Some Catching Up For Majorly Slacking Bloggers

Allllrighty.  So we've been home for a while now.  Things are going well!  Also, busy.  Who knew!?

Ephraim has been growing, and seems to be getting a lot stronger.  He has a lot more stamina than at first, tho he has yet to take his first steps.  He can stand up from  seated position, but just wobbles for a second and then plops back down.  He has a lot of encouragers, tho.  I don't think it'll be too long.  :)

He had gained 4 pounds last we had him checked out (which doesn't sound like much, but it's about 25% of his original body weight, so we'll say that's a pretty good gain for 4 months or so!  He has also mastered going up stairs, and later figured out how to get down them as well.  He signs Please, and More and will wave Hi and Bye and give Fives, but his only consistent word thus far is Uh-Oh!

Ephraim had his 2nd birthday in March.  He did seem to like the cake... at least smashing it.  He didn't really eat any to speak of.  But it was sure fun to make a mess!

Eli's birthday was in May.  He was very excited and counted down the days for quite some time.  He loves school and baseball and running and generally anything that is outside and active and loud.

We moved in April to a place with more acreage, and as of today have an accepted offer on our old house!

 We LOVE our new house, and our commutes are about the same.  We have baby chicks now and will soon have a coop ready for them to live in.  They all have wonderful names, compliments of various children.  This has been a bit of transition for all of us, and I was especially worried about Ephraim as new as it all was already, but he seems to be just fine.

Raya has, unsurprisingly, had the hardest transition in all of this.  She was always pretty sassy, but seems very emotionally delicate these days.  Basically her regular Raya-tude self, but magnified.  She LOVES her baby brother... most of the time, but I think has struggled some with the loss of her "baby" status and has to sneak in her snuggles when she can.

Both of the big boys now ride their bikes without training wheels.  Isaac aced it shortly after we moved to our new house, which has a wonderful driveway for biking on, and once Isaac got it, Eli was determined that he was not going to be left behind.  Within a couple weeks, he was very proud to show me his new skills as well.

Isaac finished first grade, and is out for the summer.  He is also playing baseball, and we have some other fun things planned.  Vacation with John's family, and hopefully some visitors.  I'm sure it'll go fast.  I can't believe it's June already!

January 28~ Home!

We stopped and picked up Isaac at school.  We'd warned his teacher that were coming, and it was sweet, because then his class met Ephraim and said Ni Hao and said they'd been praying for us.  Isaac was surprised to see us and more than happy to leave school early, and we headed home to meet the others!

We're Home!!

A bit of Chaos. (What is Isaac doing??)

My lap was suddenly very popular.

Four! 

All up in his face.  All the time. 

He's mostly a pretty happy guy, tho.

Teaching him some good stuff.

I have 3 boys!

Isaac takes his big brother responsibilities very seriously.

(He's so sweet!) :)

They even made us a sign!

January 27-28~ Zoo and Airport and Homeward Bound

Last day in GZ!  We packed up some more (we started yesterday afternoon) and got breakfast, and at 11 we headed to the GZ Zoo with the other families.  The zoo was like a regular zoo pretty much.  There were animals.  They were in miniature habitats and such.  It was nothing spectacular, but was nice.  E insists on being carried everywhere.  He doesn’t like the baby carrier because he has to face me (and who wants that when he could be looking forward!?) and my arms get tired… so this time I got smart and we borrowed a hotel stroller.  However, he hated that too.  I’m not sure if he thought it felt scary and unstable, or if he just really loves to be held.  Either way, I carried him again all through the zoo.  Good thing my arms are so strong.  ;)  Overall, he did well, tho.  I was a little nervous considering we left right in time for lunch and nap and instead go walking around the zoo for a couple hours.  But he was pretty happy… as long as we kept him snacking and I carried him around everywhere.

Our travel group at the zoo

This is a giraffe.

This is now much Ephraim loved the stroller.

See? Much better when he can pull my hair.

Swans and Fishes

Welcome to the Zoo.

Flamingos

So then it was back to the room for lunch and nap and final packing and checking out.  At 4:10 we met  Simon to get E’s visa... but Simon was late.  John paced, and Ephraim whined, and we sat in the lobby with all our luggage for a while until Simon walked in just before 5.  He found John and walked up and the first thing he said was "There was a delay with his visa," at which point John had a heart attack until Simon continued, "a 30 minute delay."  lol.  He had the passport (with a visa!) and immigration packet in his hands, and we everything looked fine.  We waited a little bit longer until our van arrived at 5:15 to take us to the airport. 

The drive was around 40 minutes, and we got checked in.  The very helpful check-in lady even blocked off a seat between us for E since the flight wasn't full, even tho he was just on a lap ticket. Woohoo!  

Our first flight left at 9:30pm.

The flights went smoothly.  They served some food at the beginning of the flight, but it was after E's bedtime, so he finally got his bottle and he was out like a light for the next 11 hours or so.  Well, not exactly like a light I suppose.  He stirs a lot, and flips around like a fish out of water.  But he slept, and that was a relief to all the surrounding passengers, I'm sure.  

