An evening of laughter! (Friday, September 10 continued)

Despite the long, hot morning with the medical appointments, by Friday evening Micaelyn really started showing us her true personality. After nearly a week of crying she burst open with laughter and excitement. During the days of crying when she had been content to simply let me hold her while the other kids played we thought perhaps she was a quiet little girl. Boy, were we ever wrong! Once she started opening up and letting us see her true personality we learned she was a very spunky little girl! It became clear she would have no problem keeping up with her older brothers. She smiled, she laughed, she played, she danced, she hugged, she kissed, she was full of energy, full of excitement, full of joy, and full of love for us. It was simply amazing to see how truly happy she was considering it had not even been a week since she had left her foster family. We knew she would still grieve for awhile, but it was wonderful to see her so full of happiness and excitement for her new life with us.

Our 2 new blessings.  Micaelyn watching Joshua gave me a good excuse to get a picture of him, although even with me pretending to be taking pictures of Micaelyn it made him noticeably uncomfortable.  It is still hard to believe how hard we had to fight our agency to adopt him (because they had never before allowed a family to adopt 2 unrelated kids at the same time), so hard to believe he almost "aged-out."  Every child deserves to have a family, every child deserves to be loved.  He may have turned 14 just after we adopted him, but he is surely still a child in need of love... and he is a blessing to our family!

She has such a cute profile!

Not surprisingly, it was Caleb who finally got her to play, who first made her laugh.  We took Caleb and Malachi with us on the trip because we knew it would be too hard on them to be away from us for so long (they have never been away from me for more than a few hours, never overnight), but we also knew they would be extremely helpful during Micaelyn's transition to life with us.

I had a pile of semi-dirty clothes (i.e. they had been worn but could be worn again if we started running out of clothing) in the corner.  She decided to fold them all.

I could tell by how much fun she was having folding clothes she would have fun "playing house" with the boys.  Notice Malachi sleeping on the couch behind her in the photo.  She was trying to take care of him like a baby (there had been a baby in her foster family).

It was amazing to see her so incredibly happy considering how terribly sad she had been just a few days before.

Such a beautiful little girl!

Full of happiness, and very spunky!

She was so happy she started dancing and singing a Chinese song.  The foster family told us she liked to sing and dance, and it was obvious she was doing a real routine, not just something she had made up.

"Mommy's pretty girl"  - This was one of the first English phrases she learned because I would say it to her so often (and I still do).

No more crying in the bathtub!

After an evening of running, playing, and laughing she passed out from exhaustion.  It was a bit funny to see how she was sleeping on a king size bed (Caleb, Micaelyn, and I were sharing the bed with Malachi on the couch.  Ernie and Joshua were in the 2 double beds in the connecting room).

Medical appointments (Friday, September 10)

All kids have to have a medical exam to get their visa to come to the US.  Since we did not stay at the White Swan hotel (the hotel preferred by our agency) but instead stayed at the Holiday Inn we started the day with a walk to the White Swan hotel to meet up with the group.  Next we walked as a group to get visa pictures made, and then the group walked together to the medical clinic.  While we were walking it felt miserably hot and humid out.  Summer in southern China can be very uncomfortable!  However, even as hot as it was it was even hotter inside the medical clinic.  The power had been out due to nearby construction so they had no air conditioning, and it was packed with many people inside.  It was so hot inside that by the time we finally got out the outside air actually felt cool to us even though the heat index was over 100 degrees and it had felt miserably hot before going into the clinic.  Needless to say, it was NOT fun waiting around for so long inside the clinic with minimal light (without power the only light was from the minimal windows they had), crammed in with tons of other people, ridiculously high temperatures, crying babies, screaming children, etc.

They decided not to give shots that day due to the terrible conditions inside the building, though they did give the TB tests.  A few days later we had to go back to get the TB tests read and get all the shots.  Obviously that wasn't fun either, and it was especially hard with Micaelyn.  By the time we went back to get the shots Micaelyn had really started opening up, playing, laughing, etc.  Not surprisingly, it was impossible for her to understand why we held her down and let them give her so many shots, and the resulting fever and sickness didn't help either.  Thankfully our government has finally fixed their mistake so that parents are no longer forced to get their new children so many shots (usually 5-8 different ones) all at once during the critical bonding period. 

