. Today she allowed us to put her in a high chair. Since we got her, she has clung to me, even during meals – which has made eating very tricky for both of us. Yesterday she allowed us to put a bib on her for dinner – which spared my shorts their nightly covering in all things food. I don't mean cheerios and bananas; I'm talking steamed egg, fried noodles, buttered corn, curried beef, fried dumplings– anything sticky, gooey, stinky or brown goes into her mouth and onto my shorts! Except yesterday she started wearing a bib! Praise the Lord. Now only half of that stuff hits my shorts. Tonight, she did both – bib and high chair – AND she allowed Melissa to feed her! This is huge since she normally can't stand the sight of Melissa let alone allow her to touch her food. For the first time, I didn't feed her a thing, and she played with Melis after the meal too. It was amazing. Melis was also "allowed" to change her poopy diaper today – a privilege only I have been afforded up until now. So, things are looking up.

Seriously, she is such a bundle of joy…and vinegar. She has 9 different ways of saying Baba that all mean something different. Sometimes she can only go to sleep if she's lying on my chest and every morning and evening she sits in my lap for her bottle of milk. She's a late riser and likes to cuddle in the morning before getting up and her arms do this funny, jerky swing when she is walking all by herself and getting cocky about it. She has her challenges to be sure but this is the little girl we have been waiting for all these years. I haven't seen a prettier little girl in China yet – and I mean that. Even the Chinese people stop us to take pictures of her and tell us "She so beautiful."

Well, it's late Monday night here and I better get down to the free wifi zone to get this posted. More crazy shirts and Lucy news to come.

Baby Bird LuLu

2010-07-17T09:44:00.001-04:00

As Trav said, we're staying at a great hotel called The China Hotel. I love it! When we came for Tyson we were astonished with how small it was compared to his home province's hotel. This time we struck with how functional it is. The refrigerator works (after they switched it out), the AC is cool & there are drawers! (Okay, little rant here, but really, what were we supposed to do with 4 of us in one room without a single drawer?).

Lucy is coming out of her shell more and more. This morning she was almost tolerating my presence and by the afternoon seemed to be at peace with it. Now I'm only talking about my presence. If I dare touch her she has a cow. On the bus ride back from Shamain Island she sat in Tyson's lap so the two of them could look out the window together. Yup, we got pics.

Praise the Lord! The medical exam and shots went much better than expected. When we went to Shamain Island the first thing we did was get her visa photo taken. Next we went to the clinic where there were close to 100 families all trying to get their babies through this process. It was mild mayhem. We zipped through the general procedures but then had to wait as we were the only family in our group whose baby had to get shots. First they said 3, then 5 and after we had paid a few thousand RMB they changed their minds and only gave her 3. (Thank God for charge nurses). They also gave us a refund for the unused immunizations. This is really something that we wish could have waited until we got to the US. Well, despite our worries, Lucy proved herself to be every bit of the trooper that her brother is. She cried for a minute or two and then ripped off her apple-shaped band-aids and handed them to me as if to say 'get these out of my sight'.

Of course we won't really know the state of Lucy's heart until we go to see her cardiologist, but the staff at the exam said that they couldn't hear any issues with her heart. Woohoo!

The day proved to be even more amazing as it went on. Lucy really seems to be coming out of her shell. She was walking around the room, playing, laughing and smiling. Times of happiness far outweighed bouts of crying and mourning. Of course she still loves her Baba but she is letting me into her heart a little at a time.

LuLu, as she responds to, loves to snack. I mean all day snacking. If she could just pick up a diet coke habit I'll know we're one in the same. She's more of a puffs and cheerios kind of girl but I still like her style. Sometimes we call her 'baby bird' because when she wants sweets she opens her mouth wide and practically chirps 'ah ah ah'. Her big eyes just complete the picture.

Another one of the things that I enjoyed about China is different. There is a McDonalds just a few hundred feet from our hotel. In 2008 they had cucumbers instead of pickles and a spicy sauce on their burgers. We went their tonight and it was just plain old McD's. Bummer. After dinner it was drizzling but warm so we went for a long walk. It started by going up a main street lined with hotels, banks and shops. To take a different way home we made a right into a neighborhood. Just behind all of these very western shops was a cool neighborhood. The back of the apartments faced us so we could see their tenant's laundry and plants and just normal life things. There were men playing card games in the back of trucks, families eating & kids hanging out with their parents. Although we were the only obvious westerners it didn't seem to cause as much of a ruckus as it does other places. Tyson and I stopped for a few cookies. Together they were only 2.5 RMB, less than 50 cents. Baby bird didn't see me buy them, but when she saw the bag on my hand later in the trip she chirped out her plea for a few pieces.

Tomorrow we go back to the island for group photos, the infamous 'Red Couch' photos, church and lunch. We'll keep you updated. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Guangzhou At Last

2010-07-16T10:56:00.000-04:00

Hello from Southern China!

It's 10pm here so that means it's mid morning to most of you back in the States. We are on our third of four cities in our whirlwind tour of China. Today, we flew into the big GZ. And although we are told it's only twice as big as Nanchang (12 mil vs 6 mil) it FEELS a lot bigger. First clue, air conditioned airport! Not only was the terminal air-conditioned but so was the skyway that led from the plane to the terminal! A far cry from Nanchang, which felt more like a third world country - sweltering terminal, hoofing it across the tarmac and hauling our carry-ons up the LBJ stairs into the airplane. GZ is a huge metropolis by comparison and much more multicultural. What's more the sidewalks are intact here, which is more than I can say for the last place. No more schlepping for block after block in mud that really smells like something…more organic… just to get bottled water and a just-off tasting Sprite.

We are staying in the same Marriott we stayed in two years ago with Tyson – the room layout is exactly the same – so there is something comforting about it. We knew where to eat and how to get around the massive lobby and where the 7-11, Starbucks and McD's are. I know, very American of me, but we've been living it up China style for a week, I want a Starbucks coffee and free wifi!!!

Tomorrow we take Lucy for the dreaded medical check-up where she will be poked and prodded by masked, but well intentioned, health officials and more than likely get some shots. This was the location and occasion for Tyson's first major meltdown two years ago. He thrashed and bit and peed and screamed at the top of his lungs for over an hour, which is long time when you are in a public space with a kid. So, needless to say we are a bit leery about what tomorrow will bring with the infinitely more tear-prone Lucy. Ugh.

Speaking of the wee one, she has made major strides in working through her grief these last two days but especially today. She is just a happier little girl – more prone to laughter then tears. She does this great thing where she snaps her head back and laughs at the sky when she thinks she has done something cute or clever. It makes my heart leap to see her with such joy. She has cried so much I feared she stay that way forever. When she's happy her eyes get really huge and she has this way of looking at you that just melts you – then she grabs the chopsticks ou of your hands and pours the steamed eggs in your lap! Yeah, she's a spicy one – we're in trouble.

We went to the Cantonese place on the first floor of the hotel tonight – they gave us a private alcove all to ourselves and I can't help but wonder if they weren't tucking us away so Kid Dynamo and Princess Pee wouldn't disturb the rest of the customers…nah, that can't be it. Food was decent but we've had better Chinese since we got here, especially for the price. That was one thing about Nanchang I will give them credit for – great food for cheap! Anyways, I'm popping a few Zantac and a Cipro tonight to cover all the bases – let's just say that all our systems are a little "travel weary" at this point. Nuff said.

I will attach a few pics my dad took – one of us in a water-ride at the People's Park in Nanchang yesterday. All the characters had a striking resemblance to the movie"Shark Tales" with Jack Black and Will Smith – except the colors were a little different – just-off like the Sprite I mentioned earlier. And they were playing "It's a Small World" instead of "Carwash". They do that a lot here, especially with Disney stuff, and you look at it and think, Can they do that? Isn't that some sort of copyright infringement? But no one's stopping them so I guess it isn't worth the fight for the big Dis.

The other pic is self-explanatory. Melt!!!

Alright, enough already. It feels like 2 in the morning and I'm doing the blogging version of blathering and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, but I just had to get the word out on our safe conduct to another port of call. Dreading those shots tomorrow for Lucy – things have been going so well. She's even caved in and started to call Melissa 'mama' and that is saying something indeed. Would hate to loose all that ground.

Now I just hope Starbucks still has free-wifi or you will never read this and my ramblings will have been in vain.

PS - We're in luck!

Moving Day

2010-07-15T20:25:00.002-04:00

Travis here. Today we leave for Guangzhou (GZ) at around noon. I've been up since 5 with a fussy, sometimes sleeping Lucy who simply MUST stay in the bed next to me - three attempts to put her fast asleep little body into the crib resulted in tears within about 30 minutes. If I keep her in bed next to me - no such tears. I think that's called conditioning - and she's doing it to me, not the other way around. When we were here to get Tyson I worried about trying to establish routines and fretting over bad habits he was starting. I didn't realize that over here none of this is really real - we're just doing everything we can to bide our time until the paperwork comes through and we can go home and do this thing for real. Over hear you do whatever you have to do to get a better night's sleep, or to get her to stop crying or to eat some food when she is fussy. Once we get back we'll establish the niceties and routine.

Had to pause in my typing for a few hours since the princess awoke and demanded an audience. She and I got a shower and got dressed and put in pigtails - all at about 100 decibels of crying. Fun, fun.

So, we're off to GZ in a few hours - it's a 45 minute hop so will be a good trial run for the big show next week. Since she won't even sit in a chair next to me without a meltdown, I guess she'll be in my lap for a bunch/all of the flight. Sweet!

But in the end, all these labor pains are worth every bit. Lucy is awesome and when she emerges from her grief for brief periods of time she is such a joy to be with. She laughs and tickles and giggles and plays peekaboo and talks to her gege (brother) and sings. Such great potential on the other side of all this crying/grieving. Please Lord make it soon.

Gotta go!

Just Another Day

2010-07-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

Melissa here again.- Trav is still not feeling too well.

