September 18- Big day to celebrate!

Today, we all had to wake up early, get dressed, and eat breakfast all before 7:30 am!  That meant that we had to wake up at 6:30 am-- earlier than we've ever had to wake up.  Why?  Today was our early appointment at the US Consulate office in Guangzhou!  We went through a brief interview process and exchanged paperwork so that our son's visa could be processed and we could come home together as a family.  Normally these visas can take two additional days to process, but we learned today that ours should be ready by tomorrow afternoon.  Unfortunately, it's too much of a hassle to change flight schedules and come home early, or we would have done so!

While at the consulate office, we noticed that one of Gabriel's arms had a series of bumps and scratches on it in kind of a patch.  I didn't think it looked like scabies, since usually that is seen in the webbing between the fingers and toes (and no signs there), but one of the other adoptive mamas looked at it, and said, "Oh... uh... I think he probably has scabies."  Then, another adoptive mama saw it and said, "I'm a doctor.  That's not scabies-- probably just an allergic reaction or eczema.  We double checked it quickly with a doctor at the international clinic across from the Consulate, and all it well.  He thought it was a mosquito bite, but our guide said it was probably some other kind of bug bite.  Whatever it was, he scratched it quite a bit last night.  There are a few other red spots on our little guy, but mostly likely those are eczema spots, too.  We're used to seeing that with Gabriel, so he'll switch over to Gabriel's eczema body wash and shampoo when we get home.

After the Consulate office, we went to a Chinese mall just to walk around.  Howie got at least one picture there, and we had Burger King for lunch.  Not much better than Burger King in the states, I have to say, but Andrew liked dipping his chicken nuggest in the sweet and sour sauce and did a good job of taking small bites of the nuggets, too, so that's a success!

After the mall, we all went back to the hotel and had a two hour nap, and after that, my back felt soooo much better.  It's still a bit sore tonight, but if I keep up with the Tylenol, it tends to keep the pain at bay a bit.  Also, I have to avoid walking on ramps and picking Andrew up from the bottom of the van when he wiggles out of Howie's or my arms while we're in transit someplace.  I have to limit that and steer him over to Howie's side of the van when that happens.  Thank goodness he'll have a carseat when home!  I'm sure he'll hate it, but we will love it!

Today was also our anniversary, so this made the day extra special.  After playing in the kiddie area with Andrew for a bit, we decided to eat al a carte at the downstairs cafeteria where we normally only have breakfast.  We spent a little more that usual on dinner, but it was our anniversary, after all, we were able to have pasta with meat sauce to celebrate.  Now, we're just hoping that the fresh parsley on top of our meal doesn't negatively affect us.  Howie ate most of his, and I picked the majority of mine off, but we're not supposed to have fresh, uncooked veggie or fruit that could have been contaminated by the water here.  We can't even use the water here to brush our teeth, so to be extra cautious after dinner, we ate a couple of pepto pills to coat our stomachs.  Wish us well!  So far, so good!

Tonight, after dinner and Andrew's bath (which he really needed after trying to drink some leftover congee), we were able to Skype with Howie's dad, which was nice.  During and after this, Andrew was completely wound up, so we once again went walking a little outside, went walking down our floor, went walking in the lobby just to try to get Andrew in the mood to fall asleep.  By the time we reached our room , he had rubbed his eyes a little bit but was still far from sleep.  We placed him in the crib which reulted in loud cries and big tears and then put him in our bed.  It probably took him 15-20 minutes to fall asleep, but that was all.  Not too bad.

Here are some pictures from today.  Really, though, you just have to meet this little guy.  The pictures just don't let you in to his full, happy, mischievous personality.   Oh, and if anyone has ideas on how to keep a 22 month old entertained on the plane ride home, let us know!  Gabriel, only two months older when adopted, was already very familiar with technology and willingly watched some movies and in general just played with the screen in front of us on the plane ride home.  Andrew shows no interest in technology whatsoever, which in general is good, but then we're left with the big question.  What are we going to do?  He throws every single toy he is given just for sport, and he puts things in his mouth, which means crayons are not an option.  If anyone else has suggestions, we're willing to take them!  :)  

Hope you are all doing well!