Waiting for the medical exams inside an insanely hot building.

After the medical appointments we had lunch at the Cow & Bridge, a popular Thai restaurant on the island.  We really didn't enjoy it too much, but since he loves elephants Caleb really liked the statues outside the entrance!

Enjoying the animals along the pet street outside our hotel.  Even though it was hot, the walk to the island was always entertaining, fascinating, and enjoyable.

McDonald's in China

Caleb knew there would be McDonald's in China.  The boys couldn't wait to eat there, and by the time we finally got the chance we had been in China for almost 2 weeks.  They were eager to go, but since Ernie didn't feel like walking I finally took them by myself.  I was a woman by myself with 3 small children, all 3 with a different ethnicity (Joshua stayed at the hotel).  To say I attracted attention is a great understatement.  It was almost hilarious, especially on the streets.  I did my best to ignore them, but it's hard to not feel a bit uncomfortable with so many people staring endlessly.  In McDonald's we ended up sitting next to a young couple.  The girl was using tweezers to pull out the guy's chin hairs and placing them upon a napkin on the table, and yet we were the ones being stared at.  At least the kids finally got their trip to McDonald's.

Micaelyn enjoys her first trip to McDonald's, complete with a cup of corn for her side.

She had to wear her backpack everywhere she went.  Initially I thought it was because it was from the foster family, and while I'm sure that contributed now I know she simply loves carrying around a bag, purse, or backpack of any kind.  She is ALWAYS carrying a bag of some sort around the house with toys inside.

They really enjoyed their hamburgers!  I love that in addition to corn as a side they also offered orange juice as a drink.

The Happy Meals had Pokemon toys inside.

Micaelyn coming around... (Thursday, September 9)

The day after we got Joshua was a bit of a turning day for Micaelyn.  She was still very sad at times, still not sleeping well, and still cried a lot, but it seemed she was coming to an acceptance of things.  Rather than crying incessantly with frequent bouts of screaming and tantrums she was becoming quieter, more interested in what was going on around her.  She started playing more, even smiling a bit.

Caleb shares some Oreos with Micaelyn.  She really liked them!

I could tell she was starting to come around by the relaxed expression on her face versus the angry scowl she had often had before.  She was really starting to get interested in her new life, which also meant letting go of the old.

Silly bands made a WONDERFUL travel item.  They took almost no space, and most of them I got really cheap.  Micaelyn had obviously never seen them before but was highly fascinated by them.

Micaelyn had such a cute way of making the peace sign, and she liked holding it right in front of her face.

I was delighted to see her smiling!  Other than the few smiles we got the first morning with her she had not smiled or shown happiness in any way since she was with her foster family the day we got her (we got her on Sunday, this was Thursday).  That she was not only smiling but also happily interacting showed tremendous progress in her transition with us.

She was highly fascinated by the Silly Bands!

Joshua's Adoption Day (Wednesday, September 8)

On Sunday (September 5) we received Micaelyn, Monday we finalized the adoption, Tuesday was a down day, and Wednesday morning we left Guiyang to get Joshua.  Because of his 14th birthday the officials made a rare exception to the rule requiring 24 hours between placement and finalization so that we actually finalized his adoption on the same day we received him.

Unfortunately, Joshua's Adoption Day turned out to be a very difficult day (the difficulties had NOTHING to do with him - he was great).  We had left home a week and a half earlier with Caleb being very sick.  Naturally, me being the one to hold him, care for him, and sleep with him, I ended up getting sick too.  The night before we got Joshua was a miserable night with me being very sick, Caleb still being somewhat sick, Micaelyn crying a great deal of the night, and the boys getting woke up by her crying.  Thus I ended up getting absolutely NO sleep to add to the extreme cold I had, not to mention the pink-eye I had (and I had to keep wearing my contacts since I had no glasses).