We landed in LAX in around 630 in the evening on the same day, having gained more hours than we lost apparently, and made it through customs and immigration and back through security without any problems.  Sat around in LA for a while, then another 4 hour flight to our final destination.  E slept almost that entire flight as well.  Seriously, I've had the best newly-adopted travelers!  So thankful!  

Sleepy World-Traveler Baby. 

(Pardon the weird color.  It was dark.)

Then we were harshly greeted back in the region, where it's still nastily winter... and E's first experience outside of GZ's "winter" of low 70s was to something around 9 degrees.  He was not a fan.  He likes driving, tho, and once he got over the initial trauma of being strapped into a carseat, and he got a little bit warmed up again, he ate some food and then slept most of the way home.  

Home!!!

January 26~ Shopping and Touring

This morning we were able to facetime with the kids back home, which was fun.  Grandma Barb was relieved of her kid duties, and reportedly went home to take a nap.  :) Aunt Amber and Grandma on The Farm (who probably did not bring her kittens with her, unfortunately) have now taken the reigns.  The kids looked happy!  They were asking for food, and wanting their swords back (which had apparently been confiscated for reasons such as unnecessary roughness or excessive annoyingness or the some such).  So… pretty much just like I remember.  :)  It’s been a good trip, but I can’t wait to be home.

This morning we were able to do some souvenir shopping and saw the Guangdong Folk Art Museum and Chen Clan Ancestral Hall.  (They are at the same place.)  So it’s this big ornate old Ancestral Hall where, according to Chinese custom, the family’s ashes are stored.  Or something.  So the whole family gets placed in the same place and some records are made on the wall and in that way the family can trace its roots for many many generations.  This particular family was (is?) a wealthy and powerful family.  It looks historic now, but I bet it was very impressive in its day.  There are shops and stuff in there now too.  So… more souvenir shopping.

Simon was also telling us about how the social security system works.  For instance, the government will pay for your college, but in exchange, they will give you a job when you are done and you don’t get a choice what that job is.  It’s stable and easy and you won’t get fired, but it’s also usually boring and low pay.   You also are assigned a number, similar to a social security number, but the numbers are coded by city, and will enable you to get a job only in that city, so you can’t ever move.  You can’t marry someone from out of town, because one of you would have to forfeit your employability when you moved, and to make ends meet most Chinese families are double income situations.  Your only other option is to go into business for yourself, or find a foreign employer.  For instance, Simon works for LifeLine, which is an American agency.  Before that, he had his own business doing biking tours across China, and then business conferences for MBA students and things like that. 

So then it was back to the hotel for lunch and nap and a grocery run and probably more crappy tv this afternoon, and then we’re going to the German restaurant tonight with the other families for supper.  

January 25~ Visa Medical

This morning was the medical exam for the visa.  Nothing too extensive.  Just your basic exam and height/weight, etc.  E weighed in at a whopping 18 lbs, with clothes, shoes, and a wet diaper.  He was 27.5 inches long.  They draw blood for tb testing for kids over 2, so we dodged that bullet, thankfully.  They said he had no murmur!  That’s exciting.  I’m very interested to hear what the cardiologist will have to say when we get back home and get him more thoroughly checked out.

 He seems to be more energetic as time goes on.  Crawling around more, standing longer. I feel this might be related to the massive amount of food he consumes on a daily basis.  I thought maybe he would have gained some by now.  Maybe he has- it’s hard to say since I don’t know how they weighed him the first time.  Or how accurate the measurements are, considering he also supposedly just shrunk by 2.5 inches. 

 He also comes over near me more often, and a couple times has even lifted up his arms to be picked up.  Maybe he’s starting to like me after all! 

 We hung out this afternoon in our room, and there was a paperwork meeting in preparation for the upcoming consulate appointments and whatnot.  Then we went out to supper tonight with the new families that got into town after spending the last week in their child’s respective provinces. It’s good to have some new faces and families to hang out with.  There’s one family who has been here all week as well (their baby is also from the GZ area) but they have been pretty intent on keeping to themselves, which is fine, but it’s also fun to get out and meet people.  We got Mexican food, which was good.  I just found it entertaining that we were out eating Mexican food in China.  J

January 23~ The Garden

Today’s big adventure was the Yun Tai Garden.  It’s a big botanical garden in GZ, which is known as The Flower City.  Which makes sense, because there are flowers everywhere.  Simon says there are flower seasons here.  We’re at the tail end of the purple season, and headed into orange (kumquat, mandarin orange).  There is also a lotus season, which is pink and white, and a yellow season which I think he said was chrysanthemums, tho I'm not completely sure.

The garden was beautiful, and it was nice to be outside and in the sunshine.  I had Ephraim in the babycarrier thing, but he doesn’t really love it because he’d much prefer to be facing forward and looking all around him. Cuz I’m not much to look at.  J

Here we are at the garden... with Matt's finger.

John found a tall dutch lady to chat with.

After the garden we went out for dim sum at a restaurant right by the garden.  It was really good!  I don’t know what all the dishes are that we ate, but they were all really good.  