Our day started with a trip to another People's Park. Our guide, Alison, has been telling us a little bit about Chinese culture each day. As we were driving to the park she said that the elderly people get up very early to do their shopping at little farmers markets that are set up on the sidewalk usually between 5 and 7 a.m. Afterwards they go to the park to exercise. At the park we visited today there was a large, open circle with what looked liked playground equipment. Upon further inspection we realized that it wasn't meant for children but was actually adult exercise equipment, think Nautilus but outside. It was all made of metal and will stand up to harsh weather and little kids playing on it. Further into the park was a small amusement park. We did venture on one ride that kind of spun around while we shot water at plastic animals in the center. We didn't have time to go on more of them much to Tyson's chagrin. There were plenty of rides that I wouldn't have dared go on. They looked a little too rickety for my taste. (And we didn't buy the travel insurance for medical evacuation).

Lucy still isn't a fan of the hotel. We had to stay around this afternoon though while our guide had some of our paperwork processed. Afterwards she arranged for a calligrapher to come and make scrolls for our family. Apparently the lady who came is part of the local calligraphy association and is actually a pharmacist. She made beautiful scrolls with Tyson and Lucy's names and birthplaces on them. This type of calligraphy is associated to the Jiangxi province and we hope that it will stay special in their hearts.

Our pattern of eating is to have a western/Chinese blend for breakfast, Chinese lunch and western dinner. Tonight's dinner was good old McDonald's. As soon as we walked in Lucy opened her mouth and was pointing at her tongue. We think that that is the 'feed me here' sign. She ate French fries and a little cheeseburger. It wasn't far away but it was getting dark and was raining. The sidewalk conditions were no better than on the way to the other park so it was a little stressful getting there. They have an English menu but the cashier and I still needed a little help getting our order straight. Apparently me tapping on different pictures doesn't always get across the point that I wanted the whole meal, not just the sandwich. Somehow I also bought 2 junky little toys that they were selling.

Tomorrow we leave Nanchang. As much as I will miss being in Lucy's birth city I want to get her out of this hotel. She just gets so upset when we're here. We'll be spending about a week in Guangzhou where we'll be doing the American paperwork. By tomorrow afternoon she'll have a Chinese passport. In Guangzhou (GZ) she'll get a medical exam, shots and a US visa.

Lucy still is extremely attached to Trav. She won't let anyone else hold her without pitching a fit. I don't mean whining, I mean 'someone help me this isn't my family' kind of fits. Poor Trav has to go to the bathroom with her on his lap.

Many people come up to Tyson and try to talk to him. He doesn't have any idea about what they are saying and pulls in close to me when they do. Tonight he did try to copy some of the Chinese characters with a crayon and paper. It was super cute.

My prediction is that Lucy will be speaking pretty good English by Christmas. She seems to pick things up pretty quickly even in this hard stage. She says candy, G-Pa and tickle tickle. I was able to get her to play with me for a few minutes tonight by bribing her with some Skittles. I'm pretty sure that I will be going to get some more of them in the morning before our flight.

Things that Lucy likes: corn with butter, candy, sleeping on dad's chest & steamed eggs. Things that she doesn't like: me, vegetables, being away from her dad & being told no.

One thing that I've been processing in my head is that this trip couldn't be any more different than the last trip. First of all there is the child aspect. Tyson bonded to us in a totally different way and on a different timeframe. Another way is harder to explain. It's like this trip isn't foreign enough. Both Beijing and Nanchang are almost too familiar even though I've never been to either one before this trip. Don't get me wrong, things here are different than at home but just not as different as I thought they were the first time around. The gaps between this country and ours are just not as big as I once thought. Like I said, I'm still processing this but I just wanted to get it down in writing for some reason.

Well, I hope all of you are doing well. You are in our thoughts and prayers all of the time. We brought little pieces of so many of you with us. I can't help but think of you all in so many ways. We're using all of the things that you gave us, lent us or recommended to us. They have all made the trip more pleasurable. Well, everyone is asleep so I will join them now. Love and miss you all!

Nanchang Central Square

2010-07-14T20:39:00.000-04:00

Nanchang Village 2

2010-07-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

Village Outside Nanchang 1

2010-07-14T20:16:00.000-04:00

Teng Wang Pavilion Pics 4 (lunch)

2010-07-14T19:56:00.001-04:00

Teng Wang Pavilion Pics 3

2010-07-14T19:47:00.001-04:00

There's that sexy Ergo Carrier - ugly and ungainly but man does it do the job. Hands Free walking!

Teng Wang Pavilion Pics 2

2010-07-14T19:45:00.000-04:00

A Bull in a China Shop

2010-07-14T10:40:00.001-04:00

Hey- Melissa here. Trav left me in charge of the blog because he's feeling a little yucky and frankly he hasn't had 2 seconds to himself. I'm not sure quite where Trav left off so I'll just catch you up to speed on a few things.

Everyone is asleep in the room. Unfortunately, Lucy doesn't like being in the hotel room or really most places in the hotel. She was brought to us here at the hotel instead of the Civil Affairs office, which we are grateful for since it gave us 1 more day with her than if we had to wait for the office to open on Monday. I do however think that this may have something to do with her distress over being in the here.

In general she was just cranky and cries a lot (rightfully so). She has incredibly long eyelashes and a fabulous smile. It's so hard to see the sadness that she has. I know that she misses her foster family deeply. It is good for her to grieve but I'm not sure what else could be more painful to watch.

On a lighter note I'm going to add in a few details that you all might not be interested in but I want to preserve somewhere. Yesterday we went to the hotel's indoor pool in the afternoon. We were told that you have to wear a swim cap in the pool by so we bought some at Walmart during our crazed visit there. When we checked in at the pool they handed me a slinky-type bracelet with a round center and Trav a key on a bracelet. That's it, no other instructions. We pantomimed that we didn't know what to do or where to go and they take us to entrances for male and female locker rooms. We parted ways and I practically ran into a naked lady upon entering the ladies' locker room. The bracelet was apparently a proximity key for a locker. I waved my wrist near a locker and the door popped open. In it was a towel and a pair of pink flip flops. I took the towel and shoved most of my size 9 boats in to them. After walking through a few more rooms I toddled my way out to the pool. Luckily the rest of my family was there and we were able to have a good time in the pool. With our Wallie World swim caps on we strutted to the pool. I'm sure it was a sight to see. Lucy played with Trav and Ty and I played together. She really has him wrapped around her finger.

This morning we went to the countryside of Nanchang to get a glimpse into their lives. There were people in the streets, kids eating ice cream and adults preparing food. We walked out to the fields and saw rice patties. From what we understand they are about 7-10 days from harvesting the rice. The rice was inside of beautiful golden shells. Dave took pictures, with their permission, of a few of the residents. They really seemed to enjoy seeing their photos on the digital display. On one of the 2 main roads men were building a multi story building. It really was a sight to see these old fashioned wheelbarrows being hoisted by rope to the top of the building. When I say hoisted I mean that they look like they were practically flying up there. A lady in our travel group said, 'this looks like San Francisco in the 1800s'. She was right!

After the countryside visit we had another fabulous authentic Chinese lunch. My personal favorite is the eggplant. Tyson of course likes anything spicy and poor Trav doesn't really get to eat. Lucy is what they call a 'velcro-baby'. While she is grieving she is stuck to him like glue. He literally can't go to the bathroom without her. He doesn't know it but he is super dad. You should see him with her. All of her needs are met by him alone. He changes her diapers, feeds her, carries her everywhere and even does her hair. I basically get to pick out her clothes and then carry around the backpack all day.

I used to feel that sometimes a white daddy with an Asian baby stuck out in America. Well, now I can say that it sticks out WAY more in Nanchang. Trav has Lucy in our ErgoCarrier (probably the best purchase that we made for the trip) most of the day. We haven't attempted a stroller but it wouldn't be very practical anyway. The sidewalks are majorly torn up. It appears that they are paving them with these large stone pavers but I'm not sure in what order. The pavers are intact for maybe 200 feet and then boom, dirt or concrete. Then 100 feet later more pavers. To say that it isn't 'stroller friendly' is a complete understatement. We'd probably have better luck getting my feet into tiny little Asian-sized flip flops than getting a stroller safely to the bodega.

After an unsuccessful nap time we took a long walk to the park. By long I mean it takes a long time to walk around mini death traps. The park is one of the 'people's parks'. It is basically a large concrete park with different kinds of artwork, statues and flags commerating their history. I met an nice 20 something man and chatted for a moment. His English is great even though he has never been to the US. He said that he practices it often and likes to watch American t.v. Of course I couldn't leave it at that. I asked his favorite show and he said that right now he is finishing season 5 of LOST. Apparently the show Prison Break is really popular amongst his friends too. And the show Heroes is too 'how you say… unreal'.

On the way home we ate at KFC. Yup, the Colonel is in China too. Dave asked if I thought it tasted like American KFC but I really don't even know since I can't remember the last time I had it at home. Lucy likes pretty much anything fried so this was right up her ally.

Speaking of things Lucy likes and doesn't like. She likes her Baba, watching KaiLan, eating, her new sippy cup, her pacifier, being carried in her Ergo, her 3 stuff animals and going places. She does not like: me looking at her or touching her, getting her clothes or diaper changed, putting on any shoes but the ones she came in (and peed in), the hotel and seeing our faces in the morning. We see her clothes her eyes tightly and then pop them open. When she sees us she cries and makes a terrible face that says 'ahhhh… you are still here!'.

So, you might be wondering why I titled this post in the way that I did. Well, I'll give you a little background. Porcelain is of very high quality here. The term 'china' started here, as there is a town south of Nanchang with a name something like ChaNang. As the world was made aware of the great quality porcelain that was made there it was shipped all over. If you say the name of the town fast enough you may here is as 'China'. So, over time the name of this type of porcelain was named china. Soooooo, I digress. Today we were in a beautiful china shop. Poor Trav was walking through a threshold and hit his head on a picture. The picture fell, and knocked over a few boxes of china. Luckily I learned a little earlier that china does not break easily so we escaped with only one piece broken. The picture and its frame were so heavy that I had to use 2 hands to drag it off of the boxes. Trav was initially afraid that we had just bought a few thousands dollars worth of damaged china but later had a laugh that he was just a bull in a china shop. FYI- if you bang two pieces of good china together it sounds like a bell being struck. The guy was freaking me out smacking china together to make his point.

