Things that I want to remember

A friend of mine posted the cutest picture of her kid pouting and got me to thinking about what I'd like to remember when the kids are older. Pictures of their pouts is definitely a must (after all, mamas see pouts a lot when kids are little.) I'd like to remember the way Wyatt wakes up and comes at me with a huge smile, saying "Mama" over and over followed by bear hugs and kisses. The way Abbie baits Wyatt with her toys, then launches the artillery when he comes after it. War ensues, and they stand crying with open mouthed abandon as if their hearts were breaking until I intervene to restore justice and order. 15 minutes of peace and quiet until skirmish # 41 of the day. Goodness, is it noon already?!

It's been 4 weeks at home now. The first week boasted a skirmish every 5 - 10 minutes with Anna's or my or Mike's eyes constantly on Wyatt to make sure his curiosity and inventive spirit didn't lead him into peril. There were lots of fights with his sister, but not many injuries.

There's the toddler belief that Momma's are magic. I was outside watching Wyatt bicycle the other day and suddenly heard Abbie crying earnestly in the house. I came in to find her lying at the bottom of the stairs (every mother's pulse check moment). "Abbie, did you fall down the stairs?" "YES! ALL THE WAY DOWN!"(wailing). "Does anything hurt bad?" "NO! MOMMA, WHY DIDN'T YOU CATCH ME WHEN YOU HEARD ME FALLING?!" Even Wyatt somehow believes that when Momma kisses the boo boo, its magically all better.

The idiosyncrasies of a child newly adopted from orphanage care: although Wyatt's learned many new words and seems to understand much more than he can communicate back, he still speaks to me primarily in Mandarin. Today we were on a very long drive to pick up a skid steer part for Daddy and on the way back, I heard Wyatt trying to tell me something softly in Mandarin. Then he fell silent. Imagine my surprise to open his door when we finally arrived home and find him, his car seat and the seat of the van covered in chocolaty vomit. Silent vomiting is one of the many surprises a child from an orphanage will bring into your life. Finding his stash of hoarded food behind the sofa cushions and his cache of toys taken from the sisters under the head of his bed makes me ache for the little boy who still does not trust others to meet his needs or be fair.

I want to remember that he needs a toy car in his hand to fall asleep at night and that he squeals like a delighted baby when he's excited and happy. Then there was our first sit down, dine in meal at a local restaurant where I stifled sympathetic giggles while watching Mike try to deal with Abbie on one side and Wyatt on the other using their busy little hands, pens, silverware, food and toy cars for evil. I turned to an embarrassed Anna and stated, "Someday you'll all be civilized teenagers and we'll be dining somewhere nice and will reminisce about this moment. We'll have good stories to tell on those two!" She grinned and took a deep calming breath.

My phone conversations seem to be interrupted and harried these days. My emails incoherent as I pound them out and push "send". My dress and hair are unkempt most days and I've forgotten make-up more times than I ever have in my entire adult life. My "me" time is nonexistent for the most part and prayer is spoken in snatches under my breath as I put out fires and restore order. My pride is taking a beating but my joy as a mother has reached new heights.

Day 3 Peekaboo

Wyatt's song in Guangzhou

Picture Day

First week home of forever

We have our first week at home behind us and are happy to say it went well. I know Wyatt is wearing a pink helmet, but we have been, after all, a family of females up to now and some things are naturally passed down. I also had to include the redneck shot of the week. Don't worry Mom, he couldn't start it. :-)

We know that we are so blessed: blessed to know such wonderful friends and family, blessed to have giving and sweet children, and blessed to receive our son and watch him grow, learn, give high fives and bear hugs and absorb what it means to be part of a forever family. He is doing very well with this transition as are our other children. There have been some interesting moments along the way, but they are far outweighed by the joy of knowing Wyatt as a part of our family.

Watching Wyatt run down the stairs after Anna and Abbie to tell Daddy goodnight chokes me up. Seeing Wyatt laughing at Abbie's "car dancing" in my rear view mirror puts a song in my heart. Seeing Anna exchanging sweet smiles with Wyatt is a sterling moment. All are greater than any personal accomplishment in their vibrant richness of color.