This was a peppers and pork dish.

The rest of the food pics are on John's phone and can't be transferred right now due to complicated technological reasons. 

Interestingly, just outside the seating area there was an open cooking area where you could watch the people prepare food for the people eating there.  There with lots of interesting options.  As in, tanks of live fish and turtles and frogs and crabs and lobsters and silk worms all kinds of sea life, and also some vegetables to go with it.  Apparently when someone orders that they go nab it out of the tank and throw it on the grill.  You could also just buy the creatures and take them with you if that’s your preference. 

Headless Fish, Mosquito Fish (the white things) some various organs...

Fish parts, Little Squid, Various whole Fish

Tanks of Live Stuff

Crabs and Silkworms.

Simon says silkworms are delicious fried.  I'll take his word for it.

Frogs and Turtles

So then back to our room for naptime and a quiet evening in.  After the breakfast buffet and our huge lunch I don’t think we’ll need much for supper.

~
Here are some general observations of China:
1. There are a lot of Asian people here.  Imagine that.
2. They all stare at us.
3. There are lots of people walking everywhere.  It would seem that many more people walk than drive.  And if they don’t walk, they take a cab.  There are also more cabs and buses than private vehicles.
4. There are people everywhere.  It’s like a city of sardines.
5. They have delicious food here, but no obese people.  See point 3.
6.  Also, no ice.  What I wouldn't give for some ice right now... 

~
I was thankful for the opportunity to do a little sightseeing.  With a Monday consulate appt, we have a relatively short time in-country, so we miss out on some of the side trips.  This is kind of a bummer, but I’m excited to get back home too.  Plus it was 70 and sunny and a beautiful day for walking around the gardens.  Plus Ephraim even willingly spends more and more brief time periods with John.  He doesn’t linger long, but he does let John pick him up and hold him here and there, for just a minute or two.  It’s progress.  J

Yay!  John and Ephraim

~Meanwhile, back home they’ve been having lots of adventures as well.  First there was the stomach flu pandemic.  That was thankfully a short-lived bug, but now we’ve moved on to the respiratory issues.  Raya ended up at the doctor’s office with a cough and fever and ended up on antibiotics and breathing treatments and such.  Poor Grandma Barb is gonna be super ready for the hand-off this weekend and never volunteer for babysitting duty again.  

January 22~ Orphanage Visit

Today was basically more of the same.  I was up at 230.  I got up for a while, and then went back to bed.  I might have dozed some, and then E was up at 7 and we headed to breakfast shortly after that.

Every morning there’s a huge breakfast buffet with most everything you can imagine.  Some regular breakfast stuff like waffles and scrambled eggs, oatmeal, bacon, several kinds of sausage, omelets, cereal, fruit, and various kinds of muffins, pastries, and toast.  Then there’s some more interesting stuff.  Curry Mutton and seasonal vegetables that are nothing I've ever seen before (but are good and kind of like asparagus??) and usually some type of asian meat dishes and noodles. Yesterday I tasted dolphin.  Japanese style dolphin, to be more precise.  It was chewy, and it tasted like sacrilege.  This morning I tried dragonfruit.  It kind of had the texture of watermelon, and basically no flavor at all.

Anyway, after breakfast we hung around for a while.  There are a couple channels on tv that are in English.  There’s one that plays endless terrible movies, and another is the discovery channel, which is sometimes interesting, and sometimes lame.  All with chinese subtitles, of course.

We went for a couple walks around town, and made a trip to the grocery store.  The main event for the day was the orphanage visit.  John went, and E and I stayed back.  I really would have loved to go, but I couldn’t make that be a good idea since E seems to be just starting to warm up to us a little bit.  I couldn’t see taking him back home for a visit and then whisking him away again.  So we stayed here and send John with a list of questions and a request for many pictures. 

One of the things I requested was his medical records.  He had some heart surgery when he was about 5m old, and we haven't had any updates since his referral papers.  Turns out there are no records, because he went to his 1m post-op followup and they said he looked fine and didn’t need to some back.  I’m not sure to be appalled at the lack of followup, or just thankful that he was so healthy they didn’t feel like they needed to see him anymore.  I guess we’ll see what kind of things we find out when we get home.

The second thing was that about 6 months ago one of the agency workers was at his orphanage and saw him and was like “Um… no.  He needs to be moved to a more dedicated floor.”  He was in "gen pop" at that time, and was subsequently moved to a medical floor because he’d get more individualized care there.  Turns out he was really weak and floppy at that time, and has made great strides on the last 6 months.  I guess that’s what his update meant by “he is weak but making progress.”   Anyway.  I guess I'm really thankful they moved him when they did!  But it makes me really heartbroken for the kids who have no one to advocate for them.  What happens to those babies? 

Tomorrow begins the sightseeing portion of our trip, which is exciting.  Hopefully E doesn’t find it too overwhelming.  He even let John hold him for about 1 minute and put his shoe back on him before our walk this afternoon.  Baby steps!  :)

Seriously.  The best giggle.