For our praying friends and family we ask that you continue to pray for us. We need it! Lucy still rejects me pretty hard and it's taking its toll on Trav. He's tired and not feeling that great. My heart of course hurts that she is so bothered by my presence. Tyson is a trooper and still tries to serve her and love her even though she rarely returns his affections. Blogspot is blocked here but if you want to please leave a comment. It was so awesome for me to read you comments when I returned home last time and I'm sure that it will be this time too.

Well. I think I will join the family now and get some zzzzzzs. You all are the best and we can't wait to introduce Lucy to you in person. I'll try to get Trav to post some more pics tomorrow.

Much love-Melis

Teng Wang Pavilion

2010-07-13T19:18:00.001-04:00

So, yesterday was so exhausting I fell asleep next to Lucy before I had a chance to blog. Not that I could have anyways as my brain has turned to mush. Yesterday was the roughest day with Lucy in many ways. While we have a bit more of a routine going making the everyday tasks of bathing and dressing and eating a bit better, she spent a lot of the day crying, still working through her grief. There were some shining moments when we got her to laugh and smile - her eyes get HUGE and absolutely light up when she is laughing. She is still wholly rejecting Melissa - hardcore - and gave a bunch of grief to Tyson yesterday including hitting him in frustration. But she still wants him around and starts up the tear factory as soon as he leaves her sight. As for me, I'm the only one she will let hold her, rejecting anyone else who tries. It's got to be breaking Melissa's heart but she is being such a champ about it - she's read way more than any of us on how this grieving process works and knows/hopes Lucy will come around eventually. Melissa says it's called nervous attachment - when the baby has an almost hysterical attachment to only one person - so much so that I can't go to the bathroom or walk across the room to change my clothes without her flipping out. Apparently, it's not uncommon. One of the families in our travel group says their first daughter with the husband for almost the whole 2 weeks in China - that little girl is now 7 and on our trip and is wonderfully attached to all the members of her family. Very encouraging.

Yesterday we went to the Teng Wang Pavilion - a pagoda like tower that is the symbol of Nanchang. It's like the Golden Gate Bridge or the St Louis Arch. If you come the Nanchang then you have to visit the Teng Wang Pavillion. It sits on the river and, although this is a reproduction of one of the original versions of the tower, it has stood watching over the city for over 1300 years. Don't know how tall it is but it's pretty tall - six levels but each level was very tall. I don't know if it was the heat, the fluid loss or the height - probably all three - but my head was swimming as we walked around the top to look at the river and the city. Very pretty if I wasn't about to pass out! I did much better by the time we worked our way down to the fifth and fourth levels - AC is such a wonder! The entire time we toured, I had Lucy strapped onto my right hip with the Ergo Carrier - it's like a baby sling on steroids - straps and webbing everywhere - and HOT!!! Lucy and I are very tight with lots of sweat shared between the two of us in there. It doesn't help that she insists on carrying 3 of her stuffed animals in there as well. The things we do for love. We did that for a few hours and then went to an amazing lunch next door. Chinese not western with tons of food. The whole group around a big table with a lazy susan in the middle - every traditional chinese meal we have here is like that. All the food piled in the middle and everyone picks off the plates as they go around. Spicy beef, a different kind of really spicy beef, eggplant in sauce, chicken wings, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, roasted corn, shoestring fried potatoes, broccoli and garlic, chicken and green beans and it goes on and on - all for $10 US per family!!!! KFC cost twice that the other night and it was just...well KFC.

Lucy just woke up for the morning so I'll have to tell you all about her first time in the pool when she goes down for a nap today. Superdad to the rescue.

Adoption Day Pics 2

2010-07-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

Adoption Day Pics 1

2010-07-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

Daddy's Little Girl

2010-07-12T05:39:00.001-04:00

So time for a verbal update on this amazing adoption journey. I can't believe it's only been 24 hours since we got Lucy - it seems like a lot longer since sooooo much has happened in the last day. Everyone is down for a late afternoon nap now so I have a bit of a break to get this out. But first, let me apologize if the blog looks all crazy - I can't actually see the blogsite at all since it is blocked here in China and I am emailing my post in blind. So I have no idea what any of this looks like and I can't verify if anything is actually getting posted unless I hear from someone (like my dear sister today) that they got posted. Additionally, hotmail does not display that any of my emails are 'sent' after I hit the send button. Very frustrating. So I probably blew up the blog with the same post of the same three pictures six times this morning - but darnit if i wasn't going to get some pictures out to everyone!

Lucy is the cutest thing in pigtails and is definitely daddy's little girl. She will not allow anyone else to hold her - she goes nuts. She screams bloody murder when Melissa even touches her let alone tries to hold her. In the realm of adoptions, this is not altogether unexpected. Tyson immediately took to Melissa and merely tolerated me and Melissa's mom for the entirety of the China trip and it took months before Tyson would let me hold him without squirming away. So, for some reason we can't explain Lucy has latched on to me. I can' t leave the room without her bursting into tears and she barely tolerated me taking a shower 4 feet from her this am. Melissa is taking it well - we knew she would probably pick one of us, I just wasn't prepared for it to be me! I mean I am bigger, taller, hairier and whiter than anyone she has ever seen AND I have an itchy beard. But there it is.

Quick summary of events: Arrived at the hotel in Nanchang yesterday midday. Had just enough time to get our bags unpacked, eat something and get Lucy's stuff organized before being summoned downstairs to Conference Room 2 where we met our darling daughter to be - she had just peed herself and was having a bit of a meltdown. We were able to take her back to our room in very short order and proceeded to try to get her to stop crying. The only thing that worked (temporarily) was sitting in my lap with all of her earthly possessions (which turned out to be the stuffed animals and disposable cameras we sent her in a care package) hugged to her chest, sucking on her didi like it was going out of style. LOTS of tears. And making a break for the door. Cheerios and Puffs scored big points and bubbles made a dent in the tears but only if I gave them to her. The first several hours were very long. Eventually she fell asleep on my chest and Melis had to go down to the Conf Room to do all the paperwork - that was supposed to be my job but the kid picked me. Whodathunkit?

I won't get into the comedy of errors that occurred when I tried to slip out of bed to go to the bathroom. Let's just say it involved lots of tears, three different types of bottles (none of which worked) and a hotpot that blew up scalding milk the temperature of liquid magma all over the counter, wall and mirror of our room. A special prop needs to go out to my folks who braved the Nanchang summer heat and insane traffic (dodging cars like Frogger) just to get their granddaughter some milk. Mom had to moo just to get someone to understand what she was looking for. Way to go Nai Nai and Gpa!!! They already know the layout downtown Nanchang from all their adventures seeking supplies.

Finally got the wee one asleep somewhere near 9 and we all immediately passed out from exhaustion.

Today was Adoption Day! It was chaos and nothing like our very ordered oath ceremony for Tyson in Chongqing. With him there were two adoptions that day and that was it. Today there must have been thirty families from all over the world adopting kids plus guides and extra family members and the office workers that ran the government agency that controls the adoptions. It was simply nuts...and hot. I haven't mentioned the heat yet but it is pretty warm here with a high humidity that just melts you; the buildings are semi air-conditioned in SOME places. Most of them are stuffy, hot and humid - stifling. Don't even get me started with the elevators! Could it get any hotter in here? And with that darling little girl clinging to me and only me...well, I lost 5 lbs today just sweating. I'm not kidding, I just weighed myself. Water has been scarce (until our WalMart run today) and I am "sucked out", as the wrestlers used to say. That's about it for now - a very long 24 hours. But she is officially ours and she is SOOOOOOO cute!!! Worth every bit of the hardships I just described and then some. She is stubborn and opinionated and talks a lot (reminds me of Boo from Monsters Inc just a bit since we can't understand her but she babbles just like her). The Lord has blessed us with an amazing little girl and we can't be thankful enough.

Well, nap time is almost over so I better post this thing or it may not get posted at all. Keep up those prayers - they're best way for you folks at home to lend us a hand over here.

Just Pictures 2

2010-07-11T16:47:00.000-04:00

OK fourth times the charm. I can only attach a few pics at a time or the network blocks my email so here a few. I'll just have to do multiple posts.

Just Pictures 1

2010-07-11T16:40:00.000-04:00

Just Pictures 1

2010-07-11T16:21:00.000-04:00

OK fourth times the charm. I can only attach a few pics at a time or the network blocks my email so here a few. I'll just have to do multiple posts.

We Made It!

2010-07-09T20:50:00.001-04:00

Hey, it's almost 9am in Beijing and we are about to head out to do the grand tour of the city and see the Great Wall. Will post pictures tonight. There are 5 families in our travel group and 4 of them are going with us to Nanchang tomorrow. We were reunited with our guide Alison last night at the airport. So good to see her. She says she wouldn't have recognized him if we weren't with him - she remembers him as a little round faced boy. Diane, Alison remembered you fondly and asked about you when we saw her. The big thing is that we made it here safe and sound, and the trip, although grueling, wasn't as bad as last time around. Let's hope that keeps up. Oh well, we're off. More to come.

Greetings from Paradise!

2010-07-08T13:24:00.000-04:00

Ah, the good life...

We're laying over in Detroit in the Delta SkyClub which we did a 30-day membership just for this trip. Best decision we've made yet. This place is a palace - an oasis in the desert of the countless gates and magazine racks and airport mini-restaurants that we all associate with the drudgery of airport travel. We are lounging through our layover with free wifi (hence the blog update), complimentary cappuccino and cocktails, snacks, private restrooms and big, comfy, leather chairs. All in the comfort of our own, semi-private alcove...ahhhhhh. I could take a nap here if I could get the five year old to stop running around the place like a looney. (No, really he's doing remarkably well.) What a far cry from our first trip two years ago. I could get used to this kind of travel. Unfortunately, in about 60 minutes we've got a 5 hour flight to Seattle crammed like sardines in a tin can. Oh well. All worth it for dear Lucy. And it's helpful to know there is another one of these amazing lounges available to us at SeaTac Airport.