This has been a week of firsts for Wyatt. He has learned that food on the table is to be shared even if one throws a tantrum to get all of the sweet corn. He has learned that house plants are very chewy and not that tasty. He has learned to sing the "pick up" song during our 10 minute dash pick up time each evening. He has learned that Baba goes to work every day and though we miss him, he does return home. He's learned he has lots of family and friends. He has learned that Mom is more stubborn that he is so he might as well give in and do what I want him to do. He has learned that banging his head on the floor does not get him what he wants or any extra attention (after being moved to a soft place). He's learned that no matter what, good or bad, there's lots of affection and love and we're all in this together.

My thoughts have gelled over the past week about our trip to China and the people we met along the way. First I want to say that our travel companion family was a key factor in the joy and success of our journey. We enjoyed our guides and felt cared for, but our travel companions wove many beautiful colors into the fabric of our journey that we will never forget. They taught us lessons, they shared deep moments and they sought joy and God's provision at every opportunity. We miss them so much already. Wyatt has asked for them and looks so confused when I ineptly try to explain that they don't live nearby. We also experienced adopted children who were no longer pictures on a waiting child website but were flesh and blood along with their adoptive parents and siblings. It was like witnessing a miracle of creation...the creating of families, the creating of relationship where there had been none and the beginning of legacies for future generations to come. Some of this creating appeared to be a somewhat painful process at times, but mostly it was sweet with an aroma of God's grace surrounding it. We met Chinese Christians who long for the freedom to home school their children. One person longed to come to America for the freedom to home educate his son, to teach him creativity and Christian principles and broaden his horizons. We met Chinese Christians who glowed with an inner beauty of light and love that was remarkable and very apparent. We met young women who had many layers to their personalities as they tried to appear to be one thing by day, but we sadly surmised, were required to be another thing at other times.

We laughed a lot, we cried some and we chose to wait in faith. We chose peace as your prayers lifted us up. We learned to lay down our rights, to be stripped to the necessity of trusting God for every step of the path and learning the sweetness of letting all go as we run the race to the finish. In picking our former duties and patterns back up, we approach them with new insight and an increased desire that we would please God in every moment by living through Him and not in our own strength to our own ends. Habits of self reliance and worry are hard to break but we've tasted "freedom" in helplessness and total reliance on Him and know that's where joy and peace lies. I watch my growing family and my heart swells with gratitude, praise, joy and contentment. Our family is complete....for today ;-)

Today is the "welcome to America" doctor appt

Wyatt is doing better: no fevers, riding his trike and swimming timidly in the pool. This leads us to his first ever yearly check up with our wonderful family doctor. Bad news is that there will be a lot of testing today. Wyatt will not be thrilled with that. Wish us luck!

And the crazy ride continues but sei la vie

Wyatt and Abbie with Pop in the tractor.

I haven't written the past couple days because well, we're in the thick of unpredictable life. Things had been going really, really well with Wyatt and the kids, then Friday night he started with a fever around 102. We gave him Motrin and thought we'd see how it went in the morning. He woke up with a fever of 103.3 and so began the "wait and see" that every parent knows so well. Calling your on-call doc on the holiday weekend twice a day with the update and then "wait and see". He got up to 104.4 yesterday evening. We set alarms and got up every 3 to 4 hours to dose him with overlapping Motrin and Tylenol. Then the doctor finally saw us around noon today. The verdict is most likely Roseola: 2 more days of high fever followed by a rash.

In the meantime yesterday, I tripped over Wyatt while carrying out Abbie's bicycle and messed up my right foot. Then I had to go to an outpatient ER for x-rays while Mike cared for the kids. No broken bones, but my foot is swollen and still very painful. Hopefully its nothing interesting. Good thing Wyatt isn't interested in playing "chase" right now!

So, that's how its going. We're feeling our jetlag while getting up every few hours for medication purposes. He's playing quietly when the fever is not so high. We're hoping for a quick resolution.

travel pix

We are home and still standing. PTL!

We arrived at our last airport on July 1st and 11:30 p.m. and were met by KK, Jo, Anna, Abbie and my Mom and Dad. What a glorious site they all were! I held it together the whole journey home (almost 30 hours of travel) until we were on that last plane coming into Richmond. Tears of gratitude overwhelmed me, but then I fought it so hard because no one on that puddle jumper would know why I was crying. I didn't want them to think it was because Wyatt had been so naughty when we loaded on. LOL

Anna had Wyatt giggling and talking within 10 minutes of leaving the airport. His first meal...Taco Bell late night drive through. He loved it! KK drove us home and then the kids stayed up and played with each other till 02:00 a.m. What a wonderful time we had!

Praise God we are home! Praise God it happened! Big high five everybody!