We had to leave for the airport too early to get breakfast at the hotel (which was really frustrating since it had such a good breakfast buffet which we had already paid for).  It was chaos trying to get all the luggage and kids out of the hotel that early, and we were running late for the flight.  At the airport there was the usual chaos of getting checked in and getting through security.  It was made all the worse by the fact Caleb's toy bag (which we had saved as a carry-on), had his souvenir from climbing the Great Wall in Beijing, a sling-shot.  The security people considered it a weapon and took it, which was heartbreaking to Caleb.  He had begged for us to get him one when we first saw them upon arrival at the Great Wall, and we had promised him if he climbed the whole way with us we'd get him one.  It was an extremely difficult climb even for us adults, but as a sick 6 year old it took extreme effort for him to make it (and he did break down into tears many times along the way).  As promised we had rewarded him with the sling-shot for his effort, so to have it taken away was really sad.

Things didn't get any better once we finally got onto the plane (barely in time).  We were hot, crowded, and hungry.  Micaelyn was NOT happy.  She started crying and screaming to "go home."  Of course, we became the object of everyone's fascination and were stared at endlessly by half the plane.  The people behind us started trying to talk to Micaelyn, and immediately she saw them as her chance to get what she wanted.  She decided she wanted nothing to do with us and screamed that much more.  The flight attendant offered to take her to the back of the plane (thankfully we were in the next-to-last row).  I knew it would not be good to let her go, but with half the plane staring and obviously talking about us I really couldn't refuse.  Naturally, Micaelyn saw this young lady (who she started calling "big sister") as her savior.  She absolutely refused to have anything to do with us after that, and when the flight attendant had to give her back for the landing she showed everyone just how big a tantrum she could throw.

Thus by the time we got to Joshua I was exhausted from lack of sleep, miserable from illness (which was greatly exacerbated by the plane ride and the fact I NEVER got my ears to clear from the pressure changes), and worn-out from dealing with Micaelyn's screaming, meeting Caleb and Malachi's needs, traveling, etc.

When we arrived at the building where we were to meet Joshua once again, just as with Micaelyn, we met him outside of the building.  I recognized him as soon as the car stopped even though he was just inside the doors with his back to us.  He had on the same clothes he had worn in the few pictures we had of him.  It was a very awkward moment when we walked in and stepped onto the same elevator with him.  The government officials and our guides were obviously not expecting us to meet him that way, and he was obviously very nervous and quiet.  Once we got to the top he was taken away and they apologized for the awkwardness of how we had met, but of course that made it very anti-climatic once he was brought to us again.

We waited around for quite awhile in a large near-empty room.  Because it was a Wednesday it was very quiet, not like it usually is for adoptions. Usually there are many families getting their children all at once, but because of Joshua's 14th birthday we had to complete his adoption THEN, not wait until the start of the next week (most parents receive their children at the beginning of the week and complete the adoption the next day - getting Joshua on Wednesday and completing his adoption the same day was very unusual and was only done because the adoption had to be completed and registered before his 14th birthday).  The whole time Micaelyn was crying and begging to "go home" to her foster family.  Caleb and Malachi wanted to leave, and I'm sure Joshua did too.  Finally they were ready for us, we signed all the paperwork to complete Joshua's adoption, and we were able to go back to the hotel.

We could tell right away that Joshua was a very quiet kid.  He wouldn't make eye contact, wouldn't speak much even to the Chinese people.  We could tell he was very uncomfortable with physical affection so we didn't try to hug him, and we learned right away he really hated having his picture made.  Thus, because I didn't want to upset him on his first day with us, I didn't try to take his picture no matter how much I wanted to.  Instead I gave some cameras to him and Caleb in hopes of getting a few pictures that way.  He didn't let Caleb take his picture either, but he did enjoy taking pictures.  Here are a few he took. 

It was sweet to hear Joshua trying to pose Caleb and Micaelyn for the picture.  The "peace" sign (or "V for Victory") is common in Chinese photos, so it's no surprise he was having them do this.

You can really see her sadness.

Caleb took this picture of Micaelyn eating fried rice at Pizza Hut.  We really loved the Pizza Hut there - their pizza was excellent and they had more things on their menu than most restaurants in America, everything from soups, rice dishes, steaks, lamb, chicken, seafood, an unbelievable variety.