Way to go Dad for finding us this jewel!

Here We Go Again

2010-07-07T22:51:00.000-04:00

Well, the day is finally here. We are at the end of a long day of packing and heading into an even longer day of traveling. We take off tomorrow at 9am and land in Beijing at noon (EST) the next day. Of course in China it will be almost Midnight - so our internal clocks are bound to be all jacked up by then. We're calling it a night and trying to get some sleep before the big day. It's hard to believe we'll be holding sweet Lucy by the end of this weekend. Keep us in your prayers - the transpacific flights there and back again are going to be one of the roughest parts of this whole trip.

We've been told that Chinese internet blocks access to Blogger, so we will be posting our blog updates by email. I'm testing it out with this post. Hope it works ok and the pic of Tyson on the bags is visible.

TTFN

The Mystery Envelopes

2010-07-06T21:22:00.001-04:00

This is a special post for the sender of the mysterious white envelopes. You know who you are...It probably won't make sense to to the rest of you but read on if we've piqued your interest.

Ho hum. It was just a normal day of looking through the mailbox. The typical bills, insurance documents, junk mail, white envelope with no return of address. Wait, what was that last one? A Mystery Envelope with a cryptic message inside. From somewhere in Norfolk. Hmmmmmmmm. Over the next few weeks Tyson and I would go running to the mailbox every afternoon to see what the next word in your message was. Day by day you added to our joy. To this day we still don't know who you are. We've racked our brains and have had a few ideas, but we remain stumped. But as the time to pick up our daughter quickly approaches, I wanted to say THANK YOU! Your thoughtfulness was a true blessing in the midst of this terribly long wait. If you ever want to reveal your identity, we're all ears. Lucy thanks you for helping to bring her home.
Thanks again,
Melissa

Just the Three of Us...

2010-07-03T22:14:00.000-04:00

One last time at the beach with Tyson, just the three of us...

Counting Down the Days

2010-07-02T21:44:00.000-04:00

Well, things are getting crazy at the Jacques' house as we count down the days until our departure. All of Lucy's stuff, which once covered the floor of her room from end to end, is now tucked away in our three duffle-cases, thanks to Melissa's indomitable drive to get us packed and ready to go. Nevermind that we still have to fit in enough clothes for rest of us; somehow we will cram it all in.

Less than a week. Two work days. That's all the time we have left before we leave. Exactly one week from now we will be in Beijing, sitting on a bus with a bunch of other expectant families, ready to tour the capital and climb the great wall. One full day in Beijing and then it's off to Lucy's home province of Nanchang (pronounced Nan-chung). That day we will receive our dear Lucy. What else can I say? We are stoked.

This Independence Day weekend we will finish up child-proofing the house, finish the packing and keep on waiting. I'm sure there will be BBQing and food and fireworks somewhere but really we are just biding our time until we leave. Ah, sweet Lucy. Hang on, baby, we're coming...

Priorities

2010-06-17T12:25:00.001-04:00

Norfolk to Detroit - 1.5 hours.
Detroit to Seattle - 4.6 hours.
Seattle to Beijing - 11.3 hours.
Beijing to Nanchang - 2 hours.
Nanchang to Guangzhou - 1.1 hours.
Guangzhou to Hong Kong - 1 hours.
Hong Kong to Detroit - 14.5 hours.
Detroit to Norfolk - 1.5 hours.
Airport Layovers - 25 hours

Total time in airports or airplanes - 62.5 hours.

Bringing home our baby girl - Priceless...

Travel Dates Set

2010-06-14T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's been an exhausting day and I won't bog you down with all the gory details but we FINALLY have our travel dates nailed down. We will be leaving for China on July 8 and returning July 23rd. The flights and the connections are pretty brutal so we're just choosing to focus on little Lucy instead of dreading the days without sleep. Flying out we will go from Norfolk to Detroit to Seattle and finally to Beijing. On the return leg we will be flying out of Hong Kong and flying directly to Detroit and then a hop back to Norfolk. The trip there will be about 30-32 hours of continuous travel and the trip back is not much better because of a nine hour (nine hour!!!!!) layover in Detroit. We have family there, so hopefully we'll able to see them, but we could be delirious with sleep deprivation so who knows what good we will be by then. Nonetheless, we are China bound and we are excited! More to come as we know more. Stay tuned.

Eating My Words...In a Good Way

2010-06-14T13:18:00.000-04:00

This morning at 9:13am EST, we received our Consulate Appointment. Less than one business day after our TA arrived. No Dragon Boat Festival delay. Your US government working quickly and efficiently. So I am eating my words and could not be happier about it. Our CA date is Tuesday, July 20th. We will find out this afternoon when our exact dates of travel are. And we are crawling out of our skin waiting for that info!!! Our best guess would be that we will be traveling the first week of July. Yikes! That's right around the corner. Will update the blog with the exact dates sometime this afternoon when we know more.

We're going to China! We're going to China!

Best. Day. Ever!

2010-06-11T21:44:00.002-04:00

Big News! We got a double dose of joy today as we received one very welcome piece of news after another. This morning we got a Lucy update including new pics and her current height & weight (she's now 30 inches tall and 22lbs). And if that wasn't enough to set our hearts atwitter, a mere six hours later we received our Travel Approval letter from China! That's right. We're going to Chiii-na, we're going to Chiii-na!

The TA is the thing we've been waiting over a year to receive - it's basically China giving us permission to go over there and get our little girl. So, when are we going? Well, it's a bit complicated. Things should move "pretty quickly" now as we are waiting for just one more thing - the Consulate Appointment (CA) which should arrive anywhere from 1 to 5 business days from today. Normally things would be moving "very quickly" at this point. Normally. The reason we are moving "pretty quickly" and not "very quickly" is...wait for it...all of China is shutting down for the next five days for the Dragon Boat Festival, which (based on intensive screenings of Ni Hao Kai Lan episodes) is a pretty big deal in China. So it could be late next week or even early the following week before we get the CA. Now, some of you may have paused there for a second and thought, "Why is the US consulate shutting down for three days for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival?" And my answer is, "Good question! I have no idea!" When in Rome...or Guangzhou...I guess. And also, you know those same folks are going to get July 4th and 5th off too - it is the American Consulate after all! I want to be understanding but all we want to do is go get our little girl. But I digress...

So...the day we get the Consulate Appointment we will know our exact date of travel. Purely speculating here but we think our CA could be at the end of July so our departure date for China would be mid month sometime - maybe around the 15th. There really is no telling until we get that CA though.

All joking aside we COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!! Until then, Melissa and I will be packing our bags, counting our money, filling our prescriptions (Cipro anyone?) and thinking non-stop about our little angel in Nanchang. And I'm pretty sure Melissa needs to make another Gymboree run or two. Praise God, we are nearing the home stretch. Special thanks to all the friends and family who have prayed with/for us to get to this date. He is Good, all the time.

Hang on Lucy Lu, we're coming for you!

Still Waiting...

2010-06-02T22:09:00.008-04:00

Hello all! Many of you well wishers have been asking if we have any updates on our dear Lucy. Unfortunately we are still waiting for our Travel Approval from China. Melissa has been monitoring the interwebs for news from other families on a similar timeline as us and it would seem we should be getting word any time now. We really don't know when the actual travel dates will be but sometime in July is looking about right these days. That's all we know at this time but don't worry, we'll post here as soon as we know something tangible. Thanks for your kind words and prayers; we'll keep you posted.

BTDT???

2010-04-27T20:39:00.002-04:00

On Saturday we received our I800 approval, yay!!. International adoption is packed with acronyms and forms. We are BTDT (been there done that) AP (adoptive parents) awaiting our DD (dear daughter), while DS (dear son) keeps us busy. An I800 is just one of many, many forms that we’ve had to file and get approved from some sort of agency or governing body. This particular form is part of a series of immigration forms that will help us bring Lucy home. There was an I800, proceeded by the I800A, the I864W, the DS230, the Supplement 3….need I continue?? Needless to say we are very familiar with where to get something FedEx’d, UPS’d, USPS’d, notarized, money-ordered, faxed, copied, certified, ordered or just plain ole’ filled out. At this point we are waiting for a NVC (national visa center) letter, and an Article 5, TA (travel approval) and a CA (consulate appointment). And then we get to go to the PRC (China) for LUCY.

Additionally, DS (Tyson) had a fairly minor surgery today. He’s BTDT with the whole OR thing but it still stinks all the same. The nurses and docs at CHKD (Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters) took great care of him… All right, I’ll stop using acronyms and just tell the story. Little man has been known to throw a fit going into the OR (and pee on his mama and the OR table), so our friend and pre-op nurse last time suggested a little pre-medication. It made all of the difference in the world both this time and last. (Thanks Whitney!) I’m not sure how else to describe how he acts on the med but let’s just say “goofy”. He was all smiles and silly sentences. He says things like “my mouth doesn’t work” and watched his hands move with an amused/bewildered expression on his face. After that everything went smoothly and he blew kisses at us as they carted him off to the OR. The surgery was straightforward and went well. In the recovery room he was ticked off and miserable until he woke up enough to eat a fruit punch slushy. He’s now doing well and will go back to school tomorrow. Next month he’ll go back to surgery for a few revisions of previous surgeries. There’s bound to be more drama next time around…even for the kid that’s BTDT.

We are still on track for a July departure for China. Excited doesn’t even explain how we feel. The purple room upstairs is just too empty. It needs a little girl, with beautiful brown eyes to fill it up. Almost daily people ask me what Tyson thinks of getting a sister. I think that he is excited for the idea of her. I really don’t think anyone is truly ready to be kicked off of the throne. For a year and a half he’s been the center of our attention, gifts and time. Sharing it may be hard but I think he’s up for the challenge.

TTFN,

Melis

And Her Name Shall Be...

2010-04-18T23:30:00.002-04:00

Lucy!!! We know that it wasn’t the poll winner but to us, she just looks like a Lucy. Her American name will be Lucy Siying Jacques. Much to Tyson’s chagrin, we will not be going with ‘hotdog’.