Blessings,
Jennifer

September 17 in Guangzhou

Hi everyone,

This will be a short blog since the tablet is only running at 24%.  Let's see... Today started out pretty relaxing.  We all slept in, including Andrew, and then we went down to breakfast just before it closed at around 9:30.  I love the breakfast at this hotel.  You can order fried eggs, omlets, etc, and there is usually canned fruit (the only kind we're allowed to eat here without risk of getting sick) and juice if we want it.  There is always tea.  :)  We always eat so much at breakfast that we're not hungry for lunch until around 1:00.  Of course, Andrew is ALWAYS hungry, but we have a variety of Chinese and American snacks to tide him over until lunch.

After breakfast, we took Andrew down to the kiddie playground on the 4th floor again, and he had a great time playing with blocks and putting them in and out of a cupboard in the  pretend kitchen.  He also climbed up the little slide on the little jungle gym-- first with his shoes on and then with his shoes off, which made it extra challenging, but he's a determined little fellow.  I helped him climb by supporting his bottom when he was near the middle of the slide, and Howie took over at the top end of the slide.  He did this over and over again and would also slide down the slide and let me catch him at the end.  He was so delighted with all of this.  Watching him play and playing with him wore his parents out quite a bit!  When he was done playing, we took him for a stroller walk around the garden, which settled him down a bit, and then we waited in the lobby for our pre-ordered lunch to arrive.

And we waited.

And we waited.  Andrew fell alseep while we were waiting, and it was time to go upstairs to await our clean laundry delivery, so the two of us went upstairs to do this while Howie still waited on lunch.  Soon after our arrival to our room, Andrew woke up and needed a diaper change.  I was finally about to do this (no easy task to diaper change him by yourself since he wiggles and cries and struggles so much when we change him) when the laundry man came.  So... I collected the laundry, and Andrew thought he was going to get out of his diaper change, but Mama didn't forget!  :)

Soon after that, Howie came upstairs with our luke-warm food, and we ate it in a hurry, because shortly after that, we had to leave for church!

We went to one of the Catholic churches (more like a cathedral) in Guangzhou, expecting quite a lot to be different.  We didn't notice many differences, if any, in the mass itself.  However, when the guide and I entered, they made us put on a skirt because my shorts and her dress were "too short."  Another difference was that, when Igot up to take Andrew for a walk when he was getting restless, different sections of the church were roped off, so I had to exit along the side and could not just stand in the back as we would sometimes do with Gabriel at our home church.

We left just after the homily (sermon) because Andrew was becoming too restless and disruptive, and when we walked outside, we saw that the church had a lot of land around it, and on this land, people were standing and sitting, trying to listen to the mass from the open doors.  (Yes, the church was unairconditioned, fans were blowing, and the doors where all open.)  They also had some beautiful statues on their grounds.  Howie took pictures of the statue cluster of The Good Shephard and the outside of the church.

Afterwards, we had some time to marvel at the open air markets and tiny little shops along the street near the church.  We saw these and people carrying heavy loads of goods on bikes, etc.  It was one of those times when we knew we weren't in Indiana anymore.  Very little English appeared along that street, and our guide explained to us that it was District 1 (or D-- we're not quite sure what she said).  Anyway, this district, she said, has stayed the same even after several dynasty changes.  Most of the people who lived and worked there had generations of family who had lived and worked there before them.

