March 26- Self portrait.

The van pulls into the handicap space. 5 doors open and 8 people pour out. The beautiful mother from the driver seat, a young adult woman (designated the "white Chinese girl" by Sean and Lia) from the passenger seat, 5 Chinese kids and an old white haired dad from the rear. We decend on Baskin Robins with enthusiasm. The employees and patrons wonder if this is a daycare outing. But on further examination, it is a family. Mostly unaware of their perplexity. 

Life is good.

It's been over a week since we have been home and I'm still waiting for a meltdown from one of these kids! They smile and laugh all the day long! I am totally smitten by these 2 angels! We are so very blessed! Believe me, I put up with very little but there is never a reason to get angry...yet. They are fitting in very nicely! In fact, tonight I was thinking how they seem to have been part of our crew for a very long time! It's truly a blessing!

 On top of the daily care, the following are keeping us (mostly Doll) busy:

     Family Practice, dermatology, physical therapy, neurology, urology, Shriner's. 
     Kristin's 3 day pioneer trek, make 2 bonnets, make an apron, make a pioneer skirt,
     Plan a baby shower for friend,  Cole & Emma's baptisms, friend and missionary visits,
     letter to Tim.
     Placement testing, school registration, wheelchair/walker fitting,
     more paperwork (I thought this was over)

You could say life is busy, but we have had so much fun just being together.  The routine is becoming more normal. Sean and Lia sleep well and eat well. They seem happy and tell us they are happy. They often say "I love you" and "you're a good boy/gir"l. I'm amazed each day at how much English they have learned. 

Their siblings have been nothing short of amazing. Kristin translates, pacifies, and mediates. Cole watches as Sean and Lia get special attention sometimes, but understands their special situation and what they have given up more than I could have ever expected an 8 year old to understand. Emma has allowed is to connect with lia & Sean and willingly accepts her attention when it comes. 

Life is good!

Craig

Home!

Yes we are home. I will start by saying that these 2 children have integrated better than any child we have ever adopted.  They are so sweet.  Lia smiles all the time.  Sean is so full of life... Just like the photos from the welfare institute below.

As we arrived in San Francisco, Sean and Lia were so excited about meeting their siblings.  Unfortunately, we didn't have Internet access so we couldn't google that we had one more flight.  Once we arrived and got through immigration, they were substantially grouchy after we told them we had one more flight before we say the siblings.

When we finally arrived at our destination and Sarah came driving up with Kristin, Emma and Cole, it was clear that the car was full of excited kids.  When Lia saw them, her huge smile stretched across her whole face. She was so thrilled to hug each one of them.  Sean was a bit more apprehensive but within a minute, he was totally enthralled with the commotion and hooked right into the group. We must have been a sight to the police officer who was trying to keep traffic moving.

The first night, they all went to bed great but Sean came in our room in the wee hours of the morning.  It seemed he was just awake due to the jet lag.  I took him back to his room and laid down with him for a while.  He settled down as Emma started with an OCD episode.  I left Sean to help Emma.  But before I left, I got a huge hug.  As I was holding Emma, Sean, began calling so once I got Emma calmed down, I went back to Sean.  After another round with Emma, I went back in with Sean.  By that time, as far as I can tell, they both slept the rest of the night.  I can't tell you for sure, because I crashed, but when I woke up in the morning, Sean was holding my finger in his hand.

On Saturday we went running around looking for church clothes.  Lia and Sean were so cute.  Sean and Cole wear rather same time and were like, why do we have to have separate clothes?  Why can't we just share them?  Lia just loves to be beautiful.  And she is.  Mostly from her great smile and personality.

Saturday afternoon, I had to attend a training meeting at church.  When I returned from the first session, Sean was a bit concerned that I had disappeared.  I had forgotten to let him know what was going on.  After that, I remember to tell him when I am leaving.

On Sunday, we took the kids with us to stake conference (20min late).  Sean sat in my lap for 1.5 hours and was completely content to be there.  They did get to color for the last hour.  This was their first opportunity to meet friends.  When conference was over, several families came by to meet the kids.  At first Sean was intrigued but soon retreated to the safety between Mom and Dad.  Lia was a bit more tolerant and was intrigued by a friend's electronic wheelchair.

We (aka Mom) are still trying to figure out how to get 5 kids ready for school in the morning and the kids are still trying to figure out what to eat. But both kids are such a joy.

I don't know how we could possibly be so lucky.

Craig




Lia and Sean spent hours doing StarFall on the iPad.  What a great tool.

Finally the sun went down and Sean and Lia began to understand that they needed to sleep. Not that they did.  It was really only the last few hours on the flight that they slept.

Sean was a bit nervous when it finally came time to meet the siblings. 

Lia was a thrilled to meet the siblings.

党明山和党元欣 in their Social Welfare Institute

             

    

   

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