Thursday we had our first travel meeting with our agency. It was a 3-hour conference call with our agency’s travel coordinator and the 11 other families that are also preparing to travel. We can’t even express how excited we are to be in this stage of the process. Of course there is still lots of paperwork to do but it is with joy that we do it- this is the paperwork that will finally bring home our little girl, Lucy. It is no longer the dream of A little girl, it is the reality of bringing home OUR little girl; she has a face, a name and also a personality that we can’t wait to see!

The million dollar question- WHEN??? When do we go to and get her? Adoption time is like football time. This last quarter of the game could take its scheduled time to play out or a lot longer. (Or for my fellow ER staff it’s like ER time.) There are so many variables. All that said, we are thinking that we will go in July. Woohooo…. we’re coming to get you Lucy!

The Jacques house is going to be undertaking some pint-sized changes in preparation for Lucy. The guest room will now be hers. The furniture has been ordered and its theme will be based around some fabric that NaiNai (Maureen) picked out and will make a blanket with. Because Tyson was 4 when he came home we skipped a lot of the baby proofing that other families do. We will need to install baby gates, locks, furniture straps and a few other things to keep her safe. We can’t even imagine where we are going to put Lucy’s toys amongst Tyson’s little toy kingdom. Good problems to have, right?

Hey parents of little girls, help me out. How do you not go absolutely crazy with all of those cute clothes and accessories?!!! We’re going to go broke!

Random other ramblings:

When Tyson wants to stall going to bed he likes to say, “let’s sit on the couch and talk about when MeiMei (Mandarin for little sister) comes home.” I think that he may be a little shocked when he realizes that she really doesn’t want a Wii remote as her homecoming present.

Prayers needed: Please keep praying for our paperwork. The sooner it is done the sooner we get to go get Lucy. Also, please continue to pray for Lucy herself. She seems to be doing well medically but it is so hard not to be there everyday with her and only getting minute updates on occasion.

It's Official!!!!

2010-03-29T13:02:00.001-04:00

We just got word from our agency that we got the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China!!! This is the official notice from the CCAA that approves us to adopt little Siying. So we can now post her pic! Here she is...

How stinkin' cute is she??? Only little girls can make daddies gush this much!

So, when do we go to China and get her? Best guess 3-4 months. I know, that seems too long. I agree. But there are a few more paperwork hurdles we have to go through on the US Customs and Immigration side. Our travel planning will start soon but no specific dates will get nailed down until the US Gov gives it's big stamp of approval.
Nevertheless, this is the BIG news we have been waiting and praying for. Yahoo! We are sooooo excited. We can now move forward with doing things like decorating her room and ordering her room furniture - all things we have been holding off on until we got this LOA. We'll update as we get more info, but things are definitely moving forward. What a blessing!

We love you Siying and can't wait to bring you home.

Cast Your Vote!!!

2010-03-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

CCAA guidelines request that we don't post our little one's pic on a public site until after we've gotten the LOA and are officially matched with Si Ying. However many of you have seen her pic via email, so you know she is absolutely adorable. We are still bouncing around on an American name for her and thought we'd let you play along. So, I've created a poll to survey our friends on which name they like best. Relax, your votes aren't binding; Melissa reserves the right to change her mind at any time and either add or drop a name from the list. A few names that have already been passed over (unless Melis resurrects them) include Ruby, Fiona and Jar Jar (jk). So, let us know what you think...we just might listen.

Little Jacques Update

2010-03-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

So we've decided to resurrect the blog to fill everybody in on all the latest and greatest news about our little girl from China. That's right, we're going for number two! So after over a year of paperwork hell we finally received a referral on February 8th; a beautiful 14-month old little girl from Nanchang, China. She is gorgeous and cute and has the biggest brown eyes you've ever seen. Our match with her has been "pre-approved", which basically means both China and our agency have preliminarily approved for us to be her forever family. Now we are patiently awaiting the "official" match from China, called the Letter of Acceptance (LOA). This takes an an average of 58 days but could take as long as 100 days. Needless to say we are praying to beat the average. After the LOA it can take up to three months to travel, so basically we are talking about a 5-6 month wait until we can go get our little girl. The waiting is agony. And I'm pretty convinced it will take that long since that would make our travel dates sometime in August. August is the hottest month in Nanchang (one of the hottest cities in all of China) with average highs of 96 degrees. So, we're pretty much guaranteed to go in August...

Tyson is very excited for his little sister to arrive. I'm sure he thinks she'll kung fu with him and play with his Transformers. He's probably in for a bit of a let down as there is nothing in her file to indicate she is much of a fan of giant, metal, fighting robots. He has decided to name her Hot Dog, but he's changed his mind several times now so that's up for grabs. We'll keep everyone updated as things move along, but be ready to play the waiting game with us for the next several month. Thanks for celebrating this small miracle with us. More news to come...

An Update from Mama

2009-03-02T21:12:00.007-05:00

Hey all. I must warn you up front, I (Melissa) am writing the blog tonight so don't expect the normal wit and great writing that you usually receive from Travis. :)This blog is about Tyson so I'll just jump right in to it. Ty is doing really well. He had surgery and it was a rough road for a while there. He wouldn't take his pain medicine and was in bad shape. You know those plastic surgery patients that you see on t.v., the ones with the black and blue eyes and lots of swelling? Well, just imagine that scenario on the face of our tiny little guy. Poor thing. The two or three weeks following surgery Tyson was just generally grumpy. We think that he was really mad at us and we felt like he took a few steps back in the bonding department. Good news now though, things are back to normal. He's his normal, happy, active little self. His speech hasn't changed much but his palate is now 'together' as h

e puts it. Immediately before the surge

ry Ty would tell other people to say 'ahh' so he could see if anyone else had a hole in their mouths and needed surgery. After the surgery he was proud to show off

his 'together' mouth and still asked for some 'ahhs' in case there was still a hole out there somewhere.

The last few weeks have brought about a lot of progress for Ty. He's been to two birthday parties and loved every moment of them. Twice a week he goes to speech therapy. Tomorrow morning he will have an assessment for preschool. This Sunday

has to be mentioned. Thanks to a very patient friend (Ashley), Tyson went to Sunday school! This marked his first significant time away from Trav and I without being with

another family member. We just couldn't be happier!

Chinese New Year was less than two weeks after surgery so we had a small get together in celebration. Ty had just had the packing taken out of the roof of his mouth but still had a face full of stitches and blood, but still loved it. I think that our attempts at this traditional party fleshed out to look something like a Chinese New Year/American New Year/birthday party event. We

tried our best and hope it is memorable to him. Our decorations were from Party City, our food was a mix of Chinese and American and our 7 candies were mostly American (including some sugar-filled Fun Dip).

Of course we are just typical proud parents but we really do think he's bright. He's picking up new words every day. My friend Andrea asked a few weeks ago how I thought that he was like me and I didn't have any good answers. Just a few days later I realized

that he has a lot of my dramatic mannerisms. All day long he says, 'come on mama, let's go mama, oh jeez and oh man.' With a very emphatic nod of his head he rolls his eyes at whatever he wants to silently comment on. Silence is not something we get much of, thankfully of course

. Our little chatter bug just never stops talking. I often have to interpret his mixture of snuffely Mandarin and 4 year old English for others. He loves to recount his time away from me. What a hoot.

Today it snowed, well, Virginia Beach's version of snow. When he looked at my car he said 'snowman on mama's car'. (My Aunt Deb and Uncle Georgie bought him the Frosty the Snowman book for Christmas so if you even say the word sn

ow he sings the song over and over. He just can't understand that there is a differnce between snow and a snowman, too funny.) There was really only a little snow and ice but to him it was a thing of magic. Even tho

ugh the snow was only on the grass and cars I still took him out to play in it. Mostly he just

kicked icicles off of our cars. Towards the end of our play time I suggested that

he take his glove off and touch the snow. He said 'aww yucky'. That's his g

eneral term for anything wet or actually yucky.

Sometimes he does things out of nowhere. A few days ago Tyson was eating lunch and when he finished he popped off of the chair and ran for the tape measure. He then measured himself. I can only assume that someone told him he would grow to be a big boy if he ate all of his food. Who knows. Now he does it after almost every meal.

We're all still enjoying life in Va Beach. Trav's mom and dad are close by and watch him when I go to work on Mondays. He loves to hit the beach or just hang out with them. Ty is stil

l adjusting to life in the US and being a

Jacques but we just can'

t even express how happy we are. There just aren't words to express the joy of getting to see the answer to our prayers and our dreams walk around our house and call us mama and baba.

Thanks for hanging in with us!

Surgery 1; Tyson 0

2009-01-15T16:23:00.003-05:00

It has been a long couple days. We were up at 430am yesterday and at the hospital by 530am for Tyson's cleft palate repair, cleft lip and nose revision. Surgery got underway about 8am - after a few snags and some resistance from Tyson. Melissa had to gown up and go with him into the prep room and hold him as they gave him orange flavored laughing gas. After that he went off the surgery and we sat helpless in the waiting room for HOURS. We got hourly updates from a nurse in the OR but nothing more than that things were going well and on time.

Dr Roche, the ENT, went first to check Ty's ears under sedation - Ty has not allowed any medical personnel near his ears since China, throwing monster tantrums if they even get close with an otoscope - and today we found out why. Or, at least part of the reason. Dr. Roche pulled a bead the size of a pea out of Ty's right ear and it looked like it had been there a while. He has not been in contact with any beads here in the states and the bead looks curiously "china-like"; so who knows how long this thing has been pressing against him eardrum. My dad scoffed at the idea of the bead looking "Chinese", but upon seeing the bead in it's specimen container he said, "I'll be darned, it does look Chinese!" Ty also had the pleasure of having tubes put in his ears to help with fluid drainage.

