Le Hai Update

I am completely amazed at how Le Hai has already bonded with us!! Of course it’s a process, but I didn’t expect it to be reciprocated so quickly. When he first came in to the Civil Affairs Office where we met him, he was bashful, and scared, and had his head hung low. We gave him a lolipop and some rice cakes. He was nervous coming back to the hotel, so I had the guide explain everything to him.

Once we got in our room, we just played with him and worked on bonding. It wasn’t hard...he realized we’re all nuts and he started letting his hair down. He gets an absolute kick out of Daddy. Josiah is his buddy, his protector. Brianna is very motherly with him, but playful. She watches movies with him when I need to shower, etc.

Thank God I have the gift of reading people like a book...I can magically tell when he needs to eat, go to the bathroom, when he’s scared, etc. It’s because I’m a Mom!! I’ve been sitting on the floor playing cars with him ever since we got him. He’s an adorable little boy, with a cute sense of humor...he has a really cute giggle as well.

Two things, that struck my emotional chord...last night we decided to leave our room and get something to eat in one of the hotel restaurants, as we were leaving the room, Le Hai went into shut down mode. His head was hung low and he was scared. He thought he was going back to the orphanage. Broke my heart!!!!! So I quickly leaned down and asked him if he was hungry in Mandarin. Then I started to make my own sign language for eating, which cracked him up...when he realized he was getting food instead of leaving us, he totally lit up.

Ummm....he’s a Chinese version of Josiah when it comes to food....cheese pizza...yep.

He is very, very, VERY sweet!!! Someone did a great job of preparing him, but also, his manners are amazing.

I can’t wait to get this little boy home!!!! Today we fly out for Guangzhou where we will be adopting Xi Yi tomorrow morning. Pray her transition goes as well as Le Hai’s!!!! And pray I get some sleep...two hours last night for me, about 6 the night before, and one the night before that (could NOT sleep on that flight!!!!).

"Got-cha Day" Pictures!!!

Today was "Got-cha Day" with Le Hai, and the whole thing was really amazing.  There were about ten other families at the government office getting their new children as well.  There was a lot of crying from a couple of other kids, but Le Hai was very quiet and shy.  He didn't do much until we began to bribe him with lollipops and rice cookies.

We spent a lot of time signing official documents and doing inked thumbprints of me and my husband and Le Hai's hand.

At one point when a couple of the families began to leave, Le Hai got up like he was going to go. That’s when some of the tears came, but we calmed him down pretty quick. He was saying things in Chinese, and, of course, we have no idea what he said. We took the van back to the hotel which was 15 - 20 minutes away. He looked a little shaken and like he was going to cry in the van, but he toughed it out.

We got back to the hotel and immediately ordered pizza and milk. That did it. He lit up when my husband and Josiah walked into the room with the pizza. He ate about 10 crusts and he loved every one. He kept eating the cheese off of the top of the crusts, and then shoved the rest in his mouth. He was very hungry. He downed all of the milk before he even ate a bite of food. After eating, we began to play with him with the paper plates, putting them on our heads and letting them fall off. He got a huge kick out of this and began copying us. We then gave him a few cars to play with, and he is racing them around on the floor. Everything is going great. Now we just have to get his routine implemented into our schedule, and it looks like it's nap time pretty soon.

Here's some pictures from our "Got-cha Day" with Le Hai:

This is our very first picture with Le Hai! 

Meeting Le Hai for the first time.

Me with Le Hai. 

My husband with Le Hai. 

Brianna and her new brother. 

 Josiah and his new brother.

In the vehicle on the way back to our hotel.  I FINALLY have him in my arms!

Back in our hotel room.  He's a huge fan of pizza!!!

"Got-cha Day" For Le Hai!!!

We just got back to our hotel room with Le Hai!!!  There were only a few tears, but he is absolutely perfect. 

He's playing with cars now.  And he's smiling too!  He's eating pizza with us.  He likes cars and veggie tales. 

God is so good!!!

China Trip Update

We arrived here at 10:00 pm on Saturday evening. It was a super long day of travel, the longest flight being 14 hours from Chicago to Beijing. We were shot. It was very hard to sleep the first night, being that our brains were wired that is was afternoon sometime. The queen size beds feel like twin beds, and they’re only about 12” off the floor. You just kind of fall out of them. 

We went to a museum today that was pretty cool. It took a few hours to get through.  We also went to a grocery store. It’s in the middle of a huge mall stretched out over a number of levels. Everything is very expensive. 

We are in the province of Zenzong, and there are 19 million people in this city alone.  It is crowded beyond belief. The cars jostle and honk at each other endlessly and the mopeds and electric bikes race up and down the SIDEWALKS!!!  Thank God for the wide open spaces of America. You can’t appreciate what a great nation we have until you leave.

 

We get our little boy tomorrow morning. We’re really excited, and we’re told he is too, because he gets his “forever parents” tomorrow. All the kids in the orphanages here wait and hope that someone will adopt them, and their last name will no longer be “dang,” which we found out today means “child of communism.” Everyone deserves to be a child of God.

 

Here's some pictures from our trip so far:

 

And We're Off!!!

We are officially on our way to China!  

I am sitting on a plane in Chicago and waiting to take off even as we speak.  We will arrive in Beijing around 4:00 PM their time and I will blog more then!