Back in the van, Andrew came over to me after being held by Howie, and said, "Mama, 'bowba," which our guide said meant, "Mama, hold me."  So sweet!!  Of course held him, and he relaxed on my lap for a little bit until he started playing, "Let's throw the water bottle on the ground and have my mama try to hold me while I try to get it from the bottom of the van.  Have I mentioned that people rarely buy carseats in China, and there are no car seats in the vehicles we take?  Also, the traffic there sometimes--often--looks like a parking lot with no clear-cut lanes.  Howie and I cringed the first time we were here and saw that, and now we just give each other looks of disbelief.  lol

After this, we went to the mall to buy more diapers for Andrew, because the ones we had bought a few days ago ended up being too large.  We also bought him a few pairs of shorts that would fit him, since we brought mostly size 18 month old shorts for him, and he is in a size twelve months or slightly lower.  We're making due with the long shirts.  :)  We also wanted to buy a fun gift for Gabriel, so our guide ordered a gift we had seen in the store.  She said that her four-year-old loves this particular car and that her older son plays with it too.  Before we left the store, Howie also purchased a small case of bottled water so that he wouldn't have to go by the nearby 7-11 again to buy it.  Every time he goes to the 7-11, he gets hit up by prostitutes right outside the hotel!  lol

When we returned home, we played with Andrew a little bit in our hotel room, made him a second bottle of formula at his insistence (he does a great job with gestures), and then headed to dinner at Food Street.

I didn't bring my camera along today, but I just received Howie's pictures from my gmail account, and here they are!

Some prayer requests to pass along:

1. Please help diaper changes to go better with Andrew.  It's very difficult to change his diapers.  He's strong and struggles like mad to prevent us from taking off his wet/poopy diaper and putting on his clean one.

2. Please pray that my back feels better.  It was feeling better at one part of the day, and then I sneezed, and I've been in worse pain ever since.

Notice my grimace?  Andrew was pulling my hair in this picture.  He alternated from pulling on my hair and knocking off Howie's glasses this afternoon.  That's how we knew he was tired.  He only does this kind of thing when he's missing a nap.  :)

We head to the Consulate tomorrow to complete Andrew's passport process and to swear him in!  :)  That will be close to the end of the paperwork here in China.  (We'll have more to do when we arrive back home.)

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,
Jennifer

Saturday in Guangzhou and Andrew Pictures

Today began the weekend in Guangzhou.  No pressing paperwork to do!  We woke up rather late and had a late breakfast, and then after getting a new hotel key because we had left ours up in our  room, we quickly changed Andrew and headed back down to the lobby to to meet our guide who took us to Shamian Island.

Shamian Island, for those of you who don't know, it pretty much just for tourists and the workers of the souvenir shops.  Some people live there, but not very many.  It's  a great place to shop for small items and take some pictures.  Back in 2014 when we adopted our first son, Gabriel, we had stamps made with both our English names and Chinese characters, so today, we had a stamp made for Andrew with his English name and his Chinese name, Shen Yang Ju, written in Chinese characters.  Howie and I also finally purchased silks ourselves to wear on special occasions like Chinese New Year.  Howie purchased a shirt, and Ipurchased a dress for a pretty good price.  Before I tried on the dress, the shopkeeper asked me if I would take off my clothes to try it on.  Mind you, there was no dressing room in site, and the door to the shop was wide open to the street.  I declined and tried it on over my outfit.  Andrew was given a silk outfit and a special Inner Mongolian hat by his orphanage, but he won't be able to wear that until he's five years old or so.

While shopping,  we were approached by a few middle school students who were conducting a survey for school on how different cultures handle various occasions.  When they asked us where we were from and we told them "Indiana, USA, " they shrieked with delight!  You would have thought we were superstars!  The question they asked was, "At family reunions, who sits at the table first?  The elderly or the women?"  We said, "We all do!"  They were surprised, made note of it, and then asked to take their picture with us.  We also had our guide snap a picture of us on Howie's phone.  Then, a little while later,  Guangzhou conducted a test of their Emergency Broadcast System outside.  We asked our guide if that was for weather, and she said, "No, we get those warnings on our phone."  But she didn't say what it was for.  It sounded like air raid sirens, so we think that was the test they were doing.  It was kind of scary.  