The palate and lip surgery went well but took a long time by our clock. My mom came to keep us company and we're sure glad we had her there for support. We were finally called back to the PACU a little after 1pm and sat with him until he came to. PACU rules dictate only two adults are allowed with each child - so mom and I traded off once for her to spend some time with Tyson in recovery. We didn't actually get to Ty's room until after 5pm, but it was a single occupant room and that was well worth the wait. Ty's been in a lot of pain but has refuse to take the liquid oral medications he's been offered, so he's been really fussy. I stayed with Ty until a little after 8pm last night and them my dad and I left. The hospital let both Melissa and my mom stay the night with Tyson in his room. The plan was that they could have a continuous vigil throughout the night and take turns resting/sleeping. Ah, the best laid plans....

Tyson would only receive comfort from Melissa and got upset and even furious if Melissa left his bedside -even going to the restroom became a major ordeal. He was all around miserable and was very fussy to deal with. So, neither Melissa nor my mom got any sleep last night. And I had to work today, so I wasn't able to get home until after 3pm today. He has hardly said anything today other than "out", as in "I want out of this hospital." They finally let the little guy at 1pm. He's still not willing to take any fluids or food but he was on an IV all night and we can attest that he was very well hydrated. Standing pee breaks became an hourly ritual last night.

So, it's 5pm now. Tyson is fitfully sleeping on the couch and Melissa is knocked out in the bedroom for some well deserved sleep. I am watching over the little guy who seems to wake up about once every 15 minutes, cries for a few minutes and then drifts off again. He does not receive comfort very well and looks at me like "you did this to me!" In short, he has been miserable. So, even though the surgery went well (thank the Lord), the recovery has been very difficult. Please keep him in your prayers; specifically he needs to start taking his meds, drinking fluids and eating soft foods - all of which he refuses to do right now. Melissa had me pick up some Tylenol suppositories to, er, circumvent the fluid refusal part, but if he thought drinking children's Tylenol was painful... Anyhow, we are hoping to get some pain meds and antibiotics into him tonight, so that could use some praying over. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

Travis

Tyson's Big Day

2009-01-13T20:21:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow Tyson is scheduled to undergo surgery to correct his cleft palate. We have done everything we can to prepare him for the big day. He knows he is going to get the hole in his mouth fixed "together" and that he is going to wake up with a boo-boo. We have to be at the hospital at 5:45am. Yikes! So, the little guy is fast asleep and we are trying to hit the hay early so we have enough energy to make it through the day. Surgery time is 730am. I will post an update tomorrow to let everyone know how he's doing. Please keep him in your prayers.

Seasons Greetings!

2008-12-20T12:46:00.002-05:00

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

Holloween

2008-11-01T08:28:00.009-04:00

New Words

2008-09-30T22:19:00.002-04:00

Firetruck
Raining
Tired
Sleeping
Circle
I love you
Bye Bye
Water
Mater
House
Turtle
Sawyer
Baby

sorry so long

2008-09-28T20:59:00.003-04:00

Hello to any blogfans that still might be checking this site. I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted but the rigors of fatherhood and bosshood have been overwhelming and I just haven't had the umph or concentration at night to put all the things I should be posting on line. Nevertheless we are finally settling into something resembling a routine and I feel like our heads are finally breaking the surface. So, I will attempt to post progress notes at least once a week and hopefully a bit more.

Today commemorates the second week in a row that Ty sat through a full church service (well almost full - in typical Jacques fashion we arrived 15 minutes late for service - and when I say Jacques I mean just this small branch of the family tree not the whole tree - so, no mom I didn't mean you, dad or Erin). Anywho, he has managed to make his way through two services without too much noise or discontent. It helped that Eric used a banana as a prop during his sermon - that kept Ty focused for at least 5 minutes. The other thing about arriving 15 minutes late is that seating is a bit of a crap shoot. At the 11am service, being tardy means you get your pick of the back left corner (our typical stomping grounds). But the 930 service is a different beast altogether - there's no parking and no slacker seating in the back of the room. Instead, we got put into the megaslacker seating - right up front where your slackerness is displayed in all it's glory as you march down the isle during the singing and plop yourselves down next to some unlucky soul who now has the unfortunate fate of sitting next to the loud, Chinese kid who likes to smack his die cast Nascars together and make Mandarin commentary throughout the service. So, we've managed two weeks straight and that is a small miracle.

What else...well, Ty had his first doctors visit this last week. Poor Ty had to get six shots, four in one leg and two in the other. He worked himself up into a lather over those but really freaked out when they tried to take his blood - which they had to do in both arms and still couldn't find a vein. So, he had to go back the next day and have 'the pro' do it. And he was a pro and he did great. But that first day was quite a doozy and for the next two days Ty's legs were all bruised up and he was walking around the house like Frankenstein with a limp. It would have been comical if it wasn't so sad.

We did the annual Naval Air Show last weekend and it was AWESOME. Ty had zero problems with the screaming afterburners and near supersonic jet noise. He LOVED the Blue Angels and the tactical demonstrations of the fighter jets. He has been zooming around the house with his arms out making airplane sounds all week. See Picture Pages below for some great shots of us at the show.

Ty is beginning to parrot back many of our sayings and words. He probably doesn't know what half the things he's saying mean but he is picking up English. Yahoo! Each day he tends to key in on one word or phrase and repeat it endlessly. Today was "tired", yesterday was "sleeping" (complete with hand motions) and the day before was "it's raining" because, well, it was raining - a lot - that day.

Well, that's all I have time for tonight. I'll try to be better with the updates from here on out.

BTW, my little dude is AWESOME!!!

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

2008-09-21T17:46:00.010-04:00

Week 1 Wrap-Up

2008-09-14T20:52:00.006-04:00

Well, we are still here and some of you may be asking, "Where are the black holes?" "Where are the zombies?" It turns out this week's experiment was just a warm-up, a test fire to see if the old LHC is acting nicely. It turns out that the proton-melting collisions aren't scheduled until later this year, so we have a few more months until the singularities and self-propagating strangelets (aka zombie particles) turn our planet inside out. Until then, I'm going to blog about my son.

A few highlights of the week...no sleep for mom and dad, love the new booster car seat, mom and dad West came for a visit and Ty schmoozed his way onto a yacht.

Well, week one in the States was definitely a learning week for us. We had to really work on establishing a schedule for Ty and break him from some habits that got started while we were pent up in a hotel together for two weeks in China. Things like, we all don't go to sleep at the same time like we did in China, mommy and daddy need some alone time at the end of the day. So far this has eluded us but we are working on that. Most of the time if we can get him to sleep, one of us falls asleep in the process and it's lights out for mommy and daddy time.

Ty is still the picky little eater - American food just doesn't appeal to him. So we are stuck with hard boiled eggs, apple juice and ramen noodles; little dude kind of stinks.

Ty is really attaching to us - more Melissa than me - but he does seem to miss me when I go to work and he got pretty fired up when I was able to hang out all weekend. This is always a concern with adoptions, so the fact that he is bonding with us is key.

Ty loves his new booster seat for the car. He loves driving and he loves being able to see where we are going - the booster seat solves that problem for him, so he doesn't mind getting buckled in. This is in sharp contrast to China were getting to put on a belt took an act of congress. The bonus of the booster is that Ty has a tendency to fall asleep after 5 minutes in the seat. Works like a charm. Just tonight he was bouncing off the walls and driving Melissa crazy - so I took him out to the car and drove around on the interstate for a half hour. He was out like a light and Melissa got a bunch of stuff done around the house. By the time we got back he was ready for bed. Bingo!

Melissa's mom and dad came down this weekend for a visit. They brought tons of toys for Tyson; he was out of his mind with excitement. Melissa's dad got tot meet Tyson for the first time and we all went out to a local seafood joint on the water and watched the boats come in as we ate. Ty was fascinated and never failed to point out a boat going by - he didn't miss a single one. After dinner - well his dinner - he dragged dad out to the dock to look at the boats in the slip. Then he came in and dragged me out for a second look. He was so excited about a particular yacht that the owners invited him aboard and let him sit in the captains chair and play with the throttle. It was a lot of fun and Ty got to see run around pretty cool boat. Pretty cool for a kid who had never been outside his orphanage in China until three weeks ago.

Well, those are the highlights; I'll spare you the lowlights. They aren't that interesting. Until next time.

The End of the World as We Know It...

2008-09-09T21:54:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow a bunch of international theoretical physicists will power up the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a $10 billion, 17-mile long super-conducting super-collider on the France-Swiss border and sling a bunch of electrons at each other at light speed to see what happens. The theory is to re-create the big bang in miniature by slamming electrons together at the speed of light and seeing what spills out of them. The project has created controversy because no one is quite sure what happens when you do this. There are several prevailing theories as to what will happen when we turn the LHC on. (1) We will unlock the missing pieces of sub-atomic and astronomical physics and/or get one step closer to creating a Unified Theory of Everything. (2) Nothing will happen and all that time and money will have been wasted and there will be some pissed off physicists. (3) The LHC could create a black hole - or several black holes - that could eat the planet, the solar system or the galaxy. This theory is best represented by the following youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXzugu39pKM&feature=related

That's right, the physicists think it's possible that one or a bunch of black holes could be spawned by the machine as a side effect of the experiment but they will probably be microscopic and disappear very quickly -they think, at least they are pretty sure. And they are really excited about the cool graphics their computers may come up with if they aren't sucked into a singularity - so that's got to be worth the risk, right? And these are really smart folks, so certainly they know what they are doing right? I mean, when have scientists ever been wrong about their theories right? So we'll be OK. I'm pretty sure of that.

But what no one seems to be aware of is a fourth option and I can't really believe that no one has come up with this before now. I think that the LHC could start the zombie apocalypse popularized by the sci-fi movies Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later and Resident Evil. I mean this is a no brainer for me and I feel like it is my duty to make the world aware of our impending doom. Black hole, smack hole, we're talking extinction of the human race by zombification (funny that the spell checker didn't recognize zombification as a real word).

So, here's a few pointers. Nowhere is safe, just safer. Always shoot for their heads, they will keep coming if you just sever a limb or two...or a torso. And last, swords never run out of bullets. So, you've been warned (and prepared). And really, if the first two options happen then we've got nothing to fear. If the third option happens, well, you can't stop a black hole - not even light can escape a black hole. But the fourth option - that would be the zombie armageddon - you can do something about that. Run for your lives!

I'm sure some cool things happened with Tyson today but I've been too busy making tin-foil helmets to keep out the cosmic, black hole death ray particles.

Blog you later...hopefully.

The Beach

2008-09-08T19:57:00.006-04:00

Today we took Tyson to the beach - well, back to the beach b/c yesterday was his first day at the beach but I was too exhausted to write about it. Yesterday, he was Mr Adventure - today, not so much. He couldn't get enough of the surf and sand yesterday and it was a very cool moment when he saw the waves for the first time. His eyes got wide with wonder and he practically dragged me into the surf. No fear. Within minutes both of our shorts were soaked and he was laughing at the way the sand felt on his feet. Then he sat down in the dry sand with my mom and played for over an hour - completely covered in the stuff.

Today it was a different story - we went back to the exact same spot on the same beach and he looked at the water like he'd never seen it before. When we tried to set him down in the sand, he freaked out and screamed like...well, like a little girl! He ran away from the incoming waves and started crying, hiding behind Melissa's legs. He even tried to stop the waves from coming in by yelling at them in snuffly Mandarin. To no avail - you can't stop the tides, son. So, it was back to the jungle gym - and the drawing board - for Tyson and the beach. BUT we do have pictures to prove that he isn't a complete wimp.

Today was my last day of freedom and recovery - tomorrow it's back to the salt mine, but Melissa gets to stay here and domesticate our son. He's a wild man but learning things every day. He's picking up new vocabulary words daily and has been behaving himself better than he ever did in China. I think the new digs, new duds, new toys and consistency have been a big help. We don't have to tell him to sit during a meal nearly as much as we used to - only a dozen times or so per meal which is a BIG improvement. The down side is we are having trouble finding food he will actually eat. So far he will only eat the dumplings my mom got him at a local Asian grocery store. Today he had three meals of dumplings and the bag is shrinking. It wasn't for lack of trying - today alone we tried cooking 2 types of Asian noodles, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, sticky rice, lasagna and yogurt, to no avail. We'll keep trying but it certainly makes meal time interesting.

On the other hand, he is mesmerized by the TV, particularly cartoons. So far, Ni How Kai Lan and the Backyardigans have gotten the biggest response but pretty much anything on Nick Jr is fair game. My DVR has a new occupation - baby sitter - JK. Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how Ty responds to one more of his entourage leaving him tomorrow when I go off to work. Only Melissa will be left to do his bidding. More to come on that front.

Tomorrow I'll blog an update on Ty but will also probably touch on the new supercollider in Europe that may end the world on Wednesday. Can't wait until tomorrow to find out about the black hole that may swallow us all? Just Google "LHC"; you can't miss it. Until tomorrow...maybe.

Safe and sound

2008-09-06T15:11:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know we made it home safe and sound last night. It was one heck of trip 28 hours of travel without rest - we were delirious by trip's end. Melissa and I wanted to thank all of you who showed up at the airport last night in support. Sorry the little guy wasn't in much of a mood for receptions but us adults truly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedules to come see us home. It was a very nice homecoming. My parents had restocked the house with all kind of good food including rice and dumplings from China; so far it's the only thing he will eat. Poor kid keeps trying American food and splitting it out - he's going to go from solid to vapor in two weeks if he doesn't convert soon.

Tyson loves his new home and toys but is a little skittish on his new room. He was wired for hours once we got home, running on pure adrenaline. We really had to calm him down to get him to sleep. Thankfully, we have a toddler bed in our room that he was willing (with coercion) to sleep in - for a few hours. Then it was into bed with mom and dad and we all slept for hours and hours. In fact, we all slept until one in the afternoon and could have slept more but that would have put us really off schedule. So, we are trying to muscle through the rest of the day and get another good nights sleep tonight - trying to get on Eastern Time.

So, thanks again to all who wished us well on our return journey. We made it. More to come on Ty's adjustment to his new home (and name).

Farewell China

2008-09-04T07:35:00.002-04:00

Praise the Lord, we made it through the US Consulate with a happy, non-meltdown Tyson. We got there very early and a bunch of other groups trickled in over the next hour. It took forever to get everyone in the room and ready to go. The actual oath ceremony would have been a big letdown if we hadn’t been forewarned it was going to be a non-event. It took all of two minutes. But, the big news is that Tyson now has a visa that allows him to enter America with his Chinese passport. As soon as he sets foot on US soil he becomes a US citizen and his China passport is null and void. China does not allow for dual citizenship. So Hui Qiang will officially become Tyson Qiang Jacques in about 36 hours if all the flights go well. His reaction to being in an official looking building with a bunch of white grown ups and little Chinese kids was night and day compared to the medical visit of less than a week ago. He has really attached to us and had no fear this time around.

So, tomorrow we are up at 430am and on the road by 530. Yay! It’s definitely an Ambien night. Hope we can get the little guy down by 930 without too much fuss. It will be interesting to see how things go when Melissa’s mom parts ways with us in Detroit. Ty won’t even go down the elevator to the lobby without his full entourage of three attendants. I’m sure he’ll be asking for her all the way home to Norfolk. Nai Nai get ready to fill some big shoes. Then again, he may be so exhausted from our trans-pacific flight he won’t even notice. Time will tell.

So this is the last posting I will do from China. Next time I’m logged on, we’ll be on American soil. Thank God for that. China has been awesome but we are exhausted. Life back in the States promises to be full of new challenges but we are ready for them. I can’t wait to go back to work!!! Melissa is going to take a few months off work to get Ty all settled in. We need to get him assessed by the international adoption doc and at some point get the cleft palate team to look him over. We’re not planning on getting the surgery for few months – the surgeons suggested we work on bonding with him for a few months before we put him through the trauma of a (possibly multiple) surgeries. One of the adopting parents here is an ENT back home and he took a quick look at Ty’s palate. He says the cleft is fairly narrow and should repair well. That would be great.

(Tangent here - Ty just counted to ten in English with the help of Lili who has craftily stacked Skittles on top of coins on top of cups to make ten piles. Whatever it takes…our son is a bilingual genius!)

I would be remiss in my last posting from the PRC if I failed to mention our guides, Alison and Susan. They are two wonderful Chinese citizens that work for our adoption agency; I simply can’t say enough great things about them. They are building up treasures in heaven for the amazing and selfless service they provide us wayward travelers. Every month they give up significant time with their friends and family in Beijing to live on the road with the travel groups that come through China. They have been with the group (and away from home) since we arrived here 2 weeks ago – for those of you back home that have felt the length of time we’ve been away through this blog, you know how long it’s been. Well, they do this at least once a month with a different group of trouble makers every time. And let me be the first to say that the people in our group haven’t been saints. We’ve had A LOT of special requests, various side trips and whiners – one couple took their newly adopted kid to Beijing in between Nanching and Guangzhou, missed the marathon paperwork session and still didn’t have their visa paperwork ready for the ceremony today. Needless to say they’ve required a lot of individual attention to get caught up – and Alison and Susan have been all smiles all the way through it. Almost no one is flying the regular pathway home – they are detouring through Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing – all trips that have to be arranged and monitored by those two wonderful souls. I guarantee that AHH isn’t paying them enough for all the stuff that they have to put up with. So, if you two are reading this – we love you and can’t thank you enough for taking such good care of us in China. Our trip was made PERFECT by your hard work.

In returning home, there are a few things I am looking forward to most. My own bed is the first – the beds at both the Marriotts have been the best hotel beds I’ve ever slept in but they aren’t mine. The next thing is, believe it or not, salad and fresh veggies – we’ve had to be very careful with the foods we’ve eaten here – so raw veggies and any fruit you can’t peel have been out since Tokyo. The next thing is American TV – and my DVR. Even CNN and CNBC here are run by the Brits out of Hong Kong. Melissa says she can’t wait to see Tyson in his own bedroom – I told her that was like answering “The Bible” as your favorite book. Boo! Makes me look shallow for longing for my pillow and Buffalo Wings. Her revised answer is Diet Coke – the Chinese don’t believe in it. Mom is ready for her bed and her white noise machine to help her sleep through the night – the 220 voltage here fried hers the first night in Chongqing and she’s had to muddle by for 2 weeks now. Tyson says ‘eschwela!” whatever that means.

So, pray for travel mercies and guardian angels on our wings all the way home. I’ll see many of you soon. Can’t wait!

See you later…

Homecoming

2008-09-03T20:49:00.003-04:00

Hey all. Lots of people have been 'threatening' to meet us at the airport when we arrive with our new package. So, here's the down and dirty on our travel for Friday, Sept 5th. Our flight into Detroit (NW26) is supposed to land at 1:35pm local time. (Sue, I know you probably can't worm your way thru security but I wanted to at least let you know when we would be there.) Flight to Norfolk (NW1770) departs at 5:17 and arrives in Norfolk at 7pm on the dot.

A word of warning - Ty is very shy around new people and has proven he is capable of melting down at the drop of a hat. He will be tired and cranky (I'm sure all of us will) but I don't want that to stop any well wishers from coming. Just be prepared that he may not be on his A game (or even B or C game). It may sound crazy but we are going to try to upgrade to business class on the long flight from Tokyo to Detroit - they have reclining seats and I wouldn't be eating my knees for 12 hours. We haven't spent as much money as we thought we would over here so it may be worth it to buy the upgrade. Keep your fingers crossed it's not an arm and a leg - an arm we will do but we need that leg to get us around the airport. He doesn't like the taste of Benedryl so we may have to slip him a mickey - he refuses to eat teddy grahams anymore b/c the 'test mickey' (aka disolving b-dryl strip) we gave him was hidden in a teddy graham sandwich. Barring that, there's always the option of a Screwdriver - avail for the low price of $5 from you friendly flight attendant. Uh, just kidding...kind of.

OK this isn't the official daily post - just a quick itinerary update. I'll blog a little more later.

Waiting Game

2008-09-03T04:41:00.003-04:00

Well, there is not much to post from here today. We had to wait in our room from 1030 to noon in case there were problems with the visa applications. There wasn't, thank goodness. Then we put Ty down for a nap - he was a real stinker last night and didn't go to sleep until after 11pm - and Melissa and her mom took a cab back to Shamain Island to finis up shopping. Ty slept most of the time and was awake with me for a while and didn't panic when he realized Melissa wasn't there. This was a first for him - normally he flips out. So, Ty is finally getting used to being alone with me - that's good.