After this, we took Andrew to the famous Shamian Island statue of children.  The idea is that you are supposed to place your child in line with the children and take a picture.  Andrew just started screaming and crying, and Howie got a picture of it, but we can't figure out how to transfer pictures from his phone to the tablet.

Because we had eaten a late breakfast, we weren't hungry enough to eat at Lucy's, the famous western restaurant on the Island, so we ended up buying take-out from a nearby McDonalds around 2:30.  We all ate chicken nuggets and fries.  What a healthy lunch!  Ha!

Shortly after that, Howie asked if he could have some quiet time for  a nap, so Andrew and I went off to explore the hotel.  We looked in a couple of shops on the ground floor and then ventured to the fourth floor mainly to check out the Prime restaurant and possibly see just how expensive that was. To our delight, though, on our way to Prime, we found an indoor kiddie playland, so Andrew and I played there for awhile.  We tossed a ball back and forth and then I helped him slide down the little slide several times.  He was so happy to do that!  He also found some large Lego/ Mega blocks and tried to stack them but couldn't quite get it, so instead, he placed a block into his mouth.  I promptly took it out and he promptly put it back in again.  Well, I guess he had to start building up his immune system at some point.  I'm sure we'll return there tomorrow just because it broke up the monotony of being in the hotel room and allowed me to talk with some other adoptive parents as well.

Later today, we met up with an adoptive family whom we had met on Facebook before we left.  They don't live too far from us (near Chicago), and they adopted a little girl.  We all ate at Fandino's Pizza place togther, and it was so nice to dine with friends.  I had Andrew on my lap, and he was in true "mischief maker" form tonight!  We ordered him chicken spaghetti, and let's just say he got a little more pasta in his belly than he did on Mama and himself!  lol  He also threw the wipes he was mistakenly given by me and had a wonderful time doing so!

Have I mentioned that he throws every single object that he grabs?  lol  And that he grabs every single object that catches his attention?  lol  He is keeping us on our toes every second of every minute, but he's so darn cute and has such a charming grin on his face when he's doing all of this, that we just can't help but laugh and hug and kiss him when we're not correcting him.  His favorite phrases right now continue to be "Go, go, go!"  "Get it!"  "Bye bye," and we've heard him say "car" a few times and "hi" a couple of times.  He's a pretty smart kid we think!    My favorite moments with him are the moments he lets me hold him, and he snuggles in against me.  I also love chasing him in the hotel room and asking him to chase me.  When he chases me, I stop at a certain point, turn toward him, and kneel down.  I hold my arms open, and he runs into them and gives me a big hug.  :)  The most challenging moments are taking objects away from him that he shouldn't have, because he lives by the "finders keepers" philosophy and trying to put him to bed during nap time and at night.  It takes us about an hour each time before he finally just wears himself out and passes out.  He just doesn't want to stop playing because his parents are just too much fun.  Right?  lol  We need to figure out some way to get him to bed faster, but that will have to likely wait until we're home and have a more regular routine.  We are so happy that he seems to be bonding equally to both of us, calling out for us specifically by name at various times and asking both of us to hold him.  He's such a sweetie.  I'm looking forward to when Gabriel and he get to know each other.  I think they'll end up eventually being the best of friends.  :)

Tomorrow, we're going to go to a Catholic church over here that has an English service.  It will be interesting to see which things are the same and which are different due to government regulation.  We're looking forward to it!

I'll now leave you with some more pictures of Andrew that we have taken over the past several days.  :)  We can't wait for you to meet him in person. We're sure you'll fall in love with him just as we have.

Have a great Saturday!  I'm off to clean off any leftover noodles from dinner and then going to bed.  Also, I started prednisone today from my back (medicine that I originally bought for my ears in case they didn't recover from the plane ride as was the case the last time we flew to China), and I'm already slowly starting to feel some of the pain subside.  Hopefully tomorrow, I will feel much better.  Thanks for the prayers.  We truly appreciate them and are ready to be home to thank you in person.

Blessings,
Jennifer