We still haven't been able to transition to calling him Tyson yet, he only responds to Hui Qiang, so we've got some work ahead of us back home. But, when you are trying to stop him from running into traffic or from destroying one of your DVDs - calling him a name he doesn't respond to doesn't do the trick. And to be honest we spend most of our days trying to stop him from destroying something or another - so he gets called Hui Qiang A LOT!!!!

The dinner cruise by ourselves went very wll last night. Very pretty view of the city - lots of lights like Vegas. All the bridges and buildings are lit up. This place is so much cooler than Chongqing. Anyhow, Ty didn't jump off the boat or break anything - just peed on himself trying to do the standing up thing - he really is terrible at it. No aim whatsoever and that's by loose, men can't hit the toilet standards. So, I think he has now peed on every outfit he owns. Sweet! We've been doing lots of laundry in the sink at night.

I gotta go , dinner is in 5 minutes. Sorry so short but nothing to report here today. Except Kung Fu Panda in Mandarin isn't nearly as funny. The translation for "there is no fee for awesomeness' doesn't even make sense. Something like 'why celebrate grace and beauty when you are full of it' What? Are you just making up things that sound good in Chinese. You're telling me there is no Chinese equivalent to the word 'awesome"? 5000 year history or not, that's just pitiful.

Anyhoo...blog you later.

In case you haven't noticed, the fat people are melting!

2008-09-02T03:32:00.004-04:00

I just thought I'd paraphrase from Mathew Perry's character in Fool's Rush In; it perfectly summarizes our last few days out of doors here in Guangzhou. Today we hit up the Guangzhou Botanical Gardens and the Chen Family Academy/Temple under an overcast sky and 175% humidity. I woke up, looked out the window and immediately began to sweat from every pore. The sweating continued through the morning and the amazing Cantonese lunch we had at a local restaurant (no AC). It was one of those hole-in-the-wall, locals only kind of places and we were the only westerners in there - all 25 of us. We are quite a sight for these Cantonese folks, a whole parade of sweaty white people with their Chinese babies.

Our guide told us that June and July were the real hot months and that we were lucky we weren't here then. She then said that it was "stuffy and humid" in those months - implying that it was not stuffy and humid now. Yeah right! I said Africa hot a few days ago but this is something all it's own - this is Asia hot - tropical face-melting hot. And all the smoking does not help - as if breathing weren't hard enough already, everybody smokes EVERYWHERE. Non-smoking sections of restaurants are normally five tables in the corner right next to the 30 tables full of smoking men. You know when you are in a restaurant and get that whiff of smoke and you do the quick look around to figure out where the smoke is coming from? Well, I find myself doing that about 40 times a meal - it's reflex, even when I know every male within 50 feet of me is puffing away.

Tyson continues to be a challenge and a blessing. He is really doing quite well considering his whole world is upside-down and his mama and baba keep talking to him in a strange language and get mad when he doesn't do as he's told. But then again he knows he isn't supposed to stand up on the chair at meals - and yet he does it about 70 times in a singe meal. We tell him to sit in English and Mandarin, shove him back down and two seconds later he is up, turning around or trying to vault over the rails. Everyone else here has a little one that they can pick up, bundle up in a papoose or in a stroller and scoot around from place to place. Tyson insists on walking everywhere on his own - which is great in certain ways. No one is asking us if his legs are broken because he won't use them - ehem Lydia - but he walks SO SLOW. Meanders really. There is no straight line with this kid. It's like herding a cat. We just sort of aim him in the right direction and block him from walking into traffic. If he wants to go someplace we are hard pressed to get him to go a different direction. He will tug and tug and pout and scream something that sounds like "eschwela!" - but no one, including our guides, know what it means. They suppose it's something in the Chongqing dialect that Beijingers don't know. I know what it means though - it means "Stupid Americans, let go of me!"

We've been trying to discipline him by withholding the things he loves for a short period of time when he acts up. We can't beat him since we signed a paper from the agency saying we would never use corporal punishment. Anyhow, what else do you do when your four year old sits down in the street in front of an oncoming bus b/c he's being a brat and doesn't want to do whatever you are telling him to do? I mean after you drag him to safety by any means necessary? The instinct is a hiney swat, right? Makes sense to me. Oh well. The other way we punish him is to make him sit in my lap with my arms around him - from his reaction it is pure, bamboo under the finernails torture! Two minutes of that and he is a blubbering, repentant mess - at least for the next 5 minutes. Then he forgets we have the ability to make him miserable and he acts up again. The good side is that I am getting lots of lap time with my son - bad side is that we are conditioning him to view daddy time as punishment. Uh, can we rethink the corporal punishment thing again? Just Kidding! (in case anyone from the agency is reading this) Hehe...

So, tomorrow our guides are going to the US Consulate on our behalf, so one of us needs to stay in the room from 1030am till noon. I think the women want to go back to Shamain Island to do more bargaining for more stuff. Since there is a 50lbs weight limit on the bags instead of a 44lbs and we can check in two bags instead of just one, well, all bets are off and the ladies have been shopping freaks. Melissa loves the bargaining but even she admits that it takes FOREVER to get anything done. It can take an hour to make it through a tiny little, hole-in-the-wall shop full of nick-knacks. Meanwhile I'm using every move in my arsenal to keep a 4 year old entertained - and barring that, just to keep him from running into traffic or from stealing a knock-off Tellatubby or from trying on every pink thing in a store. I swear that kid was subjected to too much estrogen for four years and I have a lot of testosterone reprogramming to do. We are working on high five and knuckles - bro moves, you know. He's not catching on - we need Sawyer Coates to show him what's what. Instead, he refuses to wear the boxer briefs we got him - likes the tightey whiteys and the girls underwear he was wearing the day we got him from the orphanage. Ugh. Mental forehead slap! I thought I had him with Kung Fu Panda - but he lost interest pretty quick. Another mental forehead slap! We'll continue to work on that.

Speaking of which, KFP is my current favorite movie out there right now. It's got everything a good movie needs: animals dressed as humans, sweet fight scenes, no love story whatsoever, a good life lesson, a great bad guy, plenty of kung fu and the wushu finger hold. The only thing it's missing is snipers, but it does have crossbows which is almost as good. And ninjas, it's missing ninjas but that would be just plain silly since ninjas are Japanese not Chinese. Duh. Anyhow, it's destined to be a classic. To all my male friends, it's a must for your DVD collection. Best line: in response to the question "how can we ever repay you for this?" Po the Panda replies, "There is no charge, for awesomeness!" And that about sums up how I'm feeling about the little guy - he's full of awesomeness - and even though we were charged a lot for him - he's worth every yuan - er penny.

So that will have to be all for today. Tonight we are going on a dinner cruise down the Pearl River to see the Guangzhou skyline at night. It's going to be just the 4 of us as all the other families weren't interested in going. Anything to keep little dude entertained. And speaking of food, remind me to tell you about what wimpy eaters we have in our group. Not an adventurous one amongst them - well maybe a few - but mostly soft American stomachs with no spirit for food! We are definitely the "live to eat" crowd in our group!

Until next post, blog you later...

Little Guy's Big Day

2008-09-01T10:19:00.002-04:00

Today was the little guy’s birthday. He turned four in America and the rest of the Western world. He already turned four here in China at the Chinese New Year - that's the tradition over here, everyone gets a year older on the same day. He had birthday cake for the first time as well as his second ice cream cone ever. It was a very eventful and exhausting day.

We started out with a marathon shopping expedition to the jade and pearl market. Let me just say that spending hours in a 6 story mall with no air conditioning waiting for every woman in our group to finish shopping was hell. At one point a mom asked me if that was sweat on my shirt or if I had dumped a water bottle over my head to cool off. It was sweat, by the way. Trying to keep a rambunctious 4 year old busy for all those hours was double hell. We went up and down the escalator at least sixty times; up one side, down the other. Hold on to the rail, watch your step. Over and over again.

Next we went to the DVD store to buy educational videos and other stuff. Got a decent copy of Kung Fu Panda for about $2 – these were supposed to be the legitimate DVD’s and not the bootleg copies that you can buy in every 7-11 across the land. We’ll see.

We did lunch back at the hotel and then went for a walk in the park near our hotel. We aren't staying on Shamain Island like so many other travel groups have. Instead we are located in downtown Guangzhou, across the street from the city park. It’s kind of like Central Park in NYC but bigger and hillier. It has all kinds of paths and statues and stairs and stairs and stairs. We saturated another pair of clothes just getting there and gave ourselves dehydration headaches on the way back. Tyson was so tired that he could barely pick up his feet and actually let Melissa carry him. He never does that.

We got Tyson to settle down for a nap while we ran around and got together his birthday party. Our guides had already asked the hotel to make Ty a cake. We blew up balloons and brought in dinner and sang happy birthday about eight times. He really got excited for the cake with the candles and we blew them out twice. He had three pieces of cake and we were worried about him vomiting from all his overeating. I don't think the kids ever had cake before and all that sugar made getting him to sleep a bit harder - but he's out like a light right now - thank God.

At this point we are in a holding pattern – waiting for our paperwork to clear and for the consulate appointment this Thursday afternoon – then we are outta here. Definitely getting tired of hotel food and being confined to a hotel room most of the day. The hotel is lavish and in a great part of town but it’s just not home. And having to run down to Starbucks every night just to get internet connectivity is getting really old. We are in the home stretch now and we’ll be fine – but the clothes are getting dirty, we’re running out of underwear and we’re ready for that 13 hour flight back to Detroit.

Melissa and Mom send their love and Ty would to if he knew what we were talking about. Happy Labor Day Everyone!

Meltdown #2

2008-08-31T10:14:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-30T10:31:00.005-04:00

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…

2008-08-28T23:25:00.008-04:00

…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

2008-08-27T09:57:00.011-04:00

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

2008-08-26T10:10:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-25T09:46:00.005-